An Award Named Oscar

There was only one Oscar to win an Oscar and that was Oscar Hammerstein II. He won for his song, “The Last Time I Saw Paris” from the movie “Lady Be Good” in 1941.

The only x-rated movie to win the Oscar for Best Picture was “Midnight Cowboy” in 1969.

The only brother and sister to win an Oscar for acting were Ethel Barrymore for Best Actress in “None but the Lonely Heart” in 1944 and Lionel Barrymore for Best Actor in “A Free Soul” in 1931.

The first movie to be filmed in color which won the Best Picture Award was the unforgettable “Gone With the Wind” in 1939.

Several people have been nominated for an Academy Award after they were deceased. The first person to be nominated posthumously was screenwriter Sidney Howard for “Gone With the Wind”. The only actor to be nominated twice after his death was James Dean. Once for Best Actor in “East of Eden” in 1955 and the next year for Best Actor in “Giant” in 1956. Since that was after his death you know he was a wonderful actor who could have gone far.

There have been three actors who won an Oscar for playing characters which don’t say a single word through the entire film. Winning the Best Actress Award in 1948 was Jane Wyman for her portrayal of a deaf mute in “Johnny Belinda”. In 1970 Sir John Mills won Best Supporting Actor portraying a mute village idiot in “Ryan’s Daughter” in 1970. Finally Holly Hunter won Best Actress in 1993 for playing the mute Ada McGrath in “The Piano”.

The actor who hosted the most Academy Awards was Bob Hope. He hosted a total of eighteen Academy Award ceremonies.

Oscar officially became Oscar in 1939.

At the 61st Academy Awards which were held in 1989 the phrase “And the winner is…” was replace by the phrase “And the Oscar goes to…”

In 1974 at the Academy Award ceremony a man called Robert Opal suddenly ran across the stage stark naked while flashing a peace sign. Actor David Niven was onstage to introduce the Best Picture category when the streaker ran by behind him. Niven jokingly said, “The only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping and showing his shortcomings.”

Three people have refused to accept their Oscars. Winner for Best Screenplay Dudley Nichols for “The Informer” in 1935. George C. Scott for Best Actor in “Patton” in 1970 and Marlon Brando for Best Actor in “The Godfather” in 1972.

The Academy Award Ceremonies have been postponed three times. It was delayed for a week in 1939 due to flooding in L.A. Held back for two days in 1968 because of the funeral for Martin Luther King Jr. and for one day in 1981 because of the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

The Oscars were first televised in 1953 and shown for the first time in color in 1966.

To support the war effort during WWII Oscar was made out of plaster. After the war the statuette could be traded in for a bronze one.

Both “The Turning Point” in 1977 and “The Color Purple” in 1985 were nominated eleven times for the Oscar but didn’t win a single award.

It has happened twice in Academy Award history. In 1941 two sisters were nominated for the Best Actress award. Joan Fontaine for “Suspicion” and Olivia de Havilland for “Hold Back the Dawn”. Joan Fontaine won and the sisters were split by jealousy.

In 1966 Lynn Redgrave for “Georgy Girl” and Vanessa Redgrave for “Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment” were nominated for the Best Actress Award. In this case neither sister won.

Looking Back Through the Years

The Very First Academy Awards

It was way back in the last century in 1927 that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded. At that time there were seven members who created the first Academy Awards presentation and all films produced from August 1, 1927 through July 31, 1928 would be eligible. I’m sure this was a most exciting time for actors and actresses because they would finally get the rewards and honor they deserved for all of their hard work and for all the pleasure they gave their fans.

The first Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929. It was a black-tie banquet which was held in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and a total of 250 people attended. It was hosted by AMPAS ( Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) president Douglas Fairbanks The winners had already been announced to the press three months before. You’re probably wondering what was on the menu. Well I would have guessed steak, caviar and champagne. Instead the dinner consisted of Filet of Sole Sauté au Beurre and Half Broiled Chicken on Toast.

The president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at that time was actor Douglas Fairbanks, who gave a speech. Afterward the Film Director William C. de Mille assisted him in handing out the awards. Fairbanks called out the winners to come up to the head table and de Mille gave them their awards. The statue which was presented then was almost identical to the one which is presented today and was sculpted by George Stanley. People know that the statue is called the Oscar but actually its full name is The Academy Award of Merit. Oscar is a knight made out of solid bronze; he’s holding a sword and standing on top of a film reel.

An interesting fact is that the very first person to receive an Oscar did not come to the first Academy Awards ceremony. The winner for Best Actor that year was Emil Jannings, he decided to return to his homeland Germany before the ceremony and was given his award before he left.

The 1927-1928 Academy Award Winners

Best Actor: Emil Jannings (The Last Command; The Way of All Flesh) The Last Command was a movie about a former Imperial Russian general and cousin to the Czar. He winds up in Hollywood working as an extra in a movie which happens to be directed by a former revolutionary.

The Way of All Flesh was about a bank clerk called August Schiller and takes place in Milwaukee in the early 1900s. Schiller is content with his job and his family. Then he is assigned to transport $1000 in securities to Chicago and the rest of the movie is about his adventures. Both were silent black and white films.

Best Actress: Janet Gaynor (Seventh Heaven; Street Angel; Sunrise) Seventh Heaven is a movie about a Parisian sewer worker who rescues a girl (played by Janet Gaynor) from the police and then lives with her in a barren flat located on the seventh floor before marching off to war. Street Angel is a movie about a woman who is on the run from the law. Just as she is about to find true happiness her past catches up with her. You can see reference to Sunrise above.

Original Story:Ben Hecht (Underworld) The movie title was actually “Romance of the Underworld” and starred Mary Astor. It was a movie about a gangster whose speakeasy is raided by the police and one of the people the police pick up is the gangster’s pretty girlfriend. The rest of the story is about what happens when a cop helps the girl get out of that kind of life.

Best Picture went to the movie “Wings.” This was a movie about combat pilots in a romantic rivalry over a woman. It starred Clara Bow, Charles “Buddy” Rogers, and Richard Arlen.

Hope you found this look into the early world of the movies as fascinating as I did. I’m sure that a great many of you have never heard of either these movies or actors. They are all before my time too but being a great movie fan I have learned about the actors and actresses of that time.

The Twelfth Academy Awards Went With the Wind

The 12th Academy Awards were held on Thursday, February 29, 1940 and were hosted by comedian and actor Bob Hope. The ceremony was held at the Ambassador Hotel at the Coconut Grove.

This was an exciting time because 1939 had been the year when classic movies such as “Gone With the Wind”, “The Wizard of Oz”, and “Wuthering Heights” were released.

Other top movies which came out that year were “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” starring James Stewart and Jean Arthur, for fans of the western “Stagecoach” starring John Wayne and “Destry Rides Again starring James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich, “Ninotchka” starring Greta Garbo, the horror classic “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” starring Charles Laughton, “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” starring Robert Donat and Greer Garson, and “Dark Victory” starring Bette Davis.

This was the last year that the winners were announced before the ceremony in the Los Angeles Times. Since then the winners have always been kept a secret. “Gone With the Wind” swept away with a total of eight Academy Awards.

And the top winners were:

Best Picture: Gone With the Wind

Best Actor: Robert Donate (“Goodbye, Mr. Chips”)

Best Actress: Vivien Leigh (“Gone With the Wind”)

Supporting Actor: Thomas Mitchell (“Stagecoach”)

Supporting Actress: Hattie McDaniel (“Gone With the Wind”)

Director: Victor Fleming (“Gone With the Wind”)

Song: “Over the Rainbow” (“The Wizard of Oz”)

As you can see that year it was surely difficult to decide on the winners because from the list of movies that came out that year most of the actors and actresses deserved to be nominated or to win. I have to say that Vivien Leigh was really to be admired for portraying Scarlett O’Hara and making the character come to life. She actually won against such tough competition. The other nominees for Best Actress that year were Bette Davis, Irene Dunne, Greta Garbo and Greer Garson.

Also hats off to Hattie McDaniel for keeping Scarlett in line as Mammy a performance which will not be forgotten.

A Nanny Takes the Highest Prize

The year was 1964 and an incredible number of spectacular movies came out that year. It would take forever to mention them all and it would make no sense whatsoever to do that. This is an introduction to the 37th Academy Awards which took place on April 5, 1965 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and let me tell you the choices for nominees must have been tough to come up with. If you are wondering why well let me tell you about some of the movies that came out the previous year.

The two top movies were “My Fair Lady” a fantastic musical starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison

“Mary Poppins” starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke which was also a musical appealing mostly to children but enchanted people of all ages. Now these two movies were as different as they could be one from the other. However they did have music in common.

There was also “Zorba the Greek” and the song and music that made everyone want to do a Greek dance “Never on a Sunday” which was later sung by many different artists.

With such diversity and so many delightful songs and great music the choice had to be hard. There are also some issues concerning this year in movies that I have a hard time coming to terms with. Julie Andrews had played the leading role of Eliza Doolittle from “My Fair Lady” onstage. When it came to making the movie she was replaced by Audrey Hepburn who couldn’t sing like Andrews could and Hepburn’s voice was dubbed in the musical. As a result of which this fine actress was not nominated for Best Actress while Andrews was for her role.

Now suppose Andrews had been offered the part of Eliza Doolittle and had accepted it. Who would have played Mary Poppins? I certainly cannot see Hepburn as the flying nanny. As it turned out Andrews was hoping to be Eliza Doolittle and when she didn’t receive the call, she took the role of Mary Poppins and wound up with an Oscar. Meanwhile Eliza Doolittle wound up handing the Oscar to Professor Henry Higgins. Confusing, isn’t it?

And the winners were:

Best Picture: My Fair Lady

Best Actor: Rex Harrison (“My Fair Lady”)

Best Actress: Julie Andrews (“Mary Poppins”)

Supporting Actor: Peter Ustinov (“Tokapi”)

Supporting Actress: Lila Kedrova (“Zorba the Greek”)

Director: George Cukor (“My Fair Lady”)

Song: “Chim Chim Cher-ee” (“Mary Poppins”)

When Pretty Women and Demented Women Were the Tops

It was 1990 and for me a real fan of Old Hollywood movies were fast losing their magic. This year was a real surprise and a delight with movies you could really enjoy just like in days gone by.

I know a lot of people really loved “Goodfellas” but I was never really a Mafia movie fan.

At Christmas time we were delighted by a boy who thought he had made his family disappear in “Home Alone”. He also taught us a thing or two about taking care of would be burglars.

I’m a big fan of wolves and find their howling romantic. As long as they stay in their place and I stay in mine I enjoy listening to them. So I loved Kevin Costner in “Dances with Wolves”.

Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine meeting a man who had scissors for hands but there he was living in that old mansion in “Edward Scissorhands”. Just like the heroine in the movie I would have loved to go back to that house and to see if he was still there.

Julie Roberts gave me the urge to dress up really stylish and strut down Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills in “Pretty Woman”. It would never have been my style to be a lady of the night in Hollywood but to live the fantasy of Cinderella and find a rich prince, now that is an entirely different thing. This was a dream like movie and enjoyable from start to finish. That Roy Orbison song stayed in my mind for a long time afterward.

Then there was Kathy Bates who gave me a week’s worth of nightmares in her portrayal of the demented lady in “Misery”. I had read the Stephen King novel and was really looking forward to the movie and I have to say it didn’t disappoint at all.

Finally among my favorites there was the romantic and utterly sad movie “Ghost”. I saw it several times and each time I was crying. Just recently I watched it again and this time the thought that Patrick Swayze is no longer with us really made this move a tear jerker. Now I get a shiver anytime I hear that song, Unchained Melody.

Of the Schwarzenegger films that came out this year I loved “Kindergarten Cop” because it combined action, adventure, and romance. Also who could possibly resist all those adorable kids?

Well as I said it was a banner year for movies and reminded me of years gone by. I know that I would have given more awards to “Pretty Woman” and “Ghost” than they actually received.

And the winners were:

Best Picture: Dances with Wolves

Best Actor: Jimmy Irons (“Reversal of Fortune”)

Best Actress: Kathy Bates (“Misery”)

Supporting Actor: Joe Pesci (“Good Fellas”)

Supporting Actress: Whoopi Goldberg (“Ghost”)

Director: Kevin Costner (“Dances with Wolves”)

Song: “Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)” (“Dick Tracy”)

When the Beast Fell In Love with the Beauty

It was 1991 and a whole lot of fantastic movies came out making it a most difficult decision for the Academy. I know that I was among the many people holding their breath as the nominees were called out at the 64th Academy Awards ceremony. It was held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center on Monday, March 2nd, 1992. It was a most exciting ceremony with Billy Crystal hosting.

In the “Silence of the Lambs” we came face to face with a nightmare in the guise of Hannibal Lecter who was a cannibal. It was a most disturbing film which gave us thrills and chills. With fantastic actors like Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. This movie took many of the awards including both Foster and Hopkins as Best Actress and Best Actor.

We met up with Arnold Schwartzenegger again in “Terminator 2”.

I don’t think I will ever forget the tension which built up in “Cape Fear”. A psychological thriller which had me looking behind me for a long time afterwards. From start to finish I was on the edge of my seat.

Who could ever forget Walt Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”? I was walking around singing all those songs and dreaming of wonderful romances. Even though I was no longer a kid I could watch this movie over and over again. I even fell in love with the Beast just like Belle when he was still a beast. He was a most handsome fellow with or without fur.

“Thelma and Louse” those two naughty girls had me laughing and enjoying myself a lot.

We were taken back to Neverland and got to revisit Peter Pan in “Hook”.

I had always enjoyed watching The Addams Family on TV. So when the movie came out I was thrilled to see them on the big screen in “The Addams Family” My only regret was that the original actors from the TV show couldn’t have done the movie but time marches on. Angela Huston and Raul Julia did do a fantastic job as Morticia and Gomez Addams.

I wasn’t overly thrilled with “City Slickers” but then I was never really into westerns. This was an American western comedy and a lot of people really enjoyed it. Featuring such great actors like Billy Crystal and Jack Palance.

I could keep on writing because these are not the only movies of that year but then you would get tired of reading an endless post. You probably know most of these movies and have seen at least some of them. They can still be seen today and I know that after writing this I’ll be watching “Beauty and the Beast” one more time. That leaves us to take a look at the winners for this year.

And the winners were:

Best Picture: The Silence of the Lambs

Best Actor: Anthony Hopkins (“The Silence of the Lambs”)

Best Actress: Jodie Foster (“The Silence of the Lambs”)

Supporting Actor: Jack Palance (“City Slickers”)

Supporting Actress: Mercedes Ruehl (“The Fisher King”)

Director: Jonathan Demme (“The Silence of the Lambs”)

Song: “Beauty and the Beast” (“Beauty and the Beast”)

As you can see this “The Silence of the Lambs” was a runaway hit. If they had not been animated I would have given the awards for Best Actor and Best Actress to Belle the Beauty and to the Beast. I was happy to see that at least the song award went to this wonderful Disney film.