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Monday, 31 January 2011

The Oscars Timeline


The Oscars will take place at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on 27 February. This will be it's will be the 83rd year and the ceremony will be hosted by actors James Franco and Anne Hathaway. But how did it all begin?


March 1929 - The first Oscar awards were held in a banquet which took place at a Hollywood Hotel. There was an audience of 270 who paid a meer $5 to attend and the award for best picture was given to the film "Wings".

April 1959 - "Ben-Hur" set the record for the most Oscar awards to be awarded to one film, winning 11 Oscars that night.

April 1970 - George C. Scott, who won Best Actor, had stayed at home watching the hockey to show how little he thought of the awards.

April 1972 - Actor Marlon Brando refused his Oscar of Best Actor for his role in "The Godfather". He instead had actress Sacheen Littlefeather, pretending to be a Native American, to explain he wasn't attending or accepting his award due to the poor treatment of American Indians in the industry.

April 1974 - An unexpected streaker ran across the stage, an unforgettable night in Oscar history.

April 1977 - Whilst presenting the writing award, Paddy Chayefsky outwardly displayed his own view of the Oscars commenting on how he was sick of people exploiting the occasion of the Academy Awards "for the propagation of their own personal political propaganda. I would like to suggest to Miss Redgrave that her winning an Academy Award is not a pivotal moment in history, does not require a proclamation, and a mere thank you would have sufficed.”

March 1991 - Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" was the first animated film to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.

March 2003 - "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" has been the only film to win all the awards it was nominated for. The film won 11 awards and became the third film to win 11 Oscars.

February 2008 - "Slumdog Millionaire" was the lowest-budget film to have won an Oscar, winning the title of 8 awards including Best Picture, director and screenplay.

March 2010 - Kathryn Bigelow becomes the first female director to win an Oscar for her 2009 film "The Hurt Locker".