The biggest night in Hollywood is this weekend.
The96th Academy Awards, commonly referred to as the Oscars, will take place on Sunday, March 10,at the Dolby Theatrein Hollywood, California.
Actors, directors and cinematographers from around the world will trek to La-La Land with the hopes of receiving the prestigious award.
But did you know that the first Oscars ceremony was only 15 minutes long?
Here's a look at what the first Academy Awards were like.
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When were the first Oscars?
The first Academy Awards ceremony was held on Thursday, May 16, 1929, in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. There were reportedly 270 attendees and tickets cost $5. According to NPR, the ceremony only lasted 15 minutes.
The results would later be announced in the newspaper at 11 p.m. on the night of the awards ceremony for the following decade.
All movies awarded were silent films, except for"The Jazz Singer," which won a special award.
Academy President Douglas Fairbanks distributed the awards.
When were the first televised Oscars?
The first televised Oscar ceremony was held on Thursday, March 19, 1953 at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. The 25th awards show was broadcast live on NBC.
That year, John Wayne, a pop culture icon from Winterset, Iowa, won Best Actor for his role as Gary Cooper in the Film "High Noon." Shirley Booth, an actress from Brooklyn, won Best Actress for her role as Lola Delaney in "Come Back, Little Sheba."
"The Greatest Show on Earth" won for Best Motion Picture. The film, which stars James Stewart, Charlton Heston, and Betty Hutton, follows the lives of various performers from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
What was the first movie to win Best Picture at the Oscars?
The 1927 film "Wings" starring Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Clara Bow and Richard Arlan was the first film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It was also the only silent film to win an Oscar for Best Picture.
"Wings" also won an Academy Award in the Engineering Effects category.
According to IMDb, "Wings" follows two World War I fighter pilots and friends who are in love with the same woman.
Who was the first person to win Best Actor at the Oscars?
Emil Jannings, a Swiss-born German actor, won the first Oscar for Best Actor for his role in the films "The Last Command" and "The Way of All Flesh." Despite his initial success in Hollywood, Jannings' career soon ended in the U.S. because of his German accent. Jannings, a Nazi supporter, later returned to Germany to further his acting career, making films that supported Nazi ideologies.
Who was the first person to win Best Actress?
Janet Gaynor, an actress from Philadelphia, won the first Oscar for Best Actress for her roles in three films: "7th Heaven," "Street Angel," and "Sunrise." This would be the only time Gaynor would win an Oscar. Still, she was nominated for Best Actress in the 1938 Academy Awards for her role in "A Star is Born," but lost to German-American-British actress Luise Rainer for her performance in"The Good Earth."
Who was the first person to host the Oscars?
Fairbanks hosted the first Oscars awards banquet in 1929. Comedian, actor, entertainer and producer Bob Hope was the master of ceremonies for the first televised award show in 1953.
Who was the first woman to host the Oscars?
Four-time Academy Award-winning actress Agnes Moorehead, from Clinton, Massachusetts, was the first woman to co-host the Oscars in 1948. Actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg was the first woman and African American to host the Oscars solo in 1994.
Goldberg is also the first Black woman to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, the four major entertainment awards.
Who was the first African American, Hispanic American and Asian American person to win an Oscar?
- Hattie McDaniel, the first Black actor or actress to win an Academy Award in 1940 for "Gone with the Wind."
- Sidney Poitier, the first Black man to win an Oscar in 1964 for "Lilies of the Field."
- Isaac Hayes, the first Black person to win an Oscar for a non-acting category in 1972 for best original song featured in "Shaft." He was only the third African American person to win an Oscar.
- Halle Berry, the first and only Black woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress in 2002 for "Monster's Ball."
- Puerto Rican actor José Ferrer, the first Latin American actor to win an Oscar in 1950 for "Cyrano de Bergerac." He won Best Actor in a Leading Role.
- Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno, the first Hispanic woman to win an Oscar in 1961 for "West Side Story." She won for Best Supporting Actress.
- Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón, the first Hispanic director to win an Oscar for Best Director. He won in 2014 for the film "Gravity."
- Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu, the first Latino to win Best Picture in 2015 for "Birdman."
- Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, the first Asian actress to win an Oscar for Best Actress in 2023 for "Everything Everywhere All at Once."
- Japanese-American actress and singer Miyoshi Umeki, the first Asian actress to win an Academy Award in 1957 for "Sayonara." She won for Best Supporting Actress.
- Chinese-American cinematographer James Wong Howe, the first Asian person to win an Academy Award in 1955 for "The Rose Tattoo."
- Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee, the first Asian director to win an Oscar for Best Picture in 2005 for "Brokeback Mountain."