OSCAR STATS – 2006

Forest Whitaker received the Best Actor Oscar in 2006 for his performance in the movie ‘The Last King of Scotland’. Of the twenty Best Actor/Actress, Best Supporting Actor/Actress nominees for 2006 one was from Texas, two California, three New York, one from Pennsylvania, one New Jersey, and one from Illinois. There was one from Canada, one from West Africa, one from Spain, one from Mexico, one from Australia three from the UK, and one from Japan.
The Best Actor Recipient/Nominee Oscar list was the same as the SAG list. The Best Supporting Actor list for the Oscar was almost the same as the SAG list except Mark Wahlberg was on the Oscar list instead of Leonardo DiCaprio. The Best Actress/Best Supporting winner/nominee list for the Oscar was the same as the SAG list.
Forest Whitaker appeared in the 2013 movie Out of the Furnace produced by Leonardo DiCaprio. Nominated Best Actor Ryan Gosling appeared in the 2013 movie Ides of March in which Leonardo served as Executive Producer. In 2006 Kate Winslet was nominated for Best Actress for her performance in the movie Little Children the same year Meryl Streep was nominated for Best Actress for her performance in the movie The Devil Wears Prada. On a side note: Rinko Kikuchi nominated for the Best Supporting Actress in the movie Babel was the first Japanese actress nominated for an Oscar since Miyoshi Umeki was nominated and received her Best Supporting Actress Award in 1958 for the movie Sayonara.

OSCAR STATS ~ 2005

Philip Seymour Hoffman received the Best Actor Oscar in 2005 for his performance in the movie Capote. Of the twenty Best Actor/Actress, Best Supporting Actor/Actress nominees for 2005 fifteen were born in the U.S. three from New York, two from Illinois, two from California, one from Connecticut, one from Florida, one Kentucky, one Louisiana, one Montana one from Washington D.C. one born in Puerto Rico, one born in Italy while parents were stationed there. There were three from the UK, one from Australia and one from South Africa.
The Best Actor Recipient/Nominee Academy list was the same as the SAG list except that Terrace Howard is on the Academy list and Russell Crowe is on the SAG list. The Best Supporting Actor List for the Academy is the same except William Hurt is on the Academy List and Don Cheadle was on the SAG List. The Best Actress List was the same except Keira Knightley was on the Academy List and Zhang Ziyi was on the SAG List. The Best Supporting Actress List was the same for the Academy Awards and for the SAG Awards.
In 1997 Philip Seymour Hoffman appeared in Boogie Nights the same movie Leonardo DiCaprio did not appear in because he was appearing in Titanic. On the 2005 Best Actor Nominee List Heath Ledger appeared in the movie Brokeback Mountain with 2005 Best Supporting Actress nominee Michelle Williams, in 2010 Michelle Williams co-starred in the movie Shutter Island with Leonardo DiCaprio. 2005 Best Actor Nominee Joaquin Phoenix appeared in the 2004 movie Hotel Rwanda with Don Cheadle who did not get a chance to work with Leonardo because of Leo’s decision to work on Titanic. 2005 Best Actor Nominee Terrance Howard is in a soon to be released movie titled Term Life with Actress Hailee Steinfeld. In 2010 Best Actress Nominee Hailee Steinfeld appeared in True Grit with Best Actor Nominee Jeff Bridges. In 1974 Jeff appeared in the movie Thunderbolt & Lightfoot with Clint Eastwood who directed Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2011 movie J. Edgar. 2005 Best Actor Nominee David Strathairn appeared in the 1994 movie The River Wild with Meryl Streep (and Kevin Bacon), In 1996 Meryl appeared with Leonardo in the movie Marvin’s Room.
2005 Best Actress Nominee Judi Dench appeared with Leonardo in the 2011 movie J. Edgar. In 1996 Judi Dench appeared with Kate Winslet in the movie Hamlet, and Iris in 2001.

OSCAR STATS ~ 2015

Contrary to popular belief the Oscars consist of more than: five nominations each for Best Actor/Actress, and five nominations each for Best supporting Actor/Actress. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a Multi-National entity. There are twenty-four categories and NOT counting the twenty people nominated for: Best Actor/Actress or Best Supporting Actor/Actress there are one hundred eighty-five people nominated (eight men and one woman have two or more nominations in different categories) to receive Oscars for their work released in 2015. Nominees ethnicity are represented from twenty-nine countries in the 2015 nominations: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chili, Columbia, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine, United States, and Wales.

Of the five nominees for Best Actor in a Leading Role: three represent the United States, one from Ireland and one from the United Kingdom. Of the five nominees for Best Supporting Actor: Three are from the United Kingdom and two the United States. For Best Actress in a Leading Role there are: three from the United States, one from the United Kingdom and one from Australia. For Best Supporting Actress there are: two from the United States, one from Canada, one from Sweden, one from the United Kingdom.

Of the one hundred eighty-five other nominees: one hundred forty-six are men, thirty-nine are women consisting of diverse backgrounds that aren’t visually apparent by random google searches.

The Academy Board of Governors approves membership to the Academy. Actors Membership requirements are: (Copied From Academy Bylaws at Oscars.org):
Article III, Section 1. Membership shall be by invitation of the Board of Governors. Invitations to active membership shall be limited to those persons active in the motion picture arts and sciences, or credited with screen achievements, or who have otherwise achieved distinction in the motion picture arts and sciences and who, in the opinion of the Board, are qualified for membership.
To be considered for invitation to membership in the Actors Branch of the Academy, an individual must:
(a) have a minimum of three theatrical feature film credits, in all of which the roles played were scripted roles, one of which was released in the past five years, and all of which are of a caliber that reflect the high standards of the Academy,
and/or
(b) have been nominated for an Academy Award in one of the acting categories,
or
(c) have, in the judgment of the Actors Branch Executive Committee, otherwise achieved unique distinction, earned special merit or made an outstanding contribution as a motion picture actor.

There are fifty-one Governor Board Members with three representatives for each of the seventeen branches of the Film Industry represented that have the final say on who is invited to become a member. The seventeen Branches are: Actors, Casting Directors, Cinematographers, Costume Designers, Designers, Documentary, Executives, Film Editors, Make-up Artists & Hairstylists, Music, Producers, Public Relations, Short Films & Feature Animation, Sound, Visual Effects and Writers Branch. There are thirty-four men and seventeen women on this Board; fifty are from the United States one is from the United Kingdom.
There are seven Officers named from the Governor Board: a President, a First Vice President, three Vice Presidents, a Treasurer, a Secretary and a CEO in charge of a 300 people staff.

In 2014 two hundred seventy-one multi-national artists and executives were invited to join the Academy’s membership twenty actors were on the list: twelve from the U.S., three from the UK, one from Somalia, one from Germany, one from Ireland, one from Denmark and one from Mexico; fourteen were men, six were women. When the Academy Award season comes around actors nominate actors, once nominated then the membership votes for all academy categories.

The Board of Governors also oversees the special Governors Awards. On November 14, 2015 at a Black Tie invite only dinner five hundred guests celebrated the presentation of the 2015 awards. The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award was presented to Debbie Reynolds (which was accepted in her honor by her granddaughter Billie Lourd). An Honorary Award was presented to actress Gena Rowlands by her son Director Nick Cassevetes. A second Honorary Award was presented to Director Spike Lee by actors featured in his films that had boosted their careers and expanded their prominence; Wesley Snipes, Denzel Washington and Samuel L. Jackson. At this awards dinner Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs discussed the Academy’s ‘New Initiative; a 2020 five-year move to increase film industry diversity in front of and behind the camera’.

The making of a film is a huge project. Any movie theater ticket buying customer that loves film no matter how good or bad and stays to the bitter end watching the hundreds of names scroll past of artists that worked as a team on that production knows there is one thing the list never points out… ethnicity, nationality, color. I’m hoping that all two hundred and five multi-national nominees for the 2015 Academy Awards are afforded a chance this year to celebrate their nominations and not have this honor diminished because of the color or lack of color of their skin.

All About Eve ~ Best Picture 1950

I like this Best Picture because the characters can be related to not only the stage or say the screen but in everyday life. We all have our little Eve’s to deal with, sweet and seemingly innocent and worshipful at first and then BAM. Fourteen nominations six wins who knew a movie (metaphorically speaking) about getting stabbed in the back could be so lucrative.
When the interviewer in the clip asks Bette how can such a woman fool so many? Bette is correct in her answer: How does any Eve do it?
How many of you out there in Classic Hollywoodland have encountered an Eve in your life?

Olivia de Havilland Oscar Reunion 2002

We all attend some kind of reunion at one point or another in our life, family, friends or school. What a star studded get together there was for the 75th Anniversary year of the Oscars in 2002. Fifty-nine Oscar recipients all on stage and who better to present them but two time Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland.
Dame Julie Andrews, Kathy Bates, Halle Barry, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Nickolas Cage, Sir Michael Caine, George Chakiris, Jennifer Connelly, Sir Sean Connery, Geena Davis, Daniel Day Lewis, Olivia de Havilland, Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Louise Fletcher, Brenda Fricker, Cuba Gooding Jr., Louis Gossett Jr., Joel Grey, Tom Hanks, Marsha Gay Harden, Dustin Hoffman, Celeste Holm, Anjelica Houston, Claude Jarmin Jr., Jennifer Jones, Shirley Jones, George Kennedy, Sir Ben Kingsley, Martin Landau, Cloris Leachman, Karl Maldon, Marlee Matlin, Hayley Mills, Rita Moreno, Patricia Neal, Jack Nicholson, Margaret O’Brian, Tatum O’Neal, Jack Palance, Luise Rainer, Julia Roberts, Cliff Robertson, Mickey Rooney, Eva Marie Saint, Susan Sarandon, Maximillian Schell, Mira Sorvino, Cissy Spacek, Mary Steenbergen, Meryl Streep, Barbara Streisand, Hillary Swank, Jon Voight, Christopher Walken, Denzel Washington, Teresa Wright.

Newest from the year 2002: Peter O’Toole, Catherine Zeta Jones, Chris Cooper, Nichole Kidman, Adrian Brody.

Gregory Peck Academy President 1967

Sometimes the Oscar show is rescheduled due to a National Tragedy which happened April 10, 1968.
The assassination of Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968 shocked the nation. The Oscars were programed for April 8th but due to Dr. King’s funeral the show went on, only a couple of days later. Gregory Peck the President of the Academy for 1968 spoke eloquently about ‘the fateful week in the history of our nation’, how ‘we must unite in compassion in order to survive’ and to ‘continue to celebrate in film the dignity of man’. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night two movies out of five dealing with thought provoking issues of racial understanding garnered ten nominations for Dinner with two wins and seven nominations for Night with four wins.
There was a time in the 60’s when nominees tried to get out of attending this award night for various reasons. For 1967 Gregory Peck twisted arms to make sure people showed up. The only nominees that did not attend that year were Katherine Hepburn (who won for Best Actress) because she was in France filming the Mad Woman of Chaillot and Spencer Tracy who had been nominated posthumously. In the Heat of the Night was honored as Best Picture. In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner were both honored for their Screenplay’s one adapted one original.

Elia Kazan Honorary Academy Award 1998

Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro presenting Elia Kazan with an Honorary Academy award.
Sometimes the Academy Awards are embroiled in controversy. For 1998 the 71st year of the awards the commotion was about the Academy Board of Governors deciding to give Elia Kazan an Honorary Award in recognition of his indelible contributions to the art of motion picture direction. The only problem was some members of the Academy had long memories and did not forgive Kazan for appearing before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the McCarthy era in Washington D.C.
At that time it was damned if you do, damned if you don’t, so in 1952 Elia Kazan found himself between a rock and a hard place. Rat out your friends or go down with the ship. Mr. Kazan chose what some felt was the rat option. I find it is very easy for people to say they would have done this or they would have done that. No one really knows what they would do unless they were actually in Mr. Kazan’s shoes.
Elia Kazan was a brilliant director; he directed some of the most socially controversial films in our film history, subjects that had not been dealt with before. Gentlemen’s Agreement, Pinky, A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, Splendor in the Grass, A Face in the Crowd to name a few. City for Conquest is the movie I remember him for the most  since it was one of his few acting credits, it was a small but memorable part. You can read more about Kazan and his sins online or any of the books written about him.  During the March 21, 1999 presentation many in the Academy audience stood and applauded Kazan but to those ‘holier than thou’s’ (who shall remain nameless) out there that sat on their hands and their derrières in front of an 89 year old man to show him their contempt I say ‘judge not least ye be judged’. Only history will judge Kazan’s actions, was naming names as bad as if he were um say an accused child molester? Who knows…

 

 

Cary Grant Honorary Academy Award 1969

Frank Sinatra presenting Cary Grant an Honorary Academy Award for the Oscars 42nd year 1969.
We love that the Academy always makes amends for Awards Not Given.
Having never received an Oscar Cary Grant was given an Honorary Achievement Award as did Deborah Kerr (1993) and Fred Astaire (1950). Cary Grant received his Honorary Achievement Award at the April 7, 1970 award show for 1969. When Peter O’Toole was awarded his Honorary Achievement Award for 2002 he joked, asking the Academy to still give him a chance to earn one on his own, while he was still in the game; he was 70 years old at the time.

 

 

Charlie Chaplin Special Award 1971

Special Award presented to Charlie Chaplin in 1972 for the Forty-Fourth Academy Awards 1971.

We love that the Academy can create Special Awards when the situation calls for it. In the early days they found they had candidates that didn’t fit into an award category at all. Charlie Chaplin for instance was originally on the nomination ballot for both Actor and Director Rewards in 1928 for his work on The Circus (which he wrote, directed, produced, and acted). The Academy withdrew him from both competitive classes stating that “a special first award shall be conferred upon you for such versatility and genius in writing, acting, directing and producing The Circus. The collective accomplishments thus displayed place you in a class by yourself.”  In the Forty Fourth Year of the Academy 1971 Charlie Chaplin returned to Hollywood in 1972 to receive another Special Award “for the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century”. You may want to have a box of tissues at hand when watching this clip. The audience definately showed their love and respect.

Julie Andrews Best Actress 1964

Sidney Poitier Best Actor 1963 presenting Julie Andrews Best Actress 1964.
Sometimes the Academy actually honors the stuff you like.
Upon discovering that The Continental (from the film The Gay Divorcee) won for best music, I began to realize how “right” the Academy actually got the awards for those early films. Seeing Norma Shearer’s out-of-the-box acting, she was nominated for both The Divorcee and Their Own Desire in the same year, because why should you be boxed in to only act brilliantly in one film a year?
And nothing was more satisfactory than to have Gone with the Wind claiming 13 nominations and 8 wins in 1939 a nomination in every major category except Best Supporting Actor and that went to Thomas Mitchell who gave an exceptional performance as Gerald O’Hara but his nomination and win was for Stagecoach. And what of those years like 1939 when so many exemplary films were made? Why, the Academy did what they could, as they did in 1964 honoring My Fair Lady with 12 nominations, 8 Oscars including Best Actor Rex Harrison and Mary Poppins with 12 nominations, 5 wins including Best Actress for Julie Andrews.