10 Top Actors Who Turned Down Prestigious Awards

10. Nighy, Rickman And McDowell All Say No

There are a lot of motives for an actor to turn down honours from the British Monarchy. Many of them political, some of them personal. These three are being placed together as they have all rejected such positions but never made their reasons public.

Bill Nighy and Alan Rickman were both offered OBE's (Order of the British Empire), whilst Malcolm McDowell turned down a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire). These are incredibly decorated actors and the thought of them receiving these accolades is hardly surprising.

But as stated before, their reasons for declining is not public knowledge and never will be. Nighy and McDowell have never discussed the matter in the press and since Rickman's unfortunate passing his reasoning will always remain secret.

In further regards to Rickman, there have been campaigns to have him honoured posthumously - but since he had declined before it's very improbable to expect that his estate would allow for such treatment to occur now.

Whatever the case was, these actors decided it wasn't something that they wanted, and it's good for them to show they don't need this form of validation to feel happy with their work.