On 30 Rock, Tracy Jordan won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony with such swiftness that we almost forgot how impressive such a feat is. The entertainment award "Grand Slam" has only been given to a select group that includes Mel Brooks, Helen Hayes, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli. To put it another way, the entertainment industry is long overdue for another performer to enter the EGOT annals, and this Sunday's Oscars has us pondering the qualified applicants. Here are Movieline's top five prospects who've each earned three of the four necessary trophies.
5. Cynthia Nixon
E: Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy, Sex and the City, Guest Actress, Law and Order SVU
G: Best Spoken Word Album, An Inconvenient Truth (with Beau Bridges and Blair Underwood)
O: N/A
T: Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, Rabbit Hole
Do you love that you can win a Grammy for reading a book? You don't even have to write it. I know I deserved an award when I read Pride and Prejudice in high school. Without discrediting Ms. Nixon's fine phonics skills, it's fair to say she's already nabbed the award that would logically most elude her: The Grammy. She's the kind of actress who critics love to praise, one who plays intelligent, harried, headstrong women. Have you looked at all five Best Actress candidates this year? They all qualify (except for Michelle Williams, who just sticks to harried). Nixon will undoubtedly score more high-profile film roles in the future, and I suspect that Oscar glory is within her crosshairs.
Suggested role: A devastating biopic portrayal of Ann Coulter.
4. Julie Andrews
E: Best Actress in a Single Performance -- Lead or Support, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella
G: Best Children's Album, Mary Poppins (among others)
O: Best Actress, Mary Poppins
T: N/A
Yes, the first lady of musical theater doesn't have a Tony Award -- but that's probably not a big deal to her. Andrews refused a third nomination for her role in the '90s Broadway revamp of Victor/Victoria because the musical itself received no other nominations. That won't stop her from eventually picking up a lifetime achievement trophy, but it could open the door for other performers to beat her to holy quad first.
Suggested role: Henrietta Higgins in a modern-day gender-reversed My Fair Lad(y) .
3. Robin Williams
E: Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, ABC Presents: A Royal Gala (and one other)
G: Best Comedy Performance Single or Album, Spoken or Musical, A Night at the Met (and four others)
O: Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting
T: N/A
Nope, Dame Doubtfire hasn't picked up a Tony, even after two generation's worth of legendary stage shows. Robin Williams represents the EGOT prototype: a star who's been beloved for long enough that we tend to forget the dubious patches in his career, and that he plays the same role all the time. (Ahem, Audrey Hepburn.) If his role this spring in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo doesn't clinch the Tony, he should take a cue from his EGOT-earning friend Whoopi Goldberg and produce a musical -- perhaps one based on South Park where he can chime in with a rousing rendition of "Blame Canada."
Suggested Role: Or Sky Masterson in the next revival of Guys and Dolls.
2. Jeremy Irons
E: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries, Elizabeth I
G: N/A
O: Best Actor, Reversal of Fortune
T: Best Actor, The Real Thing
Excuse me: When book-reading is a Grammy category, you'd think effing Jeremy Irons would snag a trophy for one of his countless audiobooks -- Brideshead Revisited, The Alchemist, Lolita, etc. The time has come for a massive anthology of his readings called While the Irons is Hot, featuring additional commentary by Scar from The Lion King. There the EGOT lies.
Suggested role: The Complete Works of Kipling.
1. Elton John
E: N/A
G: Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, "That's What Friends Are For" (and five others)
O: Best Original Song, "Can You Feel The Love Tonight"
T: Best Original Score, Aida
Can't Elton John book an Emmy-winning TV concert with about three days notice? I notice Carrie Underwood gets her own Thanksgiving special when she pleases (sometimes even near Easter), so why can't Elton John rack up another Las Vegas spectacle and fulfill this tantalizingly unfinished EGOT? Surely he's not working on a sequel to Gnomeo and Juliet.
Suggested role: Elton John's Folsom Prison Blues, Yellows, and Pinks! Live!