15th Academy Awards

The Academy Awards for the 1942 season were presented seventy years ago today on 4 March 1943. The film Mrs. Miniver set in rural England during the Blitz was nominated for twelve Oscars and ultimately took home six. The Oscar statuettes were also subject to wartime conditions and were made out of plaster rather than the standard metal.

Below is a clip of Greer Garson’s acceptance speech (famous for its length of nearly six minutes!). Note the banner behind her which reads “27,677” for the number of people in the motion picture industry serving in uniform.

Post by Curator Kimberly Guise.