Pleasence was nominated four times for the Tony Award. He was nominated for Best Performance By a Leading Actor in a Broadway Play. He was nominated in 1962 for Harold Pinter's "The Caretaker", in 1965 for Jean Anouilh's "Poor Bitos", in 1969 for Robert Shaw's "The Man in the Glass Booth", and in 1972 for Simon Gray's "Wise Child".