Harold Russell, the former Army instructor who won an Academy Award as a handless sailor in “The Best Years of Our Lives,” is selling the golden statuette to the highest bidder--over the protests of those who awarded it.
Actor Harold Russell sold the Oscar he won for his role in 'For the Best Years of Our Lives' in 1944 in exchange for 60,500 dollars in order to pay for his wife's illness.
Since 1951, all Academy Award winners must sign an agreement that they “shall not sell or otherwise dispose of the Oscar statuette, nor permit it to be sold or disposed of by operation of law, without first offering to sell it to the Academy for the sum of $1”.
Who is the only person to receive a wooden Oscar award?
The most unusual Honorary Awards went to Edgar Bergen in 1937 and Walt Disney the following year. Bergen's, presented “for his outstanding comedy creation, 'Charlie McCarthy,'” was a wooden Oscar statuette with a movable mouth.
The statuettes are solid bronze and plated in 24-karat gold. Due to a metal shortage during World War II, Oscars were made of painted plaster for three years. Following the war, the Academy invited recipients to redeem the plaster figures for gold-plated metal ones.
In 1951, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) regulated its rules to prevent the sale of these awards. If a winner would like to sell his Oscar, they must offer it to the Academy, which will pay them one dollar for the statuette.
Another star who's been nominated for an Oscar but never won: Johnny Depp. The actor and musician has been up for best actor three times. No telling how his recent legal troubles will impact his movie career, let alone his bid for the industry's biggest award.
Who knows the winners before they're announced? According to the academy website, just two PricewaterhouseCoopers partners know the results beforehand.
Los Angeles, March 28: “The Godfather” was named the best film of 1972 and its star Marlon Brando, the best actor at the 45th annual Academy Awards presentations here last night — but Brando refused his Oscar.
It is composed of 24-karat gold-plated bronze. The sleek award stands 13.5 inches tall and weighs a hefty 8.5 pounds. If cast in 24-karat gold, the award would weigh 22.7 pounds, a mass equivalent to a large watermelon or two-year-old child. Gold is 2.7 times as dense as bronze.
Gibbons designed the statue with Fenandez's help, creating a knight standing on a film reel, holding a crusader's sword, which was meant to represent a crusader of the industry. The statue was then sculpted by Stanley and has remained the same 94 years later.
The Academy Award statuette's nickname, “Oscar,” has three possible sources. Actress Bette Davis claimed that the name derived from her observation that the backside of the statuette looked like that of her husband Harmon Oscar Nelson. Columnist Sidney Skolsky maintained that he gave the award its nickname.
It is believed that the statue itself is actually modelled on Emilio Fernandez, who was a Mexican filmmaker and actor. The story goes that when working in Hollywood, he met the wife of Cedric Gibbons. He asked Fernandez to pose naked for a sketch to create the basis for the trophy.
However, the title for the cheapest movie to win the award goes to Barry Jenkins' 2016 coming-of-age Moonlight. A24 decided to finance Moonlight in 2013, and the film began the company's foray into production, immediately winning them a 'Best Picture' title.
Katharine Hepburn won four Academy Awards (all for Best Actress), more than any other actor or actress in the history of the award. As of 2021, 44 actors and actresses have received two or more Academy Awards in acting categories.
Based on the cost of materials, each award is estimated to be worth $15. However, once the statuette has been awarded, the actual value drops to 0. because the Recording Academy. prohibits the resale of its awards.
The Oscar winners don't pay any money for the actual Oscar statuette, it's also worthless because before it can be sold, the Academy can buy it back for 1 dollar.
