76th Anniversary of Gone With the Wind’s Oscar Wins

On February 29, 1940, Hollywood was abuzz and aglitter with Oscar fever. As was the custom, the names of the Oscar winners were revealed in advance to the press, with newspapers making a solemn promise not to break the news before the ceremonies. But one newspaper...

Gone With the Wind Changed the Oscars Forever

Board members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were furious over the Oscar news leak by the Los Angeles Times.   By custom, the academy had shared the names of Oscar winners with the media in advance of the Academy Awards ceremony. This gave...

And the Winners Were…

With an unprecedented 13 nominations in 12 categories (double nomination for Best Supporting Actress), Gone With the Wind won a record-breaking 8 competitive Academy Awards: Best Picture – Gone With the Wind Best Actress – Vivien Leigh Best Supporting Actress – Hattie...

Best Original Score Contenders for 1939

In the Best Original Score category, Max Steiner had a double nomination for his work on Gone With the Wind and Dark Victory. He was up against the following Academy Award contenders: Anthony Collins for Nurse Edith Cavell Aaron Copland for Of Mice and Men Lud Gluskin...

Loose Lips Make Max and MGM Mad

Soon after producer David O. Selznick discreetly talked to Herbert Stothart, MGM’s musical director and composer, about taking over Gone With the Wind’s score from Max Steiner, all hell broke loose. Stothart blabbed that he was being hired to fix Steiner’s work. This...