Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Oscar Oddity #3: Hal Mohr

A unique Oscar winner (left).

Hal Mohr won his first Oscar for Best Cinematography for A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935). This cinematographer holds the distinction of being the only Oscar winner to win without actually being nominated. In the early years of the Academy Awards, write-in votes were accepted, and he won based on those votes. How bad must the nominees have felt? I wish the Academy would go back to this, because snubs would at least have a chance of pulling a shocker at the winners ceremony.

Previous entries here and here.

6 comments:

  1. The write-in's sound so cool! Many snubbed films would be rescued, especially snubbed actors. (*cough* Leo DiCaprio *cough*)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I definitely think they should go back to allowing write-in votes. It would be wonderful to see a major upset, now and then, by someone not on the ballot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That would be awesome, but it would probably occur only in very weak years. For instance, there's no way Ryan Gosling was coming back to beat Colin Firth in 2010.

      Delete
  3. Wow, that's so interesting! Never knew this before.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know, isn't it? I don't post these much, but I'm always fascinated by little bits of Oscar trivia like this.

      Delete