The 79th Annual Oscars Awards will take place in L.A. tomorrow and all eyes will be patiently waiting to see who gets to go home with the golden statue. I'm still pulling for Helen Mirren to take away the Oscar for best actress. I don't think she will have any issues. She has won at every other awards ceremony. She was brilliant in The Queen. I've always loved the Oscars. I went to school for acting so there is an admiration I have for actors who are truly gifted and are masters of their craft. This year was the year of rocking performances by women. In the leading actress category you have Penélope Cruz for Volver, Judi Dench for Notes on a Scandal , Helen Mirren for The Queen , Meryl Streep for The Devil Wears Prada and Kate Winslet for Little Children. Although I STILL haven't seen Dreamgirls, I'm really pulling for Jennifer Hudson who is nominated for Best Supporting Actress. From what I hear it's truly an exquisite performance. This year the Oscars will be hosted for the first time by the fabulous and lovely Ellen DeGeneres. Performing on the show will be Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson (!!), Celine Dion (why oh why?), Melissa Etheridge and James Taylor. This should be a fun show to watch. The New York Times compiled a photo collection of many of the nominees. The photos shot by various photographers are a treat to look at. Some of my favorites are above and below. Click HERE to see the rest.
In case you are interested - here is some interesting trivia about the Oscars.
{~} Walt Disney holds the record for having the most Academy Awards: 22 won, and 4 honorary. He was also nominated for 64 Academy Awards during his lifetime.
{~} The youngest person ever to be nominated for an Oscar: Justin Henry (age 8) for Kramer vs. Kramer.
{~} The only person to win more than three major Oscars: Katharine Hepburn (four times in the category of Leading Actress) (1933 Morning Glory, 1967 Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, 1968 The Lion in Winter and in 1981 On Golden Pond)
{~} James Dean is the only actor to receive two posthumous acting nominations. Dean was killed in a traffic accident in 1955, but was nominated in 1956 for East of Eden and 1957 for Giant.
{~} Only three movies have swept the top 5 awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay): It Happened One Night, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and The Silence of the Lambs. Interesting, hmmmm?
I wrote about the Oscars a while back when the nominations were announced and I stand firmly with my predictions for winner. (Noted with stars)
Best Picture: The Departed, Babel, Letters From Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen***.
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker*** in The Last King of Scotland, Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond, Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson, Peter O'Toole in Venus and Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness.
Best Actress: Helen Mirren*** in The Queen, Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal, Penelope Cruz in Volver, Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada and Kate Winslet in Little Children.
Best Supporting Actor: Eddie Murphy*** in Dreamgirls, Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine, Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children, Djimon Hounsou in Blood Diamond and Mark Wahlberg in The Departed.
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson*** in Dreamgirls, Adriana Barraza in Babel, Cate Blanchett in Notes on a Scandal, Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine and Rinko Kikuchi in Babel.
Best Director: Martin Scorsese*** for The Departed, Clint Eastwood for Letters From Iwo Jima, Stephen Frears for The Queen, Paul Greengrass for United 93 and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Babel.
The awards begin promptly at 8pm Eastern on ABC.
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