Actress Hattie McDaniel turned the primary African American to win an Academy Award on this present day in historical past, Feb. 29, 1940.
McDaniel received the Academy Award for Greatest Supporting Actress for her function as Mammy within the movie “Gone With The Wind.”
In her acceptance speech, McDaniel mentioned it was “one of many happiest moments of my life.”
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“I wish to thank every certainly one of you who had a component in deciding on me for one of many awards on your kindness. It has made me really feel very, very humble, and I shall at all times maintain it as a beacon for something I might be able to do sooner or later,” she mentioned.
McDaniel continued, “I sincerely hope I shall at all times be a credit score to my race and to the movement image business. My coronary heart is just too full to let you know simply how I really feel. And should I say thanks and God bless you.”
McDaniel was additionally an expert singer-songwriter, comic, stage actress, radio performer and TV star.
Whereas McDaniel’s Oscars win was a historic first for the Academy, she virtually didn’t get to attend the ceremony.
The 1940 Academy Awards had been held on the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub within the Ambassador Resort in Los Angeles.
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On the time, the lodge was segregated and didn’t allow Black patrons.
Producer David O. Selznick needed to request a favor from the lodge in order that McDaniel might attend the occasion.
Even so, she needed to sit behind the room, away from her co-stars, who had been seated up entrance, in line with many sources.
Along with McDaniel’s win for Greatest Supporting Actress, “Gone With the Wind” additionally received Academy Awards for Greatest Image, Greatest Actress, Artwork Course, Shade Cinematography, Directing, Movie Modifying, and Writing – Screenplay.
After McDaniel’s dying as a consequence of breast most cancers on Oct. 26, 1952, she left her Oscar plaque to Howard College’s theater division in Washington, D.C., in line with the Related Press.
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(The winners for Greatest Supporting Actor and Greatest Supporting Actress didn’t obtain statuettes till 1943, and as a substitute had been awarded plaques, famous the publication.)
What follows, nevertheless, is a thriller: Sooner or later within the late Nineteen Sixties or Nineteen Seventies, her award disappeared.
The situation of the unique award stays unknown to this present day.
On Oct. 1, 2023, The Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences and the Academy Museum of Movement Footage changed the award in a ceremony referred to as “Hattie’s Come Residence.”
“The ceremony will have a good time the life and legacy of McDaniel, her historic Academy Award win, and reunite her Academy Award with Howard College as she initially supposed,” mentioned a press launch from The Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences forward of the occasion.
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The Academy Award plaque is now stored on the Chadwick A. Boseman School of High-quality Arts at Howard College.
McDaniel has two stars on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame in Hollywood: one for her contributions to radio at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard, and one for movement photos at 1719 Vine Avenue, in line with the long-lasting location.
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In 1975, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Corridor of Fame. In 2006, she turned the primary Black Oscar winner honored with a U.S. postage stamp.
McDaniel was born on June 10, 1895, in Wichita, Kansas, to former slaves. She grew up in Denver, Colorado, the youngest of 13 kids.
This yr’s Oscars — the 96th Academy Awards — will happen on Sunday, March 10.
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