Oscars is the most prestigious accolade and the dream of every filmmaker and actor. Anyone who works in movies wants to be honored by the Academy. It has been around for almost a century and this year the 94th Academy Award was organized. Many deserving movies and makers won the awards. Usually, the Oscars nominations are very rigid and do not change. But there have been certain instances where the Academy has revoked a nomination. Here are 7 infamous times Oscar nominations were revoked.
1. The Circus nomination was revoked by the Academy
In the year 1929, the first Academy Award was organized. At the very first ceremony, Charlie Chaplin‘s movie was given 4 different nominations. The Circus was nominated for Best Actor, Best Writer, Best Director for a Comedy, and Outstanding Picture. With the thought that Charlie Chaplin might win all four awards. So, all his individual nominations were revoked and he was awarded an Honorary Award for writing, acting, directing, and producing the movie The Circus.
2. Hondo’s Oscars nomination was revoked
In 1954, Hondo was nominated for Best Story. John Wayne was the writer of the story. It is about an Indian Scout attempting to help a homesteader’s wife and son. But the Academy later discovered that the Academy found out that the movie’s story was not original. Also, the story was copied from a short story called The Gift of Cochise. And the story was not really an original and it did not even give credit to the story. Hence, the movie ended up losing its nomination.
3. High Society lost its nominations due to confusion
So if you think the biggest confusion that ever happened at the Oscar was the wrong name announced, you should hear this tale. In 1957, the writers Edward Bernds and Elwood Ulman were nominated for Best Story for the musical comedy High Society. But the thing was that the two did not write the 1956 movie. Instead, the two had written a comedy of the same name in 1955. It was because the Academy was confused between the films. After the clarity, the two writers graciously took their names off nominations.
4. Young Americans had to return the Oscar
So, the Academy is not always perfect while nominating. But imagine being revoked from an Oscar after winning it. Yes, that too has happened. In 1969, the documentary Young Americans won the Best Documentary Award. Later, the Academy so discovered that the movie had been released in 1967, which made it illegible for the 1968 award. Hence, the award was revoked and it was given to the runner-up film, Journey into Self. In fact, Young Americans are the only film that went through the pain of giving back an Oscar.
5. The Godfather was a drama at the Oscar
Apart from the famous incident of Marlon Brando sending Sacheen Littlefeather on stage to reject his award for best actor, a nomination was revoked too. So, The Godfather had received nine Oscar nominations, including the Award that was returned. Apart from Best Actor, it was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and the one that got revoked Best Original Dramatic Score. The Academy had nominated the composer, Nino Rota for it. But they later revoked the Oscar nomination as Rota had used some of his old work in the movie. Though, he did win an Oscar for The Godfather: Part II.
6. A Place in the World was removed
Ironically A Place in the World could not hold its place in the Oscar nominations. The Uruguay film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, out of the five nominations it was submitted for. But the Academy later found out that it was an Argentine film, and Uruguay did not have enough rights to it. Hence, it was removed from the final voting round. But it was Adolfo Aristarian who had really asked Uruguay to submit his movie on his behalf and he sued the Academy.
7. Tuba Atlantic was removed from the nominations
In 2012, Tuba Atlantic, a 25-minute short film was nominated for the award for Best Live Action Short Film. It is about a 70-year-old man who only has six days left to live. He spends them reconciling with his family. Though the story sounds great, Academy discovered that the movie had already aired on Norwegian TV before releasing in theatre. And this is against the rules of the Academy.
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