The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was established in 1927 and two years later in 1929 the first Academy Awards ceremony was created to publicize and reward fourteen individuals and movies that were the best artistic examples of filmmaking. Unlike today, the Academy Award nominees were not chosen from films of the previous calendar year. Instead they were chosen from the period of August 1, 1927, to July 31, 1928. As a prize, each winner was given a statuette called the Award of Merit – later known as the Oscar.
And the winners were:
First Academy Award Winning Best Actor
- Emil Jennings. The first acting awards were based on “total work” rather than an individual movie, and Jennings won based on his performances in The Way of All Flesh and The Last Command. He is also remembered today for his fine performance in The Blue Angel with Marlene Dietrich. Swiss born and German raised, Jennings’ reputation was later tarnished when after returning to Germany he became a supporter of Hitler and often appeared in Nazi propaganda films. He remains the only foreign born actor to win Best Actor.
First Academy Award Winning Best Actress
- Janet Gaynor. She won for her roles in Seventh Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise. She was the youngest performer (23) to win as Best Actress until Marlee Matlin (21) won in 1986. Ms Gaynor was also nominated in 1937 for her role in A Star Is Born, a role later reprised by Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand in later remakes. After 1938, Ms Gaynor basically retired from acting although in later years she made occasional appearances in films, on stage, and on TV.
First Academy Award Winning Best Director
- There were actually two winners as there were two categories for directing in the first year. Frank Borzage won the award in drama for Seventh Heaven. He won again four years later for directing Bad Girl. Overall, Borzage’s Hollywood career spanned nearly six decades. Lewis Milestone won the directing award in comedy for Two Arabian Nights, a “buddy” film starring William (Hopalong Cassidy) Boyd, Louis Wolheim, and Mary Astor. Two years later, Milestone would win again for his anti-war classic, All Quiet on the Western Front.
First Academy Award Winning Best Picture
- There were also two awards in this category. The winner for Best Picture Production was Wings. Director William Wellman used his experience as a pilot in the Lafayette Escadrille to create this World War I epic of two fighter pilots fighting the Germans and each other over the love of a girl. The battle scenes in the movie are still impressive today. A second lesser award, Unique and Artistic Picture, was given to Fox Studios for Sunrise, F. W. Murnau’s beautifully photographed, often surreal, story of love betrayed. A citizen of Germany, Murnau’s life was cut short in an auto accident in 1931.
Other Academy Award Winners
- Additional awards were given to: Ben Hecht (Best Original Story for Underworld); Benjamin Glazer (Best Adaptation for Seventh Heaven); Joseph Farnham (Best Title Cards for Fair Co-Ed, Laugh, Clown, Laugh, and Telling the World); Charles Rosher and Karl Struss (Best Cinematography for Sunrise); Roy Pomeroy (Best Effects for Wings); and, William Cameron Menzies (Art Direction for The Dove and The Tempest). In addition, two special awards were given: one to Charles Chaplin for writing, directing, acting and producing The Circus, and the other to The Jazz Singer. The latter film was the only “talkie” honored, all the rest were silent movies.
To find out more on the early Oscars see: The Official Academy Awards Database and Pawlak, Debra, And the Oscar Goes to.....
John K. Davis - John is a retired teacher/librarian and has also been doing freelance writing since the late 1970s. Over this period of time, he has had ...
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