A brief history of posthumous Oscars

by Cláudio Alves

Before the Oscar nominations were announced, some pundits predicted as many as four posthumous nominations. Obviously, there's Chadwick's Boseman's Best Actor bid for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. His feverish take on August Wilson's Levee was indeed nominated and, at this point in the awards season, feels bound for victory. The other potential posthumous honors, those that didn't effectively happen, were Jack Fincher (Mank) in Best Original Screenplay, Chadwick Boseman again in Supporting Actor (Da 5 Bloods), and Michael Wolf Snyder (Nomadland) in Best Sound. With that in mind, it's easy to wonder how common it is for AMPAS to honor artists who have already passed.

For trivia purposes, here's a list of all posthumous Oscar nominations divided by category. Only competitive prizes were included, so no honorary awards...

Click to read more ...

The 25 Oldest Men Ever Nominated for Best Actor

by Nathaniel R

John Wayne just misses the list. Denzel almost double dips. And Hopkins tops the list setting a new recordWe did a "Youngest Best Actor" list a few years back so we thought we should balance it out with their counterparts given the return of Sir Anthony Hopkins this year at 83 years of age with The Father. He makes history in the process as the oldest nominee ever in this category. As we all know Oscar likes some years on his men (as opposed to how he feels about women) but that doesn't mean the golden years. Oscar loves men to be in their late 30s through mid 50s (whereas with women they prefer late 20s through mid 40s) but ageism  works against men, too. Just not as severely as it does against women. The roles still dry up at a certain age... though perhaps that's more on filmmakers and studios than the Oscars themselves. 

LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH MINOR CORRECTIONS. (04/02). And a surprising piece of trivia about this list. Only one of the top 25 oldest nominees in this category actually won the Oscar. Not a strong success rate for senior men. Oscar likes to bid them farewell but doesn't feel the need to send them off with the statue (or a second statue)...

Click to read more ...

Showbiz History: Warren Beatty's habitual Oscar fate, 1954's lame Best Picture lineup, and more...

4 random things that happened on this day, March 30th, in showbiz history

1946 The 3rd annual Golden Globes were held on this day honoring The Lost Weekend, 75 years ago. It was AFTER the Oscars. How bizarre right? But the Globes were more like the NBR at the start announcing winners (no nominees) in advance of a banquet.  

1955 The 27th Academy Awards are held honoring the best of 1954 On the Waterfront leads the nominations and wins an incredible 8 Oscars.  Though the Academy nominates all the wrong movies as its competition so it had an easy time of it. The Best Picture lineup went like so...

Click to read more ...

March 25th is a super-duper Oscary day

If today, March 25th, is your birthday please brag about this fact...

Audrey Hepburn & Prince at their Oscar winning ceremonies

More Oscar ceremonies have been held on your birthday than any other day in history with the exception of March 29th, which has had the same amount of Oscar ceremonies: five. (Supposedly in 2022, these two March dates will have to share this peculiar honor in a three way tie with February 27th.)

1954 The 26th annual Academy Awards are held honoring the best of 1953...

Click to read more ...

Oscar history: Titanic's not-quite clean sweep, Julia's ascendance, and Chicago vs The Pianist

5 things that happened today, March 23rd, in Oscar History only...

1950 The 22nd annual Academy Awards honoring 1949 are held. All the King's Men wins Best Picture but it's the Olivia de Havilland classic The Heiress, among the Best Picture honorees, which wins the most Oscars (Actress, Costume Design, Art Direction, and Score) and has had the longest cultural shelf life thereafter.

1990 Pretty Woman hits movie theaters becoming a sensation and Julia Roberts ascends to superstardom...

Click to read more ...