The Academy

So many Oscar winners gush, "l would like to thank the academy" that it's become a cliche. But what is the Academy, anyway? And why should it be thanked?

The Academy, in this case, is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a professional honorary society formed in 1927. In spirit, the Academy is something like the Phi Beta Kappa Society or National Honor Society. It's an organization dedicated to promoting excellence in a particular field (filmmaking). Just like similar organizations, it has many members connected to that field (more than 6,000 filmmaking professionals).


Photo Courtesy A.M.P.A.S.
110 of the 76th Academy Awards nominees, gathered together at the 23rd Annual AMPAS Nominees Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA

You must be invited by the Academy to become a member. Different branches of the Academy (focusing on different aspects of the filmmaking world) have their own standards of eligibility for potential members.

The Academy is involved in a lot of different projects -- from film preservation to developing new film technology -- but it's best known for its yearly awards ceremony. The purpose of the Academy Awards is to promote excellence in filmmaking by honoring extraordinary achievements from the previous year.

Members of the academy, including actors, producers, directors and a variety of other film craftsmen, choose who will receive the awards that year by casting ballots. So when a winner thanks the academy, he or she is really thanking all their professional peers who collectively decided to bestow the honor. They're also thanking the organization as a whole, which decided to hand out awards in the first place.

That's the story of the Academy, in a nutshell. But then who's Oscar? In the next section, we'll get acquainted.

Oldest Winner for Best Actor: Henry Fonda, "On Golden Pond," 76 years old (1981)
Oldest Actor to Receive an Award: Groucho Marx, Honorary Award, 83 years old (1973)
Youngest Actor to Win an Award: Tatum O'Neal (age 10) Best Supporting Actress, "Paper Moon," (1973)
Youngest Actor to Receive an Award: Shirley Temple, Special Award, 6 years old (1934)
Most Acting
Awards: 		Katharine Hepburn, four
Most Acting Nominations: Meryl Streep, 12 and four, respectively
Most Musical Nominations: John Williams, composer, 42 nominations
First Color Best Picture: "Gone With the Wind" (1939)
Most Film Nominations: "All About Eve," 14 (1950)
Most Film Awards: "Ben Hur," 11 (1959), "Titanic," 11 (1997), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 11 (2004)
Source: Washington Post: Oscar Trivia