There is a story that suggests that it was the actor Emilio “Indio” Fernández himself who was inspired to model the Oscar statuette, because the actress Dolores Del Río, who at that time had a relationship with the famous Hollywood filmmaker Cedric Gibbons, was the one who advocated for the Mexican actor to serve as inspiration, since he had an impeccable physical condition.
Truth or myth? The word that best fits this time is legend, since this is the story that wanders between what is real and what is false, so everything is left to the imagination of those who listen to it.
They say that one day in 1927, as part of the recently created Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of the United States, the artistic director Cedric Gibbons outlined on a napkin what would be the figure of the Oscar, a prize that would be awarded to the best film works of That country.
They say that it was Dolores Del Río, the Mexican actress and girlfriend of Gibbons and then a national movie star, who told him that she knew someone who would be an excellent model.
They claim that this acquaintance was Emilio “Indio” Fernández, then 23 years old, and who had not yet done anything spectacular in cinema, but who had a fit body and did his first steps as a stuntman.
At first, who would be one of the biggest stars of Mexican cinema for films like “La perla” and “María Candelaria”, he was reluctant. It was not something that was in his plans. In the end, still unknown if he was paid anything, he agreed to pose nude for sculptor George Stanley.
The most coveted statuette in the American industry shows the figure of a man holding a sword up to his feet, over a roll of film. There was never any concrete evidence of the fact. None of the names involved said anything about it and they took the secret to their graves. Today he is no longer a legend. But that does not rule out the possibility that the 34-centimeter-high statuette, weighing almost 4 kilos and covered in gold, has something Mexican about it.
The universal
About George Stanley
Stanley was born in Louisiana, in 1903. After graduating from high school, he began studying sculpture, at the Otis Art Institute, in Los Angeles, from 1923 to 1926; he subsequently became a professor at the said institute, where he worked from 1926 to 1942.
During his life he completed various works of public art, as well as pieces for private patrons.
George Stanley was commissioned to design the Oscar statuette, which was made from a sketch by MGM art director Cedric Gibbons in 1927. Since then, more than 2,300 statuettes have been awarded to some of the best actors, writers, directors, producers and film technicians in the world.
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