Inside the First Televised Oscars

Bob Hope hosted the 110-minute telecast (taped simultaneously at New York's NBC International Theatre so actors working on Broadway could take part), becoming flustered only once when Charles Brackett surprised him with an honorary Oscar. The show, sponsored by RCA for $100,000, was not without glitches: Cameras caught Shirley Booth, who was in New York, tripping on her way to the stage to accept the best actress statuette for Come Back, Little Sheba.

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Oscars: The Process Behind How the Statuettes Are Made

The Oscar starts at Chicago's R.S. Owens & Co., which has manufactured the statuettes since 1983. (It also makes the Emmy statuettes.) Ingots of proprietary Britannia pewter alloy are melted and poured into molds based on the original 1928 design by MGM art director Cedric Gibbons that depicts a stylized knight holding a crusader's sword. Aside from minor alterations to the base, the statuette today is identical to the original. About 50 are made for each ceremony.

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‘Ghostbusters’ Star Harold Ramis Dies at 69

Harold Ramis, best known as an actor in Ghostbusters and Stripes and a writer/director for Caddyshack and Groundhog Day died Monday died today from complications related to auto-immune inflammatory vasculitis, a disease he battled for four years. He was 69.

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'Gravity' Tops Sound Mixers Awards

Gravity -- which last weekend won the BAFTA in the sound competition -- topped a field that included the sound mixers from Captain Phillips, Inside Llewyn Davis, Iron Man 3 and Lone Survivor.

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Oldest Surviving Superman Art Sells at Auction

Dated August 1939, the cover to Action Comics No. 15 features Superman underwater rescuing a disabled submarine. It was drawn by Fred Guardineer, who illustrated many of DC's earliest covers. The book is considered by many to be among the 100 most significant Golden Age comics.

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'Blue Jasmine,' '12 Years a Slave' Win At Costume Designers Guild Awards

Costume designer Suzy Benzinger received an award for her work on Blue Jasmine, while Patricia Norris was awarded for 12 Years a Slave. Trish Summerville nabbed a win for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in the fantasy film section.

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5 Most Awesome Things About Writing "Everything Is AWESOME!!!" for The Lego Movie

After months of the song getting cut into various early versions of the rough film, I finally went down to Animal Logic to meet with writer-directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Chris McKay and producer Seanne Winslow. That…was AWESOME. They were all so incredibly happy with my song and appreciative of it. Also, I was such a huge fan of Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s work, so this was just getting to be ridiculous levels of fun. Even if the song never ended up in the final film, the ride getting there was the best experience.      Read More.

Best Picture Winners That Should Have Lost

''Forrest Gump'' over ''Pulp Fiction''? ''Crash'' over ''Brokeback Mountain''? ''Gandhi'' over ''E.T.''? Questionable choices, and the more-deserving films they beat out

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R.I.P. Jimmy Murakami, animator of The Snowman

Animation director Teruaki “Jimmy” Murakami has died at the age of 80. Born in San Jose, California, Murakami was 8 years old when Pearl Harbor was attacked, and spent four years during the war housed with his family in a Japanese-American internment camp. He would eventually become best known for his pitch-perfect adaptations of works by the English cartoonist and illustrator Raymond Briggs, such as The Snowman, made after he’d selected Ireland as his base of operations. Children’s TV creator Jason Tammemagi publicly mourned him as “a friend to us all in the Irish animation scene, supporting new talent and offering advice.”

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'Captain Phillips,' 'Gravity,' 'The Great Gatsby' Win Sound Editors Awards

In the feature films categories, the sound editing teams behind Gravity -- which earlier on Sunday won the BAFTA for sound -- collected one trophy, in the category for sound effects and foley; Captain Phillips claimed the trophy for dialogue and ADR; and The Great Gatsby topped the category for music editing.

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'Dallas Buyers Club,' 'Bad Grandpa' Win at Make-Up and Hair Stylists Awards

American Hustle, Dallas Buyers Club, Lee Daniel’s The Butler, Prisoners and Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa all won awards in the feature categories at the Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards, Saturday at the Paramount Studios Theatre.

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Jim Henson's Son, John, Dies at 48

He suffered a "massive heart attack" at his home, the Henson Company stated in a post on its Facebook page.

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'Gravity' Tops the Visual Effects Society Awards

Gravity also won awards for compositing, virtual cinematography, created environment, models, and FX and simulation animation. The VFX were created at London-based Framestore, led by Framestore VFX supervisor, Tim Webber.

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Sid Caesar Dead: Comedy Titan Was 91

Whether played out in a sketch, pantomime or a full-blown revue, Caesar's observational humor exposed the truths of everyday life. His two whirlwind variety shows produced writers and performers who set the comic agenda for decades to come -- people like Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart, Imogene Coca, Nanette Fabray, Howard Morris, Lucille Kallen, Mel Tolkin and "Fiddler on the Roof" playwright Joseph Stein.

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R.I.P. Shirley Temple Black

Temple made her movie debut when she was 3 years old. The sheer scale of her popularity, and the degree to which a major studio turned all its resources toward milking that popularity, was unprecedented for a performer her age, and it remains unmatched.

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Art Directors Guild Awards ceremonies

At the 18th Art Directors Guild Awards, Warner Bros.' trio of contenders -- each of which is also nominated for the best production design Oscar -- swept the three different ADG categories that honor the production design of films, something that has never happened before. The prizes went to Gravity (Andy Nicholson) for best fantasy film, Her (K.K. Barrett) for best contemporary film and The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin) for best period film. Gatsby topped the category's other two Oscar nominees, American Hustle and 12 Years a Slave.

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'Captain Phillips,' 'American Hustle' Win American Cinema Editors Awards

Christopher Rouse, editor of Captain Phillips, and Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten, editors of American Hustle, won best edited dramatic feature and best edited comedy or musical feature respectively at the 64th annual American Cinema Editors Eddie Awards, Friday at the Beverly Hilton.

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Annie Awards: 'Frozen' Wins Best Animated Feature

The International Animated Film Society (ASIFA-Hollywood) awarded Disney Animation's Frozen five trophies, including best animated feature, direction for helmers Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, music, production design and voice acting.

DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods won three trophies for animated effects, character animation and character design. Pixar Animation Studio’s Monsters University was honored for storyboarding and editing. And Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki won the award for best writing for his final film, The Wind Rises
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Read the full list of winners.

WGA Awards: The Winners

Her topped for original screenplay honors, while Captain Phillips took the adapted screenplay award.

In television, "Breaking Bad" bested.

Read the full list of nominees and winners.

ASC Awards: 'Gravity' Tops Cinematographer Honors

Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki's rendering of Gravity won the feature competition at the 28th annual American Society of Cinematographers Outstanding Achievement Awards on Saturday at the Hollywood & Highland Ray Dolby Ballroom.

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