Shortly after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was
incorporated in 1927, a dinner was held in the Crystal Ballroom of the Biltmore
Hotel in downtown Los Angeles to discuss the goals of the new organization.
One of those goals was devising a method of honoring outstanding
achievements, thus encouraging higher levels of quality in all facets of motion
picture production.

Once the decision had been made to institute an award, a major item of
business was the creation of a trophy to symbolize film achievement. MGM art
director Cedric Gibbons designed the statuette and Los Angeles sculptor George
Stanley was selected to bring to three-dimensional form the figure of a knight
standing on a reel of film, hands gripping a sword. The Academy's worldrenowned
statuette was born.

Since the initial awards banquet on May 16, 1929, in the Hollywood
Roosevelt Hotel's Blossom Room, 2,622 statuettes have been presented. Each
January, additional new golden statuettes are cast, molded, polished and buffed
by R.S. Owens & Company, the Chicago-based awards specialty company
retained by the Academy since 1982 to make the award.

Oscar stands 131/2 inches tall and weighs a robust 81/2 pounds. The
design of the statuette has never changed from its original conception, but the
size of the base varied until the present standard was adopted in 1945. Officially
named the Academy Award® of Merit, the statuette is better known by its
nickname, Oscar, the origins of which aren't clear. A popular story has been that
Academy librarian and eventual executive director Margaret Herrick thought it
resembled her Uncle Oscar and said so, and that the Academy staff began
referring to it as Oscar. In any case, by the sixth Awards presentation in 1934,
Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky used the name in his column in reference
to Katharine Hepburn's first Best Actress win. The Academy itself didn't use the
nickname officially until 1939.

The 15 statuettes presented at the initial ceremonies were gold-plated
solid bronze. Within a few years the bronze was abandoned in favor of britannia
metal, a pewter-like alloy, which made it easier to give the statuettes their
smooth finish. Due to the metals shortage during World War II, Oscars® were
History of Oscar made of painted plaster for three years. Following the war, all of the awarded plaster figures were redeemed for gold-plated metal ones.

Achievements in up to 24 regular categories will be honored on February
25, 2007, at the 79th Academy Awards® presentation at the Kodak Theatre at
Hollywood & Highland Center®. However, the Academy won't know how
many statuettes it will actually hand out until the envelopes are opened on Oscar
Night®. Although the number of categories and special awards will be known
prior to the ceremony, the possibility of ties and of multiple recipients sharing
the prize in some categories makes the exact number of Oscar statuettes to be
awarded unpredictable. As in previous years, any surplus awards will be
housed in the Academy's vault until next year's event.

"Each Oscar statuette is individually hand-crafted," says Scott Siegel,
president of R.S. Owens. "This statuette is only a tiny portion of our overall
business, but it makes us known all around the world. No other award is as
universally recognized as the Oscar, and we treat it with the extra-special tender
loving care that it deserves. We are extremely proud that the Academy has
entrusted its manufacture to us."

Except in years when the Academy created a publicity event out of the
delivery of the Oscars from Chicago to Los Angeles, they normally were sent
overland by common carrier. However, in 2000, only a few weeks before the
presentation date, that year's shipment of Oscars was stolen from the overland
carrier's loading dock. They were recovered a week later, but not before some
nerve-wracking days had passed. Since then, the Academy has had the
statuettes delivered on a special United Air Lines flight and has kept a
ceremony's-worth of statuettes on hand.

The Oscar statuette is the most recognized award in the world. Its success
as a symbol of achievement in filmmaking would doubtless amaze those who
attended that dinner nearly 80 years ago, as well as its designer, Cedric Gibbons.
It stands today, as it has since 1929, without peer, on the mantels of the
greatest filmmakers in history.