The Academy Awards are this Sunday! The final ballots were due on Tuesday for tabulation by the auditing firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. At this moment, only two partners of the firm know the results until the sealed envelopes are opened onstage.
The first AA ceremony was held in 1929, when guest tickets were $5. The first televised awards in 1953 were in black and white.
25 regular award categories are voted upon by 6,000 members of the Academy with the winners in each receiving the Academy Award of Merit, more commonly known as the Oscar. Exactly 2,701 Oscar statues have been awarded, each weighing 8.5 pounds.
This year’s most nominated film is “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” with thirteen nominations. Find out the winners when Hugh Jackman hosts the 81st Annual Academy Awards in just 3 days!
The official site for the 2009 Oscar awards is http://www.oscar.com/, while the official site for the Academy of Motion Picture Art & Sciences is http://www.oscars.org/.
Best Picture Winners in the library’s AV Alcove:
2007 – “No Country for Old Men” 791.4372 N739c
2006 – “The Departed” 791.4372 D419a
2005 – “Crash” 791.4372 C894a
2004 – “Million Dollar Baby” 791.4372 M655d
2003 – “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” 791.4372 L867o
2002 – “Chicago” 791.4372 C532a
2001 – “A Beautiful Mind” 791.4372 B384m
2000 – “Gladiator” 791.4372 G542a
Test your Oscar Knowledge~
Who is the youngest male to win a Best Actor Oscar?
Adrien Brody, at 29 years and 343 days, for “The Pianist” (2002)
Name the three films that have earned Oscars for Best Picture, Directing, Actor, Actress and Writing.
“It Happened One Night” (1934); “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975); “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991)
Who has hosted the Academy Awards most often?
Bob Hope – a record 19 times!
Of the 80 films named Best Picture, which three have been Westerns?
“Cimarron” in 1930/31, “Dances With Wolves” in 1990 and “Unforgiven” in 1992.
Who was the first black performer to win an Academy Award?
Hattie McDaniel, for her supporting performance in 1939’s “Gone with the Wind.”
Which three films have won the most Academy Awards?
“Ben-Hur” (1959), “Titanic” (1997), and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003), 11 awards each.
Source: http://www.oscars.org
