You’ve seen the grandeur of awards on your screen, read more to know about the greatest of them all!There are all the other awards and there’s the god of all the awards! Academy Awards are regarded as the most coveted awards in the entire movie industry.Known worldwide as the Oscars, the academy awards are awarded to artists and technical professionals for their excellency and otherworldly performances in the film industry. The awards are honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).Los Angeles County hosts many such events. Oscars are an international acknowledgment that is given as a token of recognition for the outstanding and most worthy performances in the film industry as evaluated by the voting members of the Academy Awards. Resembling an Art Deco-styled trophy, the Oscars in appearance is a golden statuette, formally known to be the ‘Academy Award of Merit’.The sculpture of the award was done by George Stanley and designed by Cedric Gibbons. This oldest award of all time was first broadcasted via radio in 1930 and on television in 1953. The other honorary awards namely, the Emmy for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy for music, were all inspired by the Oscars. The Oscars are considered the most honored, legendary, and prestigious awards worldwide and have been given to 3140 of the greatest talents in the entertainment industry so far.The 93rd Academy Awards was held on April 25, 2021, at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, and also simultaneously telecasted in Union Station, Los Angeles through satellite as a part of COVID-19 restrictions and measures. The ceremonies were broadcast by ABC. Read along to find out about oscar statuettes, the best picture award winners and most Oscar wins during the Academy awards ceremony.After you have read some interesting facts about the maximum Oscar wins and Oscar nominations, also check Ancient Greece Sparta facts and arsenic facts.Academy Award HistoryThe very first Oscars presented by AMPAS in an Academy banquet at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel held by Douglas Fairbanks is known to be the ‘1st Academy Awards’. The dinner had an audience of 270 people on May 16, 1929, with a $5 (a value of $75 as of 2020).The first ceremony lasted for 15 min, honoring 15 awards to various artists, directors, and other participants in the industry for their performances in the year 1927-1928. The after-party of the Academy Awards was held at the Mayfair Hotel.Since the winners had already been made aware of receiving awards there was no element of surprise in the ceremony, which was, in turn, changed the next year. From 1930 till the first decade the Oscar winners were published in newspapers at 11 pm at night of the Awards. Unfortunately, in 1940, the Los Angeles Times revealed the winners before the Oscars began, leading the authorities to seal the winners in an envelope since 1941.The award then was given on performances qualifying within a specific period of time, until the 6th Academy Awards the time period taken was two years. However, from the 4th academy awards the criteria of awarding changed to a single Oscar for an eligible performance in a single film during a span of two years.Before 1957 the award for foreign language movies was categorized under the Special Achievement Award, which at the 29th Academy Awards was categorized as the Best Foreign Language Film category which was again changed to Best International Feature Film.The only silent film to have won the Academy Award for Best Picture was the Wings, which also won an Academy Award for its Engineering Effects. The first Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature was awarded in the 74th Oscars in 2002 for The Shrek. All the Academy Awards from 1973 to 2020 had a customary ending with the Academy Award for Best Picture which was broken during this year by ending the Oscars with the Academy Award for Best Actor.As it had been for years, the prior year winner for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor honored the trophy to the current year Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively, which was broken last year when the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress in the prior year honored the trophy for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.Did you know that to date no film has ever won the quartet of acting Oscars? The coveted quartet features the awards for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress.Moreover, to date, only three films have managed to bag all the Oscars for the best actor, best actress, best film, best director, and best writing. These movies are ‘It Happened One Night’ that won the awards in the year 1935, ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ which won the awards in the year 1976, and ‘The Silence Of The Lambs’ which bagged all the awards in the year 1992.The movie Parasite has become the first foreign language film to have won Best Picture on February 9, 2020, in the ceremony.Did you know that in the year 2011, the Academy announced new rules regarding the movies nominated for the category of the best picture? As per the new rules, the number of nominated movies could vary between 5-10 for the year but the exact number will not be known till the time nominations have been announced.In the year 2020, Tom Hanks at the Oscars announced the opening of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on December 14, 2020, which has been under construction since 2017 by Kerry Brougher, which’s now managed by Bill Kramer. The museum has astonishing exhibitions depicting the history of the motion picture, the art & science of filmmaking, exhibiting trailblazing directors, actors, filmmakers, sound editors, famous artifacts from acclaimed movies like Dorothy’s Ruby Red Slippers, and many more.Due to the COVID-19 restrictions worldwide, CEO Dawn Hudson announced the inclusion of all the movies not shown in theatres for nominations along with the others, given that the movies would ultimately be shown in the theatre someday.There is a popular legend that the name ‘The Oscars’ comes from Academy librarian Margaret Herrick as she made a claim that the award statuette had a resemblance to her Uncle Oscar.What does it mean to win an Academy Award?Winner or not being an Oscar nominee in itself is a special owner, also given that all the nominees get a gift hamper worth $215,000. Winning the award on the other hand is said to be a turning point in the winner’s career.The Academy Awards is worldwide acknowledged to be the most prestigious award, giving the winners of the award the merit of being the greatest achiever in their field. Winning the Oscars gives credibility to the artist’s work and attracts many great things over the life of the artist such as more industry opportunities, raised pay, etc.The winners don’t get any cash award, but instead, they’re honored with the golden trophy and the swag bag full of high worthy goodies like a 12-day yachting trip worth $80,000, a glass portrait of themselves by artist John Thoman and whatnot. The trophy is that of a golden knight made of bronze and coated with 24-carat gold measuring 13.5 in (34.2 cm) tall and weighing 8.5 lb (3.8 kg) which takes three months and $400 to be ready for the award night.Tatum O’Neal is the youngest Oscar winner in the history of the Oscars. She was only 10 years old when she won Best Supporting Actress for the film ‘Paper Moon’ in the year 1974 and became the youngest ever Oscar winner.In the history of the Academy Awards, various couples have managed to bag the awards but in the true sense, only one family from Hollywood managed to get the status of an Oscar-winning family. This honor goes to the Minelli family whose three members have won Oscars over the years. Vincente Minnelli won the Academy Award for best director in the year 1959 for the movie Gigi, Judy Garland won a miniature juvenile Academy Award in the year 1940 and their daughter Liza Minelli won the Academy Award for best actress in the year 1973 for the movie Cabaret.Which actor has won the most Oscars ever?Katharine Hepburn was the most successful Hollywood actress and has won four Oscars to date for exceptional performances over the years. She won her first award for her debut in ‘Morning Glory’, 1933.The rest of the award was received years later in ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’, ‘The Lion in Winter’ in the 1960s, and finally for ‘On Golden Pond’ at the 54th Academy Awards in 1982. Along with the winning categories, she had also been selected for nominations throughout her acting career. Although Katharine Hepburn won four awards making her the highest of actors to have received Oscars, Walt Disney received 26 Academy Awards in total out of 59 nominations over the years which makes Walt Disney the person who won the most and the person who was nominated the most.Most Oscars are considered to be outstanding achievements. Among a lot of nominations, the only person to win is considered to be the best one around the year. Throughout Oscar history, there is the movie nominated for the popular film category, art director, film production, actress categories, and the Oscar winners or the film to win Oscars enjoy a private dinner. Harmon Oscar Nelson Jr. was a musician best known for being the legendary inspiration for Bette Davis’ claimed nickname of the Academy Award. Anthony Hopkins is the oldest Oscar winner in the acting category at the age of 83.Who was the first African American to win a best actor academy award?The first African American to win a best actor academy award was Sidney Poitier on April 13, 1964, for his role in Lilies of the Field (1963) as a construction worker helping build a chapel.The Bahamian-American retired actor was born in 1927 and is also a film director, an activist, and an ambassador. Sidney Poitier is one of the last surviving actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood and the oldest as well as the earliest living Best Actor Oscar holder.The multi-talented actor was also a Bahamian ambassador to Japan between 1997 and 2007.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 27 Academy Award facts: curious entertainment details revealed for kids then why not take a look at interesting mushroom facts for kids: where do Morel mushrooms grow?, or do you know: what are huckleberries? and where do huckleberries grow?
You’ve seen the grandeur of awards on your screen, read more to know about the greatest of them all!
