No one remembers who came in second???

[Col Angus]

I was thinking earlier today about the best #2's ever (guess what I was doing) and I thought to myself, "You know, there are some pretty impressive people and things who weren't first.

How about Buzz Aldrin? Second man on the moon, but still an icon and in many ways, more recognizable than Neil Armstrong. And Bruce Lee! Many would never associate the Dragon as anything but #1, but he was also Kato, the Green Hornet's side kick in the short-lived TV show.

Any others come to mind?

[vinylgreek]

Robin, the Boy Wonder. Who doesn't fear a kid in pale tights and green speedos?

[OhDark30]

Watt, wasn't it?

[CamB]

Robert Falcon Scott- 2nd to the South Pole (2nd group anyway) only to find Amundsen had beaten him. He is one guy who came second that plenty remember.

[crownpuller]

Jimmy White - 6 times Snooker World Championship Finalist, never won it.

[Col Angus]

Here's another one, Alydar. This thoroughbred lost all three races of the Triple Crown to Affirmed by a total of less than 2 lengths, drawing closer and closer with each race, losing the Belmont by a nose! I still remember that one, probably the most exciting race of all time.

[CanadianStraps]

Star Wars. Episode IV: A New Hope, the Worlds first introduction to the story, when adjusted for inflation is still one of the top grossing films of all time. It lost out on the Oscar for best picture to... Annie Hall? If you've never heard of it, don't worry: it's a Woody Allen movie, so obviously very forgettable.

[Teeritz]

Star Wars. Episode IV: A New Hope, the Worlds first introduction to the story, when adjusted for inflation is still one of the top grossing films of all time. It lost out on the Oscar for best picture to... Annie Hall? If you've never heard of it, don't worry: it's a Woody Allen movie, so obviously very forgettable.

The 1970s was Hollywood's last Golden Age before the blockbuster took hold. Some critics say that it was Jaws in 1975 that ushered in effects-laden 'event movies'. In a decade where films such as Midnight Cowboy, The Godfather (both 1and 2) , The French Connection, Rocky and The Deer Hunter all won Oscars for Best Picture, the idea of a sci-fi adventure taking home the golden statuette was inconceivable in an era where an "actor's movie" tended to be lauded by the critics and AMPAS. And rightly so, in my opinion.

Science fiction movies were considered box-office poison by the major studios in the mid-Seventies ( see Silent Running, Soylent Green, Logan's Run, for example. All good films, but not huge money-spinners).
Star Wars (I can't refer to it as 'A New Hope'. I saw it at the cinemas in '77 and this add-on to the title is revisionist in my view, and it does my head in) was a film made by the new breed of "guys-with-beards" Film School graduates and the Academy was yet to take them too seriously, despite George Lucas' earlier efforts, such as THX-1138 ​and American Graffiti.
Woody Allen had already had a string of well-regarded films throughout the early to mid Seventies and the Academy loved him, and it wasn't until 2003 when we saw an effects-laden film win the Best Picture Oscar, Lord of The Rings: Return of The King.

[MarkO]

When Ben Johnson won the 100m in the Olympics in 1988 he was subsequently banned and stripped of the title, which then was passed to 2nd place Carl Lewis who was subsequently banned and stripped of the title....
continue this thought, only 2 sprinters out of the 8 in that race have not been banned and effectively removed from the results. Anyone got a clue who the remaining 2 are because I haven't.

[Raza]

Second place is just the winner of the losers. Of course they are forgotten.