Every Oscar Best Picture Winner
variety.comTim Gray Senior Vice PresidentFor 94 years, the Academy Awards have honored the best in filmmaking. They have also served as a time capsule reflecting what was going on in the world and/or in the entertainment industry each year.
In the 21st century, Oscar has lost much of its TV audience, but the name recognition remains as strong as ever.The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences handed out their first awards in 1929, with winners announced in advance.
There were 12 categories, which has grown to the current 23. Hardcore film fans are interested in all of them, but the general public is most interested in three: best picture, actor and actress.The first event, on May 16, 1929, was mostly a dinner for 270 people at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood; the ceremony itself lasted only 15 minutes.
Most winners simply accepted the trophy, but Warner Bros. executive Darryl F. Zanuck did something radical: He gave a few words of thanks, thus inventing the acceptance speech.
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