Photoplay Award
The Photoplay Award was a national American film award that was presented annually from 1921 to 1940 and 1945 to 1969. This makes the award the first film prize in the world, even before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) Oscar, which was launched in 1929 . However, due to competition with the Academy Awards and the increasing importance of critical awards such as the National Board of Review or the New York Film Critics Circle, the award lost its reputation early on.
The founder of the Photoplay Award was the film magazine Photoplay, founded in Chicago in 1911 . The winners were determined by the readers of the magazine or from 1944 to 1952 by an opinion poll by Audience Research Inc. and were later honored at a ceremony in Los Angeles .
Well-known filmmakers such as Ingrid Bergman , Richard Chamberlain , Bing Crosby , Doris Day , William Holden , Rock Hudson , Marilyn Monroe and Kim Novak are among the honored .
Categories
The prize was awarded in three categories. For the best film of the year there was the gold-plated "Photoplay Medal" ("Photoplay Medal of Honor", also known as the "Photoplay Gold Medal"). In addition, from 1944 onwards, prizes were awarded to actors who honored the actors for their popularity, but not for a specific film role , as at the Academy Awards . This means that the Photoplay Awards can be seen as a precursor to today's People's Choice Awards . Jerry Lewis , Dean Martin and Marilyn Monroe , among others , were honored with a special prize in 1952 .
The years given below indicate the film years evaluated. The awards took place in the following year.
| category | Original designation | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Best movie | Medal of Honor / Gold Medal | 1920-1939 1944-1968 |
| Most popular male star | Most Popular Male Star | 1944-1968 |
| Most popular female star | Most Popular Female Star | 1944-1968 |
| special price | Special Award | irregular |
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Kubiak, Hans-Jürgen: The Oscar Films . Marburg: Schüren, 2005. ISBN 3-89472-386-6