Today, March 24th, in Oscar history only. Four ceremonies have held on this day.
1949 The 21st Academy Awards are held honoring the films of 1948. We discussed this race a handful of years ago on the Smackdown. Johnny Belinda led the nominations with 12 but it was Laurence Olivier's Hamlet that emerged as the Best Picture winner and took home 3 other Oscars as well. It's actually a fairly interesting Oscar year given the variety of genres in the Best Picture shortlist...
- Hamlet (Shakespearean adaptation)
- Johnny Belinda (Broadway transfer / true story disability drama)
- The Red Shoes (dance musical)
- The Snake Pit (mental health drama / memoir)
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (western adventure)
Who would you have voted for?
1986 The 58th Academy Awards are held honoring the films of 1985. Out of Africa emerges as the big winner taking 7 Oscars and The Color Purple ties The Turning Point (1977) as Oscar's biggest loser with 11 nominations and no wins. This year is special to me for Oscar training wheel purposes as it's the very first time I was able to see all five Best Picture nominees before the ceremony (and maybe the only time in the 80s?); I can't recall exactly how this happened as I was not allowed to see R rated movies but my parents must have broken that rule for Witness (was it the power of Harrison Ford?). Kiss of the Spider-Woman and Prizzi's Honor I definitely did not see with the parents so they must have been sneakily rented on VHS (that sounds right since they were both summer releases in '85 and were maybe on video by then?
Do you have a special memory of your first year seeing every Best Picture nominee?
Best Actor and Best Actress of 1996: Geoffrey Rush (Shine) and Frances McDormand (Fargo)
1997 The 69th Academy Awards are held honoring the films of 1996. The English Patient led the nomination and came home with the most wins (9) including Best Picture. It didn't even feel close with the other nominees. This year was famous at the time for being "the indie year" in that, amongst the Best Picture nominees, only Jerry Maguire was a major studio release. On this same night both Frances McDormand and Joel Coen win their first Oscars (Best Actress and Best Screenplay for Fargo). Joel has collected three more in the years since and McDormand a second. If Nomadland takest Best Picture and Best Actress in April, that household will have 8 (GULP) Oscars, His & Hers quadruples x 2.
2002 The 74th annual Academy Awards are held honoring the films of 2001. This ceremony has the dubious distinction of being the longest of all time clocking in at 4 hours and 23 minutes. It's less notable dubious achievement is giving Best Picture to the worst film in the lineup, A Beautiful Mind. That's less notable because Oscar has done that heaps of times, don'cha know!
In more compelling news this was quite a historic night since it was the first time in history that both lead acting statues went to black actors, Denzel Washington (Training Day) and Halle Berry (Monsters Ball). That hasn't yet happened again but it's only a matter of time.
Oscar approved birthdays today...
Happy 44th to two time Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain (The Help, Zero Dark Thirty). We love Jess as you know but it sure is taking a long time for that third nomination. Might it be via 2021's The Eyes of Tammy Faye?
Happy 58th to Oscar nominated documentarian Andrew Jarecki (Capturing the Friedmans)
Happy 66th to Oscar winning documentarian Charles Ferguson (Inside Job, No End in Sight)
Happy 82nd to three time Best Costume Design nominee Bob Mackie (Lady Sings the Blues, Funny Lady, Pennies from Heaven). Sadly he never won but he has a Tony and nine Emmys. So there. Last summer we were thrilled to host the costume designer Daniel Orlandi here at the blog and he shared "5 Things I Learned From Bob Mackie" since he had began his showbiz career working for Mackie.
Today in 1945 Oscar winning screenwriter and director Curtis Hanson (La Confidential) was born in Reno Nevada. Other key films: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, River Wild, Wonder Boys.
Today in 1930 Oscar nominee and major 1960s movie star Steve McQueen (The Sand Pebbles) who was born in Indiana. He died relatively young, at just 50, of lung cancer thought to be caused by repeated asbestos exposure while he was in the US marines. Oscar only cared about him once but other famous films included: Bullitt, The Towering Inferno, Papillon, The Magnificent Seven, The Getaway, and Love with the Proper Stranger.
Today in 1901 Ub Iwerks, one of the key figures in both animation and visual effects history is born in Kansas City. He was nominated for 1 Oscar (visual effects for The Birds) and also received two special awards from the Academy in the 1960s for technical innovations. His best known work was with Walt Disney as he was hugely important to the early Mickey Mouse shorts and the visual effects work on numerous features, both animated and live-action.