The 2016 Oscars ♦ ♦ ♦ Who do you think will be the winners? Here are my picks.

Excerpts fromChris Rock's opening Monologue hosting the 77th (2005) Oscar Academy Awards.

"...So ...Great night tonight. We have 4 black nominees...Kinda like the deaf Oscar jam tonight ... You know why I love the Oscars. Cause the Oscars are the only awards show where the people nominated don't really perform...There's no acting at the Oscars ...The only acting you see at the Oscars are when people act like they're not mad when they lost...Like I remember one year when Halle Berry won the Oscar Nicole Kidman was smiling so wide she shoulda' won an Emmy at the Oscars for her great performance ...See at least they make white movies for people to enjoy ... real movies with plots ...with actors not rappers ... with real names like "Catch Me If You Can," "Saving Private Ryan," ... black people movies don't have real names ... you get names like "Barbershop," that's not a name that's just a location ... "Barbershop," "Cookout," "CarWash," ... they've been making the same movies for 40 years. That's right you know laundromat is coming soon. And after that check-cashing place." ~~ Chris Rock (Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III) actor, comedian, voice artist, director, writer, and producer, excerpts from him while hosting the 2005 Oscar Awards (77th).

“It will be a night that ends with a lot of drunk, disappointed people.” ~~ Chris Rock, Actor, comedian, on hosting Oscar 2016 (Image left is screen shot of Oscar.com homepage)

The 88th Academy Award (Oscar) nominations were announced live on January 14th by Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Guillermo del Toro, John Krasinski and Ang LeeCheryl .

Two films that have the most nominations are “Revenant” (12 nominations) and “Mad Max: Fury Road” (10 nominations). This year, entertainment’s most valued entertainer, Chris Rock, will host again. Rock hosted the 77th Oscar awards eleven years ago (2005). According to a recent CNN post, "Chris Rock is truly the MVP of the entertainment industry," Academy Awards producers David Hill and Reginald Hudlin said in a statement.

WHO DO YOU THINK THE WINNERS WILL BE? CAST YOUR VOTE ON OSCAR CHALLENGE.

All of the movies this year were spectacular and they are all winners. Here's a summary of films with multi-nominations (by movie) and I've also included my guesstimate as to how many Oscars each film will win:
♦ “The Revenant” Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Mary Parent, Keith Redmon, Producers – (12 nominations, should win at least 7 possibly more, I actually have Revenant for winning 8 of 12 Oscar nominations)
♦ “Mad Max: Fury Road” Doug Mitchell and George Miller, Producers – (10 nominations, should win at least 4)
♦ “The Martian” Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer and Mark Huffam, Producers – (7 nominations, should win at least 2)
♦ “Bridge of Spies” Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers – (6 nominations, should win at least 1)
♦ “Carol” Elizabeth Karlsen, Stephen Woolley, Christine Vachon, Producers – (6 nominations, should win at least 1)
♦ “Spotlight” Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin and Blye Pagon Faust, Producers – (6 nominations, should win at least 2)
♦ “The Big Short” Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers – (5 nominations, should win at least 2)
♦ “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Kathleen Kennedy, J. J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Producers – (5 nominations, should win at least 1)
♦ “The Danish Girl” Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Anne Harrison, Tom Hooper, Producers: Liza Chasin, Ulf Israel Executive Producers – ( 4 nominations, should win at least 1)
“Room” Ed Guiney, David Gross, Producers – (4 nominations, should win at least 1)
♦ “Brooklyn” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers – (3 nominations, should win at least 1)
♦ “The Hateful Eight” Richard N. Gladstein, Shannon McIntosh, Stacey Sher, Producers – (3 nominations, should win at least 1)
♦ “Sicario” Basil Iwanyk, Thad Luckinbill, Trent Luckinbill, Edward McDonnell, Molly Smith, Producers – (3 nominations, should win at least 1)
♦ “Ex Machina” Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich Producers – (2 nominations, should win at least 1)
♦ “Inside Out” Jonas Rivera, Producer– (2 nominations, should win at least 1)
♦ “Steve Jobs” Danny Boyle, Guymon Casady, Christian Colson. Mark Gordon, Scott Rudin, Producers – (2 nominations, estimated wins 0)

The 88th Oscars will be broadcast live from Hollywood's Dolby Theatre on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. EST on ABC, and will be televised in more than 225 countries. Host Chris Rock, joked by referring to this year awards as "white BET Awards."

Like last year, there are 8 nominees for best picture (2015 also had 8, 2014 and 2013 had 9 nominees for best picture). There are quite a few disappointments this year but the most media-worthy is that there are no black anything nominations.

The Oscars are voted on by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. More information on the voting process is available at the Academy's website.

More Oscar nomination coverage is at the Official 88th Annual Academy Awards -- Oscar.com and visit the “Oscar Nominee” section of the Website. My picks are in the category headers below. Oscar.com is also interactive and has a "My Picks" section at http://oscar.go.com/mypicks. I've also included links to more information about the film and noted if any nominees have had previous Oscar nominations/wins in the listings below:

Best Picture: (My pick either "The Revenant" or "Spotlight") I've selected "Spotlight" first as my pick on Oscar.com site however since "The Revenant" won three Golden Globes, including best picture, I'm changing this to "The Revenant" as my pick to win. WINNER:"TBA"
♦ “The Big Short” Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers
♦ "The Revenant" Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Mary Parent and Keith Redmon, Producers
♦ “Bridge of Spies” Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers
♦ “Brooklyn” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
♦“Mad Max: Fury Road” Doug Mitchell and George Miller, Simon Kinberg, Producers
♦“The Martian” Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer, and Mark Huffam, Producers
♦ “Room” Ed Guiney, Producers
♦“Spotlight” Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin and Blye Pagon Faust, Producers

Best Actor in a Leading Role: (My pick: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant) As usual, DiCaprio had the most difficult part of all the nominees and this may be the winning factor this year. WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED HERE. WINNER:"TBD"
♦ Bryan Cranston, "Trumbo"
♦ Matt Damon, "The Martian" Fourth Academy Award nomination including this one; One win for Best Original Scrreenplay for “Good Will Hunting” shared with Ben Affleck (1997); Best Actor nomination, “Good Will Hunting,” (1997), Best Supporting Actor nomination for “Invictur” (2009)
♦ Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant" Sixth Academy Award nomination including this one; Best Supporting Actor nomination “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” (1993); Best Actor nominations “The Aviator” (2005); “Blood Diamond” (2007), and “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2014); Best Picture as producer nomination “The wolf of Wall Street” (2014)
♦ Michael Fassbender, "Steve Jobs” Two nominations including this one; Best Supporting Actor nomination for “12 Years a Slave ( 2013)
♦ Eddie Redmayne, "The Danish Girl" Two Oscar nominations including this one; Best Actor win “The Theory of Everything” (2014)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: This one was hard ~~ for me it’s a toss up between Mark Ruffalo and Sylvester Stallone.(My Pick: Sylvester Stallone, Creed) WINNER: TBA
♦ Christian Bale "The Big Short" Third Academy Award nomination, with one win for Best Actor “The Fighter,” 2010, Best Actor nomination for “American Hustle,”2013
♦ Tom Hardy, "The Revenant" First Academy Award nomination
♦ Mark Ruffalo, "Spotlight" Third Academy Award nomination; Previously Best Supporting Actor nominations for "Foxcatcher" 2015 and" THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT” 2010
♦ Mark Rylance, "Bridge of Spies"2016 First Academy Award nomination
♦ Sylvester Stallone, "Creed" 2016 Three nominations including this one “Rocky” 1977 for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay

Best Actress in a Leading Role: They were all awesome. (My pick: Brie Larson, Room) Unless the Oscar voters are hell bent on giving another Oscar to Jennifer Lawrence or Kate Blanchett. WINNER: TBA
♦ Kate Blanchett, "Carol" Seven Academy Award nominations including this one; Winner of two Academy Awards -- Best Actress in a Leading Role “Blue Jasmine” (2013) and Best Supporting Actress “The Aviator” (2004); Best Actress nominations “Elizabeth” (1998), “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (2007); Best Supporting Actress nominations“Notes on a Scandal (2006), “I’m Not There” 2007)
♦ Brie Larson, "Room" First Academy Award nomination
♦ Jennifer Lawrence, "Joy" Fourth Academy Award nomination including this one; Best Actress winner “Silver Linings Playbook” (2013), Best Actress nominations “American Hustle” (2014) “Winter’s Bone” (2011)
♦ Charlotte Rampling, "45 Years" First Academy Award nomination
♦ Saoirse Ronan, "Brooklyn" First Academy Award nomination

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: I originally thought Rooney Mara or Kate Winslet. However since Vikander won SAG Awards I changed my pick.(My pick: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl. WINNER: TBA
♦ Jennifer Jason Leigh, "The Hateful Eight" First Academy Award nomination
♦ Rooney Mara, "Carol" Second Academy Award nomination; Previously nominated for Best Actress “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
♦ Rachel McAdams, "Spotlight" First Academy Award nomination
♦ Alicia Vikander, "The Danish Girl” First Academy Award nomination
♦ Kate Winslet, "Steve Jobs" Seven Academy Award nominations including this one; Academy Award winner for Best Actress “The Reader (2009); Best Actress nominations for “Titanic” (1998), “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2005), “Little Children” (2007); Best Supporting Actress nominations “Sense and Sensibility (1996), “Iris” (2002)

Best Animated Feature Film: (My pick : Inside Out – Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera. WINNER:"TBA"
♦ "Anomalisa" – Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson and Rosa Tran
♦ "Boy and the World" – Ale Abreu
♦ "Inside Out" – Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera
♦ "Shaun the Sheep Movie" – Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
♦ "When Marnie Was There" – Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Yoshiaki Nishimura

Best Cinematography: (My pick: The Revenant – Emmanuel Lubezki) WINNER:"TBD"
♦ "Carol" – Edward Lachman
♦ "The Hateful Eight" – Robert Richardson
♦ "Mad Max: Fury Road" – John Seale
♦ "The Revenant" – Emmanuel Lubezki
♦ "Sicario" – Roger Deakins

Best Costume Design: (My pick: Cinderella – Sandy Powell) WINNER: "TBA"
♦ "Carol" – Sandy Powell
♦ "Cinderella" – Sandy Powell
♦ "The Danish Girl" – Paco Delgado
♦ "Mad Max: Fury Road" – Jenny Beavan
♦ "The Revenant" – Jacqueline West)

Best Directing: Wow this is tough as they were are all spectacular. Toss up between Alejandro G. Iñárritu "The Revenant" and George Miller "Mad Max: Fury Road" – (My pick: Alejandro G. Iñárritu – The Revenant ) WINNER: "TBA"
♦ Adam McKay – "The Big Short”
♦ George Miller – "Mad Max: Fury Road"
♦ Alejandro G. Iñárritu – "The Revenant"
♦ Lenny Abrahamson – "Room"
♦ Tom McCarthy – "Spotlight" –

Best Documentary Feature: (My pick: "Amy" – Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees) WINNER:"TBA"
♦ "Amy" – Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees
♦ "Cartel Land" – Matthew Heineman and Tom Yellin
♦ "The Look of Silence" – Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
♦ "What Happened, Miss Simone?" –
♦ "Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom" –

Best Documentary Short Subject: (My pick: "Body Team 12" – David Darg and Bryn Mooser) WINNER:"TBA"
♦ "Body Team 12" – David Darg and Bryn Mooser
♦ "Chau, beyond the Lines" – Courtney Marsh and Jerry Franck
♦ "Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah" – Adam Benzine
♦ "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness – Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
♦ "Last Day of Freedom" – Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman

Best Film Editing: (My pick: “The Revenant” (Stephen Mirrione) WINNER:"TBA"
♦ "The Big Short" – Hank Corwin
♦ "Mad Max: Fury Road" – Margaret Sixel
♦ "The Revenant" – Stephen Mirrione
♦ "Spotlight" – Tom McArdle
♦ "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" – Maryann Brandon, Mary Jo Markey

Best Foreign Language Film: (My pick: "Son of Saul" – Hungary; László Nemes) WINNER:"TBA"
♦ "Embrace of the Serpent" – Colombia; Ciro Guerra
♦ "Mustang" – France; Deniz Gamze Ergüven
♦ "Son of Saul" – Hungary; László Nemes
♦ "Theeh" – Jordan; Naji Abu Nowar
♦ "A War" – Denmark; Tobias Lindholm

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: (My Pick: "Mad Max: Fury Road" – Lesley Vanderwalt, Damian Martin, Elka Wardega) WINNER:"TBA"
♦ "Mad Max: Fury Road" – Lesley Vanderwalt, Damian Martin, Elka Wardega
♦ "The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared" – Love Larson and Eva von Bahr
♦ "The Revenant" – Siân Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini

Best Music (Original Score) (My pick: "The Hateful Eight” – Ennio Morricone) WINNER:"TBA"
♦ “Bridge of Spies” – Thomas Newman
♦ "Carol” – Carter Burwell
♦ "The Hateful Eight” – Ennio Morricone
♦ "Sicario” – Jóhann Jóhannsson
♦ "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" – John Williams

Best Music (Original Song): (My pick: "Til It Happens To You," - The Hunting Ground) WINNER:"TBD"
♦ “Earned It,” Fifty Shades of Grey
♦ "Manta Ray," Racing Extinction
♦ "Simple Song #3," - Youth
♦ "Til It Happens To You," - The Hunting Ground
♦ "Writing’s On The Wall" - Spectre

Best Production Design: (My pick: "The Revenant” – Jack Fisk; Hamish Purdy) WINNER:"TBA"
♦ "Bridge of Spies” – Adam Stockhausen; Rena DeAngelo, Bernhard Henrich
♦ "The Danish Girl" – Eve Stewart; Michael Standish
♦ "Mad Max: Fury Road" – Colin Gibson; Katie Sharrock, Lisa Thompson
♦ "The Martian” – Arthur Max; Celia Bobak, Zoltan Horvath
♦ "The Revenant” – Jack Fisk; Hamish Purdy

Best Short Film (Animated): (My pick : "Sanjay’s Super Team” – Sanjay Patel and Nicole Drindle) WINNER:"TBA"
♦ "Bear Story” – (Historia de un Oso)” Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala
♦ "Prologue” – Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton
♦ "Sanjay’s Super Team” – Sanjay Patel and Nicole Drindle
♦ "We Can’t Live without Cosmos” – Konstantin Bronzit
♦ "World of Tomorrow” – Don Hertzfeldt

Best Short Film (Live Action): Difficult pick between Shok and Ave Maria. (My pick: “Ave Maria” – Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont) WINNER:"TBA"
♦ “Ave Maria” – Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont
♦ “Day One” – Henry Hughes
♦ “Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut”) – Patrick Vollrath
♦ “Shok” – Jamie Donoughue
♦ “Stutterer” – Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage

Best Sound Editing: (My pick: “The Revenant” – Martin Hernandez and Lon Bender) WINNER:"TBA"
♦ “Mad Max: Fury Road” – Mark Mangini and David White
♦ “The Martian” – Oliver Tarney
♦ “The Revenant” – Martin Hernandez and Lon Bender
♦ “Sicario” – Alan Robert Murray
♦ “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” – Matthew Wood and David Accord

Best Sound Mixing: Toss up between Revenant and Mad Max. (My pick: “Mad Max: Fury Road” – Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo) WINNER:"TBA"
♦ “Bridge of Spies” – Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Drew Kunin
♦ “Mad Max: Fury Road” – Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo
♦ “The Martian” – Paul Massey, Mark Taylor and Mac Ruth
♦ “The Revenant” – Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Randy Thom and Chris Duesterdiek
♦ “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” – Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson

Best Visual Effects: First picked Mad Max but changed to Revenant. (My pick: “The Revenant” – Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer) WINNER:"TBA"
♦ “Ex Machine” – Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett
♦ “Mad Max: Fury Road” – Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams
♦ “The Martian” – Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence and Steven Warner
♦ “The Revenant” – Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer
♦ “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” – Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay): (My pick: “The Big Short” – Adam McKay, Charles Randolph) WINNER:"TBA"
♦ “The Big Short” – Adam McKay, Charles Randolph
♦ “Brooklyn” – Nick Hornby
♦ “Carol” – Phyllis Nagy
♦ “The Martian” – Drew Goddard
♦ “Room” – Emma Donoghue

Best Writing (Original Screenplay): (My pick: “Spotlight” – Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer) WINNER:"TBA"
♦ “Bridge of Spies” – Matthew Charman, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
♦ “Ex Machina” – Alex Garland
♦ “Inside Out” – Josh Cooley, Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve
♦ “Spotlight” – Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer
♦ “Straight Outta Compton” – Andrea Berloff, Jonathan Herman, S. Leigh Savidge, Alan Wenkus

My previous scores have been 85% right on Oscar.com. Wonder what my score will be this time. Whatever my score this year, I'll share it on Facebook and this blog.

Any photos are courtesy of Wikimedia unless otherwise noted. All other photos will be credited as required.


Additional Oscar resources:
♦2016 Oscar predictions: Variety
♦ 2016 Oscar nominations, Oscar.com
♦ 88th Academy Awards - We all dream in gold, Wikipedia.org
♦ Oscar Nominations: 'The Revenant' & 'Mad Max' Lead Way; Leo Is In, Ridley Scott Is Not, Deadline AwardsLine
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Oscar 2015 resources:
♦ 2015 Oscar nominations: Complete list; ‘Selma’ snubbed; ‘Birdman’ and ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ lead with nine http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2015/01/15/2015-oscar-nominations-complete-coverage/
♦ Oscars 2015: 'Boyhood,' 'Birdman' Score Big Nominations http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/oscars-2015-boyhood-birdman-score-big-nominations-20150115
♦ Oscars 2015: Nominations preview and predictions http://www.cbsnews.com/news/oscar-2015-nomination-predictions-who-will-be-in-the-running/
♦ Oscars 2015: 'Birdman,' 'Budapest' top nominations http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/chi-oscars-nominations-20150115-story.html
♦ Academy Awards nominations 2015: our predictions http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/jan/15/oscar-nominations-2015-our-predictions
Oscar 2014 resources:
♦ 2014 Oscar nominations: ‘Gravity,’ and ‘Hustle’ lead with 10 nominations including best picture, Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/moviesnow/la-et-mn-oscar-nominations-2014-main,0,500124.story#axzz2qZqycltO
♦ Oscar.com 2014 nominations, http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/86/nomineesByPicture.html
♦ Who’s gonna get picked ? Predicting the 2014 Oscar nominations http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/15/showbiz/movies/2014-oscar-predictions-nominations/
♦ Meet the 2014 Oscar Nominees, RottenTomatoes http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/15/showbiz/movies/2014-oscar-predictions-nominations/

Please visit this blog frequently and share this with your social media. Thanks. Nominations are at Oscar.com page at http://oscar.go.com/news/nominations/oscar-nominations-2016-the-complete-list-of-nominees

Google’s doodle all pink for actress and fashion icon Audrey Hepburn’s 85th

"I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.” ~~ Audrey Hepburn
(born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993), British actress and humanitarian; Film & Fashion Icon, American Film Institute ranks Hepburn as the third greatest female screen legend in the history of American cinema and has been placed in theInternational Best Dressed List Hall of Fame. She is also regarded by some to be the most naturally beautiful woman of all time

No surprise that Google's "doodled pink" and celebrates Audrey Hepburn’s 85th with a simple, classical, stylish pink doodle.



THINGS I THINK OF WHEN I THINK OF AUDREY HEPBURN

Cropped hair-dos, gracious greecian up-dos, plain pony-tails and French twists, over-done eyelashes, natural eyelashes, over-outlined eyebrows, bushy eyebrows, plain pink lipsticks, dark red lipsticks, pencil-straight pants, wide-legged pants, bold-striped Tees, button-down shirts, ruffled blouses, strapless, turtleneck, you name it, Hepburn's glamorized and signatured it.

Any make-up she'd smudge on or apparel she'd wear would become the latest fad.

Hepburn was classic yet broke many rules from over-sized, overdone, stylizing menswear glorifying pinstripe suits, bow-ties and penny-loafers.

Hepburn transformed a simple "little black dress" into elegance and stunning formal wear into fashion statements.

Hepburn's beauty will always be ageless and her iconic style always timeless.

Surprisingly, according to an April 2013 Vanity Fair article, according to her son, Luca Dotti, Hepburn never thought she was beautiful.




THE LIFE OF AUDREY HEPBURN ON WIKIPEDIA

Born in 48 Rue Keyenveld, Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium, Hepburn spent her childhood between Belgium, England and the Netherlands, including German-occupied Arnhem during the Second World War. Her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston (1889–1980), was a British subject born in Úžice, Bohemia, to Anna Ruston née Wels of Austrian descent and Victor John George Ruston of British and Austrian descent. A one-time honorary British consul in the Dutch East Indies, Ruston had earlier been married to Cornelia Bisschop, a Dutch heiress.

Although born Ruston, he later double-barrelled the surname to the more "aristocratic" Hepburn-Ruston, mistakenly believing himself descended from James Hepburn, third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Her mother, Baroness Ella van Heemstra (1900–1984), was a Dutch aristocrat and the daughter of Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, who was mayor of Arnhem from 1910 to 1920 and served as Governor of Suriname from 1921 to 1928. Ella's mother was Elbrig Willemine Henriette, Baroness van Asbeck (1873–1939), who was a granddaughter of jurist Dirk van Hogendorp.

The family often travelled between the three countries due to her mother's family in the Netherlands and her father's British background and job with a British company.

With her multinational background, she went on to speak fluent English, Dutch, French, Spanish and Italian. Hepburn participated in ballet by the age of 5.

In Amsterdam, she studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell before moving to London in 1948 to continue her ballet training with Marie Rambert and perform as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions. She spoke several languages including English, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, and German.

After appearing in several British films and starring in the 1951 Broadway play Gigi, Hepburn played the Academy Award-winning lead role in Roman Holiday (1953). She went on to star in a number of successful films, such as Sabrina (1954), The Nun's Story (1959), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Charade (1963), My Fair Lady (1964) and Wait Until Dark (1967), for which she received Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. For her role in Roman Holiday, Hepburn was also the first actress to win an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for a single performance in 1954. The same year, she won a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play for Ondine. Hepburn remains one of few people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards. She won a record three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role.

She appeared in fewer films as her life went on, devoting much of her later life to UNICEF. Although contributing to the organization since 1954, she worked in some of the most profoundly disadvantaged communities of Africa, South America and Asia between 1988 and 1992.

She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in December 1992. A month later, Hepburn died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Switzerland at the age of 63.






Additional Resources
► Audrey Hepburn best photos, Vanity Fair http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2014/05/audrey-hepburn-photos
► Audrey Hepburn, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_Hepburn">
► 25 Timeless Style Lessons from Audrey Hepburn http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/20/audrey-hepburn-style_n_3780087.html
►



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Photos courtesy of Wikimedia.org unless otherwise indicated.

Monday Night at The Paley Center for Media: Guess Who Got Re-Elected?

On Monday, April 5th, a full house audience of TV, Media and Communications professionals gathered for the evening at The Paley Center for Media for a one-on-one discussion with Academy Award-winning actor, Geena Davis and stellar interviewer, Pat Mitchell, President and CEO, The Paley Center for Media.

“Geena Davis on screen and off! Tonight’s conversation is bound to be inspiring for all”  Mitchell praised as she introduced Geena Davis. Besides summarizing Davis’ remarkable career of iconic roles in TV including Buffalo Bill and Commander in Chief, and films Tootsie, Beetle Juice, A League of Their Own, The Accidental Tourist, where she received her Oscar, followed by the iconic Thelma and Louise, where she (with Susan Sarandan) was nominated for a second Oscar for best actress, only a few years after receiving her first Oscar.

Highlights of the evening included a discussion about the impact of Geena Davis' life on winning her first Oscar for The Accidental Tourist to her various iconic roles. Also discussed were barriers in the entertainment industry for women and young girls, particularly the disturbing gender gap of women in media. Davis' goal is to make sure that the awareness of gender gap issues continues to increase and that people continue to see the vast differences of roles for girls and boys in media and become involved.

In 2007 there were only 2.7% female film directors employed. Davis was aware of women parts from amazing women who have paved the way such as Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange, Sally Field and Glenn Close, but it wasn’t until her daughter was about 2 years old and they were watching kids programs that she noticed gender disparity directed at little kids.

The characterizations were so sexualized that she found it disturbing and prompted her to start The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. In a very short time, her organization has compiled the largest research on G-rated films and TV programs made for children. Among her research findings are the many producers, writers, and directors that weren’t aware of gender disparities. Her goal is to reach all movie makers of children’s programs (i.e., writers, producers, directors, casting directors, etc.) and discuss the choices being made right there on the sets.

Her institute has several research projects in the works and they are going to be more qualitative than quantiative and will focus more on the top grossing G-rated movies from 2006 through the present. They will interview the film and TV executives to see if they are aware of the gender disparity issues and learn what they think.

Of great concern to many women is the fact that there aren't enough female action-hero movies, and there is a need for more diverse portrayals of females and males in Film and TV entertainment for children. According to research from The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, the ratio of girls to boys of 1:3 has never improved and has been the same since 1946 (a span of 64 years). “It never gets better, the psyche of people in Hollywood believes women will watch men but men won’t watch women,” Davis concludes. According to her research 70% of those interviewed believe female character roles are boring.

Davis feels that it takes consciousness to make changes in gender disparity, and  that it's not just about having equal amounts of boys and girls. Davis illustrated this by her recollection of a boat race scene in Stuart Little where the director for casting extras placed the boy extras with the boat remotes in the front and positioned all of the girls behind the boys to watch. “I looked and asked, can you give half of the remotes to the girls?” said Davis. “And he said, yeah,” Davis added.

The alarming issue of hyper-sexuality in film and tv was discussed and the conclusion of how the vast majority of 13 year old girls occupied with watching this is eye candy. "Hot characters in a G-rated movie makes me cringe, what does my daughter think? And that's all 13 year old females can do?" a deeply concerned Davis added.  Other findings from her research indicated that the number 1 aspiration by lead female characters in film and tv is romance and that the only two career goals for women were entertainment and royalty. "It's very hard to get jobs in royalty," said Davis. A compelling correlation of hours spent watching TV for girls and boys was discussed.  The more hours that girls watch TV the less options they feel they have in life. For males, the more they watch TV the more sexist they feel.

Another alarming trend had to do with the fact that sex-revealing clothes worn by girls in G-rated movies were the same as the clothing worn in R-rated programs. Davis believes that in order to improve children's images in movies and TV, the most impact for girls is going to be in the secondary and tertiary characters. Getting more movies about female characters, taking parts and switching them around so that more females are involved in the action is key to confronting gender disparity in children.

Topics about the importance of having more women portrayed in senior leadership roles on TV and Film were also addressed.  “Your iconic TV role as first female President of the United States, Mackenzie Allen, in Commander in Chief, which was #1 until Fox’s American Idol aired. I wonder what was running through your head” a curious Mitchell asked. It was very obvious that Davis had a tremendous fondness for that role and admitted being disappointed about the show’s short run. “I mean you can’t get more iconic than playing that role; What else am I suppose to do? Play a waitress? I’m the President,” said Davis. “Actually I took this role right after playing a parent on The Rosie Show,” Davis added as the audience laughed.

Commander in Chief, was #1 on Tuesday nights until FOX's American Idol aired. Davis provided compelling evidence and statistics of the big impact this show had even with it’s short TV life.

According to a media research study done by The Kaplan Thaler Group, people who didn’t even watch the program and who were just familiar with the show were 58% more likely to vote for a female President. “That was just during our short season and shows how powerful that show really was,” says Davis. “Imagine if we had 2, 3, or 4 seasons, we might have had a female President,” surmised Mitchell.

When Davis was asked if there was anything that we, the consumers could have done to help keep Commander in Chief on the air Davis replied that despite all of the letters and correspondence, it would have been difficult to get the advertisers’ buy in. “Actually I have been trying to get the show back on Cable TV, “an optimistic Davis said. “And here’s the ad -- a silhouette of me and the caption -- Guess who got re-elected?”

The audience viewed an excerpt of her ground breaking movie, The Accidental Tourist, the dog walking scene. “Other than cruelty to animals did you expect that The Accidental Tourist would be the ground-breaking role that would win you the Academy Award?” asked Mitchell. “I read the book and thought how much I want to play that part. I was fairly naive about how things worked in those days, “ replied Davis.

Davis then described how the characters she had been most attracted to were complicated, multidimensional women who were in charge of their own destiny yet couldn't articulate their desires. “I always wanted to play very active parts, and I’m lucky that I wasn’t financially obliged to take parts I didn’t want to,” says Davis.

For many women winning the Oscar actually limited their careers but for Davis it was filled with moments of defying all odds. Winning her first Academy Award was very affirming. She was not sure how much it opened doors for her, instead she felt recognition and relaxation. “Kickback!  It gave me a sense that the pressure was off and it actually had a calming effect,” says Davis. Davis mentioned how profoundly educational her Oscar experience was as she personally never appreciated the media and then was struck by how so few opportunities there are that can make you feel this way. “It had a big impact on me and my future choices,” said Davis.

Throughout the provocative discussion, the audience received a lot of take-aways; besides Davis' charm, brilliance and sense of humor the audience witnessed surprise, delightful insights such as knowing one of Davis’ favorite quotes from her films. As the audience viewed an excerpt from the film, Thelma and Louise, the scene where the policeman gets forced into the trunk while pleading with them that he has a wife and kids. Louise (Geena Davis) with gun in hand replies “You’re lucky. You be sweet to them especially to your wife. My husband wasn’t sweet to me, look how I turned out?”

The discussion was followed by a series of Q and A ranging from the recent female ski olympians and hypersexuality in the media (i.e., Sports Illustrated bathing suit issue), perceptions of senior women leaders and executives in media to information on how to access data from her research and if her research is done around the world.  Interestingly, her organization researched 30 other countries and found that they shared similar concerns regarding gender disparity and hypersexuality. Surprisingly, 80% of international movies are made in America, and we are responsible for the vast amount of female stereotyping in film all around the world. In Mitchell's closing she shared her thoughts with the audience that Davis' ability to impact the world on this topic is such a big subject that she needs to return. Let's stay tuned for Part II.

This Paley Center for Media One on One program was presented in association with New York Women In Communications, Inc.,  New York Women in Film and Television, The Paley Center for Media, and The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. For information about  findings from her organization's research visit  SeeJane.org.

written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2010