On March 7, 2010, Kathryn Bigelow became the first
woman to win an Academy Award for best director,
for her movie “The Hurt Locker,” about an American
bomb squad that disables explosives in Iraq in 2004.

Prior to Bigelow, only three other women had been
nominated for a best director Oscar: Lina Wertmueller
for 1975’s “Seven Beauties,” Jane Campion for 1993’s
“The Piano” and Sofia Coppola for 2003’s “Lost in
Translation.”

Bigelow was born in San Carlos, California, in 1951
and is a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute
and earned a master’s degree in film from Columbia
University.

She made her feature film debut with 1982’s “The
Loveless,” which she co-wrote and co-directed.

It received generally positive reviews upon its release on
December 15, 1939. While the casting was widely praised,
the long running time received criticism.

At the 12th Academy Awards, Gone with the Wind received
ten Academy Awards (eight competitive, two honorary) from
thirteen nominations, including wins for Best Picture, Best
Director (Fleming), Best Adapted Screenplay (posthumously
awarded to Sidney Howard), Best Actress (Leigh), and Best
Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel, becoming the first
African American to win an Academy Award). It set records
for the total number of wins and nominations at the time.

Hattie McDaniel
(June 10, 1893 – October 26, 1952

   
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is 69 years old today.    
    

    
 With a career spanning over four decades, actor Washington
has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award,
two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and two
Silver Bears.

He was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement
Award in 2016, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, and in
2020 The New York Times named him the greatest actor of
the 21st century. In 2022, Washington received the Presidential
Medal of Freedom.

1989

1995

2002

2012

Denzel Washington holds his Oscar after winning
the award for best actor in a leading role for his
portrayal of Alonzo, a narcotics officer who has
crossed the dangerous line between cop and
criminal, in the movie "Training Day" (2001).

On December 12, 1967, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,
a groundbreaking movie about an interracial romantic
relationship starring Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy,
Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton, opened in theaters.

The film was the final role for Spencer Tracy. He was very
ill during production but insisted on continuing. Filming
of his role was completed just 17 days before his death
from a heart attack in June 1967. He was 67.

Hepburn never saw the completed film, saying it would be
too painful for her.    
    
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was nominated for 10 Academy
Awards, including Best Picture, and collected two Oscars,
including Best Actress for Hepburn, the second of her career.  

Robert Redford (Charles Robert Redford, Jr.)

One of Hollywood‘s biggest superstars, Redford officially
announced his retirement from acting in August of 2018.

Redford is the founder of the Sundance Film Festival which
helps hundreds of young filmmakers find a market for their
movies.

Redford with Dustin Hoffman in All the President’s Men      
(1976).

1969