Did You Know #6 & Things That Made me Go Hmm #4
An amalgamation of Did You Know and Things That Made Me Go Hmm...
All 4 winners in the major performance categories (best actor, best actress, best supporting actor and best supporting actress) were not American - actually, they're all European.
Spain's Javier Bardem won best supporting actor for his performance in No Country For Old Men. It was the first Oscar for a Spanish performer in the 80-year history of the world's premier cinema awards. British Daniel Day-Lewis won best actor in There Will Be Blood, his second win in that category. Scotland's Tilda Swinton was named best supporting actress for her role in Michael Clayton
But this certainly isn't the first time that non-Americans have swept the acting categories. In 1964, British Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews won for best actor and actress respectively, while Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (also Brit, although his parents were of mostly Russian and Swiss heritage) and Lila Kedrova (a Russian) won for supporting.
To quote Paul Revere, "The British are coming! The British are coming!" Although, it's been suggested that those weren't his exact words.
An addendum to your "Did you Know #6":
Scottish people are also British as the United Kingdom of Great Britain is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
So that's two Brits, a Spaniard and one French oscar recipient...
The Europeans are coming! The Europeans are coming!!
:0
I've managed to avoid all the hoopla so far, but I'm sure the British media is full of praise for Tilda and Daniel.
Kudos to Daniel - I loved his crazy performance. Haven't seen Tilda's, Javier's was alright, and I'm yet to see Marion's...
So I guess we can start looking out for next year's winners...
Blacks, Europeans...
I'm thinking dwarfs next year.
No?
LOL. Just kiddin'.
And Congrats to all the winners!!
"It was the first Oscar for a Spanish performer in the 80-year history of the world's premier cinema awards." -- The Obenson Report
It depends on what you mean by "Spanish." When I think of Spanish I think of all Spanish speaking countries, including Puerto Rico, which leaves me to acknowledge Benicio Del Toro and Rita Moreno's Oscar wins for supporting roles. So, I personally wouldn't say Jarvier Bardem was the first Spanish.