For his role as an anguished engineer in this film, actor Jack Lemmon returned to the kind of dramatic performance that earned him a second Academy Award for his starring role in Save the Tiger (1973). Lemmon's first Oscar win, for Best Supporting Actor in Mister Roberts (1955), was for Lemmon's endearingly funny 'Ensign Pulver' role. For The China Syndrome (1979), Lemmon was Oscar nominated again, in the Best Actor in a Leading Role category, but lost out to Dustin Hoffman for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).