Academy Awards

The Academy Awards are presented each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, made up of entertainment industry professionals and filmmakers, to recognize the best in the previous year's films and filmmaking. Though the awards handed out are technically known as the "Academy Award of Merit," they are better known by the nickname "Oscar."

Fast Facts

1. First held May 16, 1929 at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood
2. First hosts: Douglas Fairbanks and William C. DeMille
3. First Best Picture: Wings
4. 2008 Host: Jon Stewart
5. Current Venue: Kodak Theatre in downtown Hollywood
6. Votes Tabulated by PricewaterhouseCoopers
7. First live telecast was in 1953 on NBC
8. ABC currently has telecast rights until 2014
9. Model for the Oscar statuette was Emilio "El Indio" Fernández

"Big Five" Winners

Only three films in history have won all five of the "major" awards on Oscar night - Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and one of the two Best Screenwriting awards. They are:

1. It Happened One Night in 1934
2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975
3. The Silence of the Lambs in 1991

Recent Best Picture Winners

• 1998: Titanic
• 1999: Shakespeare in Love
• 2000: American Beauty
• 2001: Gladiator
• 2002: A Beautiful Mind
• 2003: Chicago
• 2004: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• 2005: Million Dollar Baby
• 2006: Crash
• 2007: The Departed
• 2008: No Country for Old Men

Snubs

Many legendary, iconic actors, actresses and directors never won an Oscar during their lifetimes (though some would win "honorary" awards). The list includes:

• Directors:
  • Robert Altman
  • Ingmar Bergman
  • Alfred Hitchcock
  • Stanley Kubrick
  • Akira Kurosawa
  • Sidney Lumet
• Actors/Actresses:
  • Glenn Close
  • Catherine Deneuve
  • Greta Garbo
  • Cary Grant
  • Deborah Kerr
  • Peter O'Toole
  • Liv Ullmann

Orson Welles won only 1 Oscar, for co-writing Citizen Kane

History

Before the advent of television, the Academy Awards ceremonies were banquets, frequently held in Los Angeles' Biltmore or Ambassador hotels. Other venues that have hosted the Oscars include the Grauman's Chinese Theater, the Pantages Theater, the Shrine Auditorium and the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion.

At the first ceremony, most of the "technical" awards were compiled into a single category - the Academy Award for Engineering Effects, which went to the 1929 choice for "Best Picture," Wings. In subsequent years, particularly after the widespread use of sound recording, these awards were split into individual categories, including "scientific and technical awards" which are typically handed out at a smaller, more intimate ceremony before the main Academy Awards.

Bob Hope hosted more Oscars than any other individual, appearing for 17 straight years. Though he was never nominated for an award for his performances, he received five honorary Oscars over the years.

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