Dame Judi Dench could become oldest ever acting Oscar winner after nomination for role in Belfast

If Dame Judi Dench wins the best supporting actress Oscar next month, it would be another career triumph. And it would also earn her a place in Academy Awards history.

Dame Judi is nominated for her role in Belfast, Sir Kenneth Branagh’s autobiographical film, playing grandmother to the young lead.

At 87, she would become the oldest person to win an Academy Award for acting. The current holder of the title is Sir Anthony Hopkins, who took home the prize last year aged 83.

This is Dame Judi’s eighth Oscar nomination. She has won once before, for Shakespeare in Love in 1999 - a performance that took up a mere eight minutes of screen time.

Belfast went down well with Academy voters, receiving seven nominations including best picture, best director and original screenplay, best supporting actor for Ciaran Hinds and best original song for Down To Joy, which was written and performed by Van Morrison.

Sir Kenneth, who based the black-and-white film on his own memories of growing up in Northern Ireland, said: “It’s a long way from the streets of Belfast to the Academy Awards.

“Today, I think of my mother and father, and my grandparents - how proud they were to be Irish, how much this city meant to them. They would have been overwhelmed by this incredible honour, as am I.

“Given a story as personal as this one, it’s a hell of a day for my family, and the family of our film. I thank Academy voters for their incredible and generous recognition.”

The 61-year-old became the first person in Oscar history to have received nominations in seven categories. His nominations this year - for picture, director and original screenplay - can be added to nominations in previous years for best actor, supporting actor, adapted screenplay and live action short.

This is the first nomination for Hinds, 68, and he said: “Having worked in this industry for nearly 50 years, I thought there wasn’t much that could surprise me still. Today I can honestly say I am astounded, thrilled and deeply grateful.”

Steven Spielberg became the first director to be nominated in each of six decades, beginning with Close Encounters of the Third Kind in the 1970s; followed by Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial in the 1980s; Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan in the 1990s; Munich in the 2000s; Lincoln in the 2010s; and now West Side Story.

Although the remake of West Side Story has proved to be a disappointment at the box office, it received seven nominations including best director, best picture and best supporting actress for Ariana DeBose as Anita.

Jane Campion became the first woman to be recognised twice for best director, this time for The Power of the Dog, which led the pack with 12 nominations. Her first was for The Piano in 1994.

Benedict Cumberbatch is a best actor nominee for his performance as a sadistic Montana rancher in The Power of the Dog. Another British actor, Andrew Garfield, is in the same category for his role in Tick, Tick, …Boom!

While Bafta last week snubbed Olivia Colman’s performance in The Lost Daughter and chose to recognise Lady Gaga for House of Gucci, Academy voters did the opposite.

Colman is a best actress nominee while Jessie Buckley, who plays a younger version of the same character, appears in the best supporting actress category.

Colman won the Oscar in 2019 for The Favourite, and described her nomination for The Lost Daughter as “bloody brilliant”.

Her competition includes Kristen Stewart for Spencer, which saw her play Diana, Princess of Wales, in a fictionalised account of a fraught Christmas at Sandringham.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony on March 27.