The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, consist of twenty-four categories with golden statuettes awarded each year. The origin of these awards dates back to 1929, when the first ceremony took place after two years of behind-the-scenes preparation.
The trademark statuettes were designed by Cedric Gibbons, an art director and one of the founders of the association. He was tasked with creating a golden statuette to be awarded to each individual winner of the awards.
How the Oscar Statue Came to Be
Gibbons found the perfect model for the statuette in Emilio “El Indio” Fernández, a famous Mexican filmmaker who also acted in films, including westerns such as The Wild Bunch (1969) and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973).
Fernández left his home country to live in Chicago and worked various jobs to make a living before moving to Los Angeles, where he worked as a stonemason for studio construction and as an extra in various film productions.
Gibbons convinced Fernández to pose for the design of the statuette, and he even posed nude for the shaping process. After the model was set in stone, the more technical aspects of casting the statuette itself were tackled.
The statuette was designed as a knight gripping a crusader’s sword while standing on a reel of film. The Academy found George Stanley, a sculptor from Los Angeles, who brought the design into three-dimensional fruition.
The statuette features five spokes on the film reel, signifying the five original Academy branches: actors, directors, producers, technicians, and writers. Each year, new statuettes are made at Polich Tallix fine art foundry in New York’s Hudson Valley, and the statuette stands at 13 ½ inches tall and 8 ½ pounds.
It’s made of solid bronze with 24-karat gold plates. However, during World War II, the Academy doled out painted plaster statues due to the metal shortage. After the war ended, the winners were invited to exchange their statuettes for metal ones with gold plates.
The core of the award was shifted to a pewter-based alloy in Britannia metal, but its outward appearance hasn’t changed much throughout the years.
Fernández, who is considered the most famous filmmaker to be born out of the Mexican Golden Age, directed several seminal titles, including Maria Candelaria (1943) and Mexico room (1949), and acted in various films.
He was enlisted in the ranks of the Mexican Revolution before partaking in the 1923 uprising of Adolfo de la Huerta. Despite being imprisoned for a period of time, he escaped and moved to the United States, where his budding directorial works brought him to Hollywood.
The statuette modeled after Fernández remains a symbol of success and recognition in the film industry and is considered the single most prestigious symbol in the medium as a whole.
Although the number has increased over time, there are now twenty-four separate categories with golden statuettes doled out every year at the Academy Awards. Commonly, the statuettes are known as Oscars. But of course, these awards didn’t materialize out of thin air. They have a story stretching back to the inception of the association itself.
The first ceremony took place in May 1929, with the behind-the-scenes team working since two years prior to properly get their trademark statuettes into production. And while the figures themselves remain endlessly iconic as symbols of success and recognition in the film industry, many film fans may be unfamiliar with the man from whom the statue was modeled after: Emilio “El Indio” Fernández.
Who Is Emilio Fernandez?
As the most famous filmmaker to be born out of the Mexican Golden Age, he of course has several seminal titles under his directorial belt: take Maria Candelaria (1943) and Mexico room (1949), for instance. Toward the end of his career, the crash (1974) became a well-known title, too. And frankly, that’s only scratching the surface of Fernandez’s critically acclaimed filmography.
But it’s worth noting that he acted in films as well, most notably titles by Sam Peckinpah such as The Wild Bunch (1969), Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974). All in the western genre. These appearances bolstered his name value in America more than he likely could’ve imagined when first starting out. And he also showed up in stints such as The Soldiers of Pancho Villa (1959) by Ismael Rodriguez and The Night of the Iguana (1964) by John Huston.
Still, though: Fernandez is without a doubt best remembered for his time spent behind the camera. His budding directorial works are what brought him to Hollywood in the first place, after moving to the United States roughly one decade prior. He was enlisted in the ranks of the Mexican Revolution before partaking in the 1923 uprising of Adolfo de la Huerta. The mutiny failed, and Fernandez was imprisoned for a time before escaping the facility and Mexico as a whole.
The Story of the Statuette’s Origin
Before bursting onto the filmmaking scene, Fernandez left his home country of Mexico to live in Chicago. He there made a living through various jobs such as washing clothes and bartending. And after moving to Los Angeles, he even worked as a stonemason for studio construction in Hollywood, which allowed him opportunities to act as an extra in various film productions.
But in 1929, El Indio met Cedric Gibbons — known for his art direction on films like The Wizard of Oz (1939) — through the latter’s wife at the time, Mexican actress Delores del Rio. As an art director and one of thirty-six founders of the association at hand, Gibbons had many assignments in the Academy’s early years. And in 1928, soon before meeting Fernandez, he was tasked with designing a golden statuette to be doled out to each individual winner of the awards themselves.
And having just met the perfect model, Gibbons got straight to work in convincing Fernandez to pose for its design. And as the story goes, El Indio was rather easy to persuade, even posing nude for the shaping process. And as surprising as that may be on the surface, those who have grown familiar with the more personal tales from his life know that Fernandez was far from being considered shy or afraid. And from there, with the model set in stone, it was time to tackle the more technical aspects of casting the statuette itself.
Making the Statue
The aforementioned art director for MGM named Cedric Gibbons blueprinted a statuette of a knight gripping a crusader’s sword while standing on a reel of film. The Academy then found George Stanley, a sculptor from Los Angeles who saw the design come into three-dimensional fruition. Each year, new statuettes are made at Polich Tallix fine art foundry in New York’s Hudson Valley, and they stand at 13 ½ inches tall and 8 ½ pounds.
The statuette features five spokes on the film reel, signifying the five original Academy branches: actors, directors, producers, technicians, and writers. It’s made of solid bronze with 24-karat gold plates. Although, for three years during World War II, the Academy doled out painted plaster statues due to the metal shortage. Once the war ended, though, they invited the winners to exchange their statuettes for metal ones with gold plates.
The core of the award was shifted to a pewter-based alloy in Britannia metal, but its outward appearance hasn’t much changed throughout the years. It still features a knight, molded after famous Mexican filmmaker Emilio “El Indio” Fernandez. And it’s still considered the single most prestigious symbol in the medium as a whole.
