Oscars Rewind — 2004: Tim Robbins stands tall(est) with win

Actors turn into directors frequently, but it’s hard to imagine any actors who earned their first Academy Award nomination for directing before winning an Oscar for acting. Turns out that Robbins — who’s still largely known for his acting — earned his first Oscar nomination in 1996, for directing “Dead Man Walking.” The film, which starred Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, was critically lauded and eight years later would provide a little déjà vu for his 2004 win. That’s because “Walking” earned Sarandon her first Oscar, and Penn his first acting nomination. Meanwhile, Sarandon might not have been up for an award that night, but she was there to support Robbins — whom she’d been dating since 1988, when they met on the set of “Bull Durham.” Dressed in a black suit and tie, Robbins received the Oscar from presenter Catherine Zeta-Jones. “It is sometimes the strongest thing you can do to stop the cycle of violence.” Meanwhile, his competition — all actors basically in Robbins’ age range — was fierce and diverse: Alec Baldwin as a casino owner in “The Cooler,” Benicio Del Toro as an ex-con in “21 Grams,” Djimon Hounsou’s AIDS-suffering immigrant in “In America,” and Ken Watanabe in his English-language debut as a warrior in “The Last Samurai.” For Baldwin, Watanabe and Hounsou, this was their first nomination; only Hounsou has gone on to another nomination, in 2007 for “Blood Diamond.” Del Toro was on his second nomination; he’d won in 2001 for “Traffic.” Robbins also earned one other distinction that evening: As Conan O’Brien pointed out on his talk show “Conan” after the ceremony, at 6 feet 5, he’s also the tallest actor to win an Oscar.