It's the night in Hollywood, at least it is for some people. I think everyone has heard about the blatant lack of nominations for African Americans. This is nothing new, but it bites a bit more considering Selma is one of the Best Picture nominees. The discrepancy is nothing new and it is egregious some years more than others. Unfortunately, Hollywood is white. They're not proud of that, but they are very white. And the award circuit, for the most part, is a political being. I can't comment on any performances this year because, as usual, I've only seen a few of the movies. But I believe too much focus is placed on an award system that has never been truly reflective of the talent that exists in the industry, regardless of race.
I thought I would share some interesting trivia about the Academy Awards. It is not my intent to belittle anyone's grievances, more to show that many have felt slighted and they all are in good company.
Let's start with 'the most':
Walt Disney was nominated 59 times, 22 of those were consecutive, and won 26 statuettes. All three of those records will never be broken. Ironically, he was only ever nominated for Best Picture once, Mary Poppins, but didn't win.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King holds the record for winning the most awards it was nominated for by taking the statuette for all 11 nominations.
Both Bette Davis and Greer Garson were each nominated a record 5 consecutive years. And Barry Fitzgerald is the only actor to ever be nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the same role. The rules don't allow for this to happen anymore.
I could continue with 'the most', but I found 'the least' to be far more fascinating.
So here are 'the least':
Though I don't know if this is a record, I thought it was incredible that Anthony Hopkins was on screen for only 16 minutes in his Best Actor winning role as Hannibal in The Silence of the Lambs!
Federico Fellini was nominated 12 times and Ingmar Bergman 9 times and neither won one, though they both did earn honorary Oscars. And Alfred Hitchcock not only never won at the Academy, he was spurned at the Golden Globes, Cannes, the BAFTA's, and Director's Guild. Stunning!
Both Mary Poppins and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? won the fewest (only 5) of their nominations (13). Both Johnny Belinda and Becket only managed to win one of their 12 nominations! And The Turning Point and The Color Purple didn't win in a single one of their 11 nominated categories. Steven Spielberg wasn't even nominated for Best Director for the latter.
But the biggest slight by the Academy is this, neither Richard Burton nor Peter O'Toole ever won an Oscar, despite being nominated 7 and 8 times respectively. Both were nominated for Becket! O'Toole was given a Lifetime Achievement Award, the Academy's mea culpa.
In conclusion, it is shameful how much the Academy overlooks performances in all minorities. And perhaps they will change their ways. In the end, there will always be plenty of hurt feelings. What is most important is these talented people continue to produce quality films because there are plenty of us out there that appreciate them, whether they hold that little gold man or not.
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