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After coming up short on his first two Best Actor Oscar bids for “Walk the Line” and “The Master,” Joaquin Phoenix took the gold in 2020 for “Joker.” The film reaped a whopping 11 Oscar nominations and cracked the billion dollar mark at the box office. The sequel, “Joker: Folie à Deux,” which hits theaters October 4, makes Phoenix the 11th Best Actor victor to reprise his winning role in a feature film.

Only one of the first 10 fellows to pull off this double feature earned another Oscar nomination: Bing Crosby (he won for “Going My Way” in 1945 and was nominated for “The Bells of St. Mary’s” in 1946).

Those who preceded Crosby in reprising their winning roles without academy recognition are Warner Baxter, who went on to appear in both “The Cisco Kid” (1931) and “Return of the Cisco Kid” (1939), and Spencer Tracy, who starred in “Men of Boys Town” (1941).

Edward Flanagan portrayer Tracy...

Spencer Tracy was the two-time Oscar winner starred in a variety of classics before his death in 1967, including nine films opposite fellow legend Katharine Hepburn. Let’s take a look back at 20 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Tracy pulled off the rare hat-trick of winning back-to-back Best Actor Oscars, first for his performance as a Portuguese sailor in “Captains Courageous” (1937), then for playing a dedicated priest helping wayward youths in “Boys Town” (1938). It’s a feat that would only be repeated once more in this category by Tom Hanks (“Philadelphia” in 1993 and “Forrest Gump” in 1994).

Tracy would compete seven more times in the category: “San Francisco” (1936), “Father of the Bride” (1950), “Bad Day at Black Rock” (1955), “The Old Man and the Sea” (1958), “Inherit the Wind” (1960), “Judgment at Nuremberg” (1961), and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” (1967), which was recognized posthumously.

He’s perhaps best remembered for starring in nine films with Hepburn,...

At 5’2, Mickey Rooney may have been small in stature, but he had a huge personality and was one of the biggest stars in the heyday of the Golden Era of Hollywood. He had one of the longest careers of any entertainer, with a body of work that spans nine decades in the industry, including vaudeville, films, television, radio and the stage.

Rooney was born Joe Yule, Jr. on September 23, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York. At 17 months old, he made his stage debut in his parent’s vaudeville act, and made his motion picture debut in 1926. In 1927, he starred in the first of several short films in the “Mickey Maguire” series, and adopted the stage name “Mickey Rooney.” He made 78 of these comedies, and also received great notices in films such as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1935). Then in 1937, he made the film that would establish his star status. “A Family Affair” was...

Having already won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for his portrayal of Elvis Presley in “Elvis,” Austin Butler is on a solid path to triumphing on his first Oscar nomination. His film, which covers the entirety of the titular rock star’s two-decade career, boasts a talented cast that includes past Oscar winner Tom Hanks, who collected back-to-back Best Actor trophies for “Philadelphia” (1994) and “Forrest Gump” (1995). He missed out on a supporting bid for “Elvis,” but if Butler clinches the lead award, Hanks will become the 15th man to have acted in a film that won the same Oscar he previously received.

Hanks has a total of five Best Actor nominations to his name, with the three unsuccessful ones having come for his work in “Big” (1989), “Saving Private Ryan” (1999), and “Cast Away” (2001). Until Butler was recognized for “Elvis,” Hanks had never appeared in a film for which someone...

The French Alps in VistaVision and Technicolor really sell this inspirational thriller. Spencer Tracy stars is the utterly ethical mountaineer, and young Robert Wagner his venal, verminous, just plain no damn good younger brother. Make that Much younger. Edward Dmytryk directs for big dimensions and strong emotions, and Paramount’s remaster makes the special effects of the mountain climb look good again. It’s a morality tale pitched at grade school level, and one of Tracy’s better late-career pictures. With Anna Kashfi as a plane crash victim deserving of rescue, and William Demarest as a French priest with a Preston Sturges accent.

The Mountain

Region Free Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] #198

1956 / Color / 1:78 widescreen (VistaVision) / 105 min. / Street Date February 22, 2023 / Available from [Imprint] / Aud 34.98

Starring: Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner, Claire Trevor, William Demarest, Barbara Darrow, Richard Arlen, E.G. Marshall, Anna Kashfi, Richard Garrick, Harry Townes.

Cinematography: Franz Planer

Costume Designer: Edith Head

Art Director: Hal Pereira,...

The Best Actor Oscar has been the pinnacle for leading men since the first Academy Awards in 1929 when the film industry started honoring its best and brightest.

Candidates for 2023 are many, including Hugh Jackman (The Son), Brendan Fraser (The Whale), Austin Butler (Elvis) and Christian Bale (Amsterdam), to mention but a few. Only time will tell who gets the next Best Actor Oscar, but time has told who the winners have been throughout history, and we have them all here for you.

The first winner was Emil Jannings, who was recognized for two films The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. The latter film, directed by Victor Fleming, is considered a lost film. Only two fragments survive, both from the end, making Jannings’ Academy Award-winning performance the only one of which there is no complete copy. That first year is also the only time that Oscars were awarded for multiple performances.

Welcome back to Oscars Playback, in which Gold Derby editors and Experts Christopher Rosen and Joyce Eng revisit Oscar ceremonies and winners of yesteryear. This week, we look at the 67th Academy Awards in 1995, honoring the films of 1994.

While mama claimed that life is like a box of chocolates because you never know what you’re gonna get, everyone knew what they were getting at this ceremony. “Forrest Gump,” a 13-time nominee and the No. 1 domestic box office hit of 1994, was going to win Best Picture, and it did, along with five other awards. It beat out “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Quiz Show” and “The Shawshank Redemption,” four films that you could argue would make for better winners over “Gump,” which has not particularly aged well.

See Oscars Playback: Revisiting the 1999 ceremony when ‘Shakespeare in Love’ won the war over ‘Saving Private Ryan’

One of the film...

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,...

Tim Considine, the actor best known for the role of eldest son Mike on the long-running sitcom “My Three Sons,” died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles, according to a Facebook post from his co-star Stanley Livingston. He was 81.

Born in Los Angeles to a showbiz family –– his father, John Considine Jr. was an Oscar-nominated film producer for “Boys Town,” and his mother was the daughter of theater magnate Alexander Pantages –– Considine got his start as a child actor in the 1950s, playing characters in Disney Television’s “Mickey Mouse Club” serials. His roles included Frank Hardy in a “Hardy Boys” serial and Spin Evans in “The Adventures of Spin and Marty.” In 2000, he returned to make a cameo appearance in a TV movie reboot, “The New Adventures of Spin and Marty.” In 1959, Considine appeared alongside his future television father Fred MacMurray in the Disney film “The Shaggy Dog.

Tim Considine, one of the most popular young Disney actors of the 1950s before originating the role of the eldest brother on the 1960s sitcom My Three Sons, died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 81.

His death was announced by his son Christopher, and shared on Facebook by My Three Sons co-star Stanley Livingston, who played Chip Douglas to Considine’s Mike. “Tim and I have been friends for more than 70 years,” Livingston wrote, adding “He will be missed by all those who knew him. I love you Bro.”

Considine was already known to television audiences — particularly youngsters — by the time he was cast for the 1960 debut on ABC of My Three Sons. He had played Spin Evans on the mid-’50s Mickey Mouse Club serial “The Adventures of Spin and Marty,” and, later in the decade, Frank Hardy (to Tommy Kirk’s Joe Hardy) on the...

“Finch,” which debuts on Apple TV+ on November 5, is a cinematic showcase for two-time Oscar champ Tom Hanks. He plays the titular character, who embarks on a perilous journey into the desolate American West following a cataclysmic solar event. Accompanied by his dog Goodyear and a robot named Jeff (Caleb Landry Jones), Finch must navigate the dangers of a new world while convincing his non-human companions to get along. Could “Finch” be Hanks’ vehicle to a seventh Oscar nomination and his first for Best Actor since 2000’s “Cast Away”?

See Miguel Sapochnik (‘Finch’ director) on his ‘partnership’ with Tom Hanks and creating a futuristic American West

Critics are lavishing praise on the Hollywood vet. “You’re probably not coming to Finch for lessons, you’re coming to Finch for Hanks,” writes Lindsey Bahr (Associated Press). “The good news is that he’s not just the reason to show up, he...

In 2001, Will Smith headlined “Ali,” which brought him his first Oscar nomination. He lost the Best Actor prize to Denzel Washington for “Training Day,” but now, 20 years later, Smith can avenge that loss with “King Richard” against Washington’s turn in “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” And if he doesn’t, he would be the latest performer who has lost to the same person twice.

There have been four people with an 0-2 record agains the same actor. They are:

1. Irene Dunne lost Best Actress for “Theodora Goes Wild” (1936) and “The Awful Truth” (1937) to Luise Rainer for “The Great Ziegfeld” (1936) and “The Good Earth” (1937)

2. Charles Boyer lost Best Actor for “Conquest” (1937) and “Algiers” (1938) to Spencer Tracy for “Captains Courageous” (1937) and “Boys Town” (1938) over

3. Basil Rathbone lost Best Supporting Actor for “Romeo and Juliet” (1936) and “If I Were King” (1938) to Walter Brennan for “Come and Get It” (1936) and “Kentucky” (1938)

4. Annette Bening lost...

The Academy Awards have been handing out a Best Actor trophy since the very first ceremony in 1928. Emil Jannings for a combo of “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh” was the first recipient for his leading roles. The most recent champ was Joaquin Phoenix for “Joker.”

Since then, only one man has won the category three times: Daniel Day-Lewis for “My Left Foot,” “There Will Be Blood” and “Lincoln.” The only two times with back-to-back victories were for Spencer Tracy (“Captains Courageous” and “Boys Town”) and Tom Hanks (“Philadelphia” and “Forrest Gump”).

Beyond those two actors, the ones with two lead wins have included Marlon Brando, Gary Cooper, Dustin Hoffman, Fredric March, Jack Nicholson and Sean Penn. Tracy and Laurence Olivier are the ones with the most nominations at nine.

The oldest winner was Henry Fonda (“On Golden Pond”) at age 76. The oldest nominee was Anthony Hopkins...

Chadwick Boseman’s Best Actor Oscar nomination this morning for Netflix’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom reps the seventh time that an actor has received such a posthumous honor in either the Best Actor or Supporting Actor category from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

Boseman’s turn as ambitious cornet player Levee, who raises tensions with the white record label management and spars with his fellow jazz band members in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom reps his first Oscar nomination. Boseman’s nom today was one of five received by the George C. Wolfe directed feature.

Boseman, who made a huge splash as T’Challa in Disney/Marvel’s three-time Oscar winning $1.34 billion grossing feature Black Panther in 2018, died at 43 on Aug. 28, 2020, after a long, quiet battle with colon cancer. His death left the industry shocked and in despair. Not only did the actor play notable Black...

From the time of Tom Hanks‘s first Best Actor Oscar nomination in 1989 for “Big” to his fifth in 2001 for “Castaway” was just a dozen years. He then had to wait almost two decades before finally reaping his sixth in 2020 for his supporting role in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” But Hanks could be back at the Oscars again this year for his star turn in the Universal hit “News of the World.”

Hanks made Academy Awards history when he won back-t0-back Oscars for his lead roles in “Philadelphia” (1994) and “Forrest Gump” (1995). That equalled the achievement of Spencer Tracy (“Captains Courageous” and “Boys Town”) in 1938 and 1939. In all Tracy racked up nine Best Actor bids. That streak puts him in third among actors on the all-time Oscars nominations list alongside Paul Newman and Al Pacino, who won for “The Color of Money” (1987) and “Scent of a Woman” (1993) respectively.

What a difference two days makes. Before last Wednesday’s Golden Globe nominations, “Hillbilly Elegy’s” Glenn Close was in sixth place in Gold Derby’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar odds, but after she accrued a bid there and at the Screen Actors Guild Awards the next day, she has rocketed to fourth place. Another post-Globe and -SAG change is Olivia Colman (“The Father”) usurping the SAG-snubbed Amanda Seyfried (“Mank”) for the top spot. You know what that means: if both Close and Colman make the final five, Colman could beat Close again, which would make her the the fifth performer to defeat the same person twice.

The first four were:

1. Luise Rainer won Best Actress for “The Great Ziegfeld” (1936) and “The Good Earth” (1937) over Irene Dunne for “Theodora Goes Wild” (1936) and “The Awful Truth” (1937)

2. Spencer Tracy won Best Actor for “Captains Courageous” (1937) and “Boys Town” (1938) over Charles Boyer...

Universal Pictures has set the release date for “News of the World” for December 25, officially launching the post-Civil War drama starring Tom Hanks into the Oscar race. (Watch the trailer.) The film reunites Hanks with his “Captain Phillips” director Paul Greengrass and could become the vehicle that brings the two-time Academy Award winner his seventh acting nomination.

Hanks first broke through at the Oscars for playing Josh Baskin in the 1988 film “Big.” The fantasy comedy was directed by Penny Marshall and proved Hanks could be a major box office draw as well as a critical favorite. After losing his first bid to Dustin Hoffman for “Rainman,” Hanks waited five years to return to the Oscars. His portrayal of Andy Beckett in the legal drama “Philadelphia,” opposite Denzel Washington, earned Hanks his first win for Best Actor. The next year Hanks prevailed once more for his iconic role as the title character in “Forrest Gump.

At 5’2, Mickey Rooney may have been small in stature, but he had a huge personality and was one of the biggest stars in the heyday of the Golden Era of Hollywood. He had one of the longest careers of any entertainer, with a body of work that spans nine decades in the industry, including vaudeville, films, television, radio and the stage.

Rooney was born Joe Yule, Jr. on September 23, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York, so his fans around the world are celebrating his 100th birthday! At 17 months old, he made his stage debut in his parent’s vaudeville act, and made his motion picture debut in 1926. In 1927, he starred in the first of several short films in the “Mickey Maguire” series, and adopted the stage name “Mickey Rooney.” He made 78 of these comedies, and also received great notices in films such as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1935). Then in 1937, he made the...

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 Nathaniel R

Mo: He came slammin' into my shop...

Freddie: Who struck the first blow?

Whitey: The first blow -- what are you kidding? -- there was only one blow. 

Do you enjoy against-type casting? I couldn't stop thinking of this practice while watching Boys Town (1938) the other night to fill in a notable Best Actor gap (Spencer Tracy won the Oscar as do-gooder Father Flanagan who started the titular home for abandoned / delinquent boys). In the film Mickey Rooney's "Whitey" tests Father Flanagan's theory that 'there are no bad boys' and his tough guy shtick feels very over the top especially coming from a teen star who was then best known for boisterous enthusiasm in comedy and song and dance.  But then a funny thing happened. Halfway through the picture, while still bristling against this relentless posturing, it suddenly worked for the movie; Of Course Father Flanagan...

Gene Reynolds, the prolific director, producer and writer who was a driving force behind such socially conscious television series as M*A*S*H, Lou Grant and Room 222, has died. He was 96.

Reynolds died Monday at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, the DGA announced.

Reynolds started out in Hollywood as a child actor at MGM in such movies as Boys Town (1938). He was nominated for 24 Emmy Awards, winning six times, and his series were known for looking at serious problems — without sacrificing warmth or humor.

Reynolds and Larry Gelbart created CBS' M*A*S*H, which was based on a novel by ...

Tom Hanks. Elton John. “Little Women.” Quentin Tarantino.

Bet you think I’m about to talk about this year’s Oscar nominees. . . However, this is a flashback to a ceremony 25 years ago that looks a little similar to this year’s lineup. Let’s take a look back at the Academy Awards hosted by David Letterman in March, 1995.

SEEOscar Best Actor Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Award History

Life indeed can be “like a box of chocolates” and you “never know what you’re going to get,” but I doubt that Hanks expected to be the second actor in the Academy’s history to win the Best Actor trophy two years in a row. A year after winning the statue for his moving performance as an HIV-positive lawyer in “Philadelphia,” Hanks snagged it again as the naive but kind-hearted Forrest Gump. It had been 56 years since Spencer Tracy won his...

“The Irishman” co-stars Al Pacino and Joe Pesci are up for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars, but this is not the first time the duo has gone head to head. They last clashed 29 years ago in the same category, and one came out on top.

Pesci prevailed for his iconic role as Tommy DeVito in “Goodfellas” (1990), defeating Pacino (“Dick Tracy”), Bruce Davison (“Longtime Companion”), Andy Garcia (“The Godfather Part III”) and Graham Greene (“Dances with Wolves”). And who can forget his equally iconic speech (watch above): “It was my privilege. Thank you.” Brevity is the soul of wit and acceptance speeches (see also: Merritt Wever‘s 2013 Emmy speech).

This was Pesci’s second and most recent nomination until now. Pacino was on his sixth bid and seeking his first win, which would come two years later in the lead category for 1922’s “Scent of a Woman” (he was...

Arthur Marks, a writer, producer and director best known for his work on CBS series Perry Mason and for directing blaxploitation films, has died at age 92, his family confirmed to Deadline.

Marks was born August 2, 1927 in Los Angeles. His grandparents acted in silent pictures and his father Dave Marks was an assistant director and production manager at MGM.

Arthur Marks began his film career as a background actor and in bit parts on such films in the 1930s and ‘40s as Boys Town, The Good Earth and the Andy Hardy series.

Marks left Hollywood to join the United States Merchant Marines during World War II and served in the Navy during the Korean War.

He briefly attended Santa Monica College and the University of Southern California, before landing a job in the production department at MGM Studios. His career took off in the 1950s as an assistant director at Columbia.

Prolific producer and director Arthur Marks, who worked on “Perry Mason” and blaxploitation movies including “Detroit 9000” and “Friday Foster,” has died. He was 92.

Marks died Nov. 13 at his home in Woodland Hills, Calif. His son, “Narcos” producer Paul Marks, confirmed his passing to Variety.

Marks was a native of Los Angeles who was born in 1927 into a show business family. His grandparents were actors in silent pictures and his father, Dave Marks, worked as an MGM assistant director and production manager who worked on “The Wizard of Oz” and “Easter Parade.” Arthur Marks worked as a child actor, getting work as an extra and bit player on “The Good Earth” (1937), “Boys Town” (1938) and Mickey Rooney’s Andy Hardy series.

Marks joined the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy during World War II and served with the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. He began working in the production department at MGM,...

Sure, it’s an honor to be nominated, but let’s be honest: it’s even better to win. So taking a victory lap two or three times has got to be the most amazing feeling on the planet. Since 1927, only 22 men have won more than one Oscar for acting, so it’s a tough club to join. Tour our photo gallery above to see which thespians delighted Academy voters multiple times.

Three performers hold the record for victories amongst men with three prizes each: Walter Brennan, Daniel Day-Lewis and Jack Nicholson. (Katherine Hepburn is the all-time champ amongst men and woman with four.) Brennan won all three of his trophies in supporting, while Day-Lewis took home all of his awards in lead. Nicholson won two Oscars in lead (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1975 and “As Good as It Gets” in 1997) and one in supporting (“Terms of Endearment...

Spencer Tracy would’ve celebrated his 119th birthday on April 5, 2019. The two-time Oscar winner starred in a variety of classics before his death in 1967, including nine films opposite fellow legend Katharine Hepburn. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 20 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Tracy pulled off the rare hat-trick of winning back-to-back Best Actor Oscars, first for his performance as a Portuguese sailor in “Captains Courageous” (1937), then for playing a dedicated priest helping wayward youths in “Boys Town” (1938). It’s a feat that would only be repeated once more in this category by Tom Hanks (“Philadelphia” in 1993 and “Forrest Gump” in 1994).

SEEOscar Best Actor Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Award History

Tracy would compete seven more times in the category: “San Francisco” (1936), “Father of the Bride” (1950), “Bad Day at Black Rock” (1955), “The Old Man and the Sea” (1958), “Inherit the Wind” (1960), “Judgment at Nuremberg...

Rami Malek just won the Oscar as Best Actor for his transformative performance as Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody.” He become the 92nd person in history to clinch that prize, beating out Christian Bale (“Vice”), Bradley Cooper (“A Star is Born”), Willem Dafoe (“At Eternity’s Gate”) and Viggo Mortensen (“Green Book”). Tour our photo gallery above of every Academy Award winner for Best Actor, from the most recent winner to the very first one. And find out when there was a tie in the 91-year history of this Oscar.

SEE2019 Oscars: Full list of winners (and losers) at the 91st Academy Awards

Since 1927, only nine actors have won this category more than once. Daniel Day-Lewis holds the record for most victories with three: “My Left Foot” (1989), “There Will Be Blood” (2007), and “Lincoln” (2012). Eight other actors have received two Best Actor trophies:

Marlon Brando: “On the Waterfront” (1954) and “The Godfather...

History repeats itself, and it could happen again in the Best Supporting Actress race. Thirteen years ago, Rachel Weisz (“The Constant Gardener”) won the category over Amy Adams (“Junebug”), and the two are currently in a rematch for “The Favourite” and “Vice,” respectively. If Weisz prevails again, Adams would have the dubious honor of being the fifth actor to lose to the same person twice.

The first four people were:

1. Irene Dunne lost Best Actress for “Theodora Goes Wild” (1936) and “The Awful Truth” (1937) to Luise Rainer for “The Great Ziegfeld” (1936) and “The Good Earth” (1937)

2. Charles Boyer lost Best Actor for “Conquest” (1937) and “Algiers” (1938) to Spencer Tracy for “Captains Courageous” (1937) and “Boys Town” (1938)

3. Basil Rathbone lost Best Supporting Actor for “Romeo and Juliet” (1936) and “If I Were King” (1938) to Walter Brennan for “Come and Get It” (1936) and “Kentucky” (1938)

4. Annette Bening lost Best Actress for “American Beauty” (1999) and “Being Julia” (2004) to Hilary Swank...

Ethan Hawke is this awards’ season critical darling earning several best actor nods from critic’s groups including the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. and New York Film Critics Circle for his powerful performance as a troubled clergyman haunted with his past and the future in Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed.”

Hawke, who also won the Gotham Awards honor for best actor, is also nominated for a Critics Choice and a Film Independent Spirit Award but was snubbed in the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.

But Hawke, who has received four previously Oscar nominations including for supporting actor for 2014’s “Boyhood,” shouldn’t give up the faith about a fifth nomination. Over the years, the academy has embraced actors and actresses who played members of the clergy with six wins and upwards of two dozen nominations.

Predict the Oscar nominations now; change them until January 22

Both Spencer Tracy...

Since 1929, the year of the 2nd Academy Awards, seven performers have earned posthumous Oscar nominations for their work. This year, a legend of the silver screen may join the list of actors recognized for roles following their passing. More than three decades since his death in 1987, John Huston is poised for a posthumous Oscar return with his leading turn in Orson Welles‘ final film, “The Other Side of the Wind.”

This actor, writer, producer and director was no stranger to the Oscars over his illustrious five-decade career in cinema. Between 1940 and 1985, he garnered a total of 15 nominations, including bids in Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay. His pair of victories came in 1948, as he triumphed for his direction and screenwriting on “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”

In “The Other Side of the Wind,” which premiered to warm notices at this year’s Venice Film Festival,...

In 2009 — when the Academy Awards went to 10 Best Picture nominees for the first time since 1943 — the preferential system of voting, which had been used from 1934 to 1945, was reintroduced. The academy did so as it believed this “best allows the collective judgment of all voting members to be most accurately represented.”

We have detailed how the preferential voting system works at the Oscars in the modern era. So, let’s take a look back at those dozen years early in the history of the academy when it first used this complicated counting to determine the Best Picture winner rather than a simple popular vote. (At the bottom of this post, be sure to vote for the film that you think will take the top Oscar this year.)

See Best Picture Gallery: Every winner of the top Academy Award

1934

This seventh ceremony marked the first time that the Oscars eligibility period was the calendar year.

Christian movies: Starring Nicolas Cage, the widely panned 2014 apocalyptic thriller 'Left Behind' was a box office bomb – unlike (relatively) recent popular 'faith movies' such as 'Heaven Is for Real,' 'Son of God' and 'War Room.' A thought on the New Christian American Cinema: Tired of the blatant propaganda found in 'mainstream' Christian movies Two films that might be called “Christian movies” opened last week, and I decided that I wouldn't watch them, write about them, or review them – at least directly. I'm not even going to mention their titles here because I don't promote propaganda films, and that's what this recent advent of Christian movies has become: propaganda. After all, since nearly all American cinema is Christian cinema, the New Christian American Cinema is in fact pure propaganda – not cinema. Worse yet, it bores me. So, here's the thing about what we've come to call...

On this day in showbiz history, some gay Oscar lore, lots of two time Oscar winners, and future Oscar winner Pharrell Williams (and much more)...

1883 Oscar favorite Walter Huston (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) born in Toronto. Without him no Huston acting dynasty!

1887 Helen Keller learns "water" from teacher Anne Sullivan, the moment will serve as the emotional climax of the popular stage and screen drama The Miracle Worker

1900 Two time Oscar winner Spencer Tracy (Boys Town, Captain Courageous) born...

Mildred Pierce

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 860

1945 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 111 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date , 2017 /

Starring Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Ann Blyth, Bruce Bennett, Lee Patrick, Moroni Olsen, Veda Ann Borg, Jo Ann Marlowe, Butterfly McQueen.

Cinematography: Ernest Haller

Art Direction: Anton Grot

Film Editor: David Weisbart

Original Music: Max Steiner

Written by: Ranald MacDougall from the novel by James M. Cain

Produced by: Jerry Wald, Jack L. Warner

Directed by Michael Curtiz

James M. Cain’s 1941 novel Mildred Pierce offers a venal and self-destructive view of America not with a story of respectable bourgeois society, not the criminal underworld. A de-classed, suburb-dwelling nobody fights her way onto the social register by using men and by hard work… and then watches as her obsessive goals blow up in her face In Cain’s worldview it’s every woman for herself. He drags in an odd personal theme,...

This proto- juvenile delinquent epic launched celebrated WW2 warrior Audie Murphy on the road to Hollywood fame, fortune and more troubled times. Audie commits every crime short of shooting dogs and nuns, but those wacky liberal social workers still give him the benefit of the doubt. Director Kurt Neumann back our hero with expert acting support from Lloyd Nolan, Jane Wyatt and James Gleason.  Bad Boy DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1949 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 86 min. / Street Date January 5, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Audie Murphy, Lloyd Nolan, Jane Wyatt, James Gleason, Stanley Clements, Martha Vickers, Rhys Williams, Selena Royle, Jimmy Lydon, Dickie Moore, Tommy Cook, William F. Leicester, Stephen Chase, Walter Sande, Ray Teal, Charles Trowbridge. Cinematography Karl Struss Art Direction Theobold Holsopple Production Design Gordon Wiles Film Editor William Austin Original Music Paul Sawtell Written by Robert Hardy Andrews, Karl Kamb, Paul Short Produced by Paul Short...

Composer John Williams set a new Academy Award record when Oscar nominations were announced on Thursday morning. Eddie Redmayne and Cate Blanchett would like to set some records for themselves when statuettes are given out at the ceremony hosted by Chris Rock on February 28. Below, 14 facts, stats and records regarding this year's Oscar nominations. Related: Complete list of 2015 Oscar nominations -Break- 50th Nomination Composer John Williams celebrates his 50th Oscar nomination by revisiting the "Star Wars" universe. He has a bid for Best Original Score of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and now has the second most career nominations, only trailing Walt Disney (59). Back-to-back wins If Eddie Redmayne ("The Danish Girl") prevails this year, he would become only the sixth performer to win back-to-back Oscars. For the Best Actor category, Spencer Tracy ("Captains Courageous," "Boys Town") and Tom Hanks...'...

“Can’T Buy Me Love”

By Raymond Benson

Frank Capra was a superstar Hollywood director in the 1930s. He had a string of critically-acclaimed and successful pictures after joining Columbia Pictures and elevating the studio from “poverty row” to a force that competed with the big leagues. Two of Capra’s Columbia movies won the Oscar for Best Picture, and Capra became the first filmmaker to win the Oscar for Best Director three times, all within five years. You Can’t Take it With You was Capra’s second Best Picture winner and his third Best Director achievement.

Sometimes his films have been called “Capra-corn,” because they are usually steeped in Americana, explore themes of social class inequality, feature casts of eccentric—but lovable—protagonists and greedy, heartless villains, and contain stories about the Everyman’s struggle against the Establishment. Capra was also one of the developers of the screwball comedy,...

'The Beginning or the End' 1947 with Robert Walker and Tom Drake. Hiroshima bombing 70th anniversary: Six movies dealing with the A-bomb terror Seventy years ago, on Aug. 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima. Ultimately, anywhere between 70,000 and 140,000 people died – in addition to dogs, cats, horses, chickens, and most other living beings in that part of the world. Three days later, America dropped a second atomic bomb, this time over Nagasaki. Human deaths in this other city totaled anywhere between 40,000-80,000. For obvious reasons, the evisceration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been a quasi-taboo in American films. After all, in the last 75 years Hollywood's World War II movies, from John Farrow's Wake Island (1942) and Mervyn LeRoy's Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) to Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor (2001), almost invariably have presented a clear-cut vision...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

Bradley Cooper’s portrayal of Navy Seal Chris Kyle in Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper has been garnering Oscar buzz since the film premiered at AFI Fest. With The Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy saying, “nothing the actor has done before suggests the dramatic assuredness he brings to his way of detailing Kyle’s self-control, confidence, coolness, genuine concern for his comrades-in-arms, compulsion to serve his country and ultimate realization that enough is enough, even of the thing he loves most, which is war,” Cooper may earn his third consecutive Oscar nomination this year. This would follow behind his best actor nomination last year for Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and this year’s nomination for his supporting role in American Hustle (2013).

The last male actor to accomplish this feat was Russell Crowe, who scored three nominations from 2000 to 2002. He won in 2001 for his lead role in Gladiator.

For Halloween, we celebrate The Simpsons' best Treehouse Of Horror stories, feat. zombies, Hitchcock and Kubrick spoofs and more...

“Nothing seems to bother my kids but tonight's show, which I totally wash my hands of, is really scary.”

For anyone who grew up watching The Simpsons, the Treehouse Of Horror Halloween specials are an annual horror staple, from spooky couch gag to horror-themed credits. You can learn an awful lot of things just from watching the show, but for younger audiences, these episodes gave us our introduction to certain iconic horror stories.

Having ditched the early framing device of the family telling scary stories to one another, with Springfielders cast in key roles, the format is now closer to a mini-anthology of terror with three stories that take place outside of canon. This has usually given the writers licence to be more gruesome and outlandish than in the regular series,...

Godzilla 1954, Mickey Rooney, Giant Ants, Fascists, and rarely seen ‘Musty Stuffer’: Eclectic Packard Theater movies in May 2014 (photo: ‘Godzilla’) Godzilla 1954, Mickey Rooney, military fascists, deadly giant ants, racing car drivers, and The Mishaps of Musty Suffer, a super-rare slapstick comedy series from the 1910s, are a few of the highlights at the Library of Congress’ Packard Campus Theater in May 2014. Godzilla 1954 and fellow movie monsters Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla 2014, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Ken Watanabe, and Bryan Cranston, opens on May 16 in much of the world. On May 8 at the Packard Theater, you’ll get the chance to check out Ishiro Honda’s Godzilla 1954 aka Gojira — in the original, Toho-released, Japanese-language version (i.e., without Raymond Burr). As part of its Godzilla double bill, the Packard Theater will also present Motoyoshi Oda’s Gigantis, the Fire Monster aka Godzilla Raids Again (1955). Besides Godzilla, the Packard Theater will...

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will remember Mickey Rooney this Sunday, April 13, with a 24-hour marathon of his classic films beginning at 6am Et. Rooney passed away April 6 at the age of 93. According to TCM, the memorial tribute to Mickey Rooney will include some of his most iconic performances, including Boys Town (1938) and its sequel Men of Boys Town (1941); the first two films in the Andy Hardy series, A Family Affair (1937) and You’re Only Young Once (1938); Babes on Broadway (1941), one of Rooney’s many pairings with Judy Garland; Captains Courageous (1937); and National Velvet … Continue reading →

The post TCM remembers Mickey Rooney with 24-hour film marathon appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.

Mickey Rooney was earliest surviving Best Actor Oscar nominee (photo: Mickey Rooney and Spencer Tracy in ‘Boys Town’) (See previous post: “Mickey Rooney Dead at 93: MGM’s Andy Hardy Series’ Hero and Judy Garland Frequent Co-Star Had Longest Film Career Ever?”) Mickey Rooney was the earliest surviving Best Actor Academy Award nominee — Babes in Arms, 1939; The Human Comedy, 1943 — and the last surviving male acting Oscar nominee of the 1930s. Rooney lost the Best Actor Oscar to two considerably more “prestigious” — albeit less popular — stars: Robert Donat for Sam Wood’s Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) and Paul Lukas for Herman Shumlin’s Watch on the Rhine (1943). Following Mickey Rooney’s death, there are only two acting Academy Award nominees from the ’30s still alive: two-time Best Actress winner Luise Rainer, 104 (for Robert Z. Leonard’s The Great Ziegfeld, 1936, and Sidney Franklin’s The Good Earth, 1937), and Best Supporting Actress nominee Olivia de Havilland,...

Mickey Rooney dead at 93: Four-time Oscar nominee, frequent Judy Garland co-star may have had the longest film career ever (photo: Mickey Rooney ca. 1940) Mickey Rooney, four-time Academy Award nominee and one of the biggest domestic box-office draws during the studio era, died of "natural causes" on Sunday, April 6, 2014, at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of North Hollywood. The Brooklyn-born Rooney (as Joseph Yule Jr., on September 23, 1920) had reportedly been in ill health for some time. He was 93. Besides his countless movies, and numerous television and stage appearances, Mickey Rooney was also known for his stormy private life, which featured boozing and gambling, some widely publicized family infighting (including his testifying in Congress in 2011 about elder abuse), his filing for bankruptcy in 1962 after having earned a reported $12 million (and then going bankrupt again in 1996), his eight marriages — including those to actresses Ava Gardner, Martha Vickers, and Barbara Ann Thomason...

Need more proof that Mickey Rooney was one of the few remaining stars from Hollywood's golden age? The “Boys Town” actor's death last weekend at the age of 93 means that the last survivor caricatured in the 1941 Merrie Melodies cartoon “Hollywood Steps Out” has gone to the big movie premiere in the sky. Also read: Mickey Rooney, Legendary Actor, Dead at 93 In all, 46 stars were included in the Warner Bros.animated comedy short — a list that boasts such deceased movie icons as Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Rita Hayworth. They are depicted...

Hollywood – He was the biggest star the world, the box office champion from 1939 to 1941. “Wow, spanning two decades,” Bart Simpson said. Mickey Rooney lived long enough to work on silent films, be the biggest star in the world and do a voiceover on “The Simpsons.” Not bad for one lifetime. Mickey Rooney died of natural causes in his North Hollywood home on April 6th. He was 93.

Rooney was a actor who worked nearly his entire life in film, television and stage. His active career as a performer spanned 92 years, and he was one of the last few in history to have worked in the silent film era. His filmography lists over 200 roles, and he also appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway and several television series. He outlived and outperformed virtually all the classic movie stars from Hollywood’s golden era of the studio system from the 1930s to the 1950s.

The...

Hollywood star and entertainer best known for National Velvet, Boys Town and his turbulent private life

Mickey Rooney dies at 93

A life in pictures

In 1938, the extraordinary, multi-talented 18-year-old Mickey Rooney was Americas No 1 box-office star, earning more than $300,000 annually. In 1939, he was awarded a special Oscar for his spirit and personification of youth.

In 1962, Rooney declared himself bankrupt, revealing that he had nothing left of the $12m he had earned over the years. After being an MGM luminary for a decade, he was forced to appear in dozens of B movies to pay off his debts and alimony payments (by then he had been married seven times). But Rooney, who has died aged 93, always lived by the creed of his profession: the show must go on.

Continue reading...

Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney has passed away at the age of 93.

The actor - who is best known for playing Andy Hardy in the MGM film series between 1937 and 1946 - died of natural causes after a long battle with ill health, according to TMZ.

Rooney's career in showbusiness spanned 80 years and more than 200 films alongside the likes of Judy Garland and Elizabeth Taylor.

At the age of 17, he began his role as Andy Hardy in A Family Affair, before starring in 13 more movies in the series and a final instalment in 1958.

The actor also gained recognition for parts in Boys Town and The Black Stallion, as well as winning two honorary Oscars in 1938 and 1982.

Sir Laurence Olivier once referred to Rooney as "the greatest actor of them all".

He was born in Brooklyn on September 23, 1920 by the name of Joe Yule Jr and made his first stage appearance at 17 months...

The legendary Mickey Rooney died today, passing away at the age of 93.

The Brookyln-born actor was a child star who successfully transitioned into adult films. Boasting more than 300 credits to his name across eight decades, he also earned four Oscar nominations, two honorary Oscars, a Golden Globe, and Emmy, and a Tony nomination.

Amongst his most famous early works were the likes of "Blind Date," "Babies in Arms," and over a dozen film sin the Andy Hardy franchise. Other famous films included "The Black Stallion," "National Velvet, "The Bold and the Brave," "The Human Comedy," "Breakfast at Tiffanys," "Erik the Viking," "The Fox and the Hound," "Pete's Dragon," "Ace of Hearts," "Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World," "Requiem for a Heavyweight," "Baby Face Nelson," "Boys Town" and "Girl Crazy". His acclaimed TV work included "Bill," "Mickey," "One of the Boys," "The Red Skelton Hour" and "The Mickey Rooney Show...