THIS is the most important evening of the year for film lovers: On March 12th, the “Academy Awards” will be held for the 95th time. oscars‘, awarded to the best of the best.
The “crème de la crème” of the Hollywood stars gather to honor Artist of the Year. But do you also know how the prestigious award became so famous? Which academy gives it? Who are the record holders among the winners? And anyway: Who is “Oscar” and what does it have to do with the film award?
Read all the important data, fun facts and incidents so that you can shine with your knowledge on the evening of the award…
Oscars 2023: The most important things at a glance
The History of the Academy Awards
The 1920s were crisis years for the film industry in Hollywood. Radio posed a threat to cinemas, while unions, fair wages for crews and comprehensive censorship posed major challenges for film studios.
Louis B. Mayer (co-founder of the most influential film company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and THE great talent huntsman) wanted to act against it. Together with 36 founding members, including many studio owners and well-known Hollywood personalities, he founded the “Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science”. A voluntary organization that aims to represent the interests of filmmakers and film art.
In 1929 the Academy Award was introduced for the best filmmakers. This prize was intended to honor special films and their makers in various categories.
The press was notified of the winners three months before the award ceremony. From 1930 there was the announcement the day before. It was not until 1941 that early notification was completely abolished. Since then, the winners have been kept secret until the moment of announcement.
In 1953, the gala dinner was broadcast on television for the first time: glitter, glamor and golden trophies are known to be photogenic. And so the Academy Awards gained international prominence.
Actors Gregory Peck, Sophia Loren, Joan Crawford and Maximilian at the 35th Academy Awards, 1963
By the way: You can only become a member of the academy by invitation. You have to be nominated by two existing members. The basic rule is: only Oscar-nominated personalities or people who are particularly committed to the film industry become members. German members include actor Daniel Brühl and Austrian Christoph Waltz.
All categories at a glance
- Best Film/ Best Picture: since 1929
- Best Director, Achievement in Directing: since 1929
- Best Actor in a Leading Role: since 1929
- Best Actress in a Leading Role: since 1929
- Best Supporting Actor/ Best Actor in a Supporting Roles: since 1937
- Best Supporting Actress/ Best Actress in a Supporting Role: since 1937
- Best Original Screenplay/ Best Writing, Original Screenplay: since 1941
- Best Adapted Screenplay/ Best Writing, Adaptation: since 1929
- Best Camera/ Best Cinematography: since 1929
- Best Production Design/ Best Art Direction: since 1929
- Best Costume Design: since 1949
- Best Tone/ Best Sound: since 1930
- Best Cut/ Best Film Editing: since 1935
- Best Visual Effects/ Best Effects, Visual Effects: since 1940
- Best Makeup and Best Hairstyles Makeup and Hairstyling/ Best Makeup: since 1982
- Best Song/ Best Music, Original Song: since 1935
- Best Film Music/ Best Music: since 1935
- Best Animated Feature Film/ Best Animated Feature: since 2002
- Best Animated Short Film/ Best Short Subject (Cartoons, Animated): since 1932
- Best Short Film/ Best Short Subject (Comedy, Novelty, two-reel, one-reel, live action, live action subjects): since 1932
- Best Documentary / Best Documentary, Features: since 1942
- Best Documentary Short Film/ Best Documentary, Short Subjects: since 1943
- Best International Film/ Best International Feature Film: since 1947
The Oscars trophy
The coveted winner’s trophy depicts a knight wielding a sword on a roll of film. It is 34cm tall, weighs 3.85kg and is made of bronze plated with 24k gold. After the ceremony, the winner’s name and Oscar category are engraved on the base.
By the way: since 1950, award winners have had to undertake not to sell the Oscars without first having offered them to the Academy for one US dollar.
Who decides who awards the Oscars?
★ NOMINATION PROCESS ★
The past winners of each category decide who gets nominated: actors decide actors, directors directors, and so on. Whoever has the most votes is nominated. There are five nominees in each category.
Only the “Best Film” category provides that each member of the Academy (i.e. all the former winners and other members, i.e. around 6,000 people) proposes ten of their favorites from the past year. This category also has ten nominations.
By the way: For the categories “Animated Feature Film”, “Documentary Film”, “Short Film”, “Best International Film”, “Make-up”, “Sound Editing” and “Visual Effects”, subject-specific pre-selection jurors, consisting of members of the Academy, are active. You decide on the nominations.
Sebastian Koch (actor), director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Patricia Rommel (editor) and producer Quirin Berg won the prize for the best foreign language film in 2007 for “The Lives of Others”.
★ OSCAR AWARDS ★
As soon as the categories with the five nominees have been formed, all members of the Academy are again entitled to vote for all categories. The deadline for submitting the ballot ends one week before the ceremony. Three notaries count the ballots. Whoever gets the most votes wins the Oscar.
What are the “Big Five” of the Oscars?
The most prestigious categories are called the “Big Five”:
- Best movie
- Best Director
- Best Lead Actor
- Best main actress
- Best Original Screenplay
- Best Screenplay from a Submission
The latter two are the screenplay categories seen as one in the enumeration.
Taika Waititi won Best Original Screenplay for the 2020 film Jojo Rabbit
How did the “Oscar” get its name?
Nobody really knows anymore why the “Academy Award” has been known as the “Oscar” since the mid-1930s. In fact, “Oscar” is just a nickname and not the official name. Opinions differ, but this story seems the most likely:
Hollywood legend Bette Davis won the Best Actress award for the first time in 1936 (for the film “Dangerous”). Accepting the award, she said the buttocks of the golden sculpture reminded her of her husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson Jr.’s, buttocks.
One unsubstantiated theory is that Walt Disney overheard an academy member wanting to name the sculpture “Oscar.” After his victory in 1934, Walt Disney thanked him for his “Oscar”.
The nickname isn’t the official name for the academy’s award, but they trademarked it anyway.
Why was there controversy surrounding the 2016 Oscars?
2015 was a year of great black acting performances: from Idris Elba in Beasts of No Nation, Will Smith (Harrowing Truth), Jason Mitchell (Straight Outta Compton) to Michael B. Jordan (Creed – Rocky’s Legacy”). Only white male and female actors were nominated in all acting categories.
Leo DiCaprio with his first (and so far only) Oscar (for the film “The Revenant”) in the scandalous year of 2016
After a few black Hollywood greats like Jada Pinkett-Smith and director Spike Lee criticized the lack of diversity, the academy made sure to admit 774 new members within the next two years. The proportion of women is now 28 percent, the proportion of non-white members 13 percent.
Who has won the most Oscars?
The brilliant Walt Disney personally won 32 times, in 1954 even four times in one evening. He has won the most Oscars overall. In the 1960s he had a bracelet made for his wife Lilly with 20 miniature Oscars, each engraved with the winning title.
Katharine Hepburn won the most Oscars for acting. She was voted Best Actress four times.
Walter Brennan, Daniel Day-Lewis and Jack Nicholson each had three wins for their acting performances. Three wins are almost a consolation prize for Jack Nicholson, who holds the men’s record for the most nominations (12).
1976 Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher won for their acting performances in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Meryl Streep has been nominated for an actress 21 times. So far nobody has done that. The namesake of the Oscars, Bette Davis, shares a special record with Greer Garson: Both actresses were nominated for an Oscar five years in a row. It’s called steady performance.
Also interesting: Of all the cartoon characters, the cat and mouse “Tom and Jerry” were able to claim the most prizes.
