Gone with the Wind actor Hattie McDaniel will finally have her Oscar replaced decades after it went missing,
The location of the original trophy remains a mystery, but McDaniel, who became the first ever Black winner of an Academy Award in 1940, left it to Howard University in her will.
Despite being placed in a display case in the university’s drama department following McDaniel’s death in 1952, the Oscar, which she won for Best Supporting Actress, went missing in the late 1960s.
Now, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has announced the creation of a replacement of the legendary award. It will once again be housed at Howard University, this time in the Washington DC campus’s fine arts college named after late Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman.
The Oscar will be presented in a ceremony titled “Hattie’s Come Home” on 1 October.
“Hattie McDaniel was a groundbreaking artist who changed the course of cinema and impacted generations of performers who followed her,” Jacqueline Stewart, Academy Museum president, and Bill Kramer, chief executive of the academy, in a joint statement.
“We are thrilled to present a replacement of Hattie McDaniel’s Academy Award to Howard University. This momentous occasion will celebrate Hattie McDaniel’s remarkable craft and historic win.”
Speculation as to the whereabouts of the original trophy remains rife. Some have suggested it was dumped in a river during Civil Rights protests at the university – and potentially as a statement against McDaniel winning her Oscar for playing a maid.
Others have theorised that whoever moved the award simply didn’t realise what it was – McDaniel was given a plaque as opposed to the man-shaped award we recognise as an Oscar today.
During the 12th Academy Awards, where McDaniel won her trophy, the actor was seated at a segregated table on the far side of the room at the Ambassador Hotel.
Hattie McDaniel and award presenter Fay Bainter at the 1940 Oscars— (AP1940)
“I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry,” McDaniel said during her acceptance speech. “My heart is too full to tell you just how I feel, and may I say thank you and God bless you.”
McDaniel died in 1952 of breast cancer at the age of 59.
Additional reporting by Agencies
