by Oscar Rosewater
When did the Academy Awards start?
The 1st Academy Awards was first held on May 16th, 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The first ever ceremony was a banquet and only had 270 attendees! The first ever actor and actress to win an Academy Award were Emil Jannings (The Last Command) and Janet Gaynor (7th Heaven). Jannings had two nominations in the category and Gaynor had three! Unlike other Academy Award ceremonies after it, the first already had the winners announced to the media three months earlier, however this was changed for the second ceremony. It wasn’t until 1941 that the names of winners were kept in sealed envelopes.
What about the golden Oscar statuette?
The golden statuette, officially known as the Academy Award of Merit, is made of solid bronze that is plated in 24-karat gold and weighs about 8 ½ pounds. However, due to metal shortage in WWII, the award statuettes were made of painted plaster for three awards years. These were later replaced with gold-plated metal ones after the war. The base of the knight, which the statuette depicts, features a reel of film with five spokes. Each of the spokes is meant to represent the five original branches of the Academy. The branches are the Actors, Writers, Technicians, Producers, and Directors.
Where did the name ‘Oscars’ originate?
The name ‘Oscars’ was officially adopted in the year 1939. However, the name wasn’t officially used to refer to the ceremony but to the trophies that were awarded during the event. The origin of the name Oscars has been subject to a lot of disputes over the past several years. Some people claim that the name was introduced by the first president of the Academy, whose husband’s middle name was Oscar. Others claim that the Executive Secretary of the Academy back in 1931 introduced the name because the statuette reminded her of her uncle, who was known as Oscar. However, one constant in the two theories is that the name originated from the staff of the Academy. Since the 1st Academy Awards in 1929, there have been more than 3,000 Oscars presented to individuals.
Did you know…?
According to the Official Academy Awards Database, there are three films historically that have received the highest number of nominations at the Academy Awards, with an incredible fourteen nominations! They are: La La Land (2016), Titanic (1997), and All About Eve (1950). Titanic did incredibly well at the awards as it ended up winning eleven awards out of its fourteen nominations!
Katherine Hepburn is the only actor with the highest Oscar wins so far with four awards won in her career. Out of a total 12 nominations, she won four awards for her film roles.
Parasite (2019) made history at the Oscars this year as it was the first non-English language film to win Best Picture. Parasite also was the top winner of the night with a total of four wins.
Joker (2019) was nominated for the most awards in 2020 with an incredible 11 nominations at this year’s Oscars. However, it only managed to win two with Joaquin Phoenix as Best Actor and Hildur Guðnadóttir with Best Original Score.
The actress with the most Oscar award nominations is Meryl Streep with 21 nominations in her career! However, she did get lucky in some of the nominations as she has won three awards for Best Actress for her roles in The Iron Lady (2011), Sophie’s Choice (1982), and Kramer vs. Kramer (1979). Jack Nicholson also has many nominations under his belt with 12 nominations.
The first colour picture to win best picture was Gone With The Wind (1939).
According to the Business Insider, it’s all about the statistics when winning an Oscar award. Data shows that around 93% of Best Picture Winners are dramas, and only 2% have been action and fantasy films.
Statista also has some interesting facts and statistics on the Academy Awards too. Their data shows that this year’s awards had approximately 23.6 million viewers.
Last but not least, do you know what exactly are the chances of winning an Oscar? You can find out, along with some other interesting chances and odds, with this new quiz from New Free Spins No Deposit: What Are The Chances?
