The most bizarre Oscar The race has been running for 94 years, with the fallout surrounding the race leading up to the Oscars officially changing its rules. The Oscars have been around for nearly 100 years, with the first Oscar event being held in 1929. In the 96-year history of the Oscars, there have been many changes to the ceremony, with one of the most significant changes to the Oscars occurring as a result of the third annual edition. of the Oscars, held in 1930.
Oscar fans are often extremely interested in the history of the Oscars, and one of the most interesting aspects of the awards show are the actors who have won or been nominated for various awards. Things like different actors being nominated for the same character and other Oscar trivia are always worth noting when discussing how the Oscars have worked over the years. The list of Oscar nominations serves as a time capsule which contains the best and most successful films of each year, as well as highlighting the prejudices and restrictions of the time.
The 1930 Oscar best actor category nominated 5 actors for 8 performances
George Arliss, Maurice Chevalier and Ronald Colman
The Best Actor Oscar has always been one of the ceremony’s most notable categories, but the Oscars of the 1930s had an interesting difference that hasn’t been seen in the category since. Although there were eight performances nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, there were only five nominees, with three actors being nominated multiple times for Best Actor. This wasn’t a problem seen only in the Best Actor category, as the Best Actress category even had an actress nominated for two different roles.
At the third annual Academy Awards, George Arliss won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Disraelialthough he was also nominated for his role in The Green Goddess. Fellow nominees Maurice Chevalier and Ronald Colman were also nominated twice, with Chevalier receiving nominations for The Big Lagoon and The love parade while Colman received nominations for Drummond Bulldog and Convicted. In the Best Actress category, Norma Shearer won for The divorced at the same time that she was nominated for her performance in Your own desire. Thus, four of the performers at this ceremony were nominated twice in their categories.
Why the Oscars Nominated So Many Actors Twice
The film industry has changed since 1930
Having actors nominated for the same category multiple times at the same ceremony doesn’t happen anymore, which is why it’s so strange that this happened in 1930. The big reason for this change has mainly to do with How the film industry worked in the 1930s. Compared to the 2020s, there were far fewer films being produced due to the limited number of studios and the relative youth of cinema as a technology, meaning there were fewer films to choose from at the Oscars.
Additionally, the Hollywood film industry in the 1930s used far fewer actors, with fewer stars getting a greater share of the exposure. Actors often signed exclusive deals with studios, which resulted in them being used multiple times in the same year. Furthermore, the intolerance of the time limited the types of actors chosen by studios, further limiting the pool of actors who could be nominated for these categories.
The 1930 Oscars led to a rule change to bar multiple actor nominations
Solving this Oscar problem
The fact that three actors and one actress were nominated for the same Oscar multiple times led the Oscars to implement a rule change to stop this practice. Now, the same nominee cannot be nominated more than once for the same category. This means that even if an actor gives a fantastic performance twice in a single year, they can only be nominated for Best Actor for one of those performances. This solved the problem observed in the 1930s, allowing more actors to be appointed.
However, actors and actresses can still be nominated for multiple Oscars in the same year. Twelve actors were nominated for Best Actor or Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor or Best Supporting Actress in the same year, which recently happened in 2019, with Scarlett Johansson being nominated for Marriage story and Jojo Coelho. This change to the Oscar was seen as extremely positive, with the Oscar never coming back after the big Best Actor change.