Today, March 27th, in Oscar history only...
Quinn, Malone, Brynner, and Grant (subbing in for absent Ingrid Bergman) at the 56 Oscars
1957 The 29th Academy Awards are held honoring the best of 1956. Very strange Oscar year in which the brilliant epic Giant loses Best Picture to the disposable travelogue Around the World in 80 Days. The King and I ties 80 days for most Oscars won with 5 that night. This year is also notable for making James Dean the only actor to have ever received two posthumous Oscar nominations. Though he died in 1955 before completing Giant the film was in post-production for a full year. We've discussed this year just for fun before.
1973 The 45th Academy Awards are held with their very historic face off between Cabaret (10 noms / 8 wins) and The Godfather (10 noms / 3 wins including Best Picture. We've discussed this race countless times as total freaks for Cabaret. But here's one aspect I don't think we've ever touched on: Best Actor of 1972...
- Marlon Brando, The Godfather
- Laurence Olivier AND Michael Caine, Sleuth
- Peter O'Toole, The Ruling Class
- Paul Winfield, Sounder
Where would your vote have gone? Or would you have preferred one of the men who were left out that year like...
- Edward Albert, Butterflies are Free (Globe nom)
- Woody Allen, Play it Again Sam
- Jeff Bridges, Fat City
- William Daniels, 1776
- Bruce Dern, Silent Running
- Divine, Pink Flamingos
- Charles Grodin, The Heartbreak Kid (Globe nom)
- Stacey Keach, Fat City
- Yaphett Kotto, Across 110th Street
- Jack Lemmon, Avanti (Globe nom)
- James Mason, Child's Play
- Walter Matthau, Pete 'n' Tillie (Globe nom)
- Jack Nicholson, The King of Marvin Gardens
- Steve McQueen, The Getaway
- Paul Newman, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
- Ryan O'Neal, What's Up Doc?
- Peter O'Toole, Man of La Mancha (Globe nom)
- Al Pacino, The Godfather (in the correct category)
- Anthony Quinn, Across 110th Street
- Robert Redford, The Candidate
- Robert Redford, Jeremiah Johnson
- Burt Reynolds, Deliverance
- Robert Shaw, Young Winston (BAFTA nom)
- Jon Voight, Deliverance (Globe nom)
- Billy Dee Williams, Lady Sings the Blues
- Michael York, Cabaret
1995 The 67th Academy Awards are held with Forrest Gump triumphing with 13 nominations and 6 wins. We kinda hate that movie but what can you do. A notable thing about this Oscar year is that with the exception of Marin Landau's brilliant turn in Ed Wood (1994) all of the acting winners were collecting second Oscars (Lange, Hanks, Wiest)
Oscar approved birthdays today
Happy 58th birthday to two time Oscar winner Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction) the only living Oscar nominee we're aware of that has this particular birthday! In addition to those two screenplay wins he received six additional nominations with a combo of honors from the Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture categories (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Inglourious Basterds, and Pulp Fiction). He also directed some fine actors to their sole Oscar nomination: Uma Thurman, Samuel L Jackson, Robert Forster, and Jennifer Jason Leigh as well as Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz to wins. But if you really work through that filmography -- uneven sure but the highs are really majestic -- Oscar has been stingy with him, all told.
Late greats born on this day...
Today in 1943 Oscar winning visual effects artist Grant McCune was born in Los Angeles (Star Wars, Star Trek: The Motion Picture).
Today in 1929, Anne Ramsey was born in Omaha Nebraska. She received an Oscar nomination for her memorable work on Throw Momma From the Train (recently discussed) and died shortly after that Oscar ceremony.
Today in 1928, three time Oscar nominated Costume Designer Theadora Van Runkle (Bonnie & Clyde, The Godfather Part II, Peggy Sue Got Married) was born in Pittsburgh. Other memorable films include: The Reivers, Myra Breckenridge, Mame, New York New York, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas so, yes, the Oscars were a bit stingy.
Today in 1914, Oscar winning screenwriter Budd Schulberg (On the Waterfront) was born in NYC. In addition to Waterfront his other major classic is the eerily prescient A Face in the Crowd (1957).
Today in 1902, Oscar winning cinematographer Charles Lang (A Farewell to Arms) was born in Bluff, Utah. Classics include but are not limited to: The Ghost and Mrs Muir (1947), Sudden Fear (1952), Sabrina (1954), Some Like it Hot (1959), and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969). On the same day in Duluth Minnesota screenwriter Sidney Buchman was born. He won the Oscar for Here Comes Mr Jordan (1941) and was also nominated for Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Talk of the Town (1942), and Jolson Sings Again (1949).
Today in 1899, Gloria Swanson was born in Chicago Illinois. The silent film star would receive two Oscar nominations for her work around the seismic years when silent films were ending and sound beginning (The Trespasser and Sadie Thompson) but is best remembered for her late career comeback as an aging silent film star hoping for a comeback in Sunset Boulevard (1950)