Oscars Origin: How Did Academy Awards Begin?

WRITTEN BY NAVEENA PRASAD M

The Oscars is the most prestigious awards ceremony in the film industry. And the high-prices event is being held for more than nine decades.   

The Academy Awards was first held on May 16, 1929 in the Blossom Room of the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California.

The first award was handed out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science  at the dinner party in the presence of about 250 people. 

It was the head of MGM film studio, Louis B. Mayer, who organized the Academy as a non-profit organization  in May 1927. It was dedicated to the advancement and  improvement of the film industry. 

The actor  Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was the first president of the Academy and also the first host of the 1929 award ceremony. 

The first Oscar for the Best Picture was given to one of the most expensive films of that time, Wings directed by William Wellman. 

German actor Emil Jannings won the Best Actor while the female winner was Janet Gaynor. at this first award cermony.

The nickname Oscar started to circulate as the then Academy  director Margaret Herrick remarked the statuette resembled her Uncle Oscar.  This is the popular belief.

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