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What Is A Historyscope?

Westerners are not only known as history ignoramuses, but double dumbass history ignoramuses when it comes to the Academy Awards (Oscars). Since I'm the one-and-only Historyscoper (tm), let me quickly bring you up to speed before you dive into my Historyscopes.

Whatsa matter with the clothes I'm wearing, can't you tell your tie's too wide? On May 16, 1929 (Thur.) the first Oscars are presented at the First (1st) Academy Awards at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, hosted by Douglas Fairbanks Sr., awarding the best picture Oscar for 1927-8 to Paramount's Wings, best actor to Swiss actor Emil Jannings (1884-1950) for The Way of All Flesh, best actress to Janet Gaynor (Laura Augusta Gainor) (1906-84) for 7th Heaven (youngest until ?) (only to win for a year's body of work), and best dir. to both Frank Borzage (1894-1962) for 7th Heaven and Lewis Milestone (Milstein) (1895-1980) for Two Arabian Knights; to be eligible, a film must premiere in Los Angeles County, run for at least a week, and charge for admission.

On Apr. 3 the Second (2nd) Academy Awards at the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Calif. awards the best picture Oscar for 1928-9 to MGM's Broadway Melody, best actor to Warner Baxter for In Old Arizona, best actress to Mary Pickford for Coquette, and best dir. to Frank Lloyd for The Divine Lady; there are seven different films honored in seven categories, a first; Jeanne Eagels (1890-1929) becomes the first posth. nominee for The Letter, but loses to Pickford for Coquette; the 3rd Academy Awards are set for Nov., becoming the only year with two ceremonies.

On Nov. 5, 1930 the Third (3rd) Academy Awards at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles (the only time two ceremonies are held the same year, to standardize the interval between awards) (first to make sound films eligible in all categories) awards the best picture Oscar for 1929-30 to Universal's All Quiet on the Western Front along with best dir. to Lewis Milestone, best actor to George Arliss for Disraeli, and best actress to Norma Shearer for The Divorcee; Frances Marion becomes the first female to win an Oscar for best adapted screenplay for The Big House.

On Nov. 18, 1931 the Fourth (4th) Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1930-1 to RKO Radio's Cimarron (the first Western to win), best actor to Lionel Barrymore for A Free Soul, best actress to Marie Dressler for Min and Bill, and best dir. to Norman Taurog for Skippy (youngest until ?).

On Nov. 18, 1932 the Fifth (5th) Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1931-2 to MGM's Grand Hotel (first best picture Oscar winner not nominated in any other category), best actor to Fredric March for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde along with Wallace Beery for The Champ, best actress to Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet, and best dir. to Frank Borzage for Bad Girl; Frances Marion receives an Oscar for best story for The Champ.

On Mar. 16, 1934 the Sixth (6th) Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1932-3 to Fox's Cavalcade along with best dir. to Frank Lloyd, best actor to Charles Laughton for The Private Life of Henry VIII, and best actress to Katharine Hepburn for Morning Glory.

On Feb. 27, 1935 the Seventh (7th) Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1934 to Columbia's It Happened One Night, along with best actor and actress to Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, and best dir. to Frank Capra, becoming the first sweep.

On Mar. 5, 1936 the Eighth (8th) Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1935 to MGM's Mutiny on the Bounty, best actor to Victor McLaglen for The Informer, best actress to Bette Davis for Dangerous, and best dir. to John Ford for The Informer, whose screenwriter Dudley Nichols (1895-1960) becomes the first to refuse an Oscar (due to a Screen Writers Guild strike) (next time George C. Scott on Apr. 15, 1971).

On Mar. 4, 1937 the Ninth (9th) Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1936 to MGM's The Great Ziegfeld, along with best actress to Luise Rainer; best actor goes to Paul Muni for The Story of Louis Pasteur; best supporting actor (1st time awarded) goes to Walter Brennan for Come and Get It, best supporting actress (1st time awarded) goes to Gale Sondergard for Anthony Adverse, and best dir. goes to Frank Capra for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.

On Mar. 10, 1938 the Tenth (10th) Academy Awards awards the picture Oscar for 1937 to Warner Bros.' The Life of Emile Zola, best actor to Spencer Tracy for Captains Courageous, best actress to Luise Rainer (2nd time in a row) for The Good Earth, and best dir. to Leo McCarey for the screwball comedy The Awful Truth (first onscreen pairing of Cary Grant and Irene Dunne); George Bernard Shaw wins an Oscar for adapting his "loverly" play "Pygmalion" for My Fair Lady.

On Feb. 23, 1939 the 11th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1938 to Columbia's You Can't Take It With You along with best dir. to Frank Capra, best actor to Spencer Tracy for Boys Town, best actress to Bette Davis for Jezebel, best supporting actress to Fay Bainter for Jezebel, and best supporting actor to Walter Brennan (his 2nd) for Kentucky; child stars Deanna Durbin and Mickey Rooney get a special Oscar; Fay Bainter becomes the first performer to be nominated for best actress ("White Banners") and best supporting actress ("Jezebel").

On Feb. 29, 1940 the 12th Academy Awards in Los Angeles are hosted for the first time by Bob Hope (first of 18x); the best picture Oscar for 1939 goes to MGM's Gone With the Wind, along with best actress to Vivien Leigh, best supporting actress to Hattie McDaniel (first black actress to win, and first to be allowed at the AA ceremony, although seated near the kitchen), and best dir. to Victor Fleming; Clark Gable is passed over for the best actor award, which goes to Robert Donat for Goodbye Mr. Chips; best supporting actor goes to Thomas Mitchell for Stagecoach (who also plays Scarlett O'Hara's crazy pa Gerald in GWTW); Sidney Coe Howard wins a posth. award for the screenplay for "Gone With the Wind".

On Feb. 27, 1941 the 13th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1940 to United Artists' Rebecca, best actor to James Stewart for The Philadelphia Story, best actress to Ginger Rogers for Kitty Foyle, best dir. to John Ford and best supporting actress to Jane Darwell for The Grapes of Wrath; Walter Brennan wins his 3rd best supporting actor Oscar for The Westerner ("Come and Get It", 1936; "Kentucky", 1938).

On Feb. 26, 1942 the 14th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1941 to 20th Century-Fox's How Green Was My Valley along with best dir. to John Ford (born Sean Aloysius O'Fearna) and best supporting actor to Donald Crisp; best actor goes to Gary Cooper for Sergeant York, best actress to Joan Fontaine for Suspicion (only actor to win for a performance in an Alfred Hitchcock film) (her sister Olivia de Havilland was also nominated for Hold Back the Dawn, a first - next in ?), and best supporting actress to Mary Astor for The Great Lie.

On Mar. 4, 1943 the 15th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1942 to MGM's Allied war effort-supporting Mrs. Miniver, along with best dir. to William Wyler, best actress to Greer Garson (who gives a record 5 min. 30 sec. speech), and best supporting actress to Teresa Wright; best actor goes to James Cagney for Yankee Doodle Dandy, and best supporting actor to Van Heflin for Johnny Eager.

On Mar. 2, 1944 the 16th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1943 to Warner Bros.' Casablanca, along with best dir. to Michael Curtiz; best actor goes to Paul Lukas for Watch on the Rhine, best actress to Jennifer Jones for The Song of Bernadette (beating her friend Ingrid Bergman in For Whom the Bell Tolls, who tells her not to apologize, with the soundbyte "Your Bernardette was better than my Maria"), best supporting actor to Charles Coburn for The More the Merrier, and best supporting actress to Katina Paxinou for For Whom the Bell Tolls.

On Mar. 15, 1945 the 17th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1944 to Paramount's Going My Way, along with best dir. to Leo McCarey, best actor to Bing Crosby (1903-77), and best supporting actor to Barry Fitzgerald; Ingrid Bergman gets best actress for Gaslight (she was passed over for "Casablanca" the previous year), and Ethel Barrymore gets best supporting actress for None But the Lonely Heart.

On Mar. 7, 1946 the 18th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1945 to Paramount's The Lost Weekend, along with best dir. to Billy Wilder and best actor to Ray Milland, best actress to Joan Crawford for Mildred Pierce, best supporting actor to James Dunn for A Tree Groes in Brooklyn, and best supporting actress to Anne Revere for National Velvet; Crawford feigns illness and misses the awards ceremony on the radio then ushers the press into her bedroom to accept, after which she soon divorces actor hubby (since 1942) Phillip Terry (Frederick Henry Kormann) (1909-93), launching the Woman Best Actress Curse (Bette Davis, Halle Berry, Kate Winslet, Sandra Bullock).

On Mar. 13, 1947 the 19th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1946 to Goldwyn-RKO Radio's The Best Years of Our Lives, along with best dir. to William Wyler, best actor to Fredric March, and best supporting actor to Harold Russell; best actress goes to Olivia de Havilland for To Each His Own, and best supporting actress to Anne Baxter for The Razor's Edge.

On Mar. 20, 1948 the 20th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1947 to 20th Century-Fox's Gentleman's Agreement, along with best dir. to Elia Kazan and best supporting actress to Celeste Holm; best actor goes to ? for A Double Life, best actress to Loretta Young for The Farmer's Daughter, and best supporting actor to Edmund Gwenn for Miracle on 34th Street (who utters the soundbyte "Now I know there is a Santa Claus").

On Mar. 24, 1949 the 21st Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1948 to Rank-Two-Cities-UI's Hamlet, along with best actor to Laurence Olivier; best actress goes to Jane Wyman for Johnny Belinda, best dir. goes to John Huston and best supporting actor to his father Walter Huston for Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and best supporting actress to Claire Trevor for Key Largo.

On Mar. 23, 1950 the 22nd Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1949 to Rossen-Columbia's All the King's Men, along with best actor to Broderick Crawford and best supporting actress to Mercedes McCambridge; best actress goes to Olivia de Havilland for The Heiress, best supporting actor to Dean Jagger for Twelve O'Clock High, and best dir. to Joseph L. Mankewicz for A Letter to Three Wives.

On Mar. 29, 1951 the 23rd Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1950 to 20th Century-Fox's All About Eve, along with best dir. to Joseph L. Mankiewicz and best supporting actor to George Sanders; best actor goes to Jose Ferrer for Cyrano de Bergerac, best actress to Judy Holliday for Born Yesterday, and best supporting actress to Josephine Hull for Harvey.

On Mar. 20, 1952 the 24th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1951 to MGM's An American in Paris (first color pick since 1939's "Gone With the Wind"); best actor goes to Humphrey Bogart for The African Queen; best actress, supporting actor, and supporting actress go to Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden, and Kim Hunter for A Streetcar Named Desire; best dir. goes to George Stevens for A Place in the Sun.

On Mar. 19, 1953 the 25th Academy Awards (televised for the first time) in Los Angeles, hosted by Bob Hope awards the best picture Oscar for 1952 to Cecil B. De Mille-Paramount's The Greatest Show on Earth; best actor goes to Gary Cooper for High Noon, best actress to Shirley Booth for Come Back, Little Sheba, best supporting actor to Anthony Quinn for Viva Zapata!, best supporting actress to Gloria Grahame for The Bad and the Beautiful, and best dir. to John Ford for The Quiet Man.

On Mar. 25, 1954 the 26th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1953 to Columbia's From Here to Eternity, along with best dir. to Fred Zinnemann, best supporting actor to Frank Sinatra (on his 1st wife Nancy's birthday), and best supporting actress to Donna Reed; best actor goes to William Holden for Stalag 17, and best actress to Audrey Hepburn for Roman Holiday (first of five nominations and one win) (first duplicate best actress surname - Bette Davis for "Morning Glory" in 1933).

On Mar. 25, 1955 the 27th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1954 to Columbia's (Horizon-American Corp.) On the Waterfront, along with best actor to Marlon Brando, best supporting actress to Eva Marie Saint, and best dir. to Elia Kazan, which he claims vindicates him for his 1952 rat-finking to HUAC; best actress goes to Grace Kelly for The Country Girl, and best supporting actor to Edmond O'Brien for The Barefoot Contessa; Dorothy Dandridge becomes the first black nominated for a best actress Oscar for Carmen Jones, and during the awards ceremony Brando kisses her, shocking many attendees; Grace Kelly wears an ice-blue gown designed by Edith Head cut from a bolt of $4K French satin with matching evening coat.

On Mar. 21, 1956 the 28th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1955 to United Artists' (Hecht and Lancaster) Marty, along with best dir. to Delbert Mann, and best actor to Ernest Borgnine; best actress goes to Anna Magnani for The Rose Tattoo, best supporting actor to Jack Lemmon for Mister Roberts, and best supporting actress to Jo Van Fleet for East of Eden.

On Mar. 27, 1957 the 29th Academy Awards gives the best picture Oscar for 1956 to United Artists' (Michael Todd Co.) Around the World in Eighty Days, best actor to Yul Brynner for The King and I (while fooling around with Marlene Dietrich?), best actress to Ingrid Bergman for Anastasia (reviving her career), best supporting actor to Anthony Quinn for Lust for Life, best supporting actress to Dorothy Malone for Written on the Wind, and best dir. to George Stevens for Giant.

On Mar. 26, 1958 the 30th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1957 to Columbia's (Horizon Films) The Bridge on the River Kwai, along with best actor to Alec Guinness, and best dir. to David Lean; best actress goes to Joanne Woodward for The Three Faces of Eve, best supporting actor and best supporting actress to Red Buttons and Miyoshi Umeki for Sayonara; the first Oscar is awarded for best foreign language film, causing a flurry of subtitled films in theaters.

On Apr. 6, 1959 the 31st Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1958 to MGM's (Arthur Freed Productions) Gigi, along with best dir. to Vincente Minnelli; best actor goes to David Niven for Separate Tables, best actress to Susan Hayward for I Want to Live, best supporting actor to Burl Ives for The Big Country, and best supporting actress to Wendy Hiller for Separate Tables.

On Apr. 4, 1960 the 32nd Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1959 to MGM's Ben-Hur, along with 10 other Oscars, incl. best actor to Charlton Heston, best supporting actor to Hugh Griffith, and best dir. to William Wyler; best actress goes to Simone Signoret for Room at the Top (first French actress to win), and best supporting actress to Shelley Winters for The Diary of Anne Frank.

On Apr. 17, 1961 the 33rd Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1960 to United Artists' (Mirisch Co.) The Apartment, along with best dir. to Billy Wilder; Kirk Douglas is snubbed for best actor in Spartacus, which goes to Burt Lancaster for Elmer Gantry; best actress goes to Elizabeth Taylor for Butterfield 8, best supporting actor to Peter Ustinov for Spartacus, and best supporting actress to Shirley Jones for Elmer Gantry; James Stewart accepts an honorary Oscar for terminally-ill (cancer) Gary Cooper.

On Apr. 9, 1962 the 34th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1961 to United Artists' (Mirisch Pictures, and B&P Enterprises) West Side Story, along with best dir. to Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise, best supporting actor to George Chakiris, and best supporting actress to Rita Moreno; best actor goes to Maximillian Schell for Judgment at Nuremberg, and best actress to Sophia Loren for Two Women.

On Apr. 8, 1963 the 35th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1962 to Columbia's (Horizon Pictures) Lawrence of Arabia, along with best dir. to David Lean; best actor goes to Gregory Peck for To Kill a Mockingbird, best actress to Anne Bancroft for The Miracle Worker, best supporting actor to Ed Begley for Sweet Bird of Youth, and best supporting actress to Patty Duke for The Miracle Worker.

On Apr. 13, 1964 the 36th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1963 to United Artists' (Lopert Pictures, Woodfall Productions) Tom Jones, along with best dir. to Tony Richardson; Sidney Poitier (1927-) becomes the first black to win a best actor Oscar for Lilies of the Field; best actress goes to Patricia Neal for Hud, best supporting actor to Melvyn Douglas for Hud, and best supporting actress to Margaret Rutherford for The V.I.P.'s.

On Apr. 5, 1965 the 37th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1964 to Warner Bros.' My Fair Lady, along with best actor to Rex Harrison and best dir. to George Cukor; best actress goes to Julie Andrews for supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Mary Poppins (beating Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady), best supporting actor to Peter Ustinov for Topkapi, and best supporting actress to Lila Kedrova for Zorba the Greek (Anthony Quinn is snubbed for best actor because he doesn't look white enough and is considered best supporting actor material?).

On Apr. 18, 1966 the 38th Academy Awards in Los Angeles (the first to be broadcast in color), hosted by Bob Hope awards the best picture Oscar for 1965 to 20th Century-Fox's (Argyle Enterprises) The Sound of Music, along with best dir. to Robert Wise; best actor goes to Lee Marvin for playing good/bad twins Kid Shelleen and Tim Strawn in Cat Ballou, best actress to Julie Christie for Darling, best supporting actor to Martin Balsam for A Thousand Clowns, and best supporting actress to Shelley Winters for A Patch of Blue.

On Apr. 10, 1967 the 39th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1966 to Columbia's (Highland Films) A Man for All Seasons, along with best actor to Paul Scofield, and best dir. to Fred Zinnemann; best actress and best supporting actress go to Elizabeth Taylor and Sandy Dennis for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Richard Burton is snubbed for best actor, because when it comes to Liz he ain't acting?), and best supporting actor goes to Walter Matthau for The Fortune Cookie.

On Apr. 10, 1968 the 40th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1967 to United Artists's (Mirisch Corp.) In the Heat of the Night, along with best actor to Rod Steiger, and best dir. to Mike Nichols; best actress goes to Katharine Hepburn for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, best supporting actor to George Kennedy for Cool Hand Luke, and best supporting actress to Estelle Parsons for Bonnie and Clyde.

On Apr. 14, 1969 the 41st Academy Awards, first held in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles County Music Center awards the best picture Oscar for 1968 to Columbia Pictures' Oliver!, along with best dir. to Sir Carol Reed; best actor goes to Cliff Robertson for Charly; best actress is shared by Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter (her 3rd, a record - 1933, 1968) and Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl; best supporting actor goes to Jack Albertson for The Subject Was Roses, and best supporting actress to Ruth Gordon for MF-exploiting Rosemary's Baby; brother-sister Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda are nominated for best screenplay ("Easy Rider") and best actress ("They Shoot Horses, Don't They?").

On Apr. 7, 1970 the 42nd Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1969 to United Artists' (Jerome Hellman and John Schlesinger) Midnight Cowboy (first X-rated film to win best picture), along with best dir. to John Schlesinger; best actor goes to John Wayne for True Grit, best actress to Maggie Smith for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, best supporting actor to Gig Young for They Shoot Horses Don't They? (after which his career begins to tank), and best supporting actress to Goldie Hawn for Cactus Flower.

On Apr. 10, 1971 the 43rd Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1970 to 20th Century-Fox's Patton, along with best dir. to Franklin J. Schaffner and Frank McCarthy, and best actor to George C. Scott (who refuses it; 2nd time ever; first time was in 1936); best actress goes to Glenda Jackson for Women in Love, best supporting actor to John Mills for Ryan's Daughter, and best supporting actress to Helen Hayes for Airport.

On Apr. 10, 1972 the 44th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1971 to 20th Century-Fox's (D'Antoni Productions) The French Connection, along with best dir. to William Friedkin, and best actor to Gene Hackman; best actress goes to Jane Fonda for Klute, best supporting actor to Ben Johnson, and best supporting actress to Cloris Leachman for The Last Picture Show.

On Mar. 27, 1973 the 45th Academy Awards, held in Los Angeles at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion awards the best picture Oscar for 1972 to Paramount's (Alfred S. Ruddy) The Godfather, along with best actor to Marlon Brando, who refuses to appear, sending Calif.-born AIM activist (1970 Miss Am. Vampire) Sacheen Littlefeather (Marie or Maria Cruz) (1947-), dressed in Native Am. garb with a 15-page speech he wrote to explain that he is refusing the Oscar to protest the treatment of Native Ams. at Wounded Knee, the movies and TV, after which she poses for the Oct. 1973 issue of Playboy and appears in several films, incl. "The Trial of Billy Jack" (1974); best dir. goes to Bob Fosse, best actress to Liza Minnelli, and best supporting actor to Joel Grey for Cabaret; best supporting actress goes to Eileen Heckart for Butterflies Are Free.

On Apr. 2, 1974 the 46th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, Calif. are graced by unscheduled streaker Robert Opel (1979-) of San Francisco; the best picture Oscar for 1973 goes to Universal's (Bill Phillips and George Roy Hill) The Sting, along with best dir. to George Roy Hill; best actor goes to Jack Lemmon for Save the Tiger, best actress to Glenda Jackson for A Touch of Class, best supporting actor to John Houseman for The Paper Chase, and best supporting actress to Tatum O'Neal for Paper Moon (her jealous daddy Ryan O'Neal fails to show up at the awards ceremony?).

On Apr. 8, 1975 the 47th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1974 to Paramount's (Coppola Productions) The Godfather, Part II, along with best dir. to Francis Ford Coppola, and best supporting actor to Robert De Niro (his first Oscar); best actor goes to Art Carney for Harry and Tonto, best actress to Ellen Burstyn for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and best supporting actress to former black sheep Ingrid Bergman for Murder on the Orient Express.

On Mar. 29, 1976 the 48th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1975 to United Artists' (Fantasy Films) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, along with best dir. to Milos Forman, best actor to Jack Nicholson, and best actress to Louise Fletcher; best supporting actor goes to George Burns for The Sunshine Boys, and best supporting actress to Lee Grant for Shampoo; "America's Sweetheart" (first Hollywood movie star) Mary Pickford (1892-1979) receives an honorary award for life achievements after not appearing in a film since 1933 and drinking ever since in her bedroom in her Pickfair mansion, her frail appearance and weak voice at her home-taped interview shocking viewers.

On Mar. 28, 1977 the 49th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1976 to Sylvester Stallone's breakthrough United Artists (Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler) hit Rocky, along with best dir. to John G. Avildsen; best actor goes to mad-as-hell Peter Finch (b. 1916) (who dies from a heart attack 2 mo. before the ceremony) (first Australian to win for best actor, and first posth. winner, followed by Heath Ledger in 2009), best actress to Faye Dunaway, and best supporting actress to Beatrice Straight for Network (shortest performance ever, 4.5 min.); best supporting actor to Jason Robards for All the President's Men (Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman are snubbed).

On Apr. 3, 1978 the 50th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1977 to United Artists' (Jack Rollins and Charles H. Joffe) Annie Hall, along with best dir. to Woody Allen, and best actress to Diane Keaton; best actor goes to Richard Dreyfuss for The Goodbye Girl, best supporting actor and actress to Jason Robards and Vanessa Redgrave for Julia; Margaret Booth (1898-2002) receives an honorary Oscar for film editing, becoming the oldest person to receive one (until ?).

On Apr. 9, 1979 the 51st Academy Awards in Los Angeles, hosted by Johnny Carson (first of 5x) awards the best picture Oscar for 1978 to Universal's (Michael Cimino Productions) The Deer Hunter, along with best dir. to Michael Cimino, and best supporting actor to Christopher Walken; best actor and best actress go to Jon Voight and Jane Fonda for Coming Home, and best supporting actress to Maggie Smith for California Suite.

On Apr. 14, 1980 the 52nd Academy Awards in Los Angeles are hosted by Johnny Carson and Miss Piggy; best picture Oscar for 1979 goes to Columbia Pictures' Kramer vs. Kramer, along with best actor to Dustin Hoffman, best supporting actress to Meryl Streep (who leaves her Oscar in the waiting room?), and best dir. to Robert Benton; best actress goes to Sally Field for Norma Rae, and best supporting actor goes to Melvyn Douglas for Being There.

On Mar. 31, 1981 the 53rd Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1980 to Paramount's (Wildwood Enterprises) Ordinary People, along with best dir. to Robert Redford, and best supporting actor to Timothy Hutton; best actor goes to Robert De Niro for Raging Bull, best actress to Sissy Spacek for Coal Miner's Daughter, and best supporting actress to Mary Steenburgen for Melvin and Howard.

On Mar. 29, 1982 the 54th Academy Awards are held in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Calif., and hosted by Johnny Carson; the best picture Oscar for 1981 is awarded to Enigma Productions' (Ladd Co./Warner Bros.) Chariots of Fire, which beats Raiders of the Lost Ark; best actor and best actress go to aging Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn for On Golden Pond (Fonda dies 8 mo. after the film's release) (her 4th best actress Oscar, with the longest time elapsed since the first, for Morning Glory in 1933, going on to receive 11 nominations); best dir. goes to Warren Beatty, and best supporting actress to Maureen Stapleton for Reds, and best supporting actor to Sir John Gielgud for Arthur (who was also in "Chariots of Fire").

On Apr. 22, 1983 the 55th Academy Awards in Los Angeles are hosted by Walter Matthau, Liza Minnelli, Dudley Moore, and Richard Pryor; the best picture Oscar for 1982 goes to Columbia's (Indo-British Film Productions) Gandhi, along with best actor to Ben Kingsley, and best dir. to Richard Attenborough; best actress goes to Meryl Streep for Sophie's Choice, best supporting actor to Louis Gossett Jr. for An Officer and a Gentleman (which also wins best tune), and best supporting actress to Jessica Lange for Tootsie.

On Apr. 8, 1984 the 56th Academy Awards are held in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and hosted by Jack Lemmon; the best picture Oscar for 1983 is awarded to the Paramount tear-jerker Terms of Endearment, along with best actress to Shirley MacLaine, best supporting actor to Jack Nicholson, and best dir. to James L. Brooks; best actor goes to Robert Duvall for Tender Mercies, and best supporting actress to cross-dressing Linda Cu, er, Hunt for The Year of Living Dangerously.

On Mar. 25, 1985 the 57th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1984 to Orion's Amadeus, along with best actor to F. Murray Abraham, and best dir. to Milos Forman; best actress goes to Sally Field for Places in the Heart ("I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me"), best supporting actor to Haing Somnang Ngor for The Killing Fields (1st Asian-Am. and 2nd non-prof. actor to win), and best supporting actress to Dame Peggy Ashcroft for A Passage to India; Stevie Wonder accepts an award in the name of imprisoned South African leader Nelson Mandela, pissing off the South African govt., which announces on Mar. 26 that the South African Broadcasting Corp. will no longer air Wonder's music.

On Mar. 24, 1986 the 58th Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1985 to Universal's Out of Africa, along with best dir. to Sydney Pollack; best actor goes to William Hurt for Kiss of the Spider Woman, best actress to Geraldine Page for The Trip to Bountiful, best supporting actor to Don Ameche for Cocoon, and best supporting actress to Anjelica Houston for Prizzi's Honor, which co-stars her then boyfriend Jack Nicholson; she is so dazed that she forgets to go backstage, and returns to the audience, to find Nicholson crying, along with her father, while she remains "dry as a bone - it was very funny"; Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple gets 11 nominations and 0 wins.

On Mar. 31, 1987 the 59th Academy Awards in Los Angeles are hosted by Goldie Hawn, Chevy Chase, and Paul Hogan; best picture Oscar for 1986 goes to Orion's Platoon, along with best dir. to Oliver Stone; best actor goes to Paul Newman for The Color of Money, best actress to Marlee Matlin for Children of a Lesser God, and best supporting actor and actress to Michael Caine and Diane Wiest for Hannah and Her Sisters.

On Apr. 11, 1988 the 60th Academy Awards, presented at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Calif. and hosted by Chevy Chase (2nd straight year) awards the best picture Oscar for 1987 to Columbia Pictures' The Last Emperor, along with best dir. to Bernardo Bertolucci; best actor goes to Michael Douglas for Wall Street, best actress to Cher, and best supporting actress to Olympia Dukakis for Moonstruck, and best supporting actor to Sean Connery for The Untouchables (first Scottish actor to win an acting Oscar).

On Mar. 29, 1989 the 61st Academy Awards, presented at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Calif. and hosted by various pairs of presenters (no host again until 2019) awards the best picture Oscar for 1988 to United Artists' Rain Man, along with best actor to Dustin Hoffman, and best dir. to Barry Levinson; best actress goes to Jodie Foster for The Accused, best supporting actor to Kevin Kline for A Fish Called Wanda, and best supporting actress to Geena Davis for The Accidental Tourist; winners are announced with the PC phrase "And the Oscar goes to" rather than "And the winner is".

On Mar. 26, 1990 the 62nd Academy Awards awards the best picture Oscar for 1989 to Warner Bros.' Driving Miss Daisy, along with best actress to Jessica Tandy; best dir. goes to Oliver Stone for Born on the Fourth of July; best actor goes to Daniel Day-Lewis. and best supporting actress to Brenda Fricker for My Left Foot; best supporting actor goes to Denzel Washington for Glory.

On Mar. 25, 1991 the 63rd Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, and hosted by Billy Crystal; the best picture Oscar for 1990 goes to Orion's Dances With Wolves (2nd Western to win after Cimarron), along with best dir. to Kevin Costner; best actor goes to Jeremy Irons for Reversal of Fortune, best actress to Kathy Bates for Misery, best supporting actor to Joe Pesci for Goodfellas, and best supporting actress to Whoopi Goldberg for Ghost; "The first thing I ever did at White Station High School was to play one of Simon Legree's dogs in the ballet 'The King and I'" (Bates to Memphis Commercial-Appeal).

On Mar. 30, 1992 the 64th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, Calif. are hosted by Billy Crystal (2nd time), who is wheeled in on a stretcher wearing a ski mask a la Hannibal Lecter; 100-y.-o. Hal Roach Sr. rises from the audience for a standing ovation and decides to give a speech without a a microphone, causing Crystal to comment "I think that's appropriate because Mr. Roach started in silent films"; the best picture Oscar for 1991 goes to Orion's The Silence of the Lambs, along with best dir. to Jonathan Demme, and best actor and actress to Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster; best supporting actor goes to Jack Palance for City Slickers, and best supporting actress to Mercedes Ruehl for The Fisher King; Jack Palance shows that he's still spry by doing 1-handed pushups on stage; Elizabeth Taylor receives the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Ward for supporting AIDS research.

On Mar. 29, 1993 the 65th Academy Awards in Los Angeles are hosted by Billy Crystal (3rd time), who rides in on a giant Oscar pulled by Jack Palance, and does 1-handed pushups onstage; the best picture Oscar for 1992 goes to the myth-destroying Warner Bros. Western Unforgiven (3rd Western to win after "Dances With Wolves" in 1990 and "Cimarron" in 1930), along with best dir. to Clint Eastwood, and best supporting actor to Gene Hackman; best actor goes to Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman (his first Oscar), best actress to Emma Thompson for Howard's End, and best supporting actress to Marisa Tomei for My Cousin Vinny (rumors circulate that she got it by mistake and it was supposed to go to Vanessa Redgrave); Elizabeth Taylor receives the Am. Film Inst. Lifetime Achievement Award; Elton John throws his first Oscar party.

On Mar. 21, 1994 the 66th Academy Awards award the best picture Oscar for 1993 to Universal's Schindler's List (last B&W film to win until ?), along with best dir. to Steven Spielberg (his first Oscar); best actor goes to Tom Hanks for Philadelphia (his first), best actress to Holly Hunter, and best supporting actress to 11-y.-o. Anna Paquin for Jane Campion's The Piano (in which Harvey Keitel shows his danglies but comes up short in the awards?), and best supporting actor to Tommy Lee Jones for The Fugitive; Jane Campion becomes the 2nd woman dir. to be nominated for best dir. (first 1976).

On Mar. 27, 1995 the 67th Academy Awards in Los Angeles is hosted by David Letterman, who is panned by critics for stinking himself up with a bizarre running joke about Uma and Oprah, and using Tom Hanks for "Stupid Pet Tricks" (Oprah won't appear on his show until Dec. 1, 2005); the best picture Oscar for 1994 goes to Paramount's Forrest Gump, along with best dir. to Robert Zemeckis, and best actor to Tom Hanks (2nd actor to win back-to-back best actor Oscars after Spencer Tracy in 1937-8, and same age); Jessica Lange gets the best actress award for her housewife Marilyn Monroe performance in the little-seen anti-nuclear film Blue Sky; best supporting actor goes to Martin Landau of Mission: Impossible fame for playing Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood, and best supporting actress goes to Diane Wiest for Bullets over Broadway; 99-y.-o. George Burns is honored by the Screen Actors Guild with their first Life Achievement Award.

On Mar. 25, 1996 the 68th Academy Awards in Los Angeles awards the best picture Oscar for 1995 to Paramount's Braveheart, along with best dir. to Mel Gibson; best actor goes to Nicolas Cage for Leaving Las Vegas, and best actress to Susan Sarandon for Dead Man Walking; Kevin Spacey gets the best supporting actor award for The Usual Suspects, and Mira Sorvino the best supporting actress award for Mighty Aphrodite; actor Christopher Reeve appears in a wheelchair to appeal for support for his new cause of spinal cord research, then repeats the performance at the Dem. Nat. Convention in Aug.

On Mar. 24, 1997 the 69th Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, Calif.; the best picture Oscar for 1996 goes to Miramax's The English Patient, along with best dir. to Anthony Minghella, and best supporting actress to Juliette Binoche; best actor goes to Geoffrey Rush for Shine, best actress to Frances McDormand for Fargo, and best supporting actor to Cuba Gooding Jr. for Jerry Maguire ("show me the money").

On Mar. 23, 1998 the 70th Academy Awards in Los Angeles are hosted by Billy Crystal (4th time), who makes his entrance on a mockup of the bow of the Titanic; he likes to carry a toothbrush in his pocket for luck; the best picture Oscar for 1997 goes to the 20th Cent.-Fox and Paramount blockbuster Titanic, along with best dir. to James Cameron, although leading man and lady Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet are snubbed for best actor and actress in favor of Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt in As Good as It Gets (Nicholson dedicates his Oscar to J.T. Walsh, who died from a heart attack on Feb. 27) (last film since "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) to win both leading acting films until ?); funny guy Robin Williams gets serious and wins best supporting actor for Good Will Hunting, and Matt Damon and Ben Affleck win for best screenplay; the show lasts 3 hours and 46 min., 30 min. longer than the best picture winner.

On Mar. 21, 1999 the 71st Academy Awards in Los Angeles are hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, who opens in full Elizabethan regalia and wears a total of nine different outfits; Cate Blanchett and Dame Judi Dench both receive Oscar nominations for playing Queen Elizabeth I in different films, with Dench's performance totalling 8 min.; the best picture Oscar for 1998 goes to Miramax's Shakespeare in Love, along with best actress to Gwyneth Paltrow and best actress to Judi Dench; best actor goes to Italian star Roberto Benigni for Life Is Beautiful, best supporting actor to James Coburn for Affliction, and best dir. to Steven Spielberg for Saving Private Ryan; 1950s "snitch" dir. Elia Kazan receives an honorary award, which many audience members protest.

On Mar. 26, 2000 the 72nd Academy Awards in Los Angeles awards the best picture Oscar for 1999 to American Beauty, along with best dir. to Sam Mendes, and best actor to Kevin Spacey; best actress goes to Hilary Swank for Boys Don't Cry, best supporting actor to Michael Caine for The Cider House Rules, and best supporting actress to Angelina Jolie for Girl Interrupted.

On Mar. 25, 2001 the 73rd Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, and 242 films are eligible for consideration; the best picture Oscar for 2000 goes to DreamWorks and Universal for the much-computer-pumped Gladiator, along with the best actor award to Russell Crowe (as well-known Roman historical figure Maximus Decius Meridius, chicken legs and all?); best actress goes to Julia Roberts for Erin Brockovich, best dir. to Steven Soderbergh, and best supporting actor to Benicio Del Toro for Traffic, and best supporting actress to Marcia Gay Harden for Pollock.

On Mar. 24, 2002 the 74th Academy Awards in Los Angeles are hosted by Whoopi Goldberg (2nd time), who opens dressed in feathers and dangling from the roof of the Kodiak Theatre on a gold swing; 248 films are eligible for consideration; the best picture Oscar for 2001 goes to A Beautiful Mind (starring the previous year's best actor winner Russell Crowe), along with best dir. to Ron Howard, and best supporting actress to Jennifer Connelly; Denzel Washington (1954-) and Halle Berry (1966-) make Oscar history by becoming the first African-Ams. to win simultaneous best actor and actress awards for Training Day and Monster's Ball, respectively; Berry becomes the first African-Am. best actress winner (until ?), and knows it, breaking the 45-sec. speech limit, going for over 4 min.; best supporting actor goes to Jim Broadbent for Iris; a new category, best animated feature is added, won by Shrek; efforts to lobby-in a best stunt coordinator award are still ineffective.

On Mar. 23, 2003 the 75th Academy Awards in Los Angeles are hosted by Steve Martin (2nd time), and 279 films are eligible for consideration; the best picture Oscar for 2002 goes to Chicago along with best supporting actress to Catherine Zeta-Jones, best dir. to Roman Polanski for The Pianist, along with best actor to Adrien Brody (youngest ever, displacing Richard Dreyfuss), best actress to Nicole Kidman for The Hours, and best supporting actor to Chris Cooper for Adaptation; Michael Moore wins an Oscar for his documentary film Bowling for Columbine, then gets hooted off the stage during a speech calling Bush "a fictional president who won a fictional election".

On Feb. 29, 2004 the 76th Academy Awards in the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles are hosted by Billy Crystal (5th time), and 254 films are eligible for consideration; New Line's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the finale of the Tolkien trilogy, dir. by Peter Jackson sweeps the 2003 Oscars with 11 awards, incl. best picture and best dir.; Charlize Theron becomes the first South African to win an Oscar, best actress for Monster; Sean Penn wins best actor, and Tim Robbins wins best supporting actor for Mystic River; Rene Zellweger wins best supporting actress for Cold Mountain.

On Feb. 27, 2005 the 77th Academy Awards (moved up 1 mo.), hosted by Chris Rock (first time) are held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.; 267 films are eligible for consideration; best picture Oscar for 2004 goes to Million Dollar Baby, along with best dir. to Clint Eastwood, best actress to Hilary Swank, and best supporting actor to Morgan Freeman; Swank joins Vivien Leigh, Helen Hayes, Sally Field, and Luise Rainer as the only actresses with a perfect track record of two nominations and two wins; best actor goes to Jamie Foxx for Ray (he was also nominated for best supporting actor for Collateral, and had a Billboard #1 pop album, becoming #4 after Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand); best supporting actor goes to Cate Blanchett for her portrayal of Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator; Al Otro Lado Del Rio, from The Motorcycle Diaries, the first Spanish language song ever nominated for an Oscar wins for best original song.

The Academy members break the back of viewers' expectations in '06? On Mar. 5, 2006 the 78th Academy Awards hosted by Jon Stewart are held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.; 311 films are eligible for consideration; the best picture Oscar for 2005 goes to Lions Gate's Brokeback Mountain, er, Crash, best dir. to Ang Lee for Crash, er, Trash, er, Brokeback Mountain, best actor to Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote (first duplicate best actor surname - Dustin Hoffman for "Kramer vs. Kramer" in 1979 and "Rain Man" in 1988), best actress to Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line, best supporting actor to George Clooney for Syriana, and best supporting actress to Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener; best original song goes to It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp by Three 6 Mafia ("Juicy J" Jordan Houston, "Crunchy Black" Cedric Coleman, and "DJ Paul" Beauregard) from Hustle & Flow; dir. Robert Altman (1925-2006) (who looks like a cross between Jimmy Stewart, Peter Fonda, and Clint Eastwood?) receives a lifetime achievement award, and reveals that he received a heart transplant from a young woman 10 years earlier; Larry McMurtry wears jeans with his tuxedo jacket; Jon Stewart jokes that Walk the Line is "'Ray' for white people", and that "The Oscars is really the one night of the year where you can see all your favorite stars without giving money to the Democratic Party"; the actresses and actors mainly dress in penguin-like black and white, with Michelle Williams going for mustard (canary?) with bright red lipstick, Keira Knightley for eggplant (with heavy black eye makeup and a vintage Bulgari necklace), Amy Adams for chocolate brown, Jessica Alba for gold, and Reese Witherspoon for silver; Charlize Theron wears a deep emerald Dior dress with a freaky bridesmaid bow on her shoulder almost big enough to be a 2nd head, while Helena Bonham Carter (English name and Russian looks?) wears a short blue gown with white shoes and a freaky big stiff updo.

On Feb. 25, 2007 the 79th Academy Awards, hosted by Ellen Degeneres are held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.; 306 films are eligible for consideration; the Oscars officially go green; the best picture Oscar for 2006 goes to The Departed, along with best dir. to sentimental favorite Martin Scorsese on his 6th try (beating Paul Greengrass' better United 93?); best actor goes to Forest "Idi Amin" Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland, best actress goes to Helen "Liz II" Mirren for The Queen ("Our Leaders. Ourselves.") (10-y.-o. Abigail Breslin, who played Olive Hoover in Little Miss Sunshine is passed over, as is Meryl Streep, who played Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, her 14th nomination, two more than Jack Nicholson and Kate Hepburn), best supporting actor goes to Alan Alda in Little Miss Sunshine (Eddie Murphy, who plays James Brown clone James "Thunder" Early is passed over, perhaps because of his crude toilet-humor world's fattest woman flick Norbit, which comes out just at the wrong time, causing him to storm out of the awards show), and best supporting actress goes to Jennifer Hudson for playing Effie White in Dreamgirls (proving that rejection by Simon Cowell on "American Idol" is the ticket to fame?); Al Gore wins for the global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth (dir. by Davis Guggenheim) ("By far the most terrifying film you will ever see"), which also garners Lezzie Lezzeridge, er, Melissa Etheridge a best song Oscar for I Need to Wake Up; before going to the stage she gives her wife a big kiss, then dedicates the win to her and her four kids (the highlight of the evening?); Gore utters the soundbyte: "People all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis. It's not a political issue, it's a moral issue"; sound engineer Kevin O'Connell of Apocalypto sets a record with 19 straight Oscar nominations and 0 wins, losing to Dreamgirls; Pilobolus Dance Theatre provides the briefest numbers yet seen, despite one of the longest Oscar ceremonies ever.

On Feb. 24, 2008 the 80th Academy Awards, hosted by Jon Stewart are held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.; 306 films are eligible for consideration; the Coen brothers win the best dir. Oscar for 2007 for No Country for Old Men, which wins best picture, along with best adapted screenplay, and best supporting male actor for Javier Bardem, who says that the Coen brothers "put one of the most horrible haircuts in history on my head"; Daniel-Day Lewis wins best actor for There Will Be Blood, and first-time actress Marion Cotillard (wearing a fish-scale gown by Jean Paul Gaultier) wins best actress for La Vie en Rose (first winner for a French-language performance, first for a non-English language performance since Sophia Loren in 1960, and 2nd French actress to win best actress after Simone Signoret in 1959) (too bad, certain earlier statements about the Twin Towers of 9/11 being impossible to bring down with fire later haunt the voters; orange-haired Tilda Swinton (wearing a black draped velvet dress with one sleeve) wins best supporting actress for Michael Clayton, giving Euros a clean sweep of all four acting Oscars; Ratatouille wins for best animated feature; Falling Slowly from Once, by Glen Hansard and Czech-born Marketa Irglova (1988-) (youngest person to win an Oscar in a musical category until ?) wins for best song; The Bourne Ultimatum wins three Oscars, incl. film editing, robbing a record 4th Oscar chance for the Coen brothers; actresses Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, and Jessica Alba are preggers, with Blanchett wearing a purple embroidered Dries Van Noten gown showing it off; Diablo Cody wins for best screenwriter for Juno.

On Feb. 22, 2009 the 81st Academy Awards, hosted by Hugh Jackman are held at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, Calif.; 281 films are eligible for consideration; Danny Boyle wins the best dir. Oscar for 2008 for Slumdog Millionaire, which also wins best picture, cinematography, sound mixing, and four other Oscars; best actor goes to Sean Penn for Milk, best actress to Kate Winslet for The Reader, best supporting actor to Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight, best supporting actress to Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona; Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire wins best original song.

On Mar. 7, 2010 the 82nd Academy Awards are held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.; The Hurt Locker wins best picture of 2009, and dir. Kathryn Bigelow wins best dir. (first female); the song "I Am Woman" is played as she exits the stage; Geoffrey Fletcher becomes the first African-Am. to win for best screenplay for Precious; Jeff Bridges wins best actor for Crazy Heart, and Sandra Bullock best actress for The Blind Side; Christoph Waltz wins best supporting actor for Inglourious Basterds, and Mo'Nique best supporting actress for Precious; meanwhile activist actor Sean Penn stinks himself up with statements that journalists who call his hero Hugo Chavez of Venezuela a dictator should be jailed; a week after the awards, Sandra Bullock's husband (since July 16, 2005) Jesse Gregory James (1969-) is caught cheating on her during the filming of "The Blind Side" with white supremacist ex-Amish tattoo artist Michelle "Bombshell" McGee, causing him to publicly apologize but ruining their relationship, becoming another example of the Oscar Curse.

On Feb. 27, 2011 the 83rd Academy Awards, presented at the Kodiak Theatre in Hollywood, hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway awards the best picture Oscar for 2010 to The King's Speech, along with best dir. to Tom Hooper, best actor to Colin Firth, and best original screenplay to David Seidler; Natalie Portman wins best actress for Black Swan; Christian Bale wins best supporting actor for The Fighter, and Melissa Leo wins best supporting actress for ditto; The Social Network wins best adapted screenplay and best original score; We Belong Together by Randy Newman from Toy Story 3 wins best original song.

On Feb. 26, 2012 the 84th Academy Awards, presented at the Hollywood and Highland Center Theatre (formerly the Kodak Center), hosted by Billy Crystal (9th time) awards the best picture Oscar for 2011 to The Artist, along with best dir. to Michel Hazanavicius and best actor to Jean Dujardin; best actress goes to Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady; best supporting actor goes to Christopher Plummer for The Beginners, and best supporting actress to Octavia Spencer for The Help; best original screenplay goes to Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris; Rango wins for best animated feature; A Separation wins best foreign language film; Man or Muppet from The Muppets, sung by Bret McKenzie wins best original song.

On Feb. 24, 2013 the 85th Academy Awards, presented at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Calif., hosted by Seth Macfarlane awards the best picture Oscar for 2012 to Argo, which also wins best adapted screenplay; Ang Lee wins best dir. for Life of Pi; Daniel Day-Lewis wins best actor for Lincoln (first actor to win 3x); Jennifer Lawrence wins best actress for Silver Linings Playbook; Christoph Waltz wins best supporting actor for Django Unchained, and Quentin Tarantino wins best original screenplay; Anne Hathaway wins best supporting actress for Les Miserables; Skyfall by Paul Epworth, performed by Adele Adkins wins best original song; Brave wins best animated feature; Amour wins best foreign language film; Seth Macfarlane stinks the show up with We Saw Your Boobs (The Boob Song).

On Mar. 2, 2014 the 86th Academy Awards, presented at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Calif., hosted by Ellen DeGeneres (first time 2007) awards the best picture Oscar for 2013 to 12 Years a Slave, which also wins for best adapted screenplay; "Possibility No. 1, '12 Years a Slave' gets Best Picture. Possibility No. 2, you're all racists" (Ellen); Alfonso Cuaron (first Latino) wins best dir. for Gravity, which wins a total of seven awards; Matthew McConaughey wins best actor for Dallas Buyers Club; Cate Blanchett wins best actress for Blue Jasmine; Jared Leto wins best supporting actor for Dallas Buyers Club; Lupita Nyong'o wins best supporting actress for 12 Years a Slave; Spike Jonze wins best original screenplay for Her; Frozen wins best animated feature, and Let It Go by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez from Frozen wins best original song; American Hustle loses all 10 nominations; Ellen tweets a selfie that becomes the most retweeted message in Twitter.com history, overloading the site for a short time, with the caption: "If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever."

On Feb. 22, 2015 after taking PC flak for its all-white list of nominees for best actor and actress, and snubbing of "Selma" dir. Ava DuVernay, the 87th Academy Awards, presented at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Calif., hosted by Neil Patrick Harris (first openly gay man) awards the best picture Oscar for 2014 to Birdman, along with best dir. and best original screenplay to Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, best actor to Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything, best actress to Julianne Moore for Still Alice, best supporting actor to J.K. Simmons for Whiplash, best supporting actress to Patricia Arquette for Boyhood (giving her a chance to lobby for equal pay for women), best animated feature film to Big Hero 6, best foreign language film to Ida, best original score to The Grand Budapest Hotel, and best original song to Glory (John Legend and Common) from Selma; gay bud Harris arrives on the red carpet with his husband David Burtka, and after passing "Whiplash" star Miles Teller playing drums comes onstage in his gay white briefs as a tribute to "Birdman", after which Inarritu in his accepance speech claims that he's wearing Michael Keaton's "tighty-whitey" underwear that "smells like balls"; the In Memoriam segment outrageously snubs Joan Rivers; Lupita Nyong'o wears a $150K dress with 6K hand-sewn pearls, which is stolen from her hotel room, then returned, causing tests to reveal fake pearls.

On Jan. 18, 2016 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announces their 20 nominations for 2015, who are all-white for the 2nd straight year, causing dir. Spike Lee to speak out against the "lack of diversity" and call for radical changes, getting support from Chris Rock et al.; others incl. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith support the #OscarsSoWhite boycott; on Jan. 22 AMPAS holds a special meeting and announces radical changes to increase the diversity of its membership, with the goal of doubling female and black members by 2020; on Feb. 11 Hollywood bigwig Steven Spielberg utters the soundbyte that there's no "inherent or dormant racism" in AMPAS.

On Feb. 28, 2016 the 88th Academy Awards, presented at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Calif. are hosted by Chris Rock, who turns it into an #OscarsSoWhite pity party; Lady Gaga sings for victims of campus sexual assault; the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award is won by Debbie Reynolds; the best picture Oscar for 2015 goes to Spotlight, which also wins for best original screenplay; the best dir. Oscar gove to Alejandro Inarritu for The Revenant; Leonardo DiCaprio wins the best actor Oscar for The Revenant, and Brie Larson wins the best actress Oscar for Room; DiCaprio uses his acceptance speech to push climate change legislation, with the soundbyte: "Climate change is real. It's happening right now"; Mark Rylance wins the best supporting actor Oscar for Bridge of Spies, and Alicia Vikander wins the best supporting actress for The Danish Girl; The Big Short wins for best adapted screenplay; Ennio Morricone wins for best original score for The Hateful Eight; Spectre's "Writing's on the Wall", sung by proudly gay Sam Smith wins for best original song; "Mad Max: Fury Road" wins six Oscars for sound editing, sound mixing, production design, costume design, makeup and hairstyling, and film editing; Ex Machina wins for best visual effects.

On Feb. 26, 2017 the 2017 (89th) Academy Awards, presented at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Calif. are hosted by Jimmy Kimmel; "Moonlight" wins best picture, as well as best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali and best adapted screenplay; Casey Affleck wins best actor for "Manchester by the Sea"; Damien Chazelle wins best dir. for "La La Land", Mahershala Ali (first Muslim to win an Oscar) and best adapted screenplay; Casey Affleck wins best actor for "Manchester by the Sea"; Damien Chazelle wins best dir. for "La La Land", which also wins for best actress (Emma Stone), best score, best song ("City of Stars"), and two others (six total out of 14 nominations); Viola Davis wins best supporting actress for "Fences"; "Zootopia" wins best animated feature film; Kenneth Lonergan wins best original screenplay for "Manchester by the Sea"; Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney win best adapted screenplay for "Moonlight"; the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers hands presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the wrong envelope for best picture, instead giving them the one for best actress, causing Dunaway to mistakenly announce "La La Land", resulting in a major snafu.

On Mar. 4, 2018 after being delayed for the 2018 Winter Olympics, the 90th (2018) Academy Awards, presented at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Calif. are hosted by Jimmy Kimmel (first to repeat since Billy Crystal in 1997-8); "The Shape of Water" (13 nominations) wins four Oscars incl. best picture and best dir. for Guillermo del Toro; "Dunkirk" (8 nominations) wins three Oscars; rare retro white straight male Gary Oldman wins best actor for "Darkest Hour"; female Frances McDormand wins best actress for "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" (seven nominations), and Sam Rockwell wins best supporting actor; female Allison Janney wins best supporting actress for "I, Tonya"; black Jordan Peele wins best original screenplay for "Get Out", and gay James Ivory wins best adapted screenplay for "Call Me by Your Name"; "Coco" wins for best animated feature film; the most ridiculous and irrelevant best picture Oscar yet?; the new diversity members of the Academy wouldn't vote for a too-white film, allowing one with a Mexican dir. to come to the top by default no matter how silly his film?; no wonder that ratings dropped 19% from last year, continuing a multi-year slide.

On Feb. 24, 2019 (night) the 2019 (91st) Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif., the first since 1989 with no host awards best picture to "Green Book" (causing Spike Lee to walk out), best dir. to Alfonso Cuaron for "Roma", best actor to Rami Malek for "Bohemian Rapsody", best actress to Olivia Colman for "The Favourite", best supporting actor to Mahershala Ali for "Green Book", best supporting actress to Regina King for "If Beale Street Could Talk", best animated feature film to "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse", best foreign language film to "Roma", best original score to "Black Panther", and best original song to Lady Gaga et al. for "Shallow" in "A Star Is Born"; the speeches are limited to 90 sec.; the gowns are mainly frumpy, except Billy Porter's "tuxedo gown"?

On Feb. 9, 2020 the 92nd (2020) Academy Awards, are presented at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Calif. , with no host (2nd straight year); Parasite wins best picture, best original screenplay, best dir. for Bong Joon-ho, and best internat. feature film; Joaquin Phoenix wins best actor for Joker; Renee Zellweger wins best actress for Judy; Brad Pitt wins best supporting actor for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood; Laura Dern wins best supporting actress for Marriage Story; Jojo Rabbit wins best adapted screenplay; Toy Story 4 wins for best animated feature film.

On Sept. 8, 2020 the totally woke Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces a list of new diversity standards that films must meet to be eligible to win the Best Picture Oscar, insuring that they will be propaganda for BLM, Antifa, critical race theory et al., and also insuring low box office receipts; actress Kirstie Alley slams the leftist fascist Byzantine quota system as "dictatorial", with the soundbyte: "I've been in the motion picture Academy for 40 years. The Academy celebrates freedom of UNBRIDLED artistry expressed through movies. Well, it did. But according to the new rules, if your film about a 12th century viking raiding party so happens to be the greatest cinematic achievement of all time and there’s no Latino onscreen nor alternate history twist where said Vikings accidentally wind up visiting African villages and learning advanced navigation techniques from wise, kindly villagers, then it won't be considered for Hollywood’s biggest award. Anyone not obsessed with identity politics can see how this is the entertainment industry stymying creativity. The new RULES to qualify for ‘best picture’ are dictatorial .. anti-artist… Hollywood you’re swinging so far left you're bumping into your own ass" - they should just have created a diversity award to try to revive box office bombs?

On Mar. 10, 2024 (Sun.) (7 p.m. E.T.) the 2024 (96th) Academy Wards on ABC-TV, presented at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angles, Calif., with host Jimmy Kimmel (4th time after 2017, 2018, 2023) is a big night for "Oppenheimer", which wins 7 awards out of 13 nominations incl. best picture, best dir., best actor for Cillian Murphy, and best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr.; Emma Stone wins best actress for "Poor Things"; Da'Vine Joy Randolph wins best supporting actress for "The Holdovers; "Barbie" is snubbed except for best original song "What Was I Made For" by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connel; the woke-laced speeches contribute to a dismal audience of 19.5M, up 4% from 2023.

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