On this day in 1970, an oxygen tank exploded on Apollo 13,
preventing a planned moon landing.
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The first Academy Awards ceremony was held in Hollywood on May 16, 1929
with a mere 270 guests. The name Oscar would not used for another few
years. Emil Jannings was the first Best Actor and Janet Gaynor Best Actress.
The first 12 winners (and the 20 films that were given an honorary scroll of commendation) had already been revealed in the Los Angeles Times three
months earlier.
The inaugural awards were the only time in Academy history that the
ceremony wasn’t broadcast in some way; even a year later it was covered
live on radio.
Emil Jannings with his Best Actor statuette.
Douglas Fairbanks presents Janet Gaynor with the
first Academy Award for Best Actress, for her work
in Seventh Heaven.
William C Demille, President Of The Academy Of Motion Picture
Arts And Sciences hands an Oscar to Mary Pickford (with Warner
Baxter and Hans Kraly looking on) at the first ceremony in 1929.
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Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins is 82 years old today.
Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins is best known for his portrayal of the
ingenious serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs
(1991), a role that won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. He
has also played roles in The Mask of Zorro (1998) and Nixon (1995).
Hopkins turned to TV in 2016 upon landing a starring role on HBO’s
series Westworld. He was encouraged by actor Richard Burton to
pursue acting at age 15.
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a film about a group of patients at a
mental institution, opened in theaters on this day in 1975. Directed by
Milos Forman and based on a 1962 novel of the same name by Ken
Kesey, the film starred Jack Nicholson and was co-produced by the
actor Michael Douglas. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest went on to
become the first film in four decades to win in all five of the major
Academy Award categories: Best Actor (Nicholson’s first win), Best
Actress (Louise Fletcher, who played Nurse Ratchet), Best Director,
Best Screenplay (Adapted) and Best Picture.
Louise Fletcher as Nurse Frida Ratchet.
Oregon State Psychiatric Hospital, now a museum in Salem, was
the setting for the movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.
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