Walt Disney’s 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs received eight Oscars. Frank Capra, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the time, came up with the idea as a way to commemorate the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for becoming the top-grossing film of all time, along with being the first feature-length animated film.
At the 1939 Academy Awards, Disney was awarded with one standard sized statuette, accompanied by seven miniature ones to represent each of the movie’s dwarfs. The award was presented to Disney by the popular child star of the era, Shirley Temple, to represent Disney’s younger audience.
More about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs:
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs cost $1.4 million US Dollars (USD) to create, and grossed a record setting $8.5 million USD worldwide.
- It took nearly 2 million paintings created by 750 different artists to produce the animated film.
- One of the reasons Walt Disney opted to make Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as his first full length animated movie was because the 1916 live-action silent film Snow White was one of the first movies he ever saw.