A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE OSCAR
Since the initial awards banquet on May 16, 1929, in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel’s Blossom Room, over 3,000 statuettes have been presented, The design was immediately adopted by the Board of Directors and graced the cover of the November 1927 issue of the Academy magazine, One of those goals was devising a method to honor outstanding achievements, thus encouraging higher levels of quality in all facets of motion picture production
At one of the many meetings in the following weeks, MGM art director Cedric Gibbons sketched the figure of a knight gripping a sword, standing in front of a reel of film, The five spokes of the reel stood for the original five branches of the Academy actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers and the sword symbolized protection for the welfare and advancement of the industry, Shortly after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was incorporated in1927, a dinner was held in the Crystal Ballroom of the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles to discuss the goals of the new organization, Because of the metals shortage
During World War II, Oscars were made of painted plaster for three years, They were recovered a week later, but not before some nerve wracking days had passed, Since then, the Academy has kept an additional ceremony’s worth of statuettes on hand
The Oscar statuette is the most recognized award in the world, In any case, by the sixth Awards presentation in 1934, Hollywood columnist Sidney Sikorsky used the name in his column in reference to Katharine Hepburn’s first Best Actress win, The Academy itself didn’t use the nickname officially until 1939, The 15 statuettes presented at the initial ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
Within a few years, the bronze was abandoned in favor of brianna metal, a pewterlike alloy
which made it easier to give the statuettes their smooth finish, A popular story has been that Academy librarian and eventual executive director Margaret Herrick thought it resembled her Uncle Oscar and said s, and that the Academy staff began referring to it as Oscar, In early 1928, Gibbons chose Los Angeles sculptor George Stanley to realize his design in three dimensions
Together they discussed the design concept no live models or sketches were used and Stanley worked up several versions from which Gibbons selected one, Following the war, all the awarded plaster figures were exchanged for gold- plated metal ones, Achievements in up to 24 regular categories will be honored on February 26, 2017, at the 89th Oscars presentation at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center
However, the Academy won’t know how many statuettes it will actually hand out until the envelopes are opened on Oscar Night, However, in 2000, only a few weeks before the presentation date, that year’s shipment of Oscars was stolen from the overland carrier’s loading dock, The design of the statuette has never changed from its original conception, but the size of the base varied until the present standard was adopted in 1945, Although the number of categories will be known prior to the ceremony, the possibility of ties and of multiple recipients sharing the prize in some categories makes the exact number of Oscar statuettes to be presented unpredictable, Each January, additional new golden statuettes are hand cast in bronze by New York based Policy Tall ix Fine Art Foundry before receiving its 24-karat gold finish by EPNER Technology, a renowned high-tech specification electroplating company in Brooklyn,
The statuette stands 131/2 inches tall and weighs a robust 81/2 pounds, In the finished design, the figure of the knight was streamlined and the film reel moved beneath its feet, Officially named the Academy Award of Merit, the statuette is better known by its nickname, Oscar, the origins of which aren’t clear, Its success as a symbol of achievement in filmmaking would doubtless amaze those who attended that dinner more than 80 years ago, as well as its designer, Cedric Gibbons, It stands today, as it has since 1929, without peer, on the mantels of the greatest filmmakers in history,
As in previous years, any surplus awards will be housed in the Academy’s vault until next year’s event, Except in years when the Academy created a publicity event out of the delivery of the Oscars to Los Angeles, they normally were sent overland by common carrier,
Who started Oscar awards?
Louis BM aye
The first Academy Award Ceremony took place two years later at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, on 16 May 1929, Founded by Louis BM ayer, head of MGM studios, in 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was intended as a nonprofit organization with the goal of advancing the film industry,
Who has won the most Oscars?
W Disney
America's most iconic filmmaker racked up a whopping 26 Oscars, four of which were honorary awards, and he also holds the record for the most nominations on record 59, Who has won the most Oscars of all time? The person who has triumphed more times at the Oscars than anyone else in history is Walt Disney
Why is it called an Oscar?
The story goes that when an Academy Awards librarian named Margaret Herrick first saw the golden figures she exclaimed that the blank face and stern eyebrow reminded her of her Uncle Oscar, the most popular explanation, and one generally given by AMPAS officials, is one that goes back to 1931
What does Oscar stand for?
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Are Oscars made of gold?
Following the war, the Academy invited recipients to redeem the plaster figures for gold-plated metal ones, Due to a metal shortage during World War II, Oscars were made of painted plaster for three years, The statuettes are solid bronze and plated in 24karat gold,
Why is Oscar award given?
Academy Award, in full Academy Award of Merit, by name Oscar, any of a number of awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, located in Beverly Hills, California, U,S,, to recognize achievement in the film industry
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences AMCAS since the awards debuted in 1929, This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category in which every member of the Oscars is eligible to submit a nomination and vote on the final ballot,1 The Best Picture category is usually the final award of the night and is widely considered as the most prestigious honor of the ceremony
The Grand Staircase columns at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, where the Academy Awards ceremonies have been held since 2002, showcase every film that has won the Best Picture title since the award's inception,5 There have been 581 films nominated for Best Picture and 94 winners
The Academy used the producer credits of the Producers Guild of America PGA until 1998, when all five producers of Shakespeare in Love made speeches after its win,89 A three producer limit has been applied some years since,910 There was controversy over the exclusion of some PGA credited producers of Crash and Little Miss Sunshine,10 The Academy can make exceptions to the limit, as when Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack were posthumously among the four nominated for The Reader,12 However, now any number of producers on a film can be nominated for Best Picture, should they be deemed eligible
For the first ceremony, three films were nominated for the award, This was expanded to eight in 1933, to ten in 1934, and to twelve in 1935, before being dropped back to ten in 1937, In 1945, it was further reduced to five
In the list below, winners are listed first in the gold row, followed by the other nominees,6 Except for the early years when the Academy used a non calendar year, the year shown is the one in which the film first premiered in Los Angeles County, California; normally this is also the year of first release, however, it may be the year after first release as with Casablanca and, if the film festival premiere is considered, Crash, The number of the ceremony 1st, 2nd, etc, appears in parentheses after the awards year, linked to the article on that ceremony, Each individual entry shows the title followed by nominee
Until 1950, the Best Picture award was given to the production company; from 1951 on, it has gone to the producer or producers, For the following three years, five films were nominated for the award, This is also the year before the ceremony at which the award is given; for example, a film exhibited theatrically during 2005 was eligible for consideration for the 2005 Best Picture Oscar, awarded in 2006, This number remained until 2009, when the limit was raised to ten and later adjusted in 2011, to vary between five and ten
For the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years, For example, the 2nd Academy Awards presented on April 3, 1930, recognized films that were released between August 1, 1928, and July 31, 1929, Starting with the 7th Academy Awards, held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31
Production companies with multiple nominations and wins
Films with historical settings have long performed well at the Oscars, from 1931's Best Picture winner All Quiet on the Western Front, through to recent films such as The King’s Speech 2010, Lincoln 2012 and 12 Years a Slave 2013
Other notable historical films that have swept the boards include the 1959 Charlton Heston epic Ben Hur 11 wins, 1996’s The English Patient nine wins and 1939 Civil War drama Gone With the Wind eight wins
Lawrence of Arabia 1962, Dances with Wolves 1990, Schindler’s List 1993 and Shakespeare In Love 1998 each took home seven awards
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