75th Annual Oscars ~ 10th Anniversary Special
On this very day 10 years ago, one of only two posthumous Oscars for the past decade in film was handed out. It went to Conrad Hall for his lensing of Road to Perdition (the other was Heath Ledger's). So here's one from the vaults since we did a Hit Me With Your Best Shot on it just last year. If you click on these shots, deemed best by our 'hit me' club and arranged here in narrative order, you can read more about them and why they were chosen.
It's a strange symmetry that a film as funereal as Road to Perdition would be a member of the Posthumous Oscar wins club. Here's a list of all 13 of them:
- Sidney Howard, Adapted Screenplay - Gone With the Wind (1939)
- William A Horning, Art Direction - Gigi (1958)
- William A Horning, Art Direction - Ben Hurt (1959)
- Sam Zimbalist, Best Picture - Ben Hur (1959)
- Eric Orborn, Art Direction - Spartacus (1960)
- Walt Disney, Animated Short - Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968)
- Raymond Rasch & Larry Russell, Best Score - Limelight (1972)
- Peter Finch, Actor - Network (1976)
- Geoffrey Unsworth, Cinematography - Tess (1980)
- Howard Ashman, Best Song - "Beauty & the Beast" from Beauty & The Beast (1991)
- Thomas Goodwin, Documentary Short - Educating Peter (1992)
- Conrad Hall, Cinematography - Road to Perdition (2002)
- Heath Ledger, Supporting Actor - The Dark Knight (2008)
Art director William A Horning is the only double posthumous winner though acting legend James Dean and Disney's brilliant comeback-making composer Howard Ashman both received more than one posthumous nomination.