It’s no secret that Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American woman to win an Oscar, broke boundaries in the industry.
But it turns out her mere presence at the 1940 ceremony was a stride unto itself. According to The Hollywood Reporter:
The 12th Academy Awards were held at the famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub in The Ambassador Hotel. McDaniel arrived in a rhinestone-studded turquoise gown with white gardenias in her hair. (Seventy years later in 2010, a blue-gown– and white-gardenia–clad Mo’Nique, one of 11 black actors to win Academy Awards since, was the only one to pay homage to McDaniel while accepting her best supporting actress Oscar for Lee Daniels‘ Precious.) McDaniel then was escorted, not to the Gone With the Wind table — where Selznick sat with de Havilland and his two Oscar-nominated leads, Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable — but to a small table set against a far wall, where she took a seat with her escort, F.P. Yober, and her white agent, William Meiklejohn. With the hotel’s strict no-blacks policy, Selznick had to call in a special favor just to have McDaniel allowed into the building (it was officially integrated by 1959, when the Unruh Civil Rights Act outlawed racial discrimination in California).
But even with all her success, one of the biggest African-American actresses of the era faced opposition not only from the white community that confined her to archetypical roles, but from huge black organizations that condemned her for accepting them:
Hollywood’s highest honor couldn’t stave off the indignities that greeted McDaniel at every turn. White Hollywood pigeonholed her as the sassy Mammy archetype, with 74 confirmable domestic roles out of the IMDb list of 94 (“I’d rather play a maid than be a maid,” was her go-to response). The NAACP disowned her for perpetuating negative stereotypes. Even after death, her Oscar, which she left to Howard University, was deemed valueless by appraisers and later went missing from the school — and has remained so for more than 40 years. Her final wish — to be buried in Hollywood Cemetery — was denied because of the color of her skin.
When it comes to Scandal, we’ve pretty much accepted the fact that Shonda Rhimes will send us all into a frenzy after every episode.
Last night’s ep was no different. Shonda did it again and brought back a blast from the past, leaving us all wondering, “Who is Stephen?” Well, the TV show’s host channel, ABC, has your back. Here is a refresher on the mystery guy.
The case of Jon Stewart‘s replacement on The Daily Show is still unresolved. Top contender Jessica Williams swiftly declined the position, leaving us all wondering who will be the best fit for Stewart’s huge shoes.
Jon, who hosted the show for the last 15 years, is finally opening up about what he hopes for the future of the show. According to The Hollywood Reporter:
“What I want to see there is the next iteration of this idea,” Stewart said. “I feel like the tributaries of my brain combined with the rigidity of the format. I feel like I used every permutation of that I could possibly use. … I would love to see the next iteration of that, like John Oliver was able to apply our process to a more considered thing, and it’s exciting to watch it evolve and see it mutate and change and fill different gaps and different ideas. That’s the part that I’m looking forward to seeing.”
He also opened up a teeny bit about his future plans, and why he decided to step down from the wildly popular show, stating:
“I just needed more flexibility,” he said, alluding to his rigorous Daily Show schedule. “I got maybe four or five more years with the kids until they really don’t want anything to do with me. And I’m just not there. You can’t [work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.] for 16 years and think you’re going to be able to tell them to not smoke pot. You can’t show up at 9 p.m. and go, ‘Don’t get high. OK, goodnight, sweetheart.”
And so the saga continues.
Nicole Crimi, who stole the scene in Mean Girls as Regina George’s hip-swaying, milkshake-loving little sister, is all grown up.
According to Buzzfeed:
Since Mean Girls, Nicole has left acting to focus more on her personal life, including earning a degree in life sciences from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, and “creating abstract and realistic paintings for peoples’ homes.”
Time sure does fly by.
SOURCE: ABC, The Hollywood Reporter, BuzzFeed | PHOTO CREDIT: ABC, Wenn, Twitter
