Oscar Bravo Designer:
As we get ready for Oscar night (and next week’s big preview), here are some facts about the award itself, the most coveted gong in the world of entertainment:
Height:
13½ inches
Weight:
8½ pounds
Number of Awards Presented To Date:
3,140
First Recipient:
Emil Jannings, named Best Actor for his performances in The Last Command and The Way of All
Flesh in 1929
Design:
The statuette is a stylised figure of a knight holding a crusader’s sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes signifying the original branches of the Academy (actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers).
Model:
Mexican actor and director Emilio Fernandez Dubliner Cedric Gibbons, chief art director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and recipient of 11 Oscars of his own design
Sculptor:
LA artist George Stanley
Composition:
The statuettes are solid bronze and plated in 24-carat gold. Due to a metal shortage during World War II, Oscars made of painted plaster were presented for three years. Following the war, the Academy invited recipients to redeem the plaster figures for gold-plated metal ones.
Manufacturing Time:
3 months for 50 statuettes