8 People You Won't Believe Won Razzie Awards

5. Laurence Olivier

In a career that spanned 6 decades, Laurence Olivier received 10 Oscar nominations, 2 honorary Oscars (including a Lifetime Achievement award in 1979) and was named Best Actor in 1948 for his performance in Hamlet. He won 3 Golden Globes, 5 Primetime Emmys, 3 Baftas and, in 1960, received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

How could he win not one, but two Razzie awards, you ask?

By the mid-1970s, the actor€™s health began to fail and he put artistic considerations aside so that he could earn enough to leave a sizeable inheritance for his family. Money is the only explanation for why anyone would choose to participate in The Jazz Singer and Inchon, as you€™ll know if you€™ve ever sat through them.

Olivier€™s turn as General Douglas Macarthur in Inchon is merely a disappointment, but it€™s his turn as Neil Diamond€™s rabbi father (!?) in The Jazz Singer that takes the proverbial biscuit. Taking overacting to a new level, Sir Larry barks his lines in an over-the-top Yiddish accent, reacting to his screen son€™s dreams of fame with the line, €œEets not tuff enuff beink a Choo?€

Best of all, however, is the sequence where Olivier bails Diamond out of jail after he€™s been arrested for inciting a riot by €“ wait for it €“ performing the song €œYou, Baby, Baby€ for a black audience.while wearing blackface.

Contributor

Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'