10 Horror Films That Beat Genre Prejudice To Win Oscars

5. Rosemary's Baby (1968) - Best Supporting Actress

While picking up technical awards is an obvious achievement for a horror picture, now we're into this list's top five and the horrors that won the big name prizes that get all the media attention, beginning with another classic from the era where big Hollywood studios embraced horror.

Rosemary's Baby preceded The Exorcist and The Omen as a trendsetter in the demonic child subgenre and, while it didn't have the massive blockbusting success of the former, it is definitely the best film of the trio. Mia Farrow's waif-like fragility is just right for the leading role, but it was supporting actress Ruth Gordon who picked up the Oscar as meddlesome elderly neighbour and Satanic cultist Minnie Castevet.

Did It Deserve To Win?

Yes. One of the great strengths of Rosemary's Baby is the way it shifts from a satire of the lives of young couples making their way in the world and the affable but irritatingly ever-present elderly neighbours whose kindness it would be rude to refuse, gradually revealing the darker side of covens and devil worship. Gordon's performance nails this transition. Minnie is a character that you would feel bad about offending if you didn't accept her gifts and hospitality and, before long, she's put a demon spawn inside you.

Gordon, who had been acting since 1915, enjoyed something of a career renaissance after her Oscar, with most of her best known roles coming in the next decade. That didn't stop her, though, from being the only cast member to reprise her role in deservedly forgotten TV movie sequel Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby.