Why Hollywood doesn't like to remember the first ever Oscar winner
The American Academy Award “Oscar” is the dream of many actors. Not all those whom we consider stars are honored to receive it. But few people know that the history of this award began very strangely and there was no talk of its prestige for some time. The first Oscar winner, actor Emil Jannings, completely covered himself with shame, the shadow of which almost fell on the award coveted by many.
When the first voting for the Oscars ended in 1929, the results were shocking. According to most opinions, the award for Best Actor went to... the dog Rin-Tin-Tin. This was a well-deserved dog in all respects, starring in more than 30 films. Both adults and children adored her, but there was one problem. The Academy understood that by awarding the very first Oscar to a dog, they would forever devalue this award.
Therefore, it was decided to urgently review the voting results and choose a person. And then the choice fell on the actor of German origin Emil Jannings. 15 years later, the respected members of the jury will bitterly repent of this and regret that they did not give the award to the German shepherd Rin-Tin-Tin.
In 1929, the award was awarded not for specific work in the film, but for general achievements over several years. By the way, the name “Oscar” itself did not exist yet; it appeared only in 1934. At first the award was simply called “Gratitude Reviews.”
Jannings was chosen as the most popular male actor of 1927–1928. He was a fresh face in Hollywood, having just arrived in the US from Germany. They began to intensively film it, and by the time of the award, the German’s creative baggage included the films “The Way of All Flesh” (1927), “The Last Order” (1928) and several other less significant ones that have not survived to this day.
The ceremony to present the first Oscar in history took place on May 16, 1929. She was very modest and without intrigue. What to do - the winners in all categories were announced three months before. Jannings himself, who was chosen as Best Male Actor, was not present at the awards ceremony at all. By this time he returned to his homeland, Germany. True, he did receive the statuette, because it was given to him in advance, before leaving.
But why did the actor, who in just a couple of years became the number one star in Hollywood, decide to give up everything? The answer is simple - Jannings was a silent film hero that was becoming a thing of the past. Dubbing had not yet been invented, and due to his strong German accent, he himself could not play the role in the USA. The contract with Paramount Pictures had just ended and they did not sign a new one with the actor.
Emil Jannings left for his homeland, which was just entering an interesting and very dangerous era. In Germany, the actor quickly found a common language with the Nazis and successfully joined the ranks of their propagandists. Soon in the USA they will note with sarcasm:
A few years will pass and the disheveled and mortally frightened Jannings will rush around the destroyed Berlin and shout to the soldiers of the Allied army: “Please don’t shoot! I’m the same Jannings who won the Oscar!” After the war, the faded actor told reporters in a quiet voice that he could not help but work with the Nazis. He insisted that failure to cooperate would mean concentration camps and death.
But many facts indicated that the man was lying and there was no coercion. Despite this, Emil Jannings was lucky and was not convicted. He moved to Austria and devoted the rest of his life to proving his innocence to the whole world.
There was nothing else he could do, since he was banned from acting in films. And it’s hard to believe that after the war anyone would want to contact this man. Who needs an actor who sang praises to the Fuhrer from the screens and praised the power of German weapons? The man who won the first Oscar in history and was considered the most outstanding actor on the planet died in obscurity in 1950.
But the famous auto tycoon Henry Ford got away with flirting with the Nazis. Today people don’t like to remember that a businessman received an order from Hitler’s hands.