Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Emile Kuri, first Hispanic recipient of an Oscar

Emile Kuri, born June 11, 1907 in Cuernavaca, Mexico, was a set decorator who won two Academy Awards for Best Art Direction and was nominated fore six more.

In 1942, he was nominated for Best Art Direction for Silver Queen, becoming the first Hispanic to be nominated for an Academy Award in any category. He won the Academy Award in 1949 for The Heiress, and again in 1954 for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  

He received nominations for Carrie (1952), Executive Suite (1954), Executive Suite (1954), The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), Mary Poppins (1964), and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971).

Kuri passed away in October 2000.

"Mary Poppins" wins 5 Academy Awards 1965

Walt Disney's bround-breaking motion picture Mary Poppins took home five Academy Awards on April 5, 1965, being nominated for thirteen, the most for any movie that year.  It won for Best Actress for Julie Andrews, Best Song for Chim Chim Cher-ee, Best Music Score - Substantially Original, Best Film Editing and Best Special Visual Effects.

It had been nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium; Best Scoring of Music - Adaption or Treatment; Best Sound; Best Art Direction, Color; Best Cinematography, Color, and;Best Costume Design, Color.

My Fair Lady was nominated for 12 Oscars and took home eight.  Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte was nominated for seven, including Best Supporting Actress for Agnes Moorehead, but did not win any.  Ms. Moorehead was robbed.

"Blackbeard's Ghost" premieres (1968)

Walt Disney's fantastical story Blackbeard's Ghost premiered February 8, 1968.  It starred Peter Ustinov (as Blackbeard), Dean Jones, who probably starred in every live action Disney movie in the 60s and 70s and the lovely Suzanne Pleshette.

The basis of the movie was that Blackbeard, who had been cursed by his last wife (a witch) so he would never die, had to do a good deed to break the curse.  The screenplay was written by Bill Walsh.  He wrote many Disney screenplays, including Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, from 1950 until his death in 1975.

A squeaky-clean, antiseptic movie, Blackbeard's Ghost was a fun movie, but one must suspend copious disbelief, especially if one has any notion of the real Blackbeard, a man who shot a man indiscriminately.

Happy birthday, Mary Ann!

Dawn Wells, born October 18, 1938 in Reno, Nevada, is best known as Mary Ann Summers on everyone's favorite sitcom Gilligan's Island.  After graduating from Reno High School, she attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri where she graduated with a chemistry degree in 1960.  But in 1959, she was crowned Miss Nevada.

She made her television debut in 1961 in The Roaring Twenties, and landed the role of Mary Ann Summers in Gilligan's Island in 1964.  The rest is history.  In some ways, she's still marooned on that desert island.

She and Tina Louise, with whom she doesn't get along, are the only surviving cast members.

This is one of my favorite clips from the show.  How the writers managed to incorporate Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins into one skit, I'll always be amazed.

My favorite movies 1963-1967

1963 The Birds with Tippi Heddrin and Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy with Veronica Cartwright.



1964 Mary Poppins: starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke




1965 The Sound of Music: starring Julie Andews and Christopher Plummer




1966 The Trouble with Angels starring Rosalind Russell and Mary Wickes




1967 Walt Disney's the Jungle Book starring Phil Harris and Sebastian Cabot.

Happy birthday, Dame Julie Andrews!

The gigantically talented and beautiful Dame Julie Andrews turns 80 today!   She won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in "Mary Poppins".  The soundtrack to "Mary Poppins" won a Grammy the same year.   Although she initiated the role of Eliza Doolittle in "My Fair Lady" on stage, studio execs at Warner Brothers didn't think she had enough film experience and cast Audrey Hepburn for the movie.  "My Fair Lady" took home 8 Oscars that night but wasn't even nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role, which went to Dame Julie Andrews for "Mary Poppins".  Gotta watch that karma!