If you ever won an Oscar, do you think you have the right to do with it as you please?  The Academy Of Motion Pictures doesn’t think so. 

The Academy is suing Kim Boyer, one of three heirs of Oscars won by film legends Mary Pickford and Charles “Buddy” Rogers.  The Academy is suing, to stop Boyer and her relatives from selling the gold-plated statuettes to the public, because it’s a violation of Academy bylaws.

The Academy’s bylaws dating back to the 1950s say that anyone who wants to sell an Oscar must first offer it back to the Academy for $10.  However, Boyer, the niece of Rogers’ second wife, said she’s only trying to sell one Oscar.  That Oscar is was won before the bylaws were in place and she is only doing so to fulfill the terms of her aunt’s will.

The Oscar in question was by Pickford, who was Rogers’ first wife.  She won the award for her 1929 performance in “Coquette”,  It was the first Best-Actress Academy Award given for a talkie (a movie in which the actors speak).

Mary Pickford  was known as “America’s Sweetheart”, “Little Mary” and “The girl with the curls”.  She is considered one of film’s greatest pioneers and her influence in the development of film acting was enormous.  She was also named the 24th greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute for being one of silent film’s most important performers and producers.  She was also co-founder of United Artist in 1919. 

Pickford also won an honorary Oscar in 1975 and her third husband, Rogers, won his own Oscar when he was given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1985.  Rogers’ second wife and Boyer’s aunt, Beverly Rogers, inherited all three Oscars and when she died in January, the statuettes became part of her estate.

In Beverly Rogers’ will, she specified that Pickford’s first Oscar be sold and that proceeds go to the Buddy Rogers Youth Symphony in Palm Springs, Calif., and to other charities benefiting young actors.  The family will get none of this money.  Boyer did some research and determined Pickford’s award for her 1929 performance is worth about $500,000.  That’s a huge difference from $10.

In their defence, the Academy did make an offer more than the $10.  They offered to donate $50,000 over two years to Rogers’ foundation, however when Boyer asked for the full $500,000 it was valued The Academy refused.  

This is something I don’t believe The Academy should be able to stop.  It was before their stupid by-laws, so they should have no case.  The family should be free to do what ever the hell they want to with it.  They are not even selling for the money, they are doing what the will asked of them.  They are keeping the other two.

 So once again somebody is being screwed over by the Hollywood system.  The Academy loves to get rich off of people, but they don’t want anybody making money off of them.  Give the family the value of the Oscar or leave them alone.

Thanks Seatle Times.