For almost a century, the Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, have been established, like it or not, as the highest distinction of excellence within the film industry. However, the coveted 2.5 kilo, 13.5 inch golden statuette is officially called Academy Merit Award. So it's worth asking: what is the origin of the nickname “Oscar”? Well, the story is riddled with mystery and controversy.
How did the name of the Oscars come about?
The nickname was born and began to gain strength throughout the 1930s, during the early years of the awards ceremony established by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). A time when the Hollywood industry was flourishing and beginning to gain international recognition. However, the Academy did not officially embrace the name Oscar until 1939. But the answer to who or why the term was coined remains without a definitive answer.
As we delve into the history of the Oscars, we encounter conflicting accounts about the origin of the nickname. Below, we tell you some of the best-known legends:
The most famous version: “He reminds me of my uncle Oscar”
The most widely accepted origin of the name Oscar is attributed to Margaret Herrickthe Academy's first librarian, and who would later assume the position of executive director between 1964 and 1971. According to this version, when Herrick first saw the golden statuette designed by Cedric Gibbons on an executive's desk in 1931, she casually commented : “He reminds me of my uncle Oscar.”
That particular Oscar was Oscar Pierce, a Texas wheat farmer. Now, although Herrick affectionately used the term “uncle” to describe his relationship, he was actually his distant first cousin (his mother's cousin). The Academy staff heard Herrick's comment, which led to the adoption of Oscar as a casual name to refer to the statuette. A version that, although not corroborated by the Academy, they promote as the most accepted theory on their official website.
Although Herrick is popularly remembered for this anecdote, the Academy considers her an early champion of film and credits her with establishing the foundation of the AMPAS research library, a vital collection documenting the history, art, sciences and the film industry.
Against the snobbery of the Academy
The famous columnist of Hollywood entertainment Sidney Skolsky He emerges as another possible person responsible for popularizing the term Oscar. The New York writer used that term for the first time in a column about Katharine Hepburn's Best Actress win at the sixth edition of the gala.
In his book of memories Don't Get Me Wrong-I Love Hollywood, Skolsky revealed that his intention was to humanize the award, stripping it of its snobbery. In that sense, he expressed his frustration over the repetitive use of allusions such as “golden statuette,” considering them pretentious and difficult to spell. According to his version, he chose “Oscar” inspired by an old vaudeville joke in which a comedian mocked the conductor with a cigar, asking him: “Do you want a cigar, Oscar?”
That column would allegedly be the first journalistic reference to the Academy Award as an Oscar. “Katharine Hepburn won the Oscar for her portrayal of Eva Lovelace in glory of a dayhis third Hollywood film,” the text said, according to what Sidney himself cites in his autobiography.
Was it Bette Davis?
The third among the most colorful and widespread theories surrounding the name of the Oscars has to do with the iconic actress Bette Davis. Winner of two golden statuettes, she claimed to have named the award winner for reminding her of her naked husband after a shower, musician Harmon Oscar Nelson Jr.
According to this story, when she won her first Oscar for Best Actress in 1936 for Dangerous (1935) humorously commented that the statuette's bare butt reminded her of her husband after a shower. Reports from that year's ceremony even mention that Davis affectionately called her award her “little Oscar,” contributing to speculation that she might be the creator of her nickname.
However, Academy historians point out that the term was already beginning to be commonly used behind the scenes before his victory. Not to mention that the Herrick and Sklosky versions precede it.
In honor of a soldier
In 2022, former Academy CEO Bruce Davis. published his book The Academy And The Award, which included, among other topics, a new exploration of the real story behind why people call him Oscar. Thus a fourth theory emerged linked to Eleanore Lillebergwho worked as secretary during the first years of the organization.
Apparently one of his duties was to take care of the statuettes before they were handed out, and he jokingly referred to them as “Oscars.” Although some thought the nickname was a reference to King Oscar II—given Lilleberg's Norse ancestry—Davis was able to locate an account in Eleanore's brother's autobiography, which claims the name was inspired by an army veteran she she met when she was little in Chicago. The reason? He always “stood tall and upright.”
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Given the lack of journalistic documents from the time to support them, none of these theories is conclusive. And with each new revelation it only adds another layer of mystery to the name of the famous Oscars. Will we ever know the truth?