Who is the youngest person ever to win an Oscar?
The Academy Awards, or the Oscars as they’re better known, remains the oldest and most prestigious of the four major annual American entertainment awards, its equivalents being the Emmys for television, the Tonys for Theatre and the Grammys for music. The Academy Awards have been issued annually since 1929 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), with votes cast by a pool of revered motion picture professionals.
A total of 3,140 Oscar statuettes have been awarded since its inception in 1929, and as we breathe down the neck of the ceremony’s 100th year, very few people know why we prefer to call the golden figure an Oscar. As it turns out, the name’s origin is disputed, but the nickname first officially appeared in a 1934 newspaper article written by columnist Sidney Skolsky about the sixth ceremony.
A biography of Bette Davis, the Academy’s president in 1941, claims she nicknamed the coveted trophy after her first husband, band leader Harmon Oscar Nelson. However, other sources argue that the name began with Margaret Herrick, the early Academy executive director. When Herrick first laid eyes on the lump of gold-plated bronze, she allegedly likened the statuette to “Uncle Oscar”, a nickname for her cousin Oscar Pierce.
Whatever the weather, these Oscar trophies have become central protagonists in the dreams and nightmares of aspiring actors over the past century. Covering both bases here is Will Smith, who had a concurrent taste of Oscars-heaven and hell earlier this year as he swiped the Best Actor Award. Sadly, he had soiled his legacy with the infamous “slap” incident just moments before.
When school-age actors dream of walking out on stage to accept the sleek prize, very few imagine they will be 83 years old, as Anthony Hopkins was when he became the oldest-ever winner in 2021 for his role in The Father. Nor will these young dreamers imagine they’ll pick the award up before they leave Junior School, but that’s exactly what happened to Tatum O’Neal in 1974.
At ten years of age, O’Neal sat at the 46th Academy Awards alongside Best Supporting Actress nominees Linda Blair, Candy Clark, Madeline Kahn and Sylvia Sidney. For her outstanding supporting role in Peter Bogdanovich’s comedy-drama Paper Moon, she became the youngest-ever winner of an Oscar in a competitive category.
After accepting her award from Death Wish star Charles Bronson, O’Neal delivered a short but sweet acceptance speech: “All I really want to thank is my director, Peter Bogdanovich, and my father. Thank you.”
Her father, a fellow Oscar nominee and Paper Moon co-star, Ryan O’Neal, was “too busy” filming Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon to attend the 46th Academy Awards and celebrate his daughter’s success. Sadly, Ryan’s absence that night eventually severed what had been a strong father-daughter bond.
“People say that he was jealous, and maybe that was it,” Tatum O’Neal told The Times in 2011. “Obviously, I wish he’d been there. He’s just really selfish.”
This sad estrangement just goes to illustrate the staggering gravity of Hollywood’s most coveted award. Watch a ten-year-old Tatum O’Neal accept her Oscar below.
