 |
The
Statuette
The
Oscar statuette,designed by MGM's chief art director
Cedric Gibbons, depicts a knight holding a crusader's
sword, standing on a reel of film with five spokes,
signifying the original branches of the Academy: Actors,
Writers, Directors, Producers, and Technicians. Frederic
Hope, Gibbons' assistant, created the original Belgian
black marble base; artist George Stanley sculpted the
design; and the California Bronze Foundry hand cast
the first statuette in bronze plated with 24-karat gold.
|
|
|
Oscar
Facts
Oscar's height: 13 1/2 inches
Oscar's weight: 8 1/2 pounds
Number of Oscars presented at Academy Awards
shows or to winners absent from show to
date: 2,365
Number of eligible categories in 1927: 13
Number of eligible categories in 2002: 25
How many people it takes to make a statuette:
12
How long it takes to make a statuette: 20
hours
Number of Oscars manufactured each year:
50-60
How many Oscars have been refused: 3
Number of decorative prop Oscar statues:
65
Smallest decorative prop Oscar statue: 1-½
feet
Tallest decorative prop Oscar statue: 24
feet
|
|
Born in 1928, years would pass
before the Academy Award of Merit was officially
named "Oscar." Industry insiders
and members of the press called the award
"the Academy statuette," "the
golden trophy" or "the statue of
merit." The entertainment trade paper,
Weekly Variety, even attempted to popularize
"the iron man." The term never stuck.
A popular story has been that an Academy librarian
and eventual executive director, Margaret
Herrick, thought the statuette resembled her
Uncle Oscar and said so, and that as a result
the Academy staff began referring to it as
Oscar.
No hard evidence exists to support that tale,
but in any case, by the sixth Awards Presentation
in 1934, Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky
used the name in his column in reference to
Katharine Hepburn's first Best Actress win.
The Academy itself didn't use the nickname
officially until 1939.
Since its conception, the Oscar statuette
has met exacting uniform standards -- with
a few notable exceptions. In the 1930s, juvenile
players received miniature replicas of the
statuette; ventriloquist Edgar Bergen was
presented with a wooden statuette with a moveable
mouth; and Walt Disney was honored with one
full-size and seven miniature |
 |
statuettes
on behalf of his animated feature SNOW
WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS. Between
1942 and 1944, in support of the war
effort, Oscars were made of plaster.
After the War, winners turned in the
temporary awards for golden Oscar statuettes.
The traditional Oscar statuette, however,
hasn't changed since the 1940s, when
the base was made higher. In 1945, the
base was changed from marble to metal
and in 1949, Academy Award statuettes
began to be numbered, starting with
No. 501. |
|
|
|
|
"A
Beautiful Mind"
It is unlikely that maths genius John Forbes
Nash ever calculated that a story of his life
and battle with mental illness would ever become
a top draw at the movie theatre. But the combination
of a strong cast and a director, Ron Howard, known
for his bouncy optimism proved to be the right
formula for a "A Beautiful Mind" earning
it the best picture Oscar.
"In the case of 'A Beautiful Mind' the person
and the story are important to me. To receive
an award for making this movie is a miracle,"
said co-producer Ron Grazer.
The film, nominated for eight Academy Awards,
took home four from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood,
including best director for Howard, best supporting
actress for Jennifer Connelly and best adapted
screenplay for Akiva Goldsman. It was a fairytale
ending for the decidedly un-fairytale story of
the Noble prize-winning Nash, whose descent into
schizophrenia nearly destroyed what was touted
as the most promising mind of his generation.
The film produced by Universal Studios opens in
1948, when Nash, played by New Zealand-born Russell
Crowe, enters Princeton University as a graduate
student, beginning his quest for that one truly
original ideas. Nash eventually closes in on a
hypotheses for an economic theory and becomes
a star in the math world.
He lands a prestigious position at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, meets his wife, Alicia,
played by Jennifer Connelly, and consults for
the Pentagon, cracking impossible codes no one
else can fathom. But all is not well in Nash's
"Beautiful Mind", and he sinks into
a delusional fog, losing his grip on reality,
despite psychiatric intervention.
|
|
|
|
|
