This Hollywood Actor's Unique Oscars Feat Forced Academy To Revise Its Voting Rules

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has often come under scrutiny for how its elects its nominees and subsequently awards the coveted golden statuette, known and the Oscars. Given how much an Oscar nomination or a win makes headlines, the Academy had to revise its rules back in 1940 when an actor won the coveted award three times in five years between 1936 to 1940.

Walter Brennan's unique Academy record

Walter Brennan was the first recipient of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar when the category was introduced in 1937. He bagged the award for his role in Come And Get It (1936). His win in the category continued for another when he honoured for Kentucky (1938) and The Westerner (1940). Winning an Academy Award three times in five years raised eyebrows at it should and the Academy was forced to revise its rules.

How Walter Brennan achieved this unique Oscars feat

According to Collider, back then, politics and campaigning always plays a role in every winner at Oscars to some extent. While Walter Brennan's acting ability and how he made characters his own was widely appreciated and unparalled, it was often speculated that the reason he won so many Oscars so quickly was because, at the time, extras were allowed to vote.

According to Cinema Sight, his last two wins were "said to be due to the high level of support he received from the extras union whose members were allowed to vote in the Academy Awards from 1936 to 1940. His third win on his third nomination for The Westerner (1940) caused such a scandal that the extras’ voting rights were taken away." That theory seems to fit right in as after the rule was disbanded, Brennan only received one more Oscar nomination during the rest of his career — a Best Supporting Actor nod for Sergeant York (1941).