The Oscar season is upon us. There are many movies in the competition to win the highest honors of the filmmaking craft. This year, in particular, features incredible acting performances. The youngest actors in this year’s race to win an Academy Award are Paul Mescal (27) and Stephanie Hsu (32). But in 1974, ten-year-old Tatum O’Neal became the youngest actor to win an Academy Award.
As we place our bets on that night’s big winners, we look back at the history of the Academy Awards. Despite its share of controversies, the Oscars have always been about recognizing and honoring the best of the film world. We are turning back the time to look into the youngest actor to be bestowed with the shining Oscar statuette.
Related: Why The Academy Awards Are Called Oscars?
Tatum O’Neal Is The Youngest Actor To Win An Oscar
At the tender age of ten, Tatum O’Neal swept every possible award for acting. On April 2, 1974, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her star-making role in Peter Bogdanovich’s ‘Paper Moon.’
Starring alongside her real-life father, Ryan O’Neal, Tatum played Addie Loggins, a child con artist. Ryan O’Neal played Moses Pray, a veteran grifter who takes Addie under his wing. Against their better judgment, both learn to love each other and become each other’s support system in a Depression-era America.
Funny how things turn around with movies. John Huston was supposed to direct the film. Huston wanted to cast the real-life father-duo of Paul Newman and Nell Potts. Moreover, Huston had envisioned the movie as a colorful story, unlike Bogdanovich’s choice of black-and-white cinematography.
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Tatum O’Neal’s Post Academy Award Career
Boosted by her Academy Award, she didn’t stop giving gifted performances. O’Neal was particularly fascinating in ‘The Bad ‘News Bears’ (1976) and ‘Little Darlings’ (1980), further cementing her status as a glorious actress.
The following years saw her career suffer because of failed personal relationships and drug usage. O’Neal’s appearances as an actress were far from few as she struggled to make sense of her personal life and come to terms with it.
In her 2004 autobiography, ‘A Paper Life,’ she opened up about the sexual abuse she faced as a child. She was also candid about how her drug dependence ruined many close relationships.
O’Neal wrote another memoir titled ‘Found: A Daughter’s Journey Home,’ about her turbulent relationship with her father, volatile marriage to tennis superstar John McEnroe, and her drug arrest.
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