March 29th is the biggest Oscar night, sort of...
Monday, March 29, 2021 at 8:00AM Today in Oscar History. Five Oscar ceremonies were held on this date, the most of any night on the calendar (well... tied with March 25th) so if today is your birthday, congratulations. You're practically a naked gold man!
Gloria Swanson, seated next to Judy Holliday, waits to hear the results of Best Actress
1951 The 23rd annual Academy Awards are held to honor the films of 1950. Fred Astaire hosts the ceremony which is a triumphant night for All About Eve (14 nominations, 6 wins). Though it seems insane given its hallowed place in film history Sunset Boulevard only won three Oscars that night in the categories of Score, Art Direction, and Story & Screenplay...
The writing categories were so strange back in the day as its nearly impossible to decipher their meaning from their titles: Best Screenplay at the time meant "Adapted". The two other categories were Best Story and Screenplay and Best Motion Picture Story which were later combined as Original Screenplay but what, pray tell was the difference between them at the time?
1976 The 48th Academy Awards are held honoring the best of 1975. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest became only the second film in history (after It Happened One Night) to win "the big five" aka both leading categories, picture, director, and screenplay. Though 1975 arguably had the best Best Picture lineup of all time...
- Barry Lyndon
- Dog Day Afternoon
- Jaws
- Nashville
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
...the Academy definitely were cuckoo for Cuckoo's Nest above all the others.
1982 The 54th Academy Awards are held honoring the best of 1981. It was a tight race. Warren Beatty's communist epic Reds led the nominations with 12 but won only three (Director and Cinematography and Supporting Actress which we discussed last summer), Raiders of the Lost Ark won the most Oscars (4 plus a special noncompetitive honor), and Chariots of Fire was the sleeper hit that swiped Best Picture at the last moment though it also won Score, Costumes, Screenplay.
Some "firsts" for this ceremony: Meryl Streep's first Best Actress nomination (French Lieutenant's Woman), Hungary's first Oscar win (Mephisto), Best Makeup finally become an annual competitive category (though it would take Oscar nearly 40 years to make it equal to other categories with 5 nominees), and Oscar finally gave it up for Barbara Stanwyck with the Honorary Oscar.
1989 The 61st Academy Awards are held honoring the films of 1988. Rain Man was the big winner with 4 trophies and Glenn Close suffered her second consecutive heartbreaking loss after losing for Fatal Attraction at the previous ceremony she lost for Dangerous Liaisons at this one, a far worse loss since The Accused/Jodie Foster was no Moonstruck/Cher, you know? Some important firsts for this ceremony given Oscar's obsession for all three: The first nominations for Frances McDormand (Mississippi Burning), Tom Hanks (Big), and the first win for Pixar (Tin Toy, embedded up, which won animated short).
1993 The 65th Academy Awards are held honoring the best of 1992. Unforgiven and Howards End square off for Best Picture with Unforgiven triumphant in the end. If you ask us Howard End was miles above the rest of that particular wildly uneven lineup...
- The Crying Game
- A Few Good Men
- Howards End
- Scent of a Woman
- Unforgiven
And it's still beyond bizarre that Oscar mostly shunned The Last of the Mohicans which was right in their wheelhouse and also a popular success. Another notable thing about this ceremony was it remains the last ceremony to award France in Best International Film for the Catherine Deneuve vehicle Indochine. France remains the most nominated country but with the exception of the Amelie year they haven't come close to being the favourite to win since.
Oscar approved birthdays only
Today is the 54th birthday of Oscar winning director Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) born on this day in Paris France.
And the 61st of two-time Best Editing nominee Tim Squyres (Life of Pi, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon). Oscar has been a bit stingy with him since he was passed over for Gosford Park (AFI nominee) and also edited brilliance like Rachel Getting Married, The Ice Storm, and Lust Caution.
And the 74th of Sound nominee John Pritchett who is up again this year for News of the World. Previous nominations were Memoirs of a Geisha and Road to Perdition. Other key films include Avengers Endgame, There Will Be Blood, and Death Becomes Her.
And the 75th of Bruce Weber, Oscar-nominated for Let's Get Lost (1988). Yes, that Bruce Weber, who is most famous for homoerotic photography. Let's Get Lost was a portriat of jazz singer Chet Baker.
And the oldest living Oscar winner born on this day (that we're aware of - it is possible we missed someone) - happy 78th to Oscar winning composer Vangelis (Chariots of Fire) born on this day in Volos, Greece. Other film scores include Blade Runner, 1492 Conquest of Paradise, Alexander and Missing.
And late greats like...
Today in 1936 three time Best Original Score nominee Richard Rodney Bennett (Murder on the Orient Express, Far from the Madding Crowd, Nicholas and Alexandra) born in Kent, England.
Today in 1919 Best Supporting Actress winner Eileen Heckart (Butterflies are Free -- recently discussed) was born in Columbus Ohio. Other films include The Bad Seed, The First Wives Club, and Bus Stop.
Today in 1908 two time Oscar nominated Supporting Actor Arthur O'Connell (Picnic, Anatomy of a Murder) was born in NYC
Today in 1894 five time Best Cinematography nominee Franz Planer (The Children's Hour, the Nun's Story, Roman Holiday, Death of a Salesman, Champion) was born in Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic)
Today in 1889 Best Actor Oscar winner Warner Baxter (In Old Arizona) born on Columbus Ohio. Other films include 42nd Street, Penthouse, and Adam Had Four Sons.
Reader Comments (38)
1992 had a couple of horrible snubs at Best Picture... both of them film debuts as directors:
- Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs
- Tim Robbins' Bob Roberts
Both are extremely better than Scent of a Woman and A Few Good Men... on the anecdotic data: Tim Robbins' excellent work as songwriter for Bob Roberts couldn't be recognised as the songs were in character (a Trump-like racist and homophobe) so he never edited the soundtrack nor submitted the songs for consideration as they could be taken literally by bigots and take them as anthems... my favorite of those songs, "Wall Street Rap" with a music video that was a blatant rip-off (on character and being meta) of "Subterranean Homesick Blues" by Bob Dylan, one of the biggest genius moments of that masterpiece.
Sunset Boulevard also won for Story and Screenplay
Woops, Sunset Boulevard won 3 Oscars. Franz Waxman also won for his brilliant Score.
Well reds also won best supporting actress Which is pictured too!
My choices:
1950: Picture: Sunset Boulevard
Actor: William Holden
Actress: Bette Davis is my favorite, but with such a tight race and Bette having already won twice, I'd vote for Gloria Swanson
S. Actor: George Sanders
S. Actress: Josephine Hull
Director: Carol Reed
Screenplay: The Gunfighter/All About Eve/Adam's Rib (I know, I know Sunset Boulevard's screenplay is its most distinctive feature, but Adam's Rib is EVEN better, and the film itself should have been nominated for at least a half dozen Oscars)
1975: Film Dog Day Afternoon
Actor: Jack Nicholson (wish I could engineer a tie with Al Pacino)
Actress: Louise Fletcher
S. Actor: Brad Dourif
S. Actress: Ronne Blakley
Director: Sidney Lumet
Screenplay: Dog Day Afternoon/The Man Who Would Be King
Foreign Film: Dersu Uzala
1981:Film: Atlantic City
Actor: Burt Lancaster
Actress: Susan Sarandon
S. Actor: Howard Rollins Jr
S. Actress: Maureen Stapleton
Director: Louis Malle
Screenplay: Atlantic City/Ragtime
Foreign Film: The Boat Is Full
(In my parallel Oscarverse Atlantic City wins the Big 5. Wouldn't THAT have been a hoot if it had really happened? Remember Johnny Carson's joke about Price Waterhouse?: These guys can really keep a secret - they did the publicity for Atlantic City!)
1988: Film: Dangerous Liaisons
Actor: Max Von Sydow
Actress: Glenn Close
S. Actor: Alec Guinness
S. Actress: Sigourney Weaver
Director: Martin Scorsese
Screenplay: Bull Durham/Dangerous Liaisons
Foreign Film: Pelle the Conqueror
1992: Film: The Crying Game
Actor: Clint Eastwood
Actress: Michelle Pfeiffer
S. Actor: Al Pacino
S. Actress: Vanessa Redgrave
Director: Robert Altman
Screenplay: Passion Fish/Enchanted April
Foreign Film: Close to Eden
Was Glenn even the runner-up in ‘88 though? I’d always assumed Sigourney was the runner-up for both Actress AND Supporting Actress that year, but of course we’ll never know for sure.
Also, about France not winning International Film since ‘92, I think France has a tendency to submit weak choices for the Oscars, or if not weak then at least not as strong as other films they could have gone with. Just off the top of my head, Cache in 2005, Beau Travail in 1999, The Gleaners & I in 2000... I mean, nothing was going to beat Parasite last year anyway, but not submitting Portrait of a Lady on Fire will probably seem like an even bigger blunder in retrospect than it did at the time.
Is that Celeste Holm behind La Gloria.
I think the 92 BP list i s one of the better ones of the 90's.
Glenn and Sigourney should have both won in 1988 then the internet inc me and every gay man I know wouldn't keep bitching about it 30 yrs later,Jodie could have had her 2 for 91 and 94 cos she's great in Nell far better than in The Accused though she's solid in that.
1950 is one year i'd be happy with a 3 way tie.
Stanwyk should have done OGP and won instead of Hepburn.
1975 winners Nicholson,Adjani,Shaw,Grant
1981 winners Beatty,Keaton,Rollins jr,Hackett
1988 winners Irons,Close,Kline,Weaver
192 winners Lemmon,Sarandon,Hackman,Davis
1992 is a good lineup. I wouldn’t have nominated Unforgiven but it’s successful at what it’s doing. A Few Good Men really holds up well (I know people here have Sorkin fatigue), and Howard’s End and Crying Game are top form. Scent of a Woman is only one I’d dump.
For my birth year of 1981, it was truly a set of unremarkable or flawed films, and I recently watched them all. Only one or two stone-cold classics:
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark (peak Spielberg; pure joy)
2. Atlantic City (entertaining little caper that grows on you)
3. Reds (an hour too long, but there’s the meat of a classic somewhere in there I guess)
4. On Golden Pond (some cranky turns by actors that have been better elsewhere)
5. Chariots of Fire (seriously.. a snooze. Cannot believe this won)
I was a missionary in 1981 so I didn't catch up with the films until two or three years later. To this day I'm grateful that Chariots of Fire beat out Reds. To me, Reds is just a snoozy bloated biopic and it's rare they lose. Just look at the very next year with Ghandi wining out over more fun movies like Tootsie or E.T. I am still surprised that Chariots of Fire pulled it off, even if I probably would have voted for Raiders at the time.
Scent of a Woman and A Few Good Men are pretty embarrassing as Best Picture nominees. I too would have voted for Howard's End but Unforgiven is not bad as a runner up.
Edwin -- i'm not sure where this narrative that Sigourney was in second place comes from (you're not the first person who has mentioned it!) . The "rank" was much harder to see back then with so few other awards giving bodies and only like 5-7 critics awards around but as least to my recollection. Close was definitely in second (for lead). Sigourney in second for supporting I'd believe. There were reports at the time that Oscar voters were annoyed with the hard sell for Gorillas in the Mist. and i remember a newspaper layout -- maybe it was USA Today but maybe my local paper... all about Jodie vs Glenn for Best Actress
Nathaniel - It probably comes from the fact that there was a three-way tie at the Globes among Foster, Weaver, and MacLaine, while Close wasn't nominated.
1989 was the Oscar year with the completely bizarre medley of "future Oscar winners" including Rob Lowe dancing with Snow White. The ceremony was so bad that a group of legends wrote a public letter to the Academy in disgust after it aired.
Nathaniel - I was too young to be following the Oscars back then, so I was just going by what other people have said about that year’s race. Interesting that Sigourney being the Best Actress runner-up seems to be a narrative that developed later somehow. I know she won the Golden Globe (maybe that’s what made people think she was in the running?), but then again, that was the year with the weird three-way tie. (Side note, apparently FIVE of the Golden Globe categories resulted in ties that year?!)
I’d actually be interested in reading a whole article about revisionist Oscar history like this. For instance, I’ve seen people refer to Halle Berry’s win as a big upset, and since I was following the Oscars by that point, I known that’s not true because I specifically remember it was a close race between her and Sissy Spacek.
The only '93 best picture nominee that makes me blink is Scent of a Woman. Pacino's performance is fun (not his best by any means, but fun), but the movie had no business taking a slot in best picture. Is there any person in this world that thinks Scent is better than Last of the Mohicans, Reservoir Dogs, or Like Water for Chocolate?
Love how the Hutton/Stapleton vs Travolta/Stanwyck pics are almost interchangeable.
Edwin -- yeah, Halle winning was not an upset (though it could have gone to Spacek, yes). The upset would have been had Kidman won... because people really loved her that year with two hit films and her true ascendace year but nobody expected she'd be able to pull off the win.
The baby in Tin Toy will haunt my dreams. That thing is so creepy/wrong. Computer animation has come so far in my lifetime.
In 1950 as much as I love Sunset Blvd. I cannot fault All About Eve’s Oscar. But outside of George Sanders perfect win I can’t say the same for the other categories.
Out of the actual nominees:
Picture: All About Eve
Actor: William Holden
Actress: Gloria Swanson (Bette is thisclose)
S. Actor: Geo. Sanders
S. Actress: Celeste Holm
My preferred out of all eligible films:
Pic: Eve
Actor: John Garfield-The Breaking Point
Actress: Gloria
S. Actor: Geo. Sanders
S. Actress: Linda Darnell-No Way Out
I don’t get Cuckoo’s ’75 sweep. It’s a fine picture but with Dog Day Afternoon in the mix it shouldn’t have dominated the way it did.
Out of the actual nominees:
Picture: Dog Day Afternoon
Actor: Al Pacino (we could have been spared the horror of him winning for Scent of a Woman)
Actress: Isabelle Adjani
S. Actor: Brad Dourif
S. Actress: Ronee Blakely
Out of all eligible:
Picture: Dog Day Afternoon
Actor: Pacino
Actress: Isabelle Adjani
S. Actor: Charles Durning-Dog Day Afternoon
S. Actress: Ann-Margret (she’s fierce in Tommy but supporting not lead)
Lordy what a hash 1981 is. Chariots of Fire!? Ugh, I was counting the ceiling tiles in the theatre by the time it mercifully ended!
Out of the nominees:
Picture: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Actor: Burt Lancaster
Actress: Susan Sarandon
S. Actor: Jack Nicholson (a weak lineup of fine actors in blah roles)
S. Actress: Maureen Stapleton
Out of all eligible:
Picture: Raiders
Actor: Harrison Ford-Raiders (though Richard Dreyfuss is amazing in Whose Life Is It Anyway?)
Actress: Kathleen Turner-Body Heat
S. Actor: Nicol Williamson-Excalibur
S. Actress: Karen Allen-Raiders
1988-Rain Man is two good performances in search of a movie and finding syrupy goo instead.
Out of the nominees:
Picture: Dangerous Liaisons
Actor: Tom Hanks
Actress-Glenn Close
S. Actor-Kevin Kline
S. Actress-Sigourney Weaver
Out of all eligible
Picture: Die Hard
Actor: River Phoenix-Running on Empty
Actress: Christine Lahti-Running on Empty
S. Actor: Alan Rickman-Die Hard
S. Actress: Reizl Bozyk-Crossing Delancey
Unforgiven is another fine film but it’s never struck me as remotely the best of ’92.
Out of the nominees:
Picture: Howards End
Actor: Denzel Washington
Actress: Emma Thompson
S. Actor: Gene Hackman
S. Actress: Miranda Richardson (the toughest decision because all five women give award level work)
Out of all eligible:
Picture: Howards End
Actor: Joe Pesci-My Cousin Vinny
Actress: Emma Thompson
S. Actor: Tom Hanks-A League of Their Own (SO much better here than either of his actual winning performances)
S. Actress: Helena Bonham-Carter-Howards End
I was delighted that they gave the Honorable to Barbara Stanwyck while she was still spry and able to accept in person. I remember being saddened that by the time they gave Myrna Loy hers she had been so weakened by a stroke that she had to record an acceptance speech and was terribly frail. Bring them back to the televised award ceremony damn it!
On a separate note-I was looking forward to the post on Dirk Bogarde that had been mentioned yesterday for his centennial. Hope it’s just delayed, not cancelled.
Re: the old writing categories...
The difference between Motion Picture Story, Story & Screenplay, and Screenplay was authorship. Like today, one person could come up with an original story, write the first treatment, possibly even the first draft, but NOT contribute to the final shooting script otherwise (dialogue, etc). So they got their own category, Motion Picture Story, to separate their work from writers who shepherded a script from idea to final product, Story & Screenplay. Best Screenplay honored not just works adapted from previously published material, but also the “adaptations” of those Motion Picture Stories - thus you have movies like Miracle on 34th St and Roman Holiday, original concepts, nominated in both “original” and “adapted” categories - Miracle even won both Story (for Valentine Davies) and Screenplay (for George Seaton)!
I still think the 1975 Oscars, while having the best slate of nominees ever, ended up giving it to the one film that was a clear half-notch below the other four, Maybe even a full notch below NASHVILLE and BARRY LYNDON. Those are films people will be studying and celebrating 100 years from now.
If Glenn Close had won her (deserved) Oscar for Dangerous Liaisons, Jodie Foster would get her second for Nell in 95 and this silly Mawmaw/consolation/career prize narrative would never exist.
This is a rather cursed day for the Best Actress category, no?
Nothing against the wonderful Judy Holliday, who left us far too soon, but I will always believe Gloria Swanson was the best in what was a truly exceptional year, and one of the strongest performances ever nominated in the category. With the impact she had on the film industry, AMPAS should have awarded her an Honorary Oscar, at the very least.
Louise Fletcher's win irks me because her Nurse Ratched was a supporting role and should have been nominated in that category. Had she been there, perhaps the very deserving Isabelle Adjani would have won for 'The Story of Adele H.,' one of the greatest performances of the decade. Even with the two of them in the same category, Adjani easily should have won.
I know Katharine Hepburn's fourth win and Jodie Foster's first are divisive as well, though I am not as invested in those races.
joel 6 -- yes. Bogarde still coming up. our schedule was thrown off course by regular life.
I recently watched again Howards End after 25 years and it's still a masterpiece, Ivory/Merchant best with The Remains of the Day.
Back in 1992 I loved so deeply The Crying Game too.
Carol Kane's 1975 nom for Hester Street is one of my all-time favourites in any category.
Such a wonderful, under-seen film!
And I will once again mention that Sigourney Weaver should have at least twice the number of nominations that she has, not to mention a win!
The best performance in the 1988 Best Actress category is Meryl in A Cry in the Dark.
I was obsessed with The Crying Game in early 1993. Would love to see how it holds up today.
And that's Judy Holliday to Swanson's right - the eventual winner - in the photograph.
HOLLIDAY4EVA
(And because the author chose to be a trifling ho today) FOSTER4EVA
Sigourney had the amount of Oscar voters to get her over the line in Supporting, but enough of them voted for her in lead and her tallies in both categories were weakened by vote splitting. Having two bids and a nominated co-star in supporting kneecapped her *just* enough to leave her statueless and worth more current 'where's her Oscar' talk than the likes of Pffeifer. She ended up losing to (confirmed by the comments) the severely underrated Foster performance and the best one can do with a meh Manic Pixie Dream Girl role Davis.
Conseula -- we'll have to agree to disagree. dont know how anyone can see the pfeiffer filmography and the weaver filmography and think Weaver is more due (but both stars are excellent and it's a pity Oscar voters were so weird about rewarding the A listers of the moment during the 1980s. They skipped so many people that decade!
Cash -- right? And yet at the time it was all very amazing!
Edwin -- that's actually a great idea for an article or even a series of articles.
Conseula, just because Weaver is the better more consistent actress (Pfeiffer can be blandly adequate and let her beauty so more the work. Nathaniel is bewitched so would be blind) doesn't mean Weaver's career is better. I personally think it's closer than most, but unless Weaver starts being given the roles she deserves I'm with Nat on this. MA case of more talented actress not having the better career.
Please do the series! But only if we don't get it discarded swiftly like the amazing Seasons of Bette. With Claudio's upcoming series Victory Lap: Oscar-winning Roles Reprised, we might be entering a phenomenal off awards season!!!
I had never seen the 1950 Swanson pic. Amazing document, probably the best Best Actress lineup ever.
Re 1992, the one I really miss is The Player. I don´t know how close it got (Altman did make it in) but it probably stung too many in Hollywood to get a very deserved nomination.
@Edwin : regarding International Film & France's Oscar submissions,
I agree that we messed up several times : I would have picked La Vie en Rose in 2007 (opposed to Persepolis), and Custody in 2018.
In 2019, regarding Portrait vs Parasite : you can't deny that we picked a well-liked film (Les Misérables) that indeed got nominated ;) It is also up for the BAFTA next month.
But it's interesting to imagine if Portrait would have been nominated. We talked about it with Juan Carlos on his podcast : https://twitter.com/OneInchBarrier/status/1366014835914207235
Charlie -- yeah, i loved PORTRAIT so much but Les Miserables obviously wasn't a bad choice as these things go since nothing was going to beat PARASITE. But if france had submitted PORTRAIT and if they had not delayed its release until FEbruary i imagine it could have scored a cinematography nomination with more momentum.