Some of you may have noticed it. The tenseness, the electric anticipation, the banter and speculation flying around. The shade(s) being thrown with their accompanying witty repartee’s on social media. I know you know what I’m talking about- the 2018 Oscars. Yep, the one scheduled to hold on the 4th of March at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, USA.
I’m sure many of you already know the all the nominees and who was snubbed and who wasn’t. You might even consider yourselves as authorities on everything that has to do with the Oscars. Cool. Here are 8 facts I bet you didn’t know about the Oscars
How the Oscar Name came about:
The Oscar’s statuette’s official name is the “Academy Award of Merit.” The name “Oscar” is actually a nickname with unclear origins. There are different stories that claim to explain its origin but the most common one is believed to be due to a comment made by Margaret Herrick. She worked as a Librarian at the Academy and when she first saw the statuette, she commented that it looked like her uncle Oscar. From then it was used frequently and became official in 1939.
Naked and Famous: During the Academy Awards held on April 2,1974, a man named Robert Opal ran across the stage naked, flashing the peace sign. He certainly got his moment in the spotlight didn’t he?
The statuettes up close: The Oscar statuettes are 13 and a half inches tall and weigh eight and a half pounds. It depicts a knight, holding a sword, standing on a reel of film which has five spokes. These spokes represent the five original branches of the Academy, that is, the directors, the producers, the technicians, the actors and the writers.
The show doesn’t always go on: Contrary to the popular saying, the Academy awards have been postponed 3 times. First in 1968 because of the Los Angeles Floods. Then again in 1968, it was pushed back by 2 days because of the Martin Luther King Junior Funeral. The last postponement was in 1981 when the Oscars were pushed back by a single day because of the assassination attempt on President Reagan.
Silence is golden?: Three actors have won the Oscars for playing characters that did not utter a single word throughout the entire film. Jane wyman, who won the Best Actress award for portraying Belinda, a deaf mute in Johnny Belinda in 1948. Sir John Mills played the mute Village Idiot in Ryan’s Daughter for which he won Best Supporting Actor in 1970. Holly Hunter won the Best Actress Award for her portrayal of the mute Ada McGrath in The Piano in 1993.
Long walk to Freedom: The Dolby Theatre in LA has been the venue for the Awards for the last 14 years. It seats 3400 people, all of whom have to walk 500 feet on the red carpet to reach the venue. The carpet is flanked by pillars that bear the name of every Best Picture winner since the Awards first started. Amazingly, there’s enough space for the Academy to keep adding winners every year till 2071!
A stick up?: The Academy was robbed in 2000 by two men who stole 55 Oscar Trophies. All except three of the trophies were recovered. The third trophy was later found by the FBI during a drug investigation years later
Thanks but no thanks: Three people have rejected the Oscar in its entire history.
- The first was Dudley Nichols who won Best Screenplay for the movie The Informer in 1935. However, he boycotted the Awards because of the ongoing feud between the Academy and the Writer’s Guild.
- George C. Scott won Best Actor in 1970 for portraying Patton in the movie General Patton. He refused the honor because, according to him, “the Awards were a two-hour meat parade”
- Marlon Brando also refused the Best Actor Award for his role in The Godfather in 1972. His rejection was based on the discrimination towards Native Americans by the US and Hollywood.
Now you can hold your head higher and proclaim yourself as the Guru in Oscar Trivia. You’re welcome!