Maureen O’Hara: One of the Boys

Maureen FitzSimons was born in Ranelagh, Ireland (a suburb of Dublin) on August 17th, 1920. As a child, she developed a love for both sports and performing and excelled a great deal in each. Surprisingly, she was able to win every award for performing her country offered to young people, and as a result of that, decided to pursue performing full-time. At the age of 14, she was accepted into the Abbey Theatre where she was able to pursue classical theatre as well as operatic singing. Five years later, when she was 19, she screen-tested for a role in the film Jamaica Inn (1939) and was cast opposite Charles Laughton, who in addition to playing the leading male role in the movie, was also an uncredited producer. (The film was directed by Alfred Hitchcock.) Before she was officially cast, however, Laughton told FitzSimons that she would need a shorter last name for the marquee and offered her the choices of O’Hara or O’Mara. And thus, Maureen FitzSimons became Maureen O’Hara.

Now officially under contract to Charles Laughton, her second film was also her American film debut: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) which also starred Laughton, as well as Thomas Mitchell and Edmond O’Brien. This film was a hit, and her Laughton contract was purchased by the film’s production company, RKO Radio Pictures. She was also fortunate enough to find herself an agent, Lew Wasserman. During “Hunchback”, World War II broke out, and the United States Government ruled that any foreigners who had recently relocated to America had to stay in America and could not go to their home countries. 

Devastated, Maureen O’Hara continued to make films produced in America, including: A Bill of Divorcement (1940), Dance, Girl, Dance (1940) in which she starred opposite good friend, Lucille Ball, and How Green Was My Valley (1941), which won the Best Picture Oscar. When WW2 finally ended, the U. S. finally allowed all foreigners to return home, and quick as a flash, Maureen got on the first airplane back to Ireland. As soon she was home, she was overjoyed to be reunited with her parents and her three sisters and two brothers. Then, out of nowhere, she received a long distance phone call from Wasserman that Fox wanted her to come back to America to make a film called Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Infuriated, she did not want to come back, but she was persuaded to honor her contract and return. Once she had returned, she read the script for the film, instantly changed her attitude, and was delighted to make the film.

In 1950, Maureen O’Hara made her first film with frequent co-star/close friend John Wayne: Rio Grande, directed by John Ford. It would be the first of five pairings for Wayne and O’Hara. At this point, Ford had completed another script for a movie to be titled The Quiet Man (1952), also starring Wayne and O’Hara. Ford had desperately been wanting to make “The Quiet Man,” but originally no studio wished to finance the film. However, the head of Republic Pictures, Herbert J. Yates, agreed to finance “The Quiet Man” if Ford would produce “Rio Grande” first. “Rio Grande,” was a hit, so Ford got the money to produce “The Quiet Man,” also a big hit. Wayne and O’Hara were again directed by Ford in The Wings of Eagles (1957). They were directed by Andrew V. McLaglen in McLintock! (1963) who was the son of Victor McLaglen, who portrayed O’Hara’s on-screen brother in “The Quiet Man.” On their fifth and final pairing, they were directed by George Sherman in Big Jake (1971).

 

Maureen O’Hara generally had a good working relationship with all of her leading men. Besides being close with John “the Duke” Wayne, she was also very close with Anthony Quinn. With Quinn, she made the films The Black Swan (1942), Buffalo Bill (1944), Sinbad, the Sailor (1947), Against All Flags (1952), and The Magnificent Matador (1955). 1961 was also a busy year for Maureen O’Hara. She made two films opposite good friend Brian Keith, The Deadly Companions and Walt Disney’s The Parent Trap. “Parent Trap.” (The only film O’Hara made for the Walt Disney Studios.) She made Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation in 1962 with Jimmy Stewart, and after starring in the made-for-television movie The Red Pony (1973), O’Hara retired from movies However,  she was  coaxed out of retirement four more times: Only the Lonely (1991), and three more television movies: The Christmas Box (1995), Cab to Canada (1998) and The Last Dance (2000). 

In Only the lonely, playing the fiery, outspokenness, overbearing mother of John Candy’s Director Chris Columbus knew only O’Hara was right for the party and considered the character an extension of Mary Kate Danaher, the fiery young woman that O’Hara had portrayed in “The Quiet Man.” While “Only the Lonely,” was in production John Candy discovered that he happened to have a trailer on-location much bigger than O’Hara’s and knowing that she was a much bigger star then he, insisted she take his big trailer and he would move into the smaller one. They became close on the film as a result. “Only the Lonely,” would also be her sixth pairing with Anthony Quinn as well as her final theatrical film appearance.

Throughout her entire career, Maureen O’Hara was never once nominated for any major awards as an actress: no Oscars, no Golden Globes, no Tonys, no Emmys, no nothing! She was, however, awarded an Honorary Oscar for “Lifetime Achievement,” on November 4th, 2014. She passed away of natural causes on October 24th, 2015 at 95 years of age. She leaves behind a legacy of films where she portrayed strong female characters, sometimes rebellious and tomboyish, but always plain-spoken, and kind. 

Ron Miller: LA Ram to Disney Leader

Having a family as big as possible was always important to Walt Disney. He and his wife, Lillian Bounds Disney, had two children together: one biological, Diane Disney Miller, and one adopted, Sharon Mae Disney. But both Walt and Lillian were overjoyed when their first son-in-law, Ron Miller, came into their lives. 

Ronald William Miller played college football at the University of Southern California, and was drafted as a quarterback by the L.A. Rams. After just one season, however, he was persuaded by his father-in-law to work for him. Miller became a producer on many classic films in the ‘60s and ‘70s and ultimately was named president of the Walt Disney Company in 1980.

Ron met Diane Disney on a blind date. They were married on May 9th, 1954 in a church ceremony in Santa Barbara. Throughout the first five months of their marriage, he worked as a liaison between WED (Walter Elias Disney) Enterprises and Disneyland, but then suddenly, he was drafted into the army. As a result of being drafted, Miller never finished college. Two months after his drafting, Diane gave birth to their first son, Christopher. (They had three more children during the first six years of their marriage. They had seven children total.) When Ron’s army service was complete, he returned home and played one season of football with the Los Angeles Rams. In the middle of one his games, he caught a pass and was knocked unconscious by an opposing player after he caught it. Walt Disney happened to be in the stands during this game, and the end of the football season Walt said “You know, I don’t want to be the father to your children. You’re going to die out there. How about coming to work with me?” Ron agreed, and Walt got him inducted into the Screen Director’s Guild (now Director’s Guild of America). His first job working for the studio was as a second assistant on Old Yeller (1957).

Ron Miller was one of the Associate Producers on the television series Zorro (1957-1959), and also the films Moon Pilot (1962), Bon Voyage! (1962), Son of Flubber (1963), the sequel to The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), and That Darn Cat! (1965). His first movie as the only credited producer was Never a Dull Moment (1968) which starred Dick Van Dyke. After the unfortunate passing of his father-in-law in 1966, Ron Miller continued to be a producer on films such as Guns in the Heather (1969), The Boatniks (1972), Now You See Him, Now You Don’t (1972) (the first sequel to The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969)), Snowball Express (1972), and No Deposit, No Return (1976). In 1971, he won a Primetime Emmy for his work on the show Disneyland (1954-1991). He also was an executive producer on a few animated films for the studio as well, including The Rescuers (1977), The Fox and the Hound (1981), and The Black Cauldron (1985).

He was elected President of Walt Disney Productions in 1980 and CEO in 1983. Sadly, though, many people who worked at the studio did not agree or even disapproved of Miller’s leadership. In 1984, Michael Eisner and Frank Well’s were elected the co-CEO’s of Disney. Miller, however, was successfully able to create Touchstone Pictures, which allowed Disney to produce adult-oriented films. Their first film was Splash (1984) with Tom Hanks. That hit paved the way for Disney to produce The Little Mermaid (1989)). Miller also created “The Disney Channel,” network and funded the first two short films for a young Tim Burton, Vincent (1982) and Frankenweenie (1984). Ron also helped with getting the film rights and the development of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), and he even funded Disney’s first Broadway show, Total Abandon, with Richard Dreyfuss in 1983.

Ron Miller made wonderful contributions to the Walt Disney Studios throughout his life. No matter how unlikely his success, considering he really wanted to be a pro football player, his contributions helped Disney Studios to many future successes. 

Wolfgang Reitherman: Animator to Director

Like all Disney animators, Wolfgang “Woolie” Reitherman, always liked to draw. But unlike Disney animators, Reitherman initially was reluctant to work at Disney. He had heard that every animator at the studio had to draw the same character all the time. Thankfully, he joined Disney anyway…and did some great work!

Born in Munich, Germany on June 26th, 1909, Woolie Reitherman relocated with his family to America when he was a kid. He went to Pasadena Junior College and briefly worked as a draftsman for Douglas Aircraft before graduating from Chouinard Art School in Los Angeles. 

Wolfgang Reitherman started at Disney in 1933. After working on several shorts, including the Mickey Mouse cartoon The Band Concert (1935), he got his first major assignment as supervising animator of the Magic Mirror in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). It was a very challenging assignment, because he had to keep the face of the mirror in the exact same position for its entire appearance in the film. Four or five tries later, he finally came up with the final design for the film. Next he animated Monstro the Whale in Pinocchio (1940), the Dinosaur Fight Sequence in Fantasia (1940) and Timothy Q. Mouse in Dumbo (1941). In the 1950s he animated Tick-Tock the Crocodile in Peter Pan (1953) and Tramp in Lady and the Tramp (1955). The same year as “Lady and the Tramp,” he was officially promoted to director. 

His first directing assignment was a short called The Goofy Success Story (1955). He directed two other shorts after that called The Truth About Mother Goose (1957) and Aquamania (1961). The same year as “Aquamania,” he directed his first movie for the studio, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, co-directing the film with Clyde Geronimi and Hamilton Luske. Next he directed The Sword in the Stone (1963). His two older sons, Richard and Robert Reitherman shared the voice-over role of Wart/King Arthur with Rickie Sorensen in the film. 

He later cast his youngest son, Bruce, as the voice of Christopher Robin in the very first “Winnie the Pooh,” short Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966) and later as Mowgli in The Jungle Book (1967). His direction of the second “Winnie the Pooh,” short, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968) won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons. Reitherman was also a huge fan of frequent Disney voice-over artist, Sterling Holloway, whom he directed on “Winnie the Pooh,” “The Jungle Book,” and “The Aristocats.” 

Besides all the films he directed with his sons, Woolie Reitherman also directed The Aristocats (1970), Robin Hood (1973), The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) and The Rescuers (1977), which he co-directed with Art Stevens and fellow “Nine Old Men,” member John Lounsbery. Reitherman was also an innovator, with the creative idea of reusing animation from earlier films produced at the studio. In “Robin Hood,” there is a moment where the Houndog Blacksmith in Nottingham asks Maiden Marian for a dance. If you look closely at the scene, you notice that as the Blacksmith is escorting Marian to the dance floor the movements resemble that of Dopey escorting Snow White to dance when the dwarfs celebrate Snow White’s visit to their house in “Snow White.” In “The Rescuers,” the scene where Penny makes an escape attempt from Madame Medusa, the movements resemble that of Mowgli escaping Baloo in “The Jungle Book.” 

Woolie Reitherman’s final contribution to the studio was co-producing The Fox and the Hound (1981) again with Art Stevens and Walt Disney’s son-in-law, Ron Miller. He passed away in an unfortunate car accident on May 22nd, 1985, at the age of 75.

In addition to being a close friend, Wolfgang Reitherman was also a huge fan of Walt Disney and deeply respected him as an individual. He appreciated the fact the Walt was imaginative and creative, but at the same time, he was also very complex and career-driven. And when Walt passed away, no one was more confident that Disney animation could live on than Reitherman himself. He was determined to keep the team of animators together and did the very best he could do as a directing animator. While he didn’t work on a lot of projects for Disney other than the movies, he always managed to “keep flying through the air,” as he stayed true to heart of Disney Animation. 

Dean Jones: The Love Bug Pilot 

Dean Carroll Jones was born in Decatur, Alabama on January 25th, 1931. He attended River Side High School where he hosted his own radio show, Dean Jones Sings. He also served in the United States Navy during the Korean War and after he was discharged, worked at the Bird Cage Theatre at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. It was there that Jones developed an interest in acting. He went to Asbury University as a college student in Wilmore near Lexington, Kentucky in 1953, though he did not graduate from the university. However, despite neither graduating nor receiving any formal training as an actor, he was fortunate enough to land bit roles in movies and television including Jailhouse Rock (1957) starring Elvis Presley and Imitation General (1958) with Red Buttons. And in 1960 he landed his first Broadway play at the age of 29, opposite Jane Fonda in There Was a Little Girl.

Two years later, Jones landed the title role of Ensign O’Toole in the NBC sit-com of the same name. The show caught the attention of Walt Disney because it happened to compete with ABC’s Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color (1961-1969). After having seen the show, and seeing him in Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963), the movie version of Jones’ Broadway role, Walt Disney signed him. Under contract from 1965 to 1977, Jones made his Disney debut in That Darn Cat! (1965) opposite Disney child star Hayley Mills who made her final Disney appearance in the film. 

Next, he made his first appearance with frequent co-star Suzanne Pleshette in The Ugly Dachshund (1966). After that, Monkey’s, Go Home! (1967) co-starring Maurice Chevalier and Yvette Mimieux. 1968 turned out to be Dean Jones’ busiest year throughout his time at the Walt Disney Studios, because it was the year he made the films: Blackbeard’s Ghost, which would be his first reunion with Suzanne Pleshette, The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit, with Kurt Russell, and he narrated the television special The Mickey Mouse Anniversary Show. 1968 would also be the year Dean Jones starred in what is arguably his most popular Disney film, The Love Bug. After “Love Bug,” Jones made The Million Dollar Duck (1971) which reunited him with “Love Bug,” co-star Joe Flynn. The following year, he made Snowball Express (1972) and four years later, The Shaggy D.A. (1976) which was his third pairing with Suzanne Pleshette. Dean Jones’ final Disney film was the third in the Disney studios series of “Herbie, the Love Bug” films, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977). Dean Jones also appeared in the short-lived Disney sit-com Herbie, The Love Bug (1982).

Besides making many beloved Disney films, in the later years of his career Dean Jones starred in two episodes of Murder, She Wrote (1984-1996) with friend/fellow Disney Legend Angela Lansbury. A born again Christian, he created a one-man show on Broadway entitled St. John in Exile, which at one point was filmed live, in 1986. Jones also took on the role of the evil Dr. Herman Varnick in Beethoven (1992) which was one of the very few times in his career where he portrayed a villain. The film spawned a short-lived animated series of the same name where Jones provided the voice of the George Newton, the patriarch of the Newton family who adopt Beethoven as one of their own. (George Newton was played by Charles Grodin in the movie.) He also made bit appearances in Disney’s remakes of The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1995), The Love Bug (1997) and That Darn Cat! (1997).

Dean Jones passed away due to Parkinson’s disease at the age of 84 on September 1st, 2015. He played a great deal of nice guys on Television, Broadway, and Film, and he will forever be remembered as the man who piloted Herbie the Volkswagen.  

Oscar-Winning Archives Part 3

Our first two discussions about Oscar-winners covered some records of wins and nominations, but kept the winner of the most Oscars a secret. So, finally, that answer…the individual whom has won more Academy Awards than any other personality is none other than…Walt Disney.

Of an outstanding 59 total nominations throughout his career, Walt Disney received 22 Academy Awards!, No other individual has been nominated for or awarded as many Oscars!

Three of Disney’s wins were Honorary Oscars: in 1932 for the creation of Mickey Mouse, in 1937 for the distinguished achievement that was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and in 1940 for Fantasia to recognize an outstanding use of sound in a motion picture. (The award for “Snow White,” was one big statuette surrounded by seven miniature statuettes.) Disney’s twenty-second and final Oscar win came after his death in the category of Best Short Subject, Cartoons with the short, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968).

Disney had always hoped that one of the films that he produced would win the Academy Award for Best Picture, but the only Best Picture Oscar Nomination that he would receive would be for Mary Poppins (1964) and he shared the nomination with the film’s co-producer, Bill Walsh. Sadly, they lost the award to Jack L. Warner for My Fair Lady (1964). Since then, three other Disney films have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, but unfortunately they all lost as well: Beauty and the Beast (1991), which lost to The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Up (2009) which lost to The Hurt Locker (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010) which lost to The King’s Speech (2010). While no Disney film yet has won the Best Picture Oscar, Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo was awarded the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2003, two years after the Academy first created that award in 2001. Since then, that award has also been given to The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007), Wall-E (2008), Up (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), Brave (2012), Frozen (2013), Big Hero 6 (2014), Inside Out (2015), Zootopia (2016), and Coco (2017).        

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Meryl Streep had an amazing 20 nominations for acting Oscars. Interestingly, her 19th nomination was as Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the Witch in Disney’s Into the Woods (2014). That made her the fourth of four actors who have all received Best Acting Oscar nominations for performances in Disney movies, along with Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins (1964), Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story (1999) and Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pear (2003). Andrews is the only winner in that group, however Hayley Mills won the Oscar for Best Juvenile Performance by an Actor/Actress when she made her Disney/film debut in Pollyanna (1960). (Mills was the last recipient of that award. After that, the Academy began nominating child actors in the regular acting categories rather than having the separate “juvenile” category.)

Many of Disney’s nominations were in the category of Oscar short films—most, of course, animated. When he first came up with Mickey Mouse, he hatched the idea of creating Mickey Mouse cartoons with sound. Sound had never been produced in animation before! Steamboat Willie premiered on November 18th, 1928, at the Colony Theatre on Broadway and 53rd. The audience members in the theatre were completely blown away, and some of them even begged the projectionist to wait to start the movie and reshow “Steamboat Willie.” Six years later, in 1932, when Walt won his Honorary Oscar for the creation of Mickey Mouse, he won a second Oscar that year in the category of Best Short Subject, Cartoons for the short Flowers and Trees which was the first ever sound cartoon produced in Technicolor format. From then to the year 1939, Walt was awarded 8 other Oscars in the category of Best Short Subject, Cartoons for:The Three Little Pigs (1933), The Tortoise and the Hare (1935), Three Orphan Kittens (1935), The Country Cousin (1936), The Old Mill (1937), Ferdinand the Bull (1938), and The Ugly Duckling (1939).       

In 1954, Walt set a new record by being nominated for six different Academy Awards in the same year. He won four: Best Documentary, Features for The Living Desert (1953), Best Documentary, Short Subjects for The Alaskan Eskimo (1953), Best Short Subject, Two-reel for Bear Country (1953), and Best Short Subject for Toot Whistle Plunk and Bloom (1953).                

So as you can see, throughout the history of the Academy Awards there have been all kinds of talented people who have received recognition for all kinds of different/incredible achievements in film, many of whom have been recognized more than once. It probably will be a while before someone achieves or even surpasses the record that Walt Disney holds. And whether or not a new record will be formed next year, remains to be seen. But each of the people who already have formed these records will live on in the history of film forever.

Oscar-Winning Archives Part 2

When it comes to Oscars, let’s be honest…actors get most of the credit. But, composers, makeup artists, costume designers and other non-actors have achieved great things as well, and many of them in a record-setting fashion. They contribute to a movie’s appeal, and make the actors look better! In this blog, I would like to feature some of these important contributions to film…  

One of Oscar’s biggest winners is probably someone you’ve never heard of! Rick Baker is a Makeup Artist who has won seven of 12 nominations Oscars for transforming actors into a variety of human and non-human characters on screen. Wins: An American Werewolf in London (1981), Harry and the Hendersons (1987), Ed Wood (1994), The Nutty Professor (1996), Men in Black (1997), Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), and The Wolfman (2010). In addition to winning the Best Makeup Oscar for “The Nutty Professor,” with Eddie Murphy, Baker was also the makeup artist on several other “Eddie Murphy” comedies, including Coming to America (1988), Life (1999), The Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps (2000), and Disney’s The Haunted Mansion (2003). Baker also served as the Special Makeup Effects Artist on Enchanted (2007) and Maleficent (2014).

Alan Menken is a composer who won eight oscars in the categories of both Best Original Score and Best Original Song, and is credited for resurrecting both Disney’s beloved animated films, and perhaps even the American musical. Wins: Best Original Score and Best Original Song “Under the Sea,” in The Little Mermaid (1989), Best Original Score and Best Original Song “Beauty and the Beast,” in Beauty and the Beast (1991), Best Original Score and Best Original Song “A Whole New World,” in Aladdin (1992), Best Original Score and Best Original Song “Colors of the Wind,” in Pocahontas (1995). Menken also wrote new songs for the Broadway adaptations of The Little Mermaid (2008) Beauty and the Beast (1993) Aladdin (2014) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (2013), and Newsies (the film of that musical was released in 1992, the same year as “Aladdin,” and was readapted for Broadway in 2012) as well as this year’s live-action film adaptation of Beauty and the Beast (2017).

Despite never winning, Thomas Newman is a composer who received 13 Best Original Score nominations for writing the music for a variety of classic films. He was very fortunate to land his first job with John Williams, who has been a close family friend of the Newman family for years. Williams gave Newman the job of orchestrating some music for Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi (1983). His primary work in the film can be heard in the scene where Darth Vader dies. Newman’s nominations include: The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Little Women (1994), Unstrung Heroes (1995), American Beauty (1999), Road to Perdition (2002), Finding Nemo (2003), Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), The Good German (2006), Wall-E (2008), Skyfall (2012), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Bridge of Spies (2015), and Passengers (2016). Newman also co-wrote the song from “Down to Earth,” from “Wall-E,” which earned him an additional nomination for Best Original Song. Newman’s cousin, Randy Newman, has also written music for great films including The Natural (1984), Parenthood (1989), and the Toy Story Franchise (1995-2019).

Edith Head won eight academy awards for costume design in black-and-white and color films, many of which are considered classics. Wins: The Heiress (1949), Samson and Delilah (1949), All About Eve (1950), A Place in the Sun (1951), Roman Holiday (1953), Sabrina (1954), The Facts of Life (1960), and The Sting (1973). Besides all these special accomplishments, Head designed the costumes for the holiday movie-musical classic, White Christmas (1954). She was also Brad Bird’s inspiration for creating the character of Edna “E” Mode, the designer of hero/heroine costumes in Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles (2004). (Brad Bird wrote and directed the film and also was the voice of Edna Mode.)

John Ford is a director who won four Best Director Oscars. Before Orson Welles produced Citizen Kane (1941), he was randomly asked who his top three favorite directors were and replied “John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford.” Welles watched Ford’s Stagecoach (1939) 40 times as a way of preparing to produce “Citizen Kane.” Wins: The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941) and The Quiet Man (1952). Interestingly, in each of his first three films John Ford directed an actor in an Oscar-winning performance: Victor McLaglen as Best Actor in “The Informer,” Jane Darwell as Best Supporting Actress in “Grapes of Wrath,” and Donald Crisp as Best Supporting Actor in “How Green Was My Valley.” Victor McLaglen was also nominated in the category of Best Supporting Actor in Ford’s “The Quiet Man,” but he did not win. (He was beaten by Anthony Quinn in Viva Zapata! (1952)).

Dennis Muren is a Visual Effects Supervisor who has won nine Academy Awards for designing “imaginary” characters and worlds, making them seem real on screen—many of which have been beloved by the entire world. Wins: E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982), Innerspace (1987), The Abyss (1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), and Jurassic Park (1993). Muren also won two Technical Achievement Awards for the effects he designed for Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi (1983) as well as a Special Achievement Award for the development of a Motion Picture Figure Mover for animation photography in 1982.

We still have yet to talk about the individual who won the most Oscars ever. That unfortunately will have to come next week. Hope you have enjoyed this series so far. Please stay tuned. If you know of any interesting or surprising statistics that I haven’t acknowledged, please feel free to comment.    

Oscar-Winning Archives Part 1

Every movie fan knows that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gives away awards each year. As they’re more commonly known, the “Oscars,” are a series of annual awards recognizing distinguished achievement in film. The Oscar will celebrate its 90th anniversary in 2018. The first awards were presented on May 16th, 1929, honoring the films of both 1927 and 1928. The Academy Awards consists of 24 different award categories, including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Original Score, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and many others. In the next series of three blogs, I’d like to acknowledge some record-breaking statistics highlighting wins (or lack thereof) and nominations. We’ll start with the low-down on acting nominations.

Meryl Streep is an actress who has won three Oscars out but has an outstanding 20 nominations! (Interestingly she is NOT the person with the most total nominations…more on that in a future blog…) Streep won Best Supporting Actress in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Best Actress in Sophie’s Choice (1982), and Best Actress in The Iron Lady (2011). Her first two consecutive nominations for The Deer Hunter (1978) and “Kramer vs. Kramer,” both also won the Oscar for Best Picture of the year.  

Walter Brennan is an actor recognized with as many acting awards as Streep, but achieved three wins with only four nominations: Best Supporting Actor in Come and Get It (1936), Best Supporting Actor in Kentucky (1938), and Best Supporting Actor in The Westerner (1940). He was also nominated for Sergeant York (1941). Walter Brennan was the very first actor in the history of movies to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. (He won for “Come and Get It,” as a result of the “supporting” category being created by the Academy that year. In the later years of his career, Brennan made three films for the Walt Disney Studios, each of which were produced in the later years of Walt Disney’s life, Those Calloways (1965), The Gnome-Mobile (1967), and The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968). 

And now for the “lack thereof” recognitions. Deborah Kerr, Glenn Close, and Thelma Ritter have each been nominated six times, but disappointingly never won. Nominations for Kerr: Best Actress in Edward, My Son (1949), Best Actress in From Here to Eternity (1953), Best Actress in The King and I (1956), Best Actress in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), Best Actress in Separate Tables (1958), and Best Actress in The Sundowners (1960). Coincidentally, Deborah Kerr was presented an Honorary Oscar by Glenn Close in 1994. Nominations for Close: Best Supporting Actress in The World According to Garp (1982), Best Supporting Actress in The Big Chill (1983), Best Supporting Actress in The Natural (1984), Best Actress in Fatal Attraction (1987), Best Actress in Dangerous Liaisons (1988), and Best Actress in Albert Nobbs (2011). In 2004, Glenn Close won a Golden Globe for her performance as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter (2004), a made-for-television remake of the 1968 film of the same name that starred Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn who won her third Oscar for her performance as Eleanor. 

On Thelma Ritter’s fifth nominations, Best Supporting Actress in Pillow Talk (1959) instead of going to the Oscars, Ritter threw a “Come watch me loose again,” party at her house. Her co-star in “Pillow Talk,” Doris Day, was also nominated in the category of Best Actress that year, but she lost as well. Ritter and Day were reunited four years later in the romantic comedy, Move Over, Darling (1963). Other nominations for Ritter: Best Supporting Actress in All About Eve (1950), Best Supporting Actress in The Mating Season (1951), Best Supporting Actress in With a Song in My Heart (1952), Best Supporting Actress in Pickup on South Street (1953), Best Supporting Actress in Pillow Talk (1959), and Best Supporting Actress in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962).

Katharine Hepburn won four Oscars out of 12 nominations, all of which were in the category of Best Actress. Wins: Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968) (tied that year with Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl (1968), one of six times in Oscar history where the awards has had a tie. It is the only time for the category of Best Actress) and On Golden Pond (1981). Hepburn’s tenth nomination became her second win in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” She had been nominated that year against Audrey Hepburn in Wait Until Dark (1967). 

“Wait Until Dark,” was Audrey Hepburn’s fifth and final career nomination. Three years prior to that, Audrey Hepburn had been neglected by the Oscars to be nominated for her performance as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (1964) and the winner that year was Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins (1964), who ironically, had played Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady,” on Broadway. As a result of that, Katherine Hepburn wrote Audrey a message that said “Don’t worry about it. You’ll get it one day for a part that doesn’t rate it.” Despite that, Katharine beat her in ‘67 and Audrey was unfortunately never nominated for an Oscar again.

Peter O’Toole is an eight-time nominated actor all in the category of Best Actor, but he also never won. Nominations: Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Becket (1964), The Lion in Winter (1968), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), The Ruling Class (1972), The Stunt Man (1980), My Favorite Year (1982), and Venus (2006). In “Lawrence of Arabia,” he and co-star Omar Sharif became good friends and both received Oscar nominations for their performances in the movie, though neither won. (O’Toole was beaten by Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and Sharif was beaten in the category of Best Supporting Actor by Ed Begley in Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)). O’Toole and Sharif were, however, reunited in four other films, including The Night of the Generals (1967), The Rainbow Thief (1990), Gulliver’s Travels (1996) and One Night with the King (2006). O’Toole was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 2003.

Daniel Day-Lewis is currently the only Academy-Award-Winning actor ever to win three Oscars in the category of Best Actor. Wins: Best Actor in My Left Foot (1989), Best Actor in There Will Be Blood (2007) and Best Actor in Lincoln (2012). Day-Lewis was also the very first actor ever to win an Oscar for a performance in a Steven Spielberg film with “Lincoln.” Since then, one additional actor won for a role in a Spielberg film: Mark Rylance in the category of Best Supporting Actor in Bridge of Spies (2015).

Like Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson has also won three Oscars, two in the category of Best Actor and one in the category of Best Supporting Actor. (His nominations totaled 12). Wins: Best Actor in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), Best Supporting Actor in Terms of Endearment (1983), and Best Actor in As Good as It Gets (1997). The first two also won the Best Picture Oscar. Nicholson also appeared under the direction of James L. Brooks in “Terms of Endearment,” and “As Good as It Gets,” as well as Broadcast News (1987) and How Do You Know (2010).

There are some Oscar-winners who “finally” won, but not until after losing several others: Kate Winslet, Shirley MacLaine, and Geraldine Page. Winslet won her one and only Oscar in the category of Best Actress for The Reader (2008), after having lost the award five times. Nominations: Best Supporting Actress in Sense and Sensibility (1995), Best Actress in Titanic (1997), Best Supporting Actress in Iris (2001), Best Actress in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), and Best Actress in Little Children (2006). She was also nominated again in the category of Best Supporting Actress in Steve Jobs (2015). 

Shirley MacLaine also won her only Oscar in the category of Best Actress in Terms of Endearment (1983), but also lost the award five times. Nominations: Best Actress in Some Came Running (1958), The Apartment (1960), Best Actress in Irma la Douce (1963), Best Documentary, Features in The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir (1975), and Best Actress in The Turning Point (1977). 

Geraldine Page won her Oscar for Best Actress for The Trip to Bountiful (1985) after having lost seven previous nominations. Nominations: Best Supporting Actress in Hondo (1953), Best Actress in Summer and Smoke (1961), Best Actress in Sweet Bird of Youth (1962), Best Supporting Actress in You’re a Big Boy Now (1966), Best Supporting Actress in Pete “n” Tillie (1972), Best Actress in Interiors (1978), and Best Supporting Actress in The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984).