Academy Awards History

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is among the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremonies in the world.

The 1st Academy Awards ceremony was held on Thursday, May 16, 1929, at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood to honor outstanding film achievements of 1927 and 1928. It was hosted by actor Douglas Fairbanks and director William C. DeMille. The 80th Academy Awards ceremony was held on Sunday, February 24, 2008, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles to honor outstanding film achievements of 2007. It was hosted by Comedy Central's The Daily Show host Jon Stewart.

Academy Awards

AMPAS, a professional honorary organization, maintains a voting membership of 5,829 as of 2007. Actors constitute the largest voting bloc, numbering 1,311 members (22 percent) of the Academy's composition. Votes for Oscars have been tabulated and certified by the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (and its predecessor Price Waterhouse) for the past 73 annual awards ceremonies.

The Oscar
The official name of the Oscar statuette is the Academy Award of Merit. Made of gold-plated britannium on a black metal base, it is 13.5 in (34 cm) tall, weighs 8.5 lb (3.85 kg) and depicts a knight rendered in Art Deco style holding a crusader's sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes. The five spokes each represent the original branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers and Technicians. MGM’s art director Cedric Gibbons, one of the original Academy members, supervised the design of the award trophy by printing the design on scroll. In need of a model for his statue Gibbons was introduced by his then wife Dolores del Río to Emilio "El Indio" Fernández. Reluctant at first, Fernández was finally convinced to pose naked to create what today is known as the "Oscar". Then sculptor George Stanley sculpted Gibbons's design in clay, and Alex Smith cast the statue in tin and copper and then gold-plated it over a composition of 92.5 percent tin and 7.5 percent copper. The only addition to the Oscar since it was created is a minor streamlining of the base. Approximately 40 Oscars are made each year in Chicago, Illinois by the manufacturer, R.S. Owens. If they fail to meet strict quality control standards, the statuettes are cut in half and melted down.

The root of the name "Oscar" is contested. One biography of Bette Davis claims that she named the Oscar after her first husband, bandleader Harmon Oscar Nelson; one of the earliest mentions in print of the term Oscar dates back to Bette Davis's receipt of the award in 1936. Walt Disney is also quoted as thanking the Academy for his Oscar as early as 1932. Another claimed origin is that of the Academy’s Executive Secretary, Margarita Bauza, who first saw the award in 1931 and made reference to the statuette reminding her of her Uncle Oscar. Columnist Sidney Skolsky was present during Herrick’s naming and seized the name in his byline, "Employees have affectionately dubbed their famous statuette 'Oscar'" (Levy 2003). Both Oscar and Academy Award are registered trademarks of the Academy, fiercely protected through litigation and threats thereof.

As of the 80th Academy Awards ceremony held in 2008, a total of 2,696 Oscars have been awarded. A total of 293 different actors have won an acting Oscar (including Honorary Awards and Juvenile Awards).

Ownership of Oscar statuettes
Since 1950, the statuettes have been legally encumbered by the requirement that neither winners nor their heirs may sell the statuettes without first offering to sell them back to the Academy for $1. If a winner refuses to agree to this stipulation, then the Academy keeps the statuette. Academy Awards not protected by this agreement have been sold in public auctions and private deals for six-figure sums (Levy 2003).

This rule is highly controversial, since it implies that the winner does not own the award. The case of Michael Todd's grandson trying to sell Todd's Oscar statuette illustrates that there are many who do not agree with this idea. When Todd's grandson attempted to sell Todd's Oscar statuette to a movie prop collector, the Academy won the legal battle by getting a permanent injunction. Although some Oscar sales transactions have been successful, the buyers have subsequently returned the statuettes to the Academy, which keeps them in its treasury.

Academy membership
All AMPAS members must be invited to join. Invitation comes from the Board of Governors, on behalf of Academy Branch Executive Committees. Membership eligibility may be achieved by a competitive nomination or a member may submit a name based on other significant contribution to the field of motion pictures. Although winning an Academy Award usually results in an invitation to join, membership is not automatic.

New membership proposals are considered annually. The Academy does not publicly disclose its membership, although as recently as 2007 press releases have announced the names of those who have been invited to join. The 2007 release also stated that it has just under 6,000 voting members. While the membership had been growing until 2003, stricter policies have kept its size steady since then.

Academy membership is divided into 15 branches, representing different disciplines in motion pictures. Members whose work does not fall within one of the branches may belong to a group known as "Members at Large."

Nominations
Today, according to Rules 2 and 3 of the official Academy Awards Rules, a film must open in the previous calendar year, from midnight at the start of January 1 to midnight at the end of December 31, in Los Angeles County, California, to qualify. Rule 2 states that a film must be "feature-length", defined as a minimum of 40 minutes, except for short subject awards and it must exist either on a 35 mm or 70 mm film print or on 24 fps or 48 fps progressive scan digital film print with native resolution not less than 1280x720.

The members of the various branches nominate those in their respective fields while all members may submit nominees for Best Picture. The winners are then determined by a second round of voting in which all members are then allowed to vote in most categories, including Best Picture.

As of the 79th Academy Awards, 847 members (past and present) of the Screen Actors Guild have been nominated for an Oscar (in all categories).

Awards night
The major awards are presented at a live televised ceremony, most commonly in February or March following the relevant calendar year, and six weeks after the announcement of the nominees. This is an elaborate extravaganza, with the invited guests walking up the red carpet in the creations of the most prominent fashion designers of the day. Black tie dress is the most common outfit for men, although fashion may dictate not wearing a bowtie, and musical performers typically do not adhere to this. (The artists who recorded the nominees for Best Original Song quite often perform those songs live at the awards ceremony, and the fact that they are performing is often used to promote the television broadcast.) The Academy has for several years claimed that the award show has a billion viewers internationally, but this has so far not been confirmed by any independent sources. Neither has the Academy explained how it has reached this figure.

The Academy Awards is the only awards ceremony televised live across the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii). Other awards ceremonies (such as the Emmys, Golden Globes, and Grammys) are broadcast live in the East Coast but are on tape delay in the West Coast.

The Awards show was first televised on NBC in 1953. NBC continued to broadcast the event until 1960 when the ABC Network took over, televising the festivities through 1970, after which NBC resumed the broadcasts. ABC once again took over broadcast duties in 1976; it has contracted to do so through the year 2014.

After more than sixty years of being held in late March or early April, the ceremonies were moved up to late February or early March starting in 2004 to help disrupt and shorten the intense lobbying and ad campaigns associated with Oscar season in the film industry. Another reason was because of the growing TV ratings success of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, which would cut into the Academy Awards audience. The earlier date is also to the advantage of ABC, as it currently usually occurs during the highly profitable and important February sweeps period.The Awards show holds the distinction of having won the most Emmys in history, with 38 wins and 167 nominations.

On March 30, 1981, the awards ceremony was postponed for one day after the shooting of President Ronald Reagan and others in Washington, D.C. On October 16, 2006, the awards event itself was designated a National Special Security Event by the United States Department of Homeland Security.

Movie studios are strictly prohibited from advertising films during the broadcast.

Since 2002, movie stars have been seen arriving at the Academy Awards in hybrid vehicles; during the telecast of the 79th Academy Awards in 2007, Leonardo DiCaprio and former vice president Al Gore announced that ecologically intelligent practices had been integrated into the planning and execution of the Oscar presentation and several related events.

Venues
The 1st Academy Awards were presented at a banquet dinner at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood. Subsequent banquet ceremonies in the 1930s and early 40s were held in Los Angeles at either The Ambassador Hotel or the Biltmore Hotel.

Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood then hosted the awards from 1944 to 1946, followed by the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles from 1947 to 1948. The 21st Academy Awards in 1949 were held at the "Academy Award Theater" at the Academy's then-headquarters on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood.

From 1950 to 1960, the awards were presented at Hollywood's Pantages Theater. The Oscars then moved to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California in 1961. By 1969, the Academy decided to move the ceremonies back to Los Angeles, this time at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in the Los Angeles Music Center. The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion hosted 19 consecutive Oscar ceremonies until 1988, when the Academy started to alternate between the Music Center and the Shrine Auditorium.

In 2002, Hollywood's Kodak Theater became the first permanent home of the awards. It is connected to the Hollywood & Highland Center, which contains 640,000 square feet (59,000 m²) of space including retail, restaurants, nightclubs, other establishments and a six-screen cinema. In fact, the Grand Staircase columns at the Kodak Theater showcase every movie that has won the Best Picture title since the first Academy Awards in 1929.

Criticism
Critics have noted that many Best Picture Academy Award winners in the past have not stood the test of time. Several of these films, such as Around the World in 80 Days, Grand Hotel and Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth are often considered to have aged poorly and to have little of the impact they had on their initial release. Several films that currently have wide critical approval were not named Best Picture, such as the highly acclaimed Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, and Raging Bull, directed by Martin Scorsese.

It has been suggested that actors are at a disadvantage in comedic roles, as few acting awards have been given for performances in films that could be considered primarily comedic. Notable examples of actors who have received Oscars for comedic roles are James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story, Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday, Josephine Hull in Harvey, Jack Lemmon in Mister Roberts, Peter Ustinov in Topkapi, Walter Matthau in The Fortune Cookie, Goldie Hawn in Cactus Flower, George Burns in The Sunshine Boys, Diane Keaton in Annie Hall, Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny, Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost, Jack Palance in City Slickers, Jack Nicholson in As Good as It Gets, Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda, Mira Sorvino in Mighty Aphrodite, Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine, and Jessica Lange in Tootsie. This was joked about at the 79th Academy Awards ceremony by Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and Will Ferrell.

Studios also lobby heavily for their films to be considered, leading to the complaint that nominations and awards may be largely a result of this lobbying rather than the quality of the material.

REGULAR CURRENT AWARDS

Current Awards

Production

Best Picture: 1927 to present
Best Director: 1927 to present
Best Original Screenplay: 1940 to present
Best Adapted Screenplay: 1927 to present

Acting

Best Actor: 1927 to present
Best Actress: 1927 to present
Best Supporting Actor: 1936 to present
Best Supporting Actress: 1936 to present

Technical production

Best Art Direction: 1927 to present
Best Cinematography: 1927 to present
Best Film Editing: 1935 to present

Music

Best Original Song: 1934 to present
Best Original Score: 1934 to present
Best Original Musical: 2000 to present

Sound and visual effects

Best Sound Mixing: 1930 to present
Best Sound Editing: 1963 to present
Best Visual Effects: 1939 to present

Costume and makeup

Best Costume Design: 1948 to present
Best Makeup: 1981 to present

Animation

Best Animated Feature: 2001 to present
Best Animated Short Film: 1931 to present

Documentary

Best Documentary Feature: 1943 to present
Best Documentary Short Subject: 1941 to present
Best Live Action Short Film: 1931 to present

Misc

Best Foreign Language Film: 1947 to present

Retired Awards

Best Assistant Director: 1933 to 1937
Best Dance Direction: 1935 to 1937
Best Engineering Effects: 1927/1928 only
Best Score—Adaptation or Treatment
Best Original Musical or Comedy Score: 1995 to 1999
Best Short Film—Color: 1936 and 1937
Best Short Film—Live Action—2 Reels: 1936 to 1956
Best Short Film—Novelty: 1932 to 1935
Best Original Story: 1927 to 1956
Best Unique and Artistic Quality of Production: 1927/1928 only
Best Title Writing: 1927/1928 only

In the first year of the awards, the Best Director category was split into separate Drama and Comedy categories. At times, the Best Original Score category has been split into separate Drama and Comedy/Musical categories. Today, the Best Original Score category is one category. From the 1930s through the 1960s, the Cinematography, Art Direction, and Costume Design awards were split into separate categories for black and white and color films.

Proposed Awards

The Board of Governors meets each year and considers other new categories. To date, the following proposed awards have not been approved:

Best Casting: rejected in 1999
Best Stunt Coordination: rejected in 1999; rejected in 2005
Best Title Design: rejected in 1999

SPECIAL AWARDS!

Special Awards

These awards are voted on by special committees, rather than by the Academy membership as a whole, but the individual selected to receive the special award may turn down the offer.

Current Special Awards

Academy Honorary Award: 1927 to present
Academy Special Achievement Award
Academy Award, Scientific or Technical: 1931 to present (at three levels of awards)
The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award: 1938 to present
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Gordon E. Sawyer Award

Retired Special Award

Academy Juvenile Award: 1934 to 1960

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