The nominees for the 90th anniversary Oscar film awards have already been announced. And while everyone is discussing the nominees, it wouldn’t hurt to remember the most interesting episodes in the history of the award and learn interesting facts about the main film award.
The first Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards ceremony took place in 1929. The event took place at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel during a dinner where no more than 300 people gathered. The intrigue that now accompanies the announcement of results was previously absent. The ceremonial part lasted only 15 minutes, and the laureates knew in advance about their victory.
The longest ceremony took place in 2002 and lasted 4.5 hours.
In 1941, a system was adopted in which the names of the winners were placed in envelopes, and the envelopes were opened directly at the ceremony.
Today, specialists from one of the largest auditing companies, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, are counting the votes of film academics. Within three days, two experts and four assistants process more than 6 thousand ballots. And only they know the names of the winners. Experts print out the cards in duplicate, put them in envelopes, and then in special briefcases and deliver them to the ceremony site in the strictest secrecy. Personalized figurines are prepared for all applicants. Then the unnecessary ones are used for scrap metal.
For a long time the figurine was not called anything. It wasn’t until 1934 that the word “Oscar” was added at the sixth awards ceremony. The most common legend about the origin of the name says that the Academy’s librarian Margaret Herrick, upon seeing the statuette, exclaimed that it looked like her uncle Oscar.
The ceremony was postponed only three times: in 1938 as a result of the devastating flood in Los Angeles, in 1968 due to the assassination of the famous black rights activist Martin Luther King and in 1981 due to the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.
In 1953, the first television broadcast of the Oscars took place.
Walt Disney holds the record for the most gold statues. The Walt Disney Pictures founder received 26 awards, four of them in one year. And in 1937, the animator received the original award for innovation and outstanding achievements in the field of animation for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It looked like one big figurine and seven small ones.
Among women, the main triumph is considered to be costume designer Edith Head. She has won the award eight times. She also has the most nominations – 35.
Jack Nicholson is the leader in the number of nominations among actors. He was nominated 12 times and won three times.
Charlie Chaplin, in 1972, received the longest standing ovation. He received a standing ovation for five minutes.
The Academy has awarded silent films twice: “Wings” in 1929 and “The Artist” in 2012.
Three films received five major awards (best film, actor, actress, director and screenplay): “It Happened One Night” (1934), “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975) and “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991).
Three films each received 11 awards: Ben-Hur (1959), Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
Two films had the most nominations, namely 14: “All About Eve” (1950) and “Titanic” (1997).
The films “The Turning Point” (1977) and “The Color Purple” (1985) are considered the most unsuccessful, because out of 11 nominations they did not receive a single award.
The youngest actress to win an Oscar was Shirley Temple. In 1934 she was only 6 years old.
Christopher Plummer won Best Supporting Actor at the age of 82. He is considered the oldest actor to receive the award.
1940 made Oscar history with the first award awarded to a black actress. She was Hattie McDaniel, who played the maid in the film Gone with the Wind.
The title of “biggest loser” of the award belongs to sound engineer Kevin O’Connell. He has 20 unsuccessful nominations for Best Sound. Among the actors is Peter O’Toole, who was left without an award 8 times. True, in 2003 he was awarded an honorary Oscar.
The most nominated screenwriter is Woody Allen. Out of 16 nominations, he has three wins.
Alfred Hitchcock gave the shortest speech in the history of the ceremony. In 1967, while accepting the statuette “for his contribution to art,” he said “thank you” and left the stage. Actor Joe Pesci did the same in 1991.
Audrey Hepburn won her first Oscar in 1954 for her starring role in Roman Holiday. And, apparently, out of excitement, she forgot it in the ladies’ room. A similar situation occurred in 1980 for Meryl Streep and her first gold statuette for best supporting actress in the film Kramer vs. Kramer.
Within one week, Sandra Bullock was awarded the title of best and worst actress. In 2010, she won an Oscar for Best Actress for The Blind Side. Sandra also received the Golden Raspberry for the worst role in the film All About Steve.
$2.1 million is the cost of a 30-second commercial during the television broadcast of the award.
The cost of the figurine is from 24k gold plated is $693 today.
The cost of the red carpet is $30 thousand.
Total expenses for the Academy Awards are $42.8 million.
