The Academy Awards, Oscars (History, Categories, Facts)

Academy Awards are recognized all over the world, it is the most famous film award around the world. Winners of the Academy Award are considered to be the best in the film industry.

History of Academy Awards

The history of Academy Awards, which are also referred to as the Oscars, goes back to the first half of the 20^th century. American film industry skyrocketed after the end of World War 1 and myriads of films comprising several genres commenced appearing in Cinemas throughout America. Many of the films were studded with people whose acting prowess was recognized throughout the nation.  Whether it was a protagonist saving the country from enemies’ wrath or an antagonist who tried to disturb the social fabric of the society, people were nevertheless drawn closer and closer to the cinemas, as it was the sole medium for people to watch these motion pictures. People weren’t reluctant even a bit in shelling out money in order to buy tickets to behold the wonders that were motion pictures. Although poverty was still not alleviated despite economic reforms and some weren’t able to buy tickets in the first place. Acquisition of a ticket was a prerequisite to enter a Cinema.

In 1929, ten years after the end of World War 1, and amidst the boom of the film industry, there arose a need to formally recognize the actors who stood out of the bunch and entertained people in an incomparable manner. Some of the actors acted in such a superlative manner that the public perceived the film as impeccable and thought as if what they were watching was not anything fictitious but reality. Actors were perceived as artists and were revered more than anything by the masses.

First Academy Awards

In the aforementioned year on May 16, the first Academy Awards Ceremony was taken place. It was a dinner party at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Around 270 people witnessed the remarkable and unprecedented commencement of the presentation of fifteen awards in form of statuettes. It was a time period of mere fifteen minutes which made it possible to set precedent for honoring the incumbent and the future artists. People were almost oblivious of the work done by the background crew during the making of a film, therefore in order for them to be apprised of the fact that alongside Actors, other people such as Directors, Producers, and Costume designers also played a pivotal role in making the magic happen, statuettes were awarded to them too. Until 1940, winners were announced three months prior to the yearly Academy Awards Ceremony in the Los Angeles Times. In 1941, a wrapped envelope was used to disclose the names of triumphant.

Winners of First Academy Awards

The first actor to have won the Academy Award was Emil Jannings, as his performance was perceived as virtually impeccable in the 1928 movie called The Last Command. He was awarded the Oscar taking into account the ‘Best Actor’ category. Janet Gaynor was the first female to win the Oscar award for best actress as she performed superlatively in three films namely; 7^thHeaven, A Song of Two Humans, and Street Angel released in 1927, 1927, and 1928, respectively.

All Academy Award Winners

Criticism

The Academy Awards Presentations are not faultless in eyes of some of the people, throughout history, they have been mired with allegations of Racism, Plagiarism, leaving out the obviously deserved ones, etc. Technical glitches have also been part and parcel of the presentations as the latest major example is the announcement of LaLa Land as receiver of the best picture award instead of Moonlight, and this happened just because Warren Betty and Faye Dunaway were handed over the wrong envelope amidst the 89^th iteration of the ceremony.

All Oscars Awards Categories

1. Best Cinematography
2. Best Costume Design
3. Best Documentary Feature
4. Best Documentary Short Subject
5. Best Film Editing
6. Best International Feature Film
7. Best Live Action Short Film
8. Best Makeup and Hairstyling
9. Best Original Score
10. Best Original Song
11. Best Original Musical
12. Best Production Design
13. Best Sound
14. Best Visual Effects
15. Best Adapted Screenplay
16. Best Original Screenplay
17. Best Director
18. Best Actor
19. Best Actress
20. Best Supporting Actor
21. Best Supporting Actress
22. Best Animated Feature Film
23. Best Animated Short Film
24. Best Picture

Special Categories

1. Academy Honorary Award
2. Academy Scientific and Technical Award
3. Gordon E. Sawyer Award
4. Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
5. Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
6. Academy Special Achievement Award

Amazing Facts about The Academy Awards

1. The legendary Dog Rin Tin Tin was actually voted the best for the Best Actor award at the first-ever Oscar awards, but the Academy thought that it would never be taken seriously if an animal won the first-ever Oscar. So they decided to take another vote and the Germen Actor Emil Jannings won the award.
2. The First-ever Oscar winner Emil Jannings was a German actor, who later on, became a Nazi, and worked in many Nazi Propaganda Movies.
3. There are only three films that won all major five Oscar awards; Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and the Best Picture. These three movies are; It Happened One Night (1934), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and, The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
4. The three legendary movies; Ben-Hur(1959), Titanic (1997), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, are the most Oscar-winning movies of all time. These three movies won 11 Oscar awards each. There is no other movie that won these many Oscar awards.
5. The three movies; All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997), and La La Land (2016), hold the record for most Oscar nominations. Each of these movies was nominated for 14 nominations in different categories.
6. Moonlight won the Oscar for the best picture in 2016. The two presenters of this award Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty mistakenly announced the wrong movie, but it was announced about two minutes later that the film Moonlight actually won the Oscar for the Best Picture. Moonlight (2016) is the lowest-budget film to win an Oscar for best picture. Whereas the film Avatar (2009) holds the record for the highest budget film which won an Oscar in the Best motion picture category.
7. Two films; The Turning Point (1977), and The Color Purple (1985), each of these films was nominated for 11 Oscar awards but did not win an Oscar Award in any category.
8. Walt Disney holds the record for most Oscar Award nominations and winnings, he was nominated for an Oscar 64 times in different categories, and he won the award 26 times.
9. Tatum O’Neil is the youngest person ever to win an Oscar award, she won the Oscar award in the Best Supporting Oscar category when she was only 10 years old.
10. Jessica Tandy is the oldest person to win an Oscar award. She won the Oscar award in the Best Actress category for her performance in the film Driving Miss Daisy (1989), at the time she was 81 years old.

The Golden Globe Awards

The BAFTA Awards

Visit: The Oscars

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Academy Award/Oscar Winners (1929 to 2020 in Different Categories) BAFTA Award Winners (1949 to 2020 in Different Categories) Golden Globe Winners (1944 to 2020 in Different Categories) BAFTA Awards (History, Award Categories, Amazing Facts)