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Fans are excited to see the Oscars ceremony unfold this year. After seeing Jimmy Kimmel for the last two years at the center stage, fans look forward to seeing a new host. Conan O’Brien will be hosting the 97th Academy Awards on March 2nd at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Besides its ABC broadcast, this year’s event will stream on Hulu, a first in the history of the Oscars.

From actors to performers to comedy greats, the Oscars have seen several celebrities take over the hosting duties over the years. The first-ever Academy Awards took place as a private dinner, without a formal host. Douglas Fairbanks, Academy President at the time, hosted the dinner alongside Vice-President William C. deMille.

Conan O’Brien is the host for the upcoming Oscars ceremony | Credits: Conan/TBS

Bob Hope holds the record for hosting the most number of ceremonies. He hosted the Oscars...

Clark Gable was the Oscar-winning matinee idol who starred in dozens of films before his untimely death in 1960. Let’s take a look back at 12 of Gable’s greatest movies, ranked worst to best.

After appearing in bit parts in a number of films, Gable shot to stardom with his performance in “A Free Soul” (1931) as a gangster who bewitches a young woman (Norma Shearer) whose attorney father (Lionel Barrymore) helped him beat a murder rap. From there forward, the actor’s persona as a raffish leading man who’s every guy’s best friend and every gal’s dream became cemented in a number of subsequent roles.

He won an Oscar just three years later for Frank Capra‘s screwball classic “It Happened One Night” (1934), in which he played a newspaper reporter traveling with a spoiled socialite (Claudette Colbert). The film became the first to sweep the five major Oscars,...

For the first time in 47 years, all five Best Actress Oscar nominees hail from Best Picture nominees.

The Best Actress lineup was the top five in the odds: Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez), Mikey Madison (Anora), Demi Moore (The Substance), and Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here). Four of those films were widely predicted to score Best Picture nominations except for I’m Still Here, which was in 13th place in the odds; but in the biggest surprise of the day, the Brazilian feature made the cut on Thursday. The other Best Picture nominees are The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, and Nickel Boys.

The last time the Best Actress and Best Picture lineups aligned was during the 1977-78 season when Diane Keaton (Annie Hall) won Best Actress over Jane Fonda (Julia), Marsha Mason (The Goodbye Girl), and The Turning Point stars Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine.

The Best Picture Oscar nominees of 1936 contained a few stone-cold classics and a large handful of duds. The Academy nominated 10 films for Best Picture that year, with the top honor going to Robert Z. Leonard's three-hour glitzy musical biopic "The Great Ziegfeld". "The Great Ziegfeld" is visually spectacular but kind of mushy as a melodrama, serving more as a fond farewell to its subject (who died in 1932) than a legitimately great film.

The legit bangers nominated that year included Frank Capra's "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," one of the master director's more notable comedies. Also pretty good were William Dieterle's "The Story of Lois Pasteur" starring Paul Muni, and Jack Conway's delightful screwball film "Libeled Lady" with Powell and Myrna Loy. Conway also directed a serviceable adaptation of "A Tale of Two Cities," which many readers may have watched in their junior high school classrooms.

But...

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In 1934, the inimitable Bette Davis appeared in a film adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's "Of Human Bondage," a semi-autobiographical novel about the unfortunate loves of one Philip Carey. The 1934 film was directed by the prolific John Cromwell and starred Leslie Howard as Philip. Davis played Mildred Rogers, a tearoom waitress that Philip falls in love with, but who treats him with the utmost cruelty. It was a great role for Davis, who was only 26 at the time. 

An article in Collider points out that Davis was under contract with Warner Bros. at the time, but really, really wanted to play the part of Mildred, knowing that it was a juicy role. "Of Human Bondage" was being produced by Rko, and Davis would need WB's Jack Warner to loan her talents to Rko to work on the project. Davis...

The most bizarre Oscars race has now happened 94 years ago, with the fallout surrounding the race leading to the Academy Awards officially changing their rules. The Academy Awards have been going for nearly 100 years now, with the first Oscars event being hosted all the way back in 1929. In the Academy Awards' 96-year history, there have been a lot of changes to the ceremony, with one of the most significant Oscars alterations happening as a result of the 3rd annual Academy Awards that were held in 1930.

Fans of the Academy Awards are often incredibly interested in Oscars history, with one of the most interesting aspects of the awards show being actors who have won or were nominated for multiple awards. Things like different actors being nominated for the same character and other Oscars oddities are always of note when discussing how the Academy Awards have operated throughout the years. The list...

As the film awards industrial complex reemerges from a brief hibernation following the 96th Oscars and begins thinking about the 97th, which will take place on March 2, 2025, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ board of governors has announced updated awards rules and campaign promotional regulations — as well as changes to some of the special honors that are presented at the organization’s annual Governors Awards ceremony and its annual Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony.

Here is a brief overview of what’s changing …

The Academy is taking on a more prominent role in the fight to save movie theaters

Per usual, films will have to be released during the 2024 calendar year to be eligible — but the means by which they must be released will change slightly from recent years. As the pandemic continues to subside, drive-in theaters will no longer be a means of qualification for Oscars eligibility.

The preview opening of the new exhibit Meet the Stars: 100 Years of MGM Studios and the Golden Age of Hollywood on Thursday night was a crowded, buzzing affair. Held at the Hollywood Heritage Museum in the historic Lasky DeMille Barn across from the Hollywood Bowl, the event showcased the items of over 20 movie collectors. Memorabilia hunters, dressed in fedoras and flirty ’40s dresses, gabbed about their latest finds with others who have a similar passion.

The highlight of the night was when the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to former MGM child star Cora Sue Collins (who played a little Greta Garbo in 1933’s Queen Christina), the last surviving MGM contract player from the 1930s. Sitting at a tableau that recreated a party thrown for her by MGM in 1935, Collins elegantly thanked everyone for their well wishes. Actor George Chakiris was also in attendance, and he posed next to a costume...

Since the inception of the Academy Awards, the U.S.-based organization behind them has always strived to honor worldwide film achievements. Their extensive roster of competitive acting winners alone consists of artists from 30 unique countries, three of which first gained representation during the 2020s. The last full decade’s worth of triumphant performers hail from eight countries, while 42.1% of the individual actors nominated during that time originate from outside of America.

The academy’s history of recognizing acting talent on a global scale dates all the way back to the inaugural Oscars ceremony in 1929, when Swiss-born Emil Jannings (who was of German and American parentage) won Best Actor for his work in both “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh.” Over the next three years, the Best Actress prize was exclusively awarded to Canadians: Mary Pickford (“Coquette”), Norma Shearer (“The Divorcee”), and Marie Dressler (“Min and Bill...

The dust still hasn’t settled on the 96th annual Academy Award nominations due to the uproar over the “Barbie” snubs for Best Actress for Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig for Best Director. They still earned Oscar nominations for the cultural phenomena that was the No. 1 film of 2023 with an international box office of $1.4 billion. Robbie and Gerwig received noms as producer for the Best Picture nominee and Gerwig also was garnered a nomination for co-writing the adapted screenplay. But the film is about female empowerment, so it’s beyond ironic it was Ken (Ryan Gosling), not Barbie, who received Oscar recognition.

Gosling wasn’t happy: “Against all odds with nothing but a couple of soulless, scantily clad, and thankfully crotchless dolls, made us laugh, they broke our hearts, they pushed the culture and made history. Their work should be recognized along with the other very deserving nominees.”

America Ferrera,...

For the second time in six years, the Best Actress category looked to be on track to feature nominees from films nominated for Best Picture. But just like six years ago, it came up short — and it once again involved Margot Robbie.

Annette Bening (“Nyad”), Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Sandra Hüller (“Anatomy of a Fall”), Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”) and Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) made the Best Actress cut on Tuesday. Every film but “Nyad” is nominated for Best Picture. Gladstone, Hüller, Mulligan and Stone were all expected to get in, but Bening was in seventh place in the odds. Now a five-time nominee, she made it in over Robbie, who was in fifth place in the odds and headlines Best Picture nominee “Barbie” (Robbie is nominated as producer).

Six years ago, it was the reverse situation with Robbie. She earned her first career Oscar nomination for her...

If Hollywood truly suffers from a leadership malaise, as some charge, would the return of Monroe Stahr resuscitate the system? Filmmakers respect his judgment, stars his panache and investors his discipline, so Stahr’s return may ignite a new Irving Thalberg-like era.

Whoops — he’s not available.

The manic and manipulative hero of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Last Tycoon ruled MGM in its ‘30s heyday, but Stahr’s fictional reign was short-lived. So was Fitzgerald’s brilliant but never completed 1939 novel, which modeled Stahr after Thalberg.

Having achieved literary stardom with The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald’s decision to write a Hollywood novel, while simultaneously working as a script doctor, plunged the novelist into alcoholic paralysis. He never managed to finish his book and even his screenplays were unrealized.

The Last Tycoon briefly flickered back to life as a movie thanks to the great Elia Kazan, who cast Robert De Niro,...

The bread and butter of film festivals is the unveiling of new movies. And in the case of the major festivals taking place in the late summer and early fall — Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York — the selections offer a preview of potential Oscar nominees and winners. Remember the eight-minute standing ovation Brendan Fraser received last year at Venice for “The Whale”? It kicked off his comeback and journey to a best Oscar win this year.

And with the 50th annual Telluride Film Festival kicking off August 31 at in the picturesque Colorado mountain burg, let’s take the cinematic time machine back 1993 when the fest was a mere 20 years old. John Boorman of “Deliverance” and “Hope and Glory” fame was the guest director of the festival. Jennifer Jason Leigh, then just 31 and whose latest film was Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts,” was honored with a tribute as was socialist British director Ken Loach,...

(Welcome to Did They Get It Right?, a series where we look at an Oscars category from yesteryear and examine whether the Academy's winner stands the test of time.)

We are in somewhat of a transitional period with how we think about the acting categories for entertainment awards. This, primarily, has to do with gender. We have had separate categories for female and male performers for decades upon decades, but if you really stop to think about it, there is no difference in what a female actor does compared to a male one. Why shouldn't Colin Farrell in "The Banshees of Inisherin" compete against Cate Blanchett in "TÁR"? Of course, the worry is that in our patriarchal society, men will come to dominate that category and fewer women will be nominated and win. Then you have the added issue of non-binary performers being forced to slot themselves in a particular...

Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” is destined to be a classic in its own right, already garnering nearly half a billion dollars at the box office in under a week. The film, about a stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) in the grips of an existential crisis that sees her going to the Real World, is all manner of fun and wacky, with a number of Old Hollywood influences.

Gerwig herself has cited a number of features that either directly or indirectly inspired “Barbie,” starting with the 1939 Technicolor classic, “The Wizard of Oz.” That film, with its now iconic transition between Kansas and the land of Oz, no doubt factored into how the feature approaches color. The idea of a character transitioning from one world to another draws comparisons to “The Truman Show” and “Heaven Can Wait.”

Among the more nuanced, less obvious films, Gerwig took inspiration from “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,...

As we approach O-Day and the 95th Academy Awards on March 12, it’s always fun to go back and look at the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories and revel in some of the trivia and shockers that have gone down on the awards season’s biggest stage. This is the rare year when Meryl Streep isn’t in the running, as her 21 overall nominations in the acting categories are nearly double the number of her closest female pursuer, Katherine Hepburn, who has 12. However, Hepburn still holds the all-time Oscar record with four acting wins. Streep has a mere three.

Here are some other actress category factoids to chew on:

Should Cate Blanchett win Best Actress this year for her role in “Tar,” she would tie Streep, Ingrid Bergman and Frances McDormand for second place behind Hepburn among actresses with three triumphs apiece. All four of Hepburn’s wins...

Franco Zeffirelli apprenticed to Luchino Visconti, stage directed operas and directed several movie hits, the biggest of which was this exuberant, attractive Shakespeare adaptation, filmed like an opera with sumptuous sets and sunswept Italian locations. The novelty for 1968 was casting the Bard’s star-crossed young lovers with actual teenagers. Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting are attractive kids directed to give spirited performances; the critics may have had mixed reactions but the public received the film well. If memory serves, Criterion’s new remaster looks better than Paramount’s original release prints.

Romeo and Juliet

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 1171

1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 138 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 14, 2023 / 39.95

Starring: Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, John McEnery, Milo O’Shea, Pat Heywood, Robert Stephens, Michael York, Bruce Robinson, Paul Hardwick, Natasha Parry, Antonio Pierfederici, Esmeralda Ruspoli, Roberto Bisacco, Roy Holder, Keith Skinner, Dyson Lovell, Richard Warwick, Laurence Olivier.

Cinematography: Pasquelino De...

William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet has been retold many times on the big screen, and Hulu's Rosaline is the latest to tackle the tragic story with a different spin. Instead of focusing on the story's heartbreaking nature, it takes a more playful and comedic perspective as the character Rosaline pokes at the tragedy's clichés.

Rosaline has been well-liked by critics for its refreshing and comedic approach to the story, and that is due to Kaitlin Dever's charming performance as the titular character. However, even the Hulu reshaping falls short of being one of the better adaptations, as some of the best Romeo and Juliet films have captured the tale of star-crossed lovers by either staying true to the original play or taking a modern twist.

Romeo And Juliet (1936) - 6.5 Rent On AppleTV, Prime Video, Google Play, & Vudu

As one of the early Hollywood features films to adapt the Shakespearan story,...

"Terrifier 2" marks the latest cinematic appearance of Art the Clown, one of the newer faces in the ever-growing canon of notable slasher villains. Art made his debut in Damien Leone's 2008 short film "The 9th Circle," followed by the 2011 short "Terrifier," later to be adapted into a 2016 feature film. Leone's 2013 anthology film "All Hallow's Eve" also featured an Art the Clown segment. Currently, "Terrifier 2" is playing in limited release and is gathering a good deal of attention for its extreme gore and scrappy can-do success in a theatrical environment typically only friendly to the biggest of blockbusters. 

Art the Clown is a creature that appears on Halloween night to wreak havoc and commit extreme acts of violence. He doesn't speak or even make noises, communicating solely through mime. Even when he laughs or screams, he is silent. At first glance, Art was clearly designed after Paul Beaumont,...

Do you know when the first movie premiere in Hollywood history was held?

On Oct. 18. 1922 Sid Grauman opened his movie palace the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. with superstar Douglas Fairbank’s latest swashbuckler “Robin Hood.” The red carpet was rolled out for Fairbanks, his wife Mary Pickford and their good friend (and partner in United Artists) Charlie Chaplin. It cost 5 to attend the premiere. And the movie, which was the top box office draw, played there exclusively for several months. The Egyptian cost 800,000 to build and took 18 months to complete for Grauman and real estate developer Charles E. Toberman. It is currently being renovated by Netflix in cooperation with the American Cinematheque.

“Robin Hood,” directed by Allan Dwan, was one of the most expensive movies of the silent era, costing just under 1 million. The castle was the biggest set ever made for a silent movie. Some scenes feature over 1,200 extras.

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis has said that her career was not “handed to (her) on a plate” and was not down to her family connections. The 63-year-old actress is the daughter of late Hollywood legends Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh but has often felt “oppressed” by the notion that her own successful career in film is down to her family connections, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

She said: “The only thing I’ve ever found oppressive was people thinking that my career was all because of my family, all connected to having Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis as parents. That whatever little ecosystem I’d created had somehow been handed to me on a plate. That’s the perception I had to fight against, kick against.”

The ‘Freaky Friday’ star got her big screen break at the age of 19 playing Laurie Strode in the 1978 film ‘Halloween’ and has gone on to...

While he may not be as well-known today as Alfred Hitchcock or Billy Wilder, director Nicholas Ray had a fantastic run during the '50s working across a range of genres from film noir ("In a Lonely Place") to war saga ("Flying Leathernecks"), coming-of-age teen angst ("Rebel Without a Cause") to westerns, the strangest of which is undoubtedly "Johnny Guitar." Shot in gaudy Trucolor, it stands apart from other studio westerns of the day, maybe because it isn't really a western at all -- It's more like a twisted gothic psychodrama that just happens to be set in the Old West.

Although the title refers to Sterling Hayden's nonchalant protagonist, Mr. Guitar takes a back seat for much of the movie, just one of many of Ray's subversive twists to the standard western formula. Instead, the main focus is the bitter rivalry between Vienna (Joan Crawford), a steely saloon keeper,...

This year’s Academy Awards could be decided by a few votes among the Academy’s 9,000 or so members. No category is as down-to-the-wire as Best Actress, with experts making the case for any of the nominees to prevail, as four of the women have evenly split the precursor awards. TheWrap’s Steve Pond is forecasting Carey Mulligan of “Promising Young Woman” to win, but writes, “Does anybody have a four-sided coin I can flip?”

In 1969, the Best Actress category was host to the most spectacular tie in Oscar history, with two of the most famous performers of the twentieth century each winning the statuette. Here are the six times that ties have occurred since Oscar’s beginning. A seventh could be right on track for this year.

1932: Best Actor

Fredric March in “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and Wallace Beery in “The Champ”

The 5th Annual Academy Awards...

Every year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences gets together to single out the best movies, performances and craftsmanship, and sometimes they actually get it right. Sure, sometimes it goes the other way, but throughout the history of the Oscars, there are many excellent examples of actors who gave astounding performances for the ages. The types of roles may change, and the acting styles may evolve, but these Oscar-winning actors of yesteryear absolutely deserved their gold statues and remain some of the gold standards for screen acting.

Norma Shearer, “The Divorcee” (1930)

Norma Shearer gives an astoundingly multifaceted performance in Robert Z. Leonard’s “The Divorcee,” as a woman whose husband is unfaithful and decides turnabout is fair play, only to see her role in polite society shift dramatically. What could have been a tawdry and finger-wagging cautionary tale lights up because Shearer explores all the emotional complexity of her...

Two years ago, siblings Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell shared in four Grammy wins for the album “When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” (Album of the Year; Best Pop Vocal Album) and its single “Bad Guy” (Record of the Year; Song of the Year). Now, they have concurrently earned their first Oscar nominations for co-writing the song “No Time to Die” for the James Bond film of the same name. If they prevail later this month, they will become the fourth brother-sister pair to both be honored by the academy and the first to win for the same film.

The first brother-sister Oscar champs and first sibling winners overall were Douglas Shearer and Norma Shearer. In 1930, he triumphed in the Best Sound category for “The Big House” while she took the Best Actress prize for “The Divorcee.” They were followed by Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore, who respectively...

With nine acting nominations to his name, Denzel Washington ranks as one of the six most-recognized male performers in Oscars history alongside Paul Newman, Al Pacino, and Spencer Tracy and behind Jack Nicholson (12) and Laurence Olivier (10). Having been included in so many lineups, it is only natural that he has faced some opponents multiple times. As the star of “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” he is in contention for the 2022 Best Actor award against two former rivals: Andrew Garfield and Will Smith (“King Richard”). This brings his unique rematch total to five, which makes for a new male record.

All five of Washington’s rematches have been in the lead category. The first two occurred in 2002 when he triumphed for “Training Day” over past challengers Russell Crowe (“A Beautiful Mind”) and Sean Penn (“I Am Sam”). The three of them had all lost to Kevin Spacey (“American Beauty”) two years earlier,...

The public considers the Academy Awards as a Hollywood event. True, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is headquartered in Southern California, and most of the best pic contenders are American and/or in the English language. But Oscar history proves they have been an international event from the beginning.

In the first year (1927-28), there were nominations for directors Herbert Brenon (born in Ireland) and Lewis Milestone (born in Moldova), plus a special award to Charlie Chaplin (from the U.K.).

The next five years saw two noms apiece for directors Ernst Lubitsch (Germany) and Josef von Sternberg (Austria). And the second best actress Academy Award was given to Canadian Mary Pickford.

The early years of Oscar featured a slew of non-Americans. Aside from mega-star Chaplin, the list of early Academy Award winners includes Emil Jannings, George Arliss (U.K.), Claudette Colbert (raised in the U.S. but...

Something wicked this way comes to theaters on Christmas Day: Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth.”. The latest interpretation of Shakespeare’s 1606 Scottish play stars Oscar-winners Denzel Washington as Macbeth, a brave general who hears a prophecy from a trio of witches that he will become king, and Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth, the general’s ambitious wife, who goads him into killing the King.

It’s the first film the Oscar-winning Coen has done without his brother Ethan. Coen directed his wife McDormand (they married in 1984) to the first of her three Oscars with 1996’s “Fargo.’ Could this film bag her a 4th?

Even though the play is considered “cursed” that hasn’t stopped directors and actors from tackling the powerful tragedy. The last screen version starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard and directed by Justin Kurzel was released in 2015. Reviews were generally good; the box office wasn’t.

As the director and producer of both “House of Gucci” and “The Last Duel,” Ridley Scott is poised to score big when the 2022 Oscar nominations are announced three months from now. Reaping double Best Picture or Best Director bids would make the 83-year-old the first to pull off either feat since Steven Soderbergh did so in 2001. Even if he ends up being left out of both lineups, he could still make history if academy voters decide to recognize the work of his two leading ladies. If Jodie Comer (“The Last Duel”) and Lady Gaga (“House of Gucci”) are both chosen to compete for Best Actress, Scott will become the fifth person to direct female leads from different films to nominations in a single year.

The first of these rare occurrences dates back to the third Oscars ceremony in 1930 when Nancy Carroll (“The Devil’s Holiday”) and Gloria Swanson (“The Trespasser...

The founder and program director of the Etheria Film Festival, Heidi Honeycutt, discusses her favorite films from women filmmakers with Josh and Joe.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Destroyer (1988)

Army of the Dead (2021)

The Howling (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine recommendation

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Wonder Woman (2017)

The Dirty Dozen (1967) – Ed Neumeier’s trailer commentary

The Wild Bunch (1969) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Joe Dante’s review

The Women (1939) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

The Opposite Sex (1956) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Women (2008)

Halloween (1978) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary, Alex Kirschenbaum’s series and timeline power rankings, Randy Fuller’s wine recommendation

Valley Girl (1983) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s trailer commentary

Valley Girl (2020)

The Wicker Man (1973)

The Wicker Man (2006)

Mandy (2018)

Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s trailer commentary

Clueless (1995)

Legally Blonde (2001)

The Craft (1996)

Runaway...

5 random things that happened on this day, January 27th, in showbiz history

1939 Idiots Delight starring Norma Shearer and Clark Gable opens in theaters. It was their final picture together but Mr Gable had in fact become a star In a Norma Shearer picture: A Free Soul (1931). Jesse James starring Tyrone Power was also released on this day during "Hollywood's Greatest Year"...

When the 2020 Oscar nominations were announced, Scarlett Johansson attracted attention by earning two for acting. With inclusions in both the Best Actress (“Marriage Story”) and Best Supporting Actress (“Jojo Rabbit”) categories, she was the first actor in 12 years who had a chance at winning two acting Academy Awards on the same night. She ultimately lost both bids, but the feat placed her in the rare company of only 11 others who have achieved it since the supporting categories were introduced at the Oscars in 1937.

Here is a screen-time based analysis of all of them, from earliest to most recent. We note the names and screen time of key rival nominees and the winners in each race as well.

Fay Bainter (1939)

Best Actress nominee for “White Banners”

Best Supporting Actress winner for “Jezebel”

Combined: 1 hour, 15 minutes, 57 seconds

Just four years after beginning her film acting career, Bainter earned her first two Oscar nominations in the same year,...

While performances that win the Oscar for Best Actor are usually longer than those that win Best Actress, a solid amount of lengthy roles have won in the lead female category. The average screen time among Best Actress winners is one hour, four minutes, and 41 seconds, and plenty of much longer ones have triumphed. Here is a look at the 10 longest winners of all time. (And here’s the list of the 10 shortest winning performances for Best Actress.)

10. Natalie Portman (“Black Swan”)

1 hour, 29 minutes, 18 seconds (82.67% of the film)

Portman received her first Best Actress nomination and win in 2011 for her role as ballerina Nina Sayers. While nine performances with higher amounts of screen time had already won in the category, Portman’s became the one with the second-highest percentage. Hers is also one of only 25 performances ever nominated for the award with a screen time total of over 80%.

9. Julie Christie (“Darling”)

1 hour,...

with Nathaniel R & Murtada Elfadl

We're back!

Index (63 minutes)

00:01 Mank: The stars, the story, and rewatching Citizen Kane

24:00 MVPs of the ensemble. Plus those Norma Shearer asides

32:00 How will Oscar react overall? David Fincher's career acclaim

38:00 Everybody in the (wildly open) Best Director race. Plus female directors rising!

55:30 Mank in male acting categories: Gary Oldman? Charles Dance?

Related Reading:

• Best Actor Chart

• Best Director Oscar Chart

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you?...

The verdict is in. If you want to have success in awards’ season go to court. Over the decades, a caseload of legal movies have been judged to be Oscar worthy. And for good reason. The genre is rich with emotions, betrayals, manipulations, love, hate, violence and redemption. Who doesn’t remember Humphrey Bogart’s brilliant Oscar-nominated turn as Captain Queeg slowly losing his mind on the stand as he recounts his obsession with missing strawberries in 1954’s “The Caine Mutiny”?

“A Free Soul” (1931)

Lionel Barrymore won his only Academy Award for for his delicious over-the-top turn as a wily alcoholic attorney who gets a ruthless gangster (Clark Gable) off for murder in this juicy pre-code melodrama. Though his free-spirited daughter (Norma Shearer), who wears the slinkiest of gowns, has a boyfriend (a staid Leslie Howard), she soon realizes she loves bad boys and leaves Howard for Gable. It’s a big mistake.

Six random things that happened on this day, November 5th, in showbiz history

Douglas Shearer and his baby sister Norma

1930 The third Oscars were held but, get this, her big brother Douglas won Best Sound Recording for her Best Picture rival (The Big House) making them the first sibling pair to win Oscars. 15 more pairs of siblings have followed them to win Oscars. They are, in rough chronological order...

This CinemaScope musical remake of 1939’s The Women is highly watchable, especially in this flawless digital remaster. The actresses that bare their claws, compete for husbands and just plain cat-fight are a choice batch, with favorites from the ’50s the ’40s the ’30s — plus a few wildflowers that bloomed cinematically for only a few years (Dolores Gray) and one that somehow managed immortality (Joan Collins). It’s highly watchable despite, or maybe because of, its criminally outdated recipe for marital bliss. Did women really go for this fantasy — did anybody ever really live like this?

The Opposite Sex

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 116 min. / Street Date October 27, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: June Allyson, Joan Collins, Dolores Gray, Ann Sheridan, Ann Miller, Leslie Nielsen, Jeff Richards, Agnes Moorehead, Charlotte Greenwood, Joan Blondell, Sam Levene, Alice Pearce, Barbara Jo Allen, Sandy Descher, Carolyn Jones, Jerry Antes, Harry James, Art Mooney,...

Have you listened to the 1938 Smackdown yet? Such a lively conversation about very memorable movies, for better and worse. We've embedded it again below but some of my personal favourite bits are Steven Weber's Jimmy Stewart impression, Joanna Robinson's reaction to the "twist" in Of Human Hearts, Glow's Britney Young talking about having a very expressive face and directors asking you to tone it down, and Claudio's deep hatred of opera voices of the 1930s via The Great Waltz. 

As A Special Bonus Treat

I was the guest star on "And the Runner Up" Podcast this week discussing 1938 as well though our focus on that podcast was the Best Picture battle between Boys Town and You Can't Take It With You. You can listen to that here. Kevin is such a great guy and will be one of our panelists for the 1965 Smackdown in October.

1938 Articles

The...

by Cláudio Alves

It's odd that so few people talk about Norma Shearer nowadays. This Academy Award-winning actress was once one of the greatest stars of moviedom, First Lady of MGM, Queen of the Lot. Her arch elegance typified the glamour of Old Hollywood, while her evolving acting style often reflected and predicted the trends of the industry. She was a phenomenon, a sensation, a diva, but her modern recognition pales in comparison to many of her contemporaries like Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, and others.

Since we're celebrating 1938 and that was the year when she got the last of her five or six Oscar nominations (depending on how you count her double from 1930), it's a good time to look back at the life and films of Norma Shearer…...

The show must go on. At least the Venice Film Festival must go on. Even a pandemic can’t stop the oldest international film festival from taking place Sept. 2 through Sept. 12 in the picturesque of grand canals. Of course, safety is first with masks, social distancing etc. are all in place as critics get a first glance at possible award-winners.

Over the past seven years, the festival has held world premieres of such Oscar-winners as 2013’s “Gravity”; 2014’s “Birdman”; 2015’s “Spotlight”; 2016’s “La La Land”; 2017’s “The Shape of Water”; 2018’s “Roma”; and 2019’s “Joker.” Only two films that won the festival’s top prize have gone on to win Best Picture at the Oscars: 1948’s “Hamlet” and 2017’s “The Shape of Water.”

The festival began in 1932 as part of the Venice Biennale, the city’s legendary exhibition of the arts under the guidance of President of the Biennale, Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata,...

Who is your favourite from each year in the 1930s? My current votes go like so though there are always more films to see so one must always reserve the right to change one's mind.

1930 Norma Shearer, The Divorcee 1931 Marie Dressler, Min & Bill 1932 Marlene Dietrich, Blonde Venus 1933 Greta Garbo, Queen Christina 1934 Claudette Colbert, It Happened One Night 1935 Katharine Hepburn, Alice Adams 1936 Carole Lombard, My Man Godfrey 1937 Irene Dunne, The Awful Truth 1938 Bette Davis, Jezebel 1939 Vivien Leigh, Gone With the Wind (though I'll admit to being somewhat torn because Dark Victory is my favourite pre 1950s Bette Davis performance)...

by Cláudio Alves

Born Adrian Adolph Greenberg, the designer best known as Adrian was one of the most influential costumers in Hollywood history. After working in his family business of millinery, Adrian went on to study costume design in New York and Paris and later found work dressing the starlets of Broadway. His talents soon took him to Hollywood, where he found a home from the mid-1920s to the 1940s, designing the costumes for many an MGM classic. Throughout his tenure in Tinsel Town, Adrian perfected the on and offscreen looks of such great divas as Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, Vivien Leigh, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, and others. Among them, his most essential collaborator and muse was the one and only Joan Crawford…...

Film festival mulling options after government bans large gatherings until at least mid-July.

The Cannes Film Festival has acknowledged today (April 14) that its plan to reschedule its 73rd edition for end-June, early-July is no longer viable and said it is considering other options. This follows a French government decision to continue a ban on large gatherings until at least mid-July, as part of measures to slow the spread of Covid-19.

“Following the French President’ statement, on Monday, April 13th, we acknowledged that the postponement of the 73rd International Cannes Film Festival, initially considered for the end of June to the beginning of July,...

Act Like a Man is a column examining male screen performers past and present, across nationality and genre. If movie stars reflect the needs and desires of their audience in any particular era, examining their personas, popularity, fandom, and specific appeals has plenty to tell us about the way cinema has constructed—and occasionally deconstructed—manhood on our screens.For a generation of returning veterans, actor Robert Montgomery was the thinking man’s GI. In his roles in post-war American movies, whether they be war dramas or film noirs that he would both star in and direct, he carried an air of earned macho authority. He had a sort of inarguable stature that was supported as much by his real life as it was by his ironclad screen presence. A to-the-manor-born son from a failed business empire, Robert’s father Henry was head of the New York Rubber Company, making...

Joan Crawford would’ve celebrated her 114th birthday on March 23, 2020. Though she’s probably best remembered for the portrayals of her by other actresses, the Oscar-winning performer starred in a number of classics before her death in 1977 at the age of 71. In honor of her birthday, let’s take a look back at 15 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1906, Crawford made her debut as a body double for Norma Shearer in “Ladies of the Night” (1925). She worked her way up into starring roles in several MGM titles, most notably the ensemble drama “Grand Hotel” (1932). Yet a dip in audience enthusiasm led to her being labeled “box office poison,” which would haunt her for several years.

Crawford moved to Warner Bros. in 1943, and just two years later, she was re-igniting the box office and scooping up a Best Actress Oscar for “Mildred Pierce” (1945). The role of an...

MGM has attached “The Aeronauts” director Tom Harper to its romance “Forever” — a project that’s been in development at the studio for eight decades.

Jonathan Glickman is producing “Forever,” based on a romantic novella by Mildred Cram (“Love Affair”), which focuses on two lovers from the past who are reincarnated in the modern world.

“Forever” was originally published in 1935 and purchased for MGM by the studio’s first head of production, Irving Thalberg, for his wife Norma Shearer. Thalberg died in 1936 and story has never made its way to the big screen. Hal Ashby was attached to direct at one point during the 1970s.

Harper also produced “Aeronauts,” which starred Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones. Harper’s feature credits include “Wild Rose,” “The Woman in Black: Angel of Death,” “The Scouting Book for Boys” and “War Book.” His TV credits include the 2016 BBC series “War and Peace” along with segments for “Peaky Blinders,...

The end of the year and the start of the next often brings about a flood of books about cinema–many of them timed to tie in with the Oscars. This column features a few of those, a bit of Star Wars, some classic Hollywood talk, weighty biographies, and more. Let’s start with Marty and company.

The Irishman: The Making of the Movie by Tom Shone (Assouline)

Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman may not have had the awards season impact many predicted, but it was still something of a cultural sensation. It was also one of the director’s late-period greats. If you enjoyed the film—and don’t mind spending $175—The Irishman: The Making of the Movie is well worth picking up. Full of insightful interviews and stories, author Tom Shone’s text also serves to highlight the film’s wondrous costumes and production design. It’s a...

With her Best Actress nomination for “Marriage Story” and her Best Supporting Actress bid for “Jojo Rabbit,” Scarlett Johansson joined an elite group of performers to score multiple Oscar noms in the same year. It’s of special note in Johansson’s case, considering both are her career-first citations from the academy.

Who are the other actors and actresses to pull off this neat trick? Tour our photo gallery to see all 10 people, with each person listed from most recent to furthest back. By the way, only two of this nominees went home on Oscar night without a trophy for either category, which could be good news for ScarJo.

SEEScarlett Johansson movies: 12 greatest films ranked from worst to best

In the early years of the Oscars, there were no rules preventing performers for competing multiple times in the same category. As a result, the 1929/1930 ceremony found George Arliss (“Disraeli” and...

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Curator Jessica Regan on The Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland, Gilbert Adrian connection In Pursuit of Fashion The Sandy Schreier Collection: “Oh yes, in relation to the gingham bows that are on the kittens.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Costume designer Gilbert Adrian had longtime working relationships with some of the biggest stars on the silver screen, including Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, Jean Harlow, Jeanette MacDonald, Katharine Hepburn and Joan Crawford. He created the ruby slippers and designed the gingham dress worn by Judy Garland as Dorothy in Victor Fleming’s The Wizard Of Oz.

Jessica Regan on working with Nathan Crowley and Shane Valentino: “They were looking at 1930s film set design and taking inspiration …” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Adrian designed Garbo’s clothes for 17 of her 24 American films and helped in making her a lasting icon of style. “She has created a type,...

Robert Evans, the legendary head of Paramount Pictures and larger-than-life producer of “Chinatown” and “Marathon Man,” died Saturday at the age of 89. An aspiring actor, the tan and good-looking Evans claimed that actor Norma Shearer spotted him poolside and asked him to play her former husband, the legendary MGM exec Irving Thalberg, in the film “Man of a Thousand Faces.” As an actor, Evans never achieved great things.

He would make his mark as a top executive at Paramount, mentoring and clashing with up-and-coming directors such as Roman Polanski, Francis Ford Coppola and Peter Bogdanovich.

With him goes a vital link to Hollywood’s golden age and to the “young turks” who ushered in a bold new period of moviemaking in the 1970s. Bogdanovich spoke with Variety about Evans’ life and legacy. It was Evans who bought Bogdanovich’s first picture, the 1968 suspense thriller “Targets,” and later collaborated with him...