By Valeria Shakaya
4th year student
1st English group
The Oscars is an annual award of American
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science
(AMPAS). It is the most prestigious cinematic
award in the USA. The Oscar ceremony is
transmitted in different countries all over the world
live.
The very first ceremony took place in Roosevelt
hotel 16th of May 1929 in Hollywood. Interesting
to know that it lasted for 4 min 22 sec with 250
guests. It evokes a smile but this banquet was full
of toasts and speeches.
Golden Era in Hollywood starts at that time.
Cinema is the 4th largest industry in America.
About 800 films come out in a year. Color
cinematography develops. The Hollywood
Reporter appears (1930). Director's Guild formes.
Now there is a big five -5 largest film studious:
20th century Fox, MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros,
RKO Radio.
The Oscar figurine is actually a knight grasping a sword and
standing atop a film reel. The reel contains five spokes, which
symbolize the academy's five original branches: actors,
producers, directors, writers and technicians.
The Academy Awards nominees and winners are chosen by
professional honorary organization of AMPAS. Members of
each branch of the movie industry nominate those in their
respective fields and all members vote on Best Picture. The
winners are decided in a second round of voting that is open to
all members to vote on most categories.
The first aсtuality programme appeared 19th of March 1953.
25th of March 1954 the ceremony was transmitted on television.
This show gathered about 43 million people at home in front of
TV.
The name Oscars appeared in 1939. There are two main and
the most widespread versions why it was called so:
1. Margaret Herrick the director of Academy exclaimed
when she saw the statuette: “He looks just like my uncle
Oscar!”
2. Betty Davis one of the most famous
American actresses called the statuette like
that as her first husband's name was Oscar.
The Best of the Best
Walt Disney has 26 statuettes (from 64 nominations)
Marlee Matlin is the youngest actress for a
leading role in Children of a lesser God.
She was 21 years old.
Tatum O'Neal is the youngest
actress for a supporting role in
Papre moon. She was 10 years
old.
Actually she is best known as Michael Jackson's
first girlfriend.
Timothy Hutton is the youngest actor to
win a Best actor Oscar for a supporting role
in Ordinary people at the age of 20.
Adrien Brody is the youngest actor to win a
Best Actor Oscar for a leading role in
“The pianist” at the age of 29.
Shirley Temple is the youngest actress to win an honorary Oscar at the age of 6.
Vincent Miller is the youngest actor to win an honorary Oscar at the age of 7.
The most nominated actress is Meryl Streep
with 14 nominations.
The most nominated actor is Jack Nicholson
with 12 nominations.
Italy is the most titular foreign country with 13 Oscars.
France is the most nominated foreign country with 34 nominations.
In the history of the Oscars only 3 films accepted full
award package-for best picture, best actor, best actress (in
a leading role), best writing-adapted screenplay and best
director. These are: It happened one night, 1934, One flew
over the cuckoo's nest, 1975, The silence of the lambs,
1991
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of
the King holds the record for the most
Oscar won in every category in which
they were nominated. The Lord of the
Rings were nominated in 11 categories
and won 11 Oscars.
Titanic and All about
Eve hold the record for
most nominated films
with 14 nominations.
The only ones
Stevie Wonder is the only blind to win the Oscar
for The woman in red (1984)
Michael Dunn is the only dwarf to win the Oscar
for Ship of fools (1965)
The only laymen to own the Oscars are Harold Russell (veteran of the
World War II from Canada) for The best years of our lives (1946) and
Haig Ngor (Dr from Cambodia) for The killing fields (1984).
Bob Houp (Leslie Townes Hope) is the the
only to own 5 honorary Oscars.
The only actress to win 2 Oscars for Best Actress in
Howards end (1992) and for Best Adapted
Screenplay in Sense and sensibility (1995) is Emma
Thompson.
Minnelli family has 3 Oscars
Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1972)
Vincente Minnelli for Gigi (1958)
Judy Garland won the honorary Oscar in 1940
The only actors to be nominated for 5 decades (1960-2000) are Jack Nicholson
and Michael Caine
At the Oscars there are 2 competitions: for statuette and for best dress. Talking about
the Oscar ceremony we cannot omit this aspect as there is a massive discussion of red
carpet gowns (on TV, in magazines and Internet), plus celebrities do their best to look
as real stars.
The Oscars 2010
Best Dresses of the Ceremony
Charlize Theron
(Dior)
Jennifer Lopez
(Giorgio Armani)
Kate Winslet
(Yves Saint Laurent)
Penelope Cruz
(Donna Karan)
Sigourney Weaver
(Lanvin)
Sandra Bullock
(Marchesa)
Vera Farmiga
(Marchesa)
Sarah Jessica Parker
(Chanel)
Zoe Saldana
(Givenchy)
Demi Moore
(Versace)
Kristen Stewart
(Monique Lhuillier)
Monique Imes
(Tadashi Shoji)
Helen Mirren
(Badgley Mischka)
“Failure on the red carpet”
Hilary Swank
Charlize Theron
Kate Hudson
Gwyneth Paltrow
Celine Dion
Uma Thurman
Kim Basinger
Demi Moore
Bjork. This dress designed by Marjan Pejoski is considered to be a shocking
bad taste.
Winning the Oscar statuette is definitely the greatest and the most touching
moment. But there are some actresses who could not handle their excitement.
The nominees for best weeping:
Halle Berry (Monster's Ball) 2001
Charlize Theron (Monster) 2003
Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love) 1998
After –party
After official part of the Oscars the brightest and luxury part starts-after-party.
We cannot neglect the importance of this event.
There are 2 main parties: Vanity Fair which hosts an exclusive Academy Awards
after-party at the restaurant Morton's.
Elton John’s after-party which has been associated with AIDS charities since the
deaths of his friends Ryan White and Freddie Mercury.
Everything was much easier when it all started. 81 years ago 250 guests came
together in one of the best hotels in Hollywood and paid $10 to see the first heroes
of American cinema business. As I have already said that ceremony was really
short. Nobody could guess what hours-long show it is going to become. The form
of the statuette had not changed, but traditions and rules of the Oscars have been
developing through years. There were a lot of scandals, misunderstandings,
touching moments.
In 1969 first world transmission of the
Oscars took place. Precious envelopes
also appeared only in 1940. Before that
names of the winners were published in
newspapers. Today it is difficult to
imagine the ceremony without these
exciting minutes when nobody in the
audience, in the country, in the world
knows who is going to win the prize.
Interest to cinema appeared in America mostly at the time of immigration. In
1907 1 285 000 people came to USA only from Europe. That made a great
impact on making movies.
When we talk about cinema art it is hard to overestimate the importace of the
Oscars. Movies that won the prize became the subject of research and the
admiration of cineasts from all over the world. In this respect the name Oscar
is really appropriate as it means “a spear of the gods”.
Bibliography
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www.oscar.com
www.oscars.org
www.elle.com
www.people.com
Dunaevsky A. Unofficial history of the Oscars.
Gail K. and Piazza J.The Academy Awards the Complete History of
Oscar.