The people of Ireland have had something of an affinity with the hustle and bustle of the Oscars, America’s most prestigious movie awards night. Ireland has interests in six different categories at this year’s Academy Awards, with everything from Best Short Film to Best Feature Length Film having an Irish nomination (two in the case of the latter!)
What most people don’t know however, is that not only do Irish films and actors traditionally do quite well at the Oscars, but that the Irish practically invented the Oscars too. The world famous golden statues that are handed out to Oscar winners were designed and created by an Irish man named Cedric Gibbons. Gibbons was a well-known set designer and went on to win several of the trophies which he designed himself. In fact, he actually has the second largest personal Oscar trophy haul in history (11 in total), second only to Walt Disney.
Another lesser known, but equally interesting Oscars fact from yesteryear is that an Irish person, Barry Fitzgerald has the unique honor of being the only actor ever to have been nominated as both best lead and best supporting actor for the same performance, for his turn in Going My Way. See plenty more fun facts like these in the following infographic.
