September 2013 Auction Ends Thursday, September 26th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/26/2013
Bronze tablet Oscar awarded to Joseph Schildkraut for Best Supporting Actor in ''The Life of Emile Zola'' directed by William Dieterle. The film also took home the Best Picture and Best Screenplay awards during the 10th Academy Awards held 10 March 1938 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. Born in Austria, Schildkraut moved to America in the early 1900's to become a Broadway performer, silent film actor and finally, a prominent film star in the Golden Age of Hollywood. His role as Captain Alfred Dreyfus in ''The Life of Emile Zola'' became seminal to his career and his Oscar win here marked the first time a Jewish actor was awarded an Oscar. Dreyfus, the infamous French Jewish artillery officer falsely accused and convicted of treason in 1894, polarized the country in what became known as the Dreyfus Affair; writer Emile Zola put his life on the line in his famous public newspaper outcry ''J'Accuse'' to help the eventual pardon of Dreyfus, as the film depicts. Symbolically, Schildkraut's 1937 Academy Award represents not only the second issued Best Supporting Actor award in Oscar history but also the second Oscar awarded to a Jewish actor. Issued during the period when the traditional Oscar statue was only given to actors in leading roles, this bronze tablet-style award features the Oscar figure in relief. Beside it, the words ''Academy / of / Motion Picture / Arts & Sciences / Award of Merit / for / Outstanding / Achievement'' appear. Mounted to a black marble base. A plaque on the front of the base is engraved: ''Presented to Joseph Schildkraut / In Recognition of His Performance in / 'The Life of Emile Zola' / 1937''. Award measures 6.25'' in total height, 5.75'' across, and base measures 3.25'' deep. The presentation plate re-affixed to base has some glue residue, surface wear and one very small indentation to rear edge of tablet. Stamped on the verso ''Dodge Inc. L.A.'', the company who manufactured the awards at that time. Very good to near fine condition. Obtained from the Joseph Schildkraut estate.
Very Early 1937 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor Awarded to Joseph Schildkraut for ''The Life of Emile Zola''
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