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The Only Oscar Book You'll Ever Need!
Below, but a few of the tidbits of Oscar trivia you'll learn in Robert Osborne's 80 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards (Abbeville Press), the newest edition of the movie critic and Turner Classic Movies network host's official guide to all things Oscar. The gorgeous coffee table tome checks in at an impressive - and hefty! - 440 pages, with more than 700 photos, and is a must-have for any Hollywood buff:
- The first Best Actor and Best Actress Oscars - ever - were won by Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor on May 16, 1929. The first year the Oscars were handed out, performers could win for one movie or several movies made during the qualifying year, so Jannings' Oscar was for The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh, while Gaynor's was for 7th Heaven, Street Angel and Sunrise.
- During the fourth Oscar ceremony, one of the Best Actor nominees fell asleep! It was 10-year-old Jackie Cooper, who was nominated for the movie Skippy, an adaptation of a popular comic strip.
- At the eighth Oscar ceremony in 1936, screenwriter Dudley Nichols became the first person to decline an Academy Award - he'd won Best Screenplay for The Informer - when he turned down the statue because of tension between several other industry guilds and the Academy regarding union issues.
- Until the 16th Oscar ceremony in 1944, the Best Supporting Actor and Actress winners didn't receive Oscar statues, but rather plaques, to commemorate their wins.
- The 25th Oscars, in 1953, were the first to be televised.
- The 60th ceremony in 1988 was almost undone by a Los Angeles traffic jam. Celeb-filled limos were so snarled in the jam that many famous types - including a very pregnant Glenn Close (a Best Actress nominee for Fatal Attraction) and 72-year-old presenter Olivia de Havilland - had to abandon their autos and "semi-jog," as Osborne puts it, to the ceremony, in their gowns and tuxes.
- When Tom Hanks accepted his first Oscar, for a gay AIDS patient in Philadelphia, in 1994, he thanked a gay teacher from his high school who had been an inspiration to him. The incident famously sparked the 1997 Kevin Kline comedy In & Out. But do you remember the name of Hanks' teacher? Rawley Farnsworth.
- It seems like Oscars have always been awarded on Sunday, but, in fact, the first Oscar ceremony held on a Sunday was the 71st show, in 1999.
The real question, of course, is, what will Osborne's next edition of the Oscar book say about this Sunday's ceremony, which promises to be one of the most, um, unique in years?
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I love the Oscars! It is the best award show for celebrities and movie buffs like myself. Although I look forward to seeing who wears what designer gowns or whom wears Neil Lane jewels, I swear these stars go all out for this award show more than any other held throughout the year!
I remember watching them when I was younger but around 1995 I really started to get into Cojo and his interviews, along with red carpet nominee arrivals,(best and worst dressed) now I need to leave Sunday open every year and remember every Feb. it's Oscar time:-)
While I may not always agree with whom wins, like when Denzel Washington won for Training Day in 2002 over Sean Penn's portrayal of a mentally challenged dad opposite Dakota Fanning, that was horrible. Denzel was great, but not against Sean Penn that year, but that was also the year Halle Berry won for best actress lead in Monsters Ball, not another favorite movie of mine, although Halle ROCKS, but I am not the one in charge, I think they might have been rigged that year, since no african american woman ever won in the best actress category, but coincidentally Denzel won lead actor for his role too??? Hmmm..fixed?? I think so..I think the Academy got such heat for that decision, they decided to give the award for Best Actor lead to Sean Penn in his movie for Mystic River the following year....he is a great actor but I still think he deserved it over Denzel the year before, and obviously others agree or else they would not have taken mercy on him and gave it the next year, the Academy messed up and knew it.
Well see who wins what this year, I love to watch such versatile actors and movies, that I am always in the loop on the latest projects these new and older actors do..always out with the old and in with the new, but well see how this year goes. Sean Penn is nominated again this year for his lead role in Milk. Good luck to all of the nominees.
Last year if you remember, there were no awards shows until after Feb. because of the writers strike, so I am very excited to see what is in store this Sunday, and oh btw, Hugh Jackman is hosting, sexiest man alive from People magazine and I am in 100% agreement with them.....party, anyone??