59 days til nominations. Time for a little Disney trivia
Saturday, November 25, 2017 at 9:30AM by Nathaniel R
Disney won every single short category plus Documentary Feature at the 1953 OscarsWith 59 days left until Oscar nominations, it seems an appropriate time to remind everyone that it's not Meryl Streep (20) or Woody Allen (24) or even John Williams (50) who holds the record for Most Oscar Nominations of All Time, but industry titan and one of the most influential people who ever lived: Walt Disney. His fingerprints... or mouse glove prints if you will, are still all over showbiz, especially the business part. But we're here to talk Oscar. He received an incredible 59 competitive Oscar nominations, winning 22 of those races.
So in addition to holding the record for most nominations, he also holds the record for most wins. The last of those nominations and wins was his only posthumous honor -- Winnie Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968) took the Animated Short Oscar (then called "Best Short Subject, Cartoons")...
The bulk of those 59 nominations, 39 of them, come in the animated short category but he was also honored in the categories we now think of as Best Live Action Short, Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short, and Best Picture (only once but for the classic Mary Poppins).
But those numbers don't even convey his full Oscar glory. He also received the Irving Thalberg awards and 3 Honorary Oscars, one of which was famously 1 full statue with 7 miniature companion statues for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) as you can see in this adorable photo with presenter Shirley Temple from the 11th annual Academy Awards in February 1939.
Reader Comments (8)
He would hate the computer-animated films. Would never accept in his company, if alive.
I don't think so. One of the things that most distinguished Disney throughout his career was a visionary exploitation of new technology.
1929 - Steamboat Willie, the FIRST sound cartoon, and foundation of the whole shebang.
1932 - Flowers and Trees, the FIRST cartoon made in three-strip Technicolor. For going with the experiment, Disney has exclusive use of the process in animation until 1936, forcing his rivals to use inferior two-color processes, which don't have that gorgeous look.
(Not about technology per se, but... 1937 - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs [actually, work on it began years earlier], the FIRST feature length cartoon. In the time leading up to it, it's called Disney's Folly and critics are saying no adult will sit through a 70-minute cartoon, it will hurt their eyes. Snow White is a monster hit and an artistic achievement, and it cements the animated feature film concept. It again forces other animation houses to struggle to adjust.)
1940 - Fantasia is the first film to use a version of stereo sound, with multiple speakers around the theater in specially equipped roadshow houses. (Never mind its unique visionary masterpiece status otherwise.)
1955 - The Disney television program begins and will remain a Sunday night anchor under various titles for a decade-plus. At a time when most Hollywood studios didn't want anything to do with TV, Disney again jumped into the new technology. (All the original content made for the show was done in color, at a time when everything was in b/w and color TV acceptance was a decade off. He knew it was worth spending the money to shoot in color for future re-use.) The Mickey Mouse Club begins airing in afternoons soon after.
Oh, and Disneyland - the FIRST theme park - is also starting up at the same time. Monorails, auto-animatronics, computer-controlled attractions, EPCOT... he was always excited by new tech.
So I think it's likely that if he'd lived long enough (or the computer era began sooner) Disney would have appreciated computer animation once it reached real usability, and would, in fact, be in the forefront of using it.
(Sorry to be so pedantic!)
Doctor Strange
Not for the technology, for the aesthetic - Walt Disney valued the beauty (not only the storytelling).
I think he would find the computer-generated animation not so pretty. The color palette much more limited, like the design of the human characters etc. He would love to use the computer in a complementary way like in The Lion King and Beauty And The Beast, not entirely. You are not pedantic.
If Walt Disney had play by today's current Oscar rules, he wouldn't have won most of his awards, at least not alone. I'm pretty sure he didn't do most if not any of the actual work for the animated short subjects and documentary short subjects he won for. He paid for them, released them and put his name on them. That was enough to qualify him for the Oscar.
happy thanksgiving Nat! ive loved you since i was 17 and ill never stop <3 ur my hero keep dreamin my nigga!
Poor Meryl! These numbers are hard to match or beat. I feel sorry for her.
Will we ever be able to see Honorary Oscar winner 'Song Of The South' so we can judge for ourselves?
TOM
It's possible to find the beautiful Song of the South online.