Oscar curse: What’s the fallout from past wins?

A colleague and I were talking about the recent Oscar winners, and he had mentioned the lack of awards for “American Sniper.” I quickly responded that the film grossed over $300 million at the box office, more than all the other Best Picture nominees combined, so I think Clint and company can wipe their tears away with wads of cash if they're upset over not getting a mantelpiece trinket.

But it also got me thinking about some people's fallout from past Oscar wins and how earning that little statuette not only failed to elevate their status, but almost seemed to weigh them down in a cinematic spiral that tarnished any glow the golden guy once held for them. I’m not subscribing to the whole Oscar Curse theory (it states the Best Actress winners fall victim to personal and professional misery). And even though Marcia Gay Harden said in a 2003 interview with Premiere magazine that winning the Oscar was one of the worst events of her career, it’s a theory that does not statistically hold water.

That said, all those who won awards must choose wisely their next career moves to avoid some of their predecessors' pitfalls. Just ask some of the following winners who have yet to reach their red-carpet glory:

Adrien Brody: Became the youngest Best Actor winner in 2003 at age 29.

• Won for: “The Pianist,” which took home three Oscars that year.
• Followup roles: “The Singing Detective,” “The Village,” “King Kong.”
• Awards since: 0 (though he did earn ensemble nominations in “Grand Budapest Hotel”).
• Low Point: “Inappropriate Comedy” (2013), where he played Filthy Harry, a tough, gay cop who inadvertently spews (extremely unfunny) double entendres. Directed by the Sham-Wow guy.
• Next seen in: “Dragon Blade,” an action-adventure of Roman soldiers lost in China, co-starring John Cusak and Jackie Chan.

F. Murray Abraham: Whose fall was so remarkable, those who suffered similar critical fates were deemed to have F. Murray Abraham Syndrome.

• Won for: “Amadeus” (1984), in which he played rival Salieri.
• Followup roles: “Slipstream,” “Mobsters,” “National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1,” and “Muppets From Space.”
• Awards since: 0 (though, like Brody, he did earn ensemble nominations in “Grand Budapest Hotel”).
• Low Point: The immortal “Bloodmonkey.”
• Next seen in: A reoccuring role of Dar Adal in “Homeland.”

Roberto Benigni: Famously somersaulted down the aisles after his 1997 Best Actor win.

• Won for: “Life is Beautiful,” as an Italian Jew in a Nazi concentration camp.
• Followup roles: A live-action “Pinocchio,” “The Tiger in the Snow,” “National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1,” and “Muppets From Space.”
• Awards since: 1 (a Razzie for Worst Actor in “Pinocchio” in 2003).
• Low Point: “Pinocchio.”
• Next seen in: Nothing in the pipeline.

Cuba Gooding Jr.: Another Best Actor winner whose exuberance will go down in highlight reel history.

• Won for: “Jerry Maguire,” as football player Rod Tidwell, who plagued us with the catchphrase “Show me the money!”
• Followup roles: “A Murder of Crows,” “Chill Factor,” “Snow Dogs,” “Boat Trip,” “Shadowboxer,” “Norbit,” “Daddy Day Camp,” “Machete Kills.”
• Awards since: 2 (an Image Award for “Radio” (2003), and a Blockbuster Award for “What Dreams May Come” (1999).
• Low Point: “Norbit” would be an easy target, but “Lies & Illusions” with Christian Slater is an action comedy that is void of both.
• Next seen in: The TV show “American Crime Story,” where he plays ...wait for it...O.J. Simpson.

Mercedes Ruehl: After having a fairly steady stream of successful films, she finally nabbed a Best Supporting Actress award in 1991.

• Won for: “The Fisher King,” along with Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams.
• Followup roles: “Lost in Yonkers,” “The Minus Man,” “More Dogs Than Bones,” “Chu and Blossom,” “Zeyda and the Hitman.”
• Awards since: 1 (a Prism Award for the television movie “Mom at Sixteen”).
• Low Point: It’s easy to sift through her many made-for-TV Lifetime films (“1-800-Missing,” “Mary Kay Letourneau: All-American Girl) , but you’d be hard-pressed to find something as dreadful as the “family film” “Spooky House,” from schlock director William Sachs.
• Next seen in: Nothing slated.

Mira Sorvino: Nabbed a Best Supporting Actress while working with Woody Allen in 1995.

• Won for: Playing a squeaky-voiced prostitute in “Mighty Aphrodite.”
• Followup roles: “Beautiful Girls,” “Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion,” “Too Tired to Die,” “At First Sight,” “WiseGirls,” "Angel of Death,” “Multiple Sarcasms,” “Space Warriors,”
• Awards since: Nominated for  Best Dance Sequence for “Romy & Michelle” at the MTV Movie Awards in 1998.
• Low Point: She shared the screen with two other Oscar nominees - Peter Fonda and Louis Gossett Jr. - in the wretched family film “Smitty.”
• Next seen in: Four films in 2015 and one that just wrapped, but none look to lift her back to her “Mighty” days.