It is human nature to demand appreciation and artists are also not different, their ultimate goal is to get acknowledgment for their work. Artists are creative people who take the responsibility to entertain their viewers. They work day and night to deliver the piece of work that is worth the time of their audiences. They indeed perform to get money but their main goal of being an artist is fulfilled when they receive a round of applause from their viewers, also in the form of awards.
Nowadays, many types of Award shows are taking place that keep the audience engaged because they wish their favorite artist would win. Oscars is the most prestigious award show in the category of TV and movies that acknowledges the creative work done around the globe. Every year people wait for these awards to see their most favorite artists win these awards.
In this article, we will go through the things that are not very common about the Oscars.
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What are the Oscars?
The Academy Awards being popularly known as the Oscars are the most famous and prestigious awards in the entertainment industry around the globe. They are awarded based on technical and artistic merit. The first Oscar award ceremony took place on May 16, 1929, which was almost 91 years ago. Since then Oscars have been taking place every year regularly and they have always managed to grab the same amount of attention from around the world.
Oscars are given to the people who are the best in their field. There are a huge number of eligible Oscar voters who vote for the Nominees and make them win.
Categories of Oscar Awards
Oscars is a very long award show which involves many categories. Every year several people win an Oscar and they consider themselves as the luckiest people alive. There are pre-defined categories of Oscar for which potential winners are nominated each year and they compete with other nominees to win this prestigious award. So, here is a list of the categories that Oscars have:
| Nr. | Name of Category | Nr. | Name of Category | Nr. | Name of Category |
| 1 | Best Picture | 18 | Best Production Design | 35 | Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film |
| 2 | Best Actor | 19 | Best Cinematography | 36 | Best Short Subject, Two-reel |
| 3 | Best Actress | 20 | Best Film Editing | 37 | Best Original Song Score |
| 4 | Best Supporting Actress | 21 | Best Visual Effects | 38 | Best Assistant Director |
| 5 | Best Director | 22 | Best Costume Design | 39 | Best Dance Direction |
| 6 | Best Animated Feature | 23 | Best Animated Short Film | 40 | Best Unique and Artistic Production |
| 7 | Best Original Song | 24 | Best Sound Editing | 41 | Best Title Writing |
| 8 | International Feature Film | 25 | Best Short Documentary | 42 | Best Short Subject, Comedy |
| 9 | Best Supporting Actor | 26 | Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award | 43 | Best Story and Screenplay |
| 10 | Best Original Score | 27 | Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award | 44 | Best Dramatic Picture Direction |
| 11 | Best Documentary Feature | 28 | Special Achievement Academy Award | 45 | Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Novelty |
| 12 | Live Action Short Film | 29 | Academy Juvenile Award | 46 | Best Comedy Picture Direction |
| 13 | Best Adapted Screenplay | 30 | Best Cinematography, Black-and-White | 47 | Medal of Commendation |
| 14 | Best Original Screenplay | 31 | Best Original Musical | 48 | Best Short Subject, One-reel |
| 15 | Best Story | 32 | Best Original Musical or Comedy Score | 49 | Best Engineering Effects |
| 16 | Best Sound Mixing | 33 | Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration | 50 | Best Short Subject, Color |
| 17 | Best Makeup and Hairstyling | 34 | Best Costume Design | 51 | Academy Award for Best Writing |
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Oscars:
Even though you might be very sure that you know everything about the Oscars because you did a lot of research, I bet there are still two or more things about them that you do not know. So, have a look at these 10 things you didn’t know about the Oscars:
1. 1st Oscar Awards Ceremony
On 16 May 1929, the first ever ceremony for the presentation of academy awards was held in Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel located in Los Angeles, California. It was a private dinner function with an audience of 270 people only. At that time the price of the ticket for the guests was only Five Dollars.
A total of 15 Awards were handed over to the winners from categories of Artists, directors and other film related persons keeping in view their performances in 1927-1928.
At that time the winners were announced in the media even before the ceremony was held due to which people were already knowing the winners and there was no suspense in the award show. This procedure was continued till 1940 and starting from 1941, the name of the winner is kept secret in a sealed envelope which is opened by the announcer during the ceremony. This way, no one is knowing about the winner before time hence, increasing the suspense in the hearts of fans as well as competitors.
2. The Oscar Statuette
The world’s best film award commonly known as ‘Oscar Statuette’ is a 13.5 inches tall (or 34.3 cm tall) state of the art beautiful piece which weighs approximately 8.4 pounds (or 3.8kg.) This award depicts a knight holding a sword and standing on a reel of film with 5 spokes. The five spokes are showing the 5 branches of the academy on which the academy stands. They are Writers, producers, directors, actors and technicians.
The Oscar statuettes are made of solid bronze material and gold plated with 24-karat gold. An interesting thing, for three years after World War 2, the Oscars statuettes were made by using painted plaster owing to a shortage of gold. According to Wallet hub, the estimated cost of a 24-karat-gold-plated Oscar statuette is approximately $680.
3. Most Oscar award wins and most nominations
Winning an Oscar once in a lifetime changes the lifestyle of an artist or any technical man. For few artists winning an Oscar is their maximum achievement after which their interest in the industry starts reducing as they already have won the maximum award. But, there are many on the list who have never stopped after winning the award and created history by winning it again and again due to their outstanding capabilities and marvelous deliveries in terms of acting and directions.
The pioneer of the American Animation Industry, Walt Disney, who is being loved by every child in the world has won this award for 22 times making him a record holder. In addition to 22 awards, he was also given 4 honorary Oscar awards by the authorities owing to his work for the industry. He has been nominated for the awards 64 times which is itself a world record for most nominations ever for any contestant.
4. Youngest and Oldest Award Winners
The Oscars have no limit of age and are just concerned about the technical or acting skills. If an actor is good at acting, he can win the award even at the age of 100. A little girl who was only 10 years old has won this award. Yes, it is true, an American little girl Tatum Beatrice O’Neal won the Oscar award for Best supporting actress in the movie Paper Moon. The movie was released in 1973 and she won the award in the 1974 Oscar Award show.
Similarly, an old man aged 82 Years has also won this award for his outstanding acting skills. A movie named ‘Beginners’ was released in 2010 in which Canadian actor Christopher Plummer did a supporting role. Due to his marvelous performance, he won the Oscar Award in 2012 hence making him the oldest man to win the Oscar Award.
5. Longest Standing Ovation for an Oscar Winner
One of the most famous men in the film industry is The Charlie Chaplin, who ruled the Comic film industry by his unmatchable funny acting skills. Though he died long ago in 1977, his name and art can never be forgotten as there is still no one in the industry even close with his unique skills.
In 1972, the 44th Academy Awards were arranged. Charlie Chaplin, whose original name was Chares Spencer Chaplin, was to be given an honorary award in the ceremony. When his name was announced, everyone in the audience stood up and presented him a standing ovation for 12 minutes continuously. While giving a response to the audience, Charlie Chaplin kept crying and considered it the most emotional moment of his life. He was thankful to the audience and his fans who were his biggest support and motivation to deliver such amazing performances in his career.
6. Both Oscar and Noble prize winner:
Receiving both Oscar and Noble prizes is not a common thing, until now only three people have been awarded both prestigious awards. George Bernard Shaw, Bob Dylan and Al Gore are the people who have been lucky enough to receive both of these awards.
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish critic, playwright, political activist and polemicist. He was famous for his role in bringing the revolution into comedic drama. He was awarded a Noble prize in 1925 for his amazing work in Literature. He won his Oscar in 1935 for his play called ‘Pygmalion’ for Best Writing.
Bob Dylan is an American singer and songwriter who is referred to as one of the greatest songwriters of all time. Bob won an Oscar in 2000 in the Best Song category for ‘Things have changed’. In 2016, Bob was awarded the Nobel Prize for bringing new changes to the traditional American songs.
Al Gore was an American politician and environmentalist. He won the Nobel Prize for peace for doing outstanding work for climatic change. His contributions in the field of climatic change were appreciated at the international level.
‘An Inconvenient Truth’ was a documentary about the changing climate, specifically global warming by the former vice president which led him to win the Oscar award. In 2007 Al Gore won the Oscar award in the best documentary category hence, making him the third person in history to win both the Nobel Prize and the Oscar award.
7. The People Who refused to receive an Oscar:
Winning an Oscar is the highlight of the career for many people in the movie industry. It is believed to be the recognition award for the unending hard work and unmatched talent of people from the entertainment industry. Out of more than 2000 winners to date, only three people have refused to receive the Oscar and each of them had their reasons to do so.
Dudley Nichols was the first person to reject an Oscar who won for Best Screenplay in 1935. He rejected the Oscar, owing to the ongoing writer’s strike in Hollywood. It is stated that he eventually accepted it after three years in 1938.
George C. Scott rejected the Oscar in 1971 because he believed that Oscars are just a meat parade for two hours for economic reasons. He even requested the academy to withdraw his name but despite doing so he still won the Best Actor Award that he refused to get. The award has been displayed in the George C. Marshall Foundation Library since that day.
Marlon Brando refused his Oscar in 1973 because he wanted to highlight the wounded knee incident which began a month before the Oscars. He sent Sacheen Littlefather in his place who gave a speech on his behalf.
8. The Big Five Award
One movie or screenplay can be nominated for awards in five different categories which are Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. Few movies win the Oscar for their best actor and a few others for best screenplay. But there have been incidents where a movie was nominated for all five categories of awards. Up until now, 43 movies have made their name in all five categories of awards but only three movies have been successful in winning an Oscar award in all 5 big categories related to a movie. The name of those luckiest movies are; It Happened One Night (1934), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
Amazingly, there have been incidents when a movie was nominated in all five big categories but failed to win even a single award. Up until now, there have been 8 movies in which such incidents have occurred. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), The Hustler (1961), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Love Story (1970), Lenny (1974), Atlantic City (1981), The remains of the day (1993) and American Hustle (2013).
9. The winners are not the owners of the statuette
Do you think that the Oscar winner is the true owner of the 3.8 kg statuette? No, they are not the real owners and they cannot sell their awards in the market either. Every winner signs an agreement with the academy that if they ever want to sell their statuette they have to first offer it to the academy for $ 1. If they refuse this term of the agreement they can not have their trophy with them. Though it is a strict rule it is deemed necessary to upkeep the decorum of this prestigious award.
This rule is in place since 1950 and there were few awards in the open market before the implementation of this rule. People have bought these awards from the open market too. Steven Spielberg and the great Michael Jackson have bought this award from markets by paying millions of dollars.
10. The most awaited Oscar Award:
Even though being nominated in the Oscars is a huge achievement there have been cases where despite being repeatedly nominated people did not win an Oscar. The unluckiest person in the history of Oscars was the sound re-recording engineer Kevin O’ Connell. Since 1984, he has remained a nominee in the Best Sound Mixing category for his 29 different contributions. 20 times he returned from the Oscar award show empty handed but finally, on the 21st time, his dream came true in 2017 when he finally won the award in the ‘Best Sound Mixing’ category for the movie Hacksaw Ridge. It was obvious how happy he was on that day after 33 years of sheer hard work. Few famous movies in which he also did a phenomenal job were; Spiderman, Transformers, Pearl Harbor, The Mask of Zorro and many more.
Final Words:
The Oscars hold a very special place in the life of any artist. Many believe their careers are made the moment they receive an Oscar. It is somehow true, because Oscars are the most famous and prestigious awards around the globe and to win an Oscar while competing with hundred other Nominees is truly difficult. These awards are the epitome of success for an artist and they work obviously very hard to achieve it. You will see many winners being teary-eyed because they know how much hard work it required to be acknowledged on such a platform. Even though many other award shows happen every year, the Oscars is still the most important and precious award for all artists. Hence, Oscars play an important role in appreciating the real amazing talent in the whole world.
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