Today, The Grandma is at home surviving the new heat wave that affects Barcelona. The temperature is extremly high and the humidity is a nightmare.
She has decided to watch one of her favourite cartoons, Walt Disney's Flowers and Trees, a masterpiece that was premiered on a day like today in 1932 and that became the first cartoon short to use Technicolor and the first Academy Award winning cartoon short.
Flowers and Trees is a 1932 SillySymphonies cartoon produced by Walt Disney, directed by Burt Gillett, andreleased to theatres by United Artists on July 30, 1932. It was the first commercially released film to be produced in the full-color three-strip Technicolor process after several years of two-color Technicolor films. The film was a commercial and critical success, winning the first Academy Award for Best Cartoon Short Subject.
During spring the flowers, mushrooms, and trees do their calisthenics. Some trees play a tune, using vines for harp strings and a chorus of robins. A fight breaks out between a waspish-looking hollow tree and a younger, healthier tree for the attention of a female tree. The young tree emerges victorious, but the hollow tree retaliates by starting a fire. The plants and animals try to extinguish or evade the blaze. By poking holes in clouds and making it rain, the birds manage to put out the fire, although the hollow tree perishes in the flames after getting caught up in them himself. The young tree then proposes to the female tree, with a caterpillar serving as a ring, and they embrace as a 12-color rainbow forms behind them.
In May 1932, the first three-strip Technicolor camera was completed. HerbertKalmus wanted to test it in the animation field, giving the company time to build enough cameras to offer the whole movie industry, but could not find any interested animators.
Finally Walt Disney agreed to try it as an experiment on Flowers and Trees,which was already in production in black-and-white, and ordered the cartoon redone in color. The color animation caused the production to run over budget, potentially ruining Disney financially, but the cartoon proved so popular that the profits made up for the budget overage.
As a result of the success of Flowers and Trees, all future Silly Symphonies cartoons were produced in three-strip Technicolor. The added novelty of color helped to boost the series' previously disappointing returns. Disney's other cartoon series, the Mickey Mouse shorts, were deemed successful enough not to need the extra boost of color, remaining in black-and-white until The BandConcert (1935).
Disney's exclusive contract with Technicolor, in effect until the end of 1935, forced other animation producers such as Ub Iwerks and Max Fleischer to use Technicolor's inferior two-color process or a competing two-color system such as Cinecolor.
Flowers and Trees was the first animated film to win an Oscar at the fifth Academy Awards in 1932. It won an Oscar for best Short Subjects, Cartoons, a category first introduced that year.
Today, The Grandma has been at home resting and watching TV. She has wanted to pay tribute to one of her favourite actresses, Kathy Bates, who was born on a day like today in 1948.
The Grandma loves mystery and terror films and Kathy Bates has played some of the best roles of these genres in cinema and television. Dolores Claiborne, Misery or American Horror Story are great examples of it.
Kathleen Doyle Bates (born June 28, 1948) is an American actress and director. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two Primetime EmmyAwards, and two Golden Globe Awards.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, she studied theatre at the Southern Methodist University before moving to New York City to pursue an acting career. She landed minor stage roles before being cast in her first on screen role in Taking Off (1971). Her first Off-Broadway stage performance was in the 1976 production of Vanities.
Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, she continued to perform on screen and on stage, and garnered a Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Play in 1983 for her performance in night, Mother, and won an Obie Award in 1988 for her performance in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.
Bates' performance as Annie Wilkes in the horror film Misery (1990), marked her Hollywood breakthrough, winning her the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Further acclaim came for her starring role in Dolores Claiborne (1995), The Waterboy (1998), and supporting roles in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) and Titanic (1997); the latter, in which she portrayed Molly Brown, became the highest-grossing film to that point.
Bates received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Primary Colors (1998), About Schmidt (2002), and Richard Jewell (2019).
Bates' television work has resulted in 14 Emmy Award nominations, including two for her leading role on the NBC series Harry's Law (2011–12).
She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her appearance on the ninth season of Two and a Half Men (2012) and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her portrayal of Delphine LaLaurie on the third season of American Horror Story (2014). She also received accolades for her portrayal of Miss Hannigan in the 1999 television adaptation of Annie.
Kathy Bates, Misery (1990)
Her directing credits
include several episodes of the HBO television series Six Feet Under
(2001–03) and the television film Ambulance Girl (2005).
Bates was born in Memphis,Tennessee. Her great-great-grandfather was an Irish emigrant to New Orleans, Louisiana, who served as President Andrew Jackson's doctor. She graduated early from White Station High School (1965) and from Southern Methodist University (1969), where she studied theatre and became a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority. She moved to New York City in 1970 topursue an acting career.
After moving to New York City, Bates worked several odd jobs as well as minor stage roles while struggling to find work as an actress. At one point, she worked as a cashier at the Museum of Modern Art.
In 1971, Bates was cast in a minor role in the Miloš Forman comedy Taking Off,her first on screen role in a feature film.
After Taking Off was released, Bates didn't work on another feature film until she appeared opposite Dustin Hoffman in Straight Time (1978). Throughout the 1970s, she continued to perform on stage. Her first Off-Broadway performance was in the 1976 production of Vanities. During this time, she also began working in television, starring in a variety of soap operas such as The Doctors, All My Children, and One Life to Live.
Bates' performance in the 1990 horror film Misery, based on the book of the same name by Stephen King, marked her Hollywood breakthrough. The film was a commercial and critical success and her performance as Annie Wilkes was met with widespread critical adulation.
The following year, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress-Motion Picture Drama. The American Film Institute included Annie Wilkes, as played by Bates, in their 100 Heroes and Villains list, ranking her as the 17th most iconic villain and sixth most iconic villainess in film history.
Kathy Bates, Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Soon after, she starred in the acclaimed 1991 film Fried GreenTomatoes, based on the novel by comedic actress Fannie Flagg. For her performance in this film, she received a BAFTA Award nomination.
In 1995, Bates played the title character in Dolores Claiborne,another well-received Stephen King adaptation, for which she was nominated for Best Actress at the 22nd Saturn Awards. Bates began working behind the screen as well, as a director, on several television series.
In 1996, Bates received her first Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, for her performance as Jay Leno's manager Helen Kushnick in HBO's The Late Shift (1996). That role also earned Bates her second Golden Globe Award win in the category of Best Supporting Actress-Series, Miniseries or Television Film and her first Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie. During this time, she also appeared frequently on television.
In 2012, Bates made a guest appearance on Two and a Half Men as the ghost of Charlie Harper on the episode Why We Gave Up Women, which aired on April 30, 2012. This guest appearance resulted in Bates winning her first Emmy Award, in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, following nine nominations.
In 2013, she began starring in the American Horror Story series' third season, Coven, as Delphine LaLaurie, an immortal racist who is brought back into the modern world after spending years buried alive. For that role, she won her second Emmy Award, in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. Bates claimed that Ryan Murphy, the creator of the series, resurrected her career.
Kathy Bates, American Horror Story (2011)
Bates returned for the fourth season of American Horror Story, Freak Show, this time as Ethel Darling, a bearded lady who performs in a freak show.
She subsequently returned again for the fifth season, Hotel, where she played Iris, the hotel's hateful manager.
Bates returned for her fourth, and the show's sixth season, Roanoke, playing two characters-Thomasin TheButcher White and Agnes Mary Winstead. She received further Emmy Award nominations for each season.
On September 20, 2016, Bates received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her work in the film industry. Her star is located at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard.
In 2017, Bates starred in the Netflix television series Disjointed, in which she played the character of Ruth Whitefeather Feldman, an owner of a California medical marijuana dispensary. The show aired for two seasons.
In 2018, she appeared in two films: in Xavier Dolan's critically panned arthouse film The Death and Life of John F. Donovan and as political activist Dorothy Kenyon in the Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex. That year, she also guest-starred in the finale of the 11th season of The Big Bang Theory.
In 2019, Bates portrayed American politician Miriam A. Ferguson in the Netflix film The Highwaymen. She also appeared in the Clint Eastwood film Richard Jewell, playing the mother of the title individual, for which she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe as well as her fourth Academy Award nomination, also in the Best Supporting Actress category.
Today, Claire Fontaine and TheGrandma have gone to the cinema to watch Judy, a 2019 biographical drama film about American singer and actress Judy Garland played by Renée Zellweger who has won the Academy Award for this interpretation.
Claire and The Grandma remember Judy Garland,especially her famous role in The Oz Wizard, a classic film and they love RenéeZellweger.They consider Renée one of the best actresses of the last decades with memorable roles in films like the Bridget Jones's saga, Cold Mountain, Mrs. Potter, Case 39, Jerry Maguire, The Whole Truth, Cinderella Man or Chicago without forgetting other minor roles in movies like Reality bites or Texas chainsaw.
Renée is splendid in this movie and The Grandma recommends watching Judy if you want to discover the difficult life of a Hollywood star who has to fight between being a mother and being one of the most famous and popular stars of the celluloid. A terrible struggle to find love in a loneless world.
Renée Kathleen Zellweger (born April 25, 1969) is an American actress and producer. She has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two BAFTA Awards.
Born in Texas, Zellweger studied English Literature at UT Austin. Initially aspiring to a career in journalism, she was drawn to acting following her brief work on stage during college.
Academy Award for Judy, 2020
Following her film debut with a minor role in Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused (1993), Zellweger's first starring role came with the slasher film Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994). She rose to prominence with starring roles in Jerry Maguire (1996), One TrueThing(1998), Me, Myself and Irene (2000), and Nurse Betty(2000), winning her first Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for the lattermost.
For her portrayals of Bridget Jones in the romantic comedy BridgetJones's Diary (2001) and Roxie Hart in the musical crime drama Chicago(2002), she garnered consecutive nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She reprised her role as Jones in two equally successful sequels, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) and Bridget Jones's Baby (2016).
Zellweger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a loquacious farmer in the epic drama Cold Mountain (2003).
She followed this with her portrayals of Mae Fox in Cinderella Man (2005) and author Beatrix Potter in Miss Potter (2006). After starring roles in smaller scale films, such as Appaloosa (2008) and Case 39 (2009), she had a six-year hiatus from the screen.
In 2019, Zellweger starred in the Netflix anthology series What/If and garnered critical acclaim for her portrayal of Judy Garland in the biopic Judy,winning the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Judy, also marketed as Judy: Over the Rainbow, is a 2019 biographical drama film about American singer and actress Judy Garland.
Directed by Rupert Goold, it is an adaptation of the Olivier- and Tony-nominated West End and Broadway play End of the Rainbow by Peter Quilter. The film stars Renée Zellweger as Garland, with Jessie Buckley, Finn Wittrock, Rufus Sewell, and Michael Gambon in supporting roles.
The film follows Judy Garland's career during the last year of her life when she relocated her stage career to Britain. After some initial success for a run of sell-out concerts at the Talk of the Town in London, her efforts eventually stop making progress and even start to worsen due to health issues.
Judy premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on 30 August 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on 27 September 2019, and in the United Kingdom on 2 October 2019.
It was a critical
success, and it grossed $39 million worldwide, before theatres deducted
their percentage from ticket sales. The film received positive reviews
from critics, with major acclaim drawn towards Zellweger's performance,
considered by many to be the finest of her career. For her performance,
Zellweger has won several Best Actress awards, including the Academy
Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and British Academy
Film Award.
Renée Zellweger in Judy, 2019
At the outset, Judy Garland is 14 years old and is being told by her studio manager, Louis B. Mayer, that she has a gift other girls do not. Judy's talent at singing is nearly unmatched while she is able to surpass the success of Shirley Temple as a Hollywood child star.
Judy is then shown in her forties, performing with her two children from her marriage to Sidney Luft, her third husband. Later, Judy and her son and daughter try to check into their hotel but are turned away for previous nonpayment. Because of this, Judy is forced to return home to Luft, who has since divorced her.
At a party, Judy meets Mickey Deans, a nightclub owner, and they become close friends. In a flashback to Judy's teenage years with Mickey Rooney, her studio minder interrupts a date to give Judy amphetamines to help control her appetite. The action returns to 1968, with Judy seeing an agent who tells her that Britain is open to her, but that the U.S. reception to her has cooled and become unworkable due to her growing performance unreliability and moodiness. Judy decides to embark for the U.K., leaving her two children with Luft, which is difficult for her.
In the U.K., substance abuse issues keep her from performing reliably on stage. Judy is late to her London première. Assistants are called upon to check on her health and fix her make-up. The fans are enthusiastic. Her performance is excellent. The film has another flashback to Judy at 14 years old. She complains about being fed with pills to help her meet her schedule demands. Back in London in 1968, she is performing again and starts to sing the Clang, clang, clang... lyrics to The Trolley Song to strong applause.
Judy meets two adoring gay fans at the stage door on her way out and joins them for a late-night snack at their apartment. They bond over their difficulties, and she sings Get Happy while her fan plays the piano. Mickey Deans comes to London on a surprise visit, which cheers her up. Judy still has trouble making her stage performances on time because of substance abuse issues and anxiety. Another flashback shows Mayer talking to her at 15 years of age, with Judy portrayed as exhausted by her childhood schedule, and Mayer portrayed as using emotional abuse and physical intimidation to keep her in line.
Her sponsoring British agent has her examined by a voice specialist medical doctor. Judy says she had a tracheotomy years ago, which weakened her voice. The doctor diagnoses physical and mental exhaustion, which requires rest for recovery. Her relationship with Deans is a support to her personal life, and they marry. He is her fifth husband.
Judy still thinks about her children and suffers from being separated from them. The children, however, are happy in school in California. Deans has bad news about a money deal that fell through, which means she must stay in Britain in order to make ends meet. At her next performance, she passes out on stage and is heckled. Judy ends her singing engagement but returns for the last night on stage, where she asks to perform one last song. She breaks down while singing Over the Rainbow but recovers with the encouragement of supportive fans and is able to complete the performance. Judy asks, You won't forget me, will you? to the audience, who applaud before she ends her performance by saying, Promise you won't. The film's epilogue states that Judy died six months later, in the summer of 1969, at the age of 47.
Judy had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on 30 August 2019. It also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on 10 September 2019. The film was theatrically released in the United States on 27 September 2019, by Roadside Attractions and LD Entertainment, and in the United Kingdom on 2 October 2019, by 20th Century Fox, Pathé's British Distributor.
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922-June 22, 1969) was an American actress, singer and dancer. During a career that spanned 45 years, she attained international stardom as an actress in both musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist, and on the concert stage.
Respected for her versatility, she received an Academy Juvenile Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Special Tony Award, and was the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for her 1961 live recording Judy at Carnegie Hall.
Garland began performing in vaudeville as a child with her two older sisters and was later signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. She appeared in more than two dozen films for MGM and is best remembered for her portrayal of Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
Judy Garland
Garland was a frequent on-screen partner of both Mickey Rooney and Gene Kelly and regularly collaborated with director and second husband Vincente Minnelli.
Other notable film appearances during this period include roles in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), TheHarvey Girls (1946), Easter Parade (1948), and Summer Stock (1950).
Garland was released from MGM in 1950, after 15 years with the studio, amid a series of personal struggles that prevented her from fulfilling the terms of her contract. Although her film career became intermittent thereafter, two of Garland's most critically acclaimed performances came later in her career: she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in A Star Is Born(1954) and a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). She also made record-breaking concert appearances, released eight studio albums, and hosted her own Emmy-nominated television series, The Judy Garland Show (1963–1964).
At age 39, Garland became the youngest and first female recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in the film industry. In 1997, Garland was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and in 1999, the American Film Institute placed her among the 10 greatest female stars of classic American cinema.
Garland struggled in her personal life from an early age. The pressures of early stardom affected her physical and mental health from the time she was a teenager; her self-image was influenced and constantly criticized by film executives who believed that she was physically unattractive and who manipulated her onscreen physical appearance. Throughout her adulthood she was plagued by alcohol and substance abuse as well as financial instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. Her lifelong struggle with substance abuse ultimately led to her death in London from an accidental barbiturate overdose at age 47.
Jeremy John Irons, born 19 September 1948, is an English actor born in Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has since appeared in many West End theatre productions, including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, Godspell, Richard II, and Embers.
In 1984, he made his Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing and received a Tony Award for Best Actor.
Irons' first major film role came in the 1981 romantic drama The French Lieutenant's Woman, for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor. After starring in dramas such as Moonlighting (1982), Betrayal (1983), and The Mission (1986), he gained critical acclaim for portraying twin gynaecologists in David Cronenberg's psychological thriller Dead Ringers (1988).
In 1990, Irons played accused murderer Claus von Bülow in Reversal of Fortune, and took home multiple awards, including an Academy Award for Best Actor.
Jeremy Irons and his Academy Award
Other notable films have included Steven Soderbergh's mystery thriller Kafka (1991), the period drama The House of the Spirits (1993), the romantic drama M. Butterfly (1993), the voice of Scar in Disney's The Lion King (1994), Simon Gruber in the action film Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), the drama Lolita (1997), Musketeer Aramis in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), the action adventure Dungeons & Dragons (2000), the drama The Merchant of Venice (2004), the drama Being Julia (2004), the epic historical drama Kingdom of Heaven (2005), the fantasy-adventure Eragon (2006), the Western Appaloosa (2008), and the indie drama Margin Call (2011).
In 2016, he appeared in Assassin's Creed and, starting that year, he plays Alfred Pennyworth in the DC Extended Universe, beginning with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and later reprising the role in Justice League (2017) and The Batman (TBA).
Irons has also made several notable appearances on TV. He earned his first Golden Globe Award nomination for his break-out role in the ITV series Brideshead Revisited (1981). In 2005, Irons starred opposite Helen Mirren in the historical miniseries Elizabeth I, for which he received a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Jeremy Irons in The Mission, 1986
From 2011 to 2013 he starred as Pope Alexander VI in the Showtime historical series The Borgias. He is one of the few actors who won the Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Award, an Emmy Award and a Tony Award. In October 2011, he was nominated Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Irons is a patron of the Chiltern Shakespeare Company which produces Shakespearean plays annually in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. Irons was bestowed an Honorary-Life Membership by the University College Dublin Law Society in September 2008, in honour of his contribution to television, film, audio, music, and theatre. Also in 2008, Irons was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Southampton Solent University. On 20 July 2016, Irons was announced as the first Chancellor of Bath Spa University.
I wanted to become an actor because I wanted to become a gypsy.
Donald Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is most famous for his semi-intelligible speech and his mischievous and temperamental personality. He has appeared in more films than any other Disney character, and is the most published comic book character in the world outside of the superhero genre.
Donald Duck rose to fame with his comedic roles in animated cartoons. Donald's first appearance was in 1934 in The Wise Little Hen, but it was his second appearance in Orphan's Benefit which introduced him as a temperamental comic foil to Mickey Mouse. Throughout the next two decades, Donald appeared in over 150 theatrical films, several of which were recognized at the Academy Awards.
In the 1930s, he typically appeared as part of a comic trio with Mickey and Goofy and was given his own film series in 1937 starting with Don Donald. These films introduced Donald's love interest Daisy Duck and often included his three nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. After the 1956 film Chips Ahoy, Donald appeared primarily in educational films before eventually returning to theatrical animation in Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983). His most recent appearance in a theatrical film was 1999's Fantasia 2000. Donald has also appeared in direct-to-video features such as Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004), television series such as Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006–2016), and video games such as QuackShot (1991).
Donald Duck with his nephews
The origins of Donald Duck's name may have been inspired by Australian cricket legend Donald Bradman. In 1932 Bradman and the Australian team were touring North America and he made the news after being dismissed for a duck against New York West Indians. Walt Disney was in the process of creating a friend for Mickey Mouse when he possibly read about Bradman's dismissal in the papers and decided to name the new character Donald Duck. Voice performer Clarence Nash auditioned for Walt Disney Studios when he learned that Disney was looking for people to create animal sounds for his cartoons. Disney was particularly impressed with Nash's duck imitation and chose him to voice the new character.
Beyond animation, Donald is primarily known for his appearances in comics. Donald was most famously drawn by Al Taliaferro, Carl Barks, and Don Rosa. Barks, in particular, is credited for greatly expanding the Donald Duck universe, the world in which Donald lives, and creating many additional characters such as Donald's rich uncle Scrooge McDuck.
The 1st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1927 and 1928 and took place on May 16, 1929, at a private dinner held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California. AMPAS president Douglas Fairbanks hosted the show. Tickets cost $5, 270 people attended the event and the presentation ceremony lasted fifteen minutes. Awards were created by Louis B. Mayer, founder of Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation, at present merged into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is the only Academy Awards ceremony not to be broadcast either on radio or television.
During the ceremony, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards, now commonly referred to as Oscars, in twelve categories. Winners were announced three months before the live event. Unlike later ceremonies, an actor or director could be awarded for multiple works within a calendar year. Emil Jannings, for example, was given the Best Actor award for his work in both The Way of All Flesh and The Last Command. Moreover, Charlie Chaplin and Warner Brothers each received an Honorary Award.
Major winners at the ceremony included 7th Heaven and Sunrise, which each received three awards, and Wings, receiving two awards. Among its honors, Sunrise won the award for Unique and Artistic Picture and Wings won the award for Outstanding Picture, now known as Best Picture. These two categories at the time were seen as equally the top award of the night intended to honor different and equally important aspects of superior film making. The next year, the Academy dropped the Unique and Artistic Picture award, and decided retroactively that the award won by Wings was the highest honor that could be awarded.
The first Academy Awards
presentation was held on May 16, 1929, at a private dinner at the Hollywood
Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people, although the names of the
winners were already known since February 18 that year.
The first film that received
the Oscar for best film was Wings by William A. Wellman and the first best
Actor awarded was Emili Jannigs for his performances in The Last Command and
The Way of All Flesh.
The awards ceremony was
televised in 1983.
The Oscars is also the oldest
entertainment awards ceremony; its equivalents, the Emmy Awards for television,
the Tony Awards for theatre and the Grammy Awards for music an recording.
The Academy Awards are considered to be the most
prestigious cinema awards ceremony in the world and is an annual in the film
industry.
OSCAR
STATUETTE
Made of gold-plated Britannium
on a black metal base, it is 34 cm in tall, weighs 3 kg and shows a naked
knight which arms crossed holding a sword on a reel of film with five spokes.
The five spokes represent the original branches of the Academy: Actors,
Writers, Directors, Producers and Technicians.
The sketches of statuettes were
made by Cedric Gibbons and were performed in 1928 by the stenographer of the
Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
THE
NAME
The origin of the name is
disputed. One biography of Bette Davis affirms that the statue was named in
honor of her first husband Oscar Nelson.
Another claimed origin is that the Academy’s
Executive Secretary, Margaret Henrick saw the award in 1931 reminding her of
her “Uncle Oscar”.
STATUETTES
OWNERSHIP
Since 1950, the statuettes have
been legality protected by that neither winners nor their heirs can sell the
statuettes without first offering them to the Academy for the price of “1$”.
