In 1931, a nine-year-old boy named Jackie Cooper He was nominated for an Oscar for best actor. He lost. The prize was won lionel barrymore. The Academy members thought it was unfair for that kid to compete with consolidated players and they had the idea of establishing a new recognition, an award reserved for those under 18 years of age, the honorary award that was also known as Juvenile Oscar. The trophy was like that of the greats, but in miniature, and the first person to win it, in 1934, was Shirley Temple, a curly-haired child prodigy who later starred in many movies with Mickey Rooney, another child prodigy who also won this Oscar for children and who, over the years, ended up marrying Ava Gardner. The most renowned actress who received the award (a full-fledged star, from young to old) was judy garland for ‘The Wizard of Oz’, when he was already 18 years old. In 1962 they stopped granting them and, since then, there were no longer distinctions by age. It went from child protection to the hatching of small figures who, in many cases, won just because they were kids. tatum o’nealfor example, won the Oscar at the age of 10 (that unforgettable ‘Paper Moon’) and, two decades later, Anna Paquinalso with 10, won it by ‘The piano’. yes, like supporting actresses.
We could write many names of creatures that have dazzled us. Everyone will have their favorites. I, for example, stay with Ana Torrent. In 1973, the same year as Tatum, he won the Silver Frames for best actress for ‘The spirit of the hive’, and soon after it was the self-absorbed girl of ‘Breeding ravens’. Or with Sonsoles Aranguren who played Estrella in ‘El sur’. or with the Brooke Shields of ‘The Little One’ and the Jodie Foster from ‘Taxi Driver’. That is to say: it does not come from now that girls and boys receive awards and it is not new, either, that a good part of our sentimental memory is made of memorable performances and haunting looks from prepubescent individuals. Fortunately, not all directors have listened to the hitchcock that said that one should not work with children, with animals or with Charles Laughton. Having said that, I would go back to the old Hollywood awards, with all due respect to this girl, Sofía Otero, who won in Berlin and who is sure to be terrific and will surely move us a lot.