Who was dead but was nominated or won an Oscar?

Answer 1

In the acting categories, only one actress was nominated posthumously, and only two actors won posthumously: 1928/9 Jeanne Eagels, The Letter (actress) 1955 James Dean, East of Eden (actor) 1956 James Dean, Giant (actor) 1967 Spencer Tracy, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (actor) 1976 Peter Finch, Network (actor) 1984 Ralph Richardson, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (supporting actor) 1995 Massimo Troisi, Il Postino (actor & screenplay) 2008 Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight (supporting actor) In the other categories it is also better to be alive: 1927/8 Gerald Duffy, The Private Life of Helen of Troy (screenplay) 1939 Sidney Howard, Gone with the Wind (screenplay) 1942 Frank Churchill, Bambi (score, song) 1945 Allen Davey, A Song to Remember (cinematography) 1945 Joseph O'Brien, Your National Gallery (short) 1945 Tess Slesinger, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (screenplay) 1945 Jerome Kern, Can't Help Singing (score, song) 1946 Jerome Kern, Centennial Summer (song) 1946 James Monaco, The Dolly Sisters (song) 1948 Joseph August, Portrait of Jennie (cinematography) 1951 Bert Kalmar, The Strip (song) 1951 Gile Steele, Kind Lady (costume, bw); Gile Steele, The Great Caruso (costume, color) 1952 Gile Steele, The Merry Widow (costume) 1952 Gordon Hollingshead, Desert Killer (short one-reel) and Thar She Blows! (short two-reel) 1954 Lamar Trotti, There's No Business Like Show Business (screenplay) 1956 Victor Young, Around the World in 80 Days (score, song) 1958 William Horning, Gigi (art direction) 1959 William Horning, Ben-Hur (art direction) and North by Northwest (art direction) 1959 Zam Zimbalist, Ben-Hur (Best Picture) 1959 Richard H. Riedel, Pillow Talk (art direction) 1960 Eric Orborn, Spartacus (art direction) 1963 Frederic Knudtson, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (editing) 1963 William Ferrari, How the West Was Won (art direction) 1965 David Hall, The Greatest Story Ever Told (art direction) 1965 Willam Mellor, The Greatest Story Ever Told (cinematography) 1968 Walt Disney, Winnie the pooh and the Blustery Day (short cartoon) 1969 Harry Stradling, Hello Dolly! (cinematography) 1970 Alfred Newman, Airport (score) 1971 Stuart Gilmore, The Andromeda Strain (editing) 1972 Arnold Perl, Malcolm X (documentary) 1972 both Raymond Rasch & Larry Russell, Limelight (score) 1973 William Kiernan, The Way We Were (art direction) 1976 Bernard Herrmann, Taxi Driver & Obsession (score) 1976 Harry Warren Tetrick, King Kong & Rocky (sound) 1977 John Hubley, The Doonesbury Special (animated short) 1978 Les Bowie, Superman (visual effects) 1978 Albert Lamorisse, The Lovers' Wind (documentary) 1979 Robert Alan Aurthur, All That Jazz (Best Picture, screenplay) 1980 Geoffrey Unsworth, Tess (cinematography) 1981 Robert L. Wolfe, On Golden Pond (editing) 1982 Dale Hennesy, Annie (art direction) 1986 Boris Leven, The Color of Money (art direction) 1991 Carol Sobieski, Fried Green Tomatoes (screenplay) 1991 Howard Ashman, Beauty and the Beast (song, song, song) 1992 Howard Ashman, Aladdin (song) 1992 Thomas C. Goodwin, Educating Peter (short documentary) 1995 Mario Cecchi Gori, Il Postino (Best Picture) 2002 Conrad L. Hall, Road to Perdition (cimenatography) 2006 Gretchen Rau, The Good Shepard (art direction) 2007 Marit Allen, La Vie en Rose (costume)
Peter Finch is the only posthumous winner of the Best Actor award, though he was alive when his nomination was announced (the only other posthumous winner in any acting category was another Australian, Heath Ledger, who won the Best Supporting Actor award in 2009). The only posthumously nominated performers in this category were James Dean, Spencer Tracy, and Massimo Troisi. Dean was posthumously nominated twice.

Heath Ledger is the only person to posthumously win an acting Oscar in a supporting role. He won the Best Supporting Actor award for his portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight, 2008. He is only the second person to posthumously win any acting Oscar (the other was Peter Finch, who won Best Actor for Network, 1976), and the first to win from a posthumous acting nomination (Finch was alive when his nomination was announced).

There have been no posthumous winners of the award for Best Actress. The only posthumous nomination of a woman for any acting award was Jeanne Eagels, who was nominated for Best Actress in 1929 for The Letter. She was the first woman to be posthumously nominated for an Oscar in any category.

There have been no posthumous nominations for Best Supporting Actress.