Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, a song from Disney's Song of the South, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 20th annual ceremony, held March 20, 1948. The song was written by Allie Wrubel (music) and Ray Gilbert (lyrics). James Baskett, who performed the song on screen, won an Honorary Academy Award for his able and heart-warming characterization of Uncle Remus. That makes him the first African American man to win an Academy Award for acting.
Song of the South was also nominated for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, but lost to Mother Wore Tights.
The amazingly talented, beautiful, intelligent, and all-around perfect Angela Lansbury passed away today in Los Angeles, California at the young age of 96, just 5 days shy of her 97th birthday.
Her first on-screen appearance was in Gaslight in 1944 which garnered her first Academy Award nomination. The next year, she received her second nomination for her performance in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Her final nomination came in 1962 for her performance in the Manchurian Candidate, a powerful piece of filmmaking, and she delivered a knockout performance. One of the Academy's biggest snubs. But in 2013 she received the Academy Honorary Award. Good for her!
She kept busy during her career, appearing in some of my favorites, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Death on the Nile, The Mirror Crack'd, Pirates of Penzance, Beauty and the Beast, and Nanny McPhee. One of her most beloved roles was that of Jessica Fletcher in the immensely popular television series, Murder, She Wrote.
She was nominated for twelve Golden Globes for her performance as Jessica Fletcher and nominated for 6 more. She won 4 Golden Globes for Murder, She Wrote, plus an additional 3 wins and 8 more nominations.
She received 18 Primetime Emmy Nominations, 12 for Murder, She Wrote, pretty much a nomination for every season of the show.
She has won 5 Tony Awards, the first of which was for originating the role of Mame in the musical of the same name.
She also received a Grammy Award nomination for the soundtrack for Beauty and the Beast.
