Oscar hosts

Daniel Brizuela                                                                                                                               2/9/12

                                                The Guy With the Big Job: Oscar Hosts.

    Something that’s very common almost every year during the Academy Awards is that at least one person hosts the movie awards event since the first Oscars. The host can either be the actors themselves or any other celebrity, especially if they’re known for their hilarious late night talk shows.
    The first Oscars were hosted by actor/screenwriter/director/producer Douglas Fairbanks and screenwriter and director William C. deMille on May 16, 1929. Other Academy Award hosts include Ellen DeGeneres, Johnny Carson, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Steve Martin, Billy Crystal, Frank Capra, James Stewart, and so many others. The years when the Oscars didn’t have a host were in 1939 for the first time, 1969 to 1971, and the last time was in 1989 when Best Picture went to Rain Man.
    Bob Hope is the man who’s hosted the Academy Awards the most times at 19, which includes the 1939 to 1942 Oscars and the last time he hosted was in 1978, when Annie Hall won Best Picture. In second place is Billy Crystal at nine times hosting the Oscars, which includes his first in 1990, 1998, 2004, and this year’s ceremonies will be his ninth. Others who have hosted the Academy Awards multiple times include Johnny Carson at five times, David Niven at three, and Jack Lemmon at four.
    Most of the time, the Oscars have been hosted by at least one person, but occasionally there’s more than one. The 2011 Academy Awards were hosted by both Anne Hathaway and James Franco, who was also nominated for his role in 127 Hours that year. The first Oscars ceremony in 1929 was hosted by two people, along with the 1953 Oscars with Bob Hope and Conrad Nagel, some of the members of the original Rat Pack in 1975, and Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin in 2010.
    Since the 1990s, when Billy Crystal was hosting, usually the host would start the ceremonies by appearing in the films nominated that year or other films or would do something related to one of the films nominated that year. At the 1992 Academy Awards honoring the films of 1991 Crystal first came out shackled like Hannibal Lecter and walking to Anthony Hopkins telling he’s having the Academy members over for dinner and if he would like to join him. At the 1998 Oscars, Crystal, with clever use of special effects and editing, appeared in the films nominated for Best Picture that year, including Titanic and Good Will Hunting. He did this the next few times he hosted the Academy Awards including appearing in The Exorcist, Taxi Driver, American Beauty, and a Charlie Chaplin film in 2000 and in 2004 he was in the third Lord of the Rings, Finding Nemo, Monster, and other films. The last time this happened was at the last Oscars which was hosted by, once again, Billy Crystal where he went into Bridesmaids, Hugo, and other films. One will wonder how Seth MacFarlane will do when he hosts the 85th Oscars this Sunday.