10 Actors Who Went Through Hell To Win An Oscar

Meryl Streep's Oscar win for Best Supporting Actress in 1979's Kramer Vs Kramer is a somewhat different story to all the others we've mentioned here.

Where the bulk of these Oscar winners voluntarily put themselves through the wringer for their work, Streep was forced to endure it by co-star (and subsequent Best Actor winner) Dustin Hoffman.

Streep was still a comparatively lesser-known actress, and mourning the recent death of her partner John Cazale when work on the film began. Hoffman, ever the method man and eager to promote tension between them, played on this, goading her with cruel remarks about Cazale between takes and even slapping in the face immediately before one scene.

Hoffman reportedly played such mean-spirited mind games even with Justin Henry, the child actor portraying the Kramers' son.

Never mind the strength of her performance: Steep deserved the gold purely for putting up with such bullying from an egomaniac on a powertrip.

Still, this was the first of 3 Oscars for Streep thus far, amidst a record 21 nominations (with one pending at the time of writing). Hoffman, meanwhile, has 2 from 7 nominations (the last of which was 20 years ago).