Over the course of Oscar's history,
there have been a few performers who have been so good in a given year,
that the Academy honored them twice! Given the fact that so many
films are released every year, and that so many performers are vying for
these coveted awards, this occurrence is a rarity, and certainly an
admirable accomplishment.
Since the inception of the Academy
Awards, this has only occurred on a handful of occasions, and the people
who were lucky enough to have it happen, didn't necessarily benefit from
it. For a few, a double Oscar nomination boosted their career, and
enhanced their credibility, but for others, this occurrence became nothing
more than a footnote in movie history.
On May 16, 1929, the New
York Times reported that Emil Jannings was heading home to Germany, and
most likely for good. "The talking films in Hollywood were a
great disappointment to Mr. Jannings," they reported. "It
is doubtful (Mr. Jannings) will ever talk English even sufficiently well
to cope with roles in a broken parlance."
Emil
Jannings became one of several actors who's career in Hollywood was cut
short by the introduction of talking films. It's ironic that in the
same week that he was leaving, he was asked to pose with a little gold
statue that he had won - the Academy Award. Jannings became the first Best
Actor winner for his performance in two roles over the past year, The Last
Command and The Way of All Flesh.
The winners were not kept
secret back in 1929, and Jannings was asked to pose for the statue days
prior to the actual ceremony. He already made it clear that he
wouldn't be attending.
Meanwhile,
in the Best Actress category, Janet Gaynor was cited for three films,
including Seventh Heaven, Sunrise
and Street Angel. Her career was just starting to take off in silent
films, and with talkies on the way, she had no difficulty making the
transition. Gaynor had that slight mid-west twang that Hollywood was
looking for, and her stage work was substantial evidence that she was
going to be just fine.
The voting process for the
first Academy Awards ceremony is nothing like it is now. Naturally,
Oscar needed time to develop, and its safe to assume that if today's rules
applied to the first year, that these two stars would not have been
nominated for more than one performance. Voters were choosing films
and performances that didn't qualify for the first ceremony, therefore
delaying the process. The final decision was made by a small
committee, who no doubt honored these actors for their body of work on
purpose, and not because of some sort of tie in the voting.
Whatever the case, the first
awards ceremony didn't have much of an impact on the two winners.
Gaynor's big thrill that evening was meeting Douglas Fairbanks, and
Jannings was never offered work in Hollywood again.
In the end, Gaynor went on
to become a hot property over the next decade. She was even
nominated for another Oscar in 1937 for her role in A Star is
Born.
Jannings, on the other hand,
chose a more perilous route. When he returned to Germany, he found
lots of film work, but most of it was in propaganda films for Adolph
Hitler. After the war, he became a social pariah, and even German
film makers refused to hire him.