Oscars Reading Answers

Oscars 

Paragraph 1 Once every year, the red carpet is rolled out and the stars begin to arrive in their limousines, dressed in their finest clothes, decked with jewels borrowed from some of the most exclusive shops in town and worth hundreds and thousands of dollars. It's the annual awards ceremony of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Scientists, more commonly known as "the Oscars". For 75 years now, Hollywood has acknowledged the best actors, actresses, directors and writers with these awards, as well as others working behind the scenes in these movies.

Paragraph 2 The first Academy Awards were presented in 1927, although there was no ceremony that year. The first awards ceremony took place in 1929, a ceremony that differed in many ways from the ones we see today. In early ceremonies, a banquet was held for all participants and tickets cost only $10. There were only 12 categories for prizes, today there are over 35. In those early years few movies had soundtracks - the movies were just becoming the talkies.

But perhaps the biggest difference between the first ceremony and the ceremonies of today is that the winners of the awards were announced in advance of the ceremony - there was no element of surprise at all. It was not until 1941 that the "sealed envelope" was introduced, with all the drama and suspense that it entails. Today, the phrase "the envelope please" has become symbolic of all the tension and spectacle of the Oscars.

Paragraph 3 Today, over 70 million people view the Oscars ceremony each year, making it one of the most viewed programmes on TV. The ceremony appeared on television for the first time in 1953 and 1966 was the first time it was seen in colour. An enormous amount of work goe into the preparation of this, Hollywood's most important event, and perhaps for this reason, the ceremony has never been cancelled - though it has been postponed three times. Once the Oscars were postponed for floods (1938), and twice they've been postponed due to assassinations or attempted assassinations (1968,1981)

Paragraph 4 So, who have the big winners been? The most famous "best picture" is probably Ben Hur, which won 11 Academy Awards in 1959. The only other picture to win this many Oscars was Titanic in 2000. The two films have something else in common: they were both "big budget" movies, considered outrageously extravagant by many commentators. In fact the expression "bigger than Ben Hur" has passed into everyday English, to describe something huge, with no expense spared. Titanic was made with a record budget of US$200 million, though it still made a handsome profit at the box office.

Another big winner was the film Gone with the Wind, which won 8 awards in 1939. This was one of the longest movies (3 ½ hours) to win, and is still considered a film classic.

Paragraph 5 The winner of the Best Actress Award for Gone with the Wind was Vivien Leigh, a newcomer to the screen. She also won the Best Actress Award in 1951 for another film - A Streetcar Named Desire, the only other film for which she was nominated. Each year five actors and five actresses are nominated for the Best Actor Award and the Best Actress Awards and this in itself is a great honour. The actress to receive the most nominations is Meryl Streep, who has been nominated for 13 awards - and won two. Katherine Hepburn however is the actress to have won the most awards - she won four Best Actress awards in her lifetime.

Paragraph 6 Jack Nicholson is the only actor to win three Best Actor Awards, though Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro have all won two. Of these four actors, all but De Niro seem to bear out the theory that an actor's chance of winning a Best Actor, or Best Supporting Actor award, is greater if he is portraying a physically or mentally handicapped person. And if the character dies during the movie, this seems to help as well.

Paragraph 7 In fact, there are many factors that can influence the awarding of prizes for actors and actresses, factors that may have little to do with their performance in a particular film. Sometimes awards are given to an actor or actress for a film that is not particularly outstanding, in order to honour a lifetime's work in the movie industry. This is considered the case, for example, for Paul Newman's win for his role in The Colour of Money (1986).

And оn оthеr occasions, an award mау bе given in an attempt to “rectify раѕt injustices” whеn іt іѕ felt that an actor or actress ѕhоuld have won an award fоr а previous movie. Fоr example, а 76 year оld Henry Fonda won an award fоr hіѕ performance іn 1981’s On Golden Pond, whісh mаnу felt hе hаd deserved years earlier fоr hіѕ role іn The Grapes of Wrath (1940). Anоthеr factor whісh mау influence thе choice оf thе Academy іѕ “the sympathy vote”, ѕuсh аѕ Elizabeth Taylor’s winning оf thе Bеѕt Actress award іn 1960 fоr Butterfield 8 – јuѕt аftеr аn аlmоѕt fatal case оf pneumonia.

Paragraph 8 Whatever the reason for awarding those elusive gold figures, their power in enhancing career opportunities in the business is unquestionable, as is the continued spell they hold over the public.