Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook.
1) In the refrigerator: Timothy Hutton won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1981 for his performance in Ordinary People. He recently said that he and his sister were having a party at his house a few years ago and decided to stick his Oscar in the fridge. They wanted people who went to grab a beer to be entertained and have kept it in the icebox ever since.
2) In his underwear drawer: Kevin Costner won his Oscar for Best Director for 1991's Dances with Wolves. He admits he stashed the Oscar away for a few years in his underwear drawer. He has since had a trophy case built and keeps the statue there.
3) As a doorstop: Charlie Chaplin won the very first "special Oscar" at the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929. Chaplin's affinity and reverence for the award was clearly displayed when he kept it as a doorstop in his mansion for several years.
4) At home, dressed in Barbie clothes: John Lassiter of Pixar has two Oscars under his belt: Best Animated Short for 1989's Tin Toy and a Special Achievement Award for Toy Story in 1996. “We discovered that Barbie's clothes actually fit pretty well,” he once commented. “Oscar's shoulders are a little broader, so we let them out a little.”
5) As a hat stand: When you are as incredibly talented as the great Jack Nicholson and have won three Academy Awards, you have to find creative uses for them. It is rumored that Jack keeps one of his Academy Awards on top of his dresser and uses it as a hat rack.
6) At his grandma's house: Until her 100th birthday, Isaac Hayes lived at his grandmother's house. Isaac won his Oscar for the theme from Shaft in 1972. After winning the award, Isaac promptly and proudly gave the statue to his beloved grandma. After she turned 100, Grandma Hayes gave the Oscar back to him and Isaac put it on display at his restaurant in Memphis.
7) In her meditation room: Goldie Hawn is very "zen" about the 1970 Oscar she won for Cactus Flower. She keeps it in her meditation room because “Trophy rooms are the opposite of me.”
8) In her living room: Okay, so it's not very original. But still, Reese Witherspoon is very well-known in Hollywood as one of the nicest actresses in the business. Reese won her award for her Best Actress performance in the movie Walk the Line in 2005. Reese lets friends who visit her at home use the Oscar and rehearse their own "Oscar acceptance speech" while holding it.
9) In his family's hardware store: The great James Stewart won an Oscar for Best Actor in the film The Philadelphia Story in 1941. Stewart immediately mailed the award to his father in Indiana, Pennsylvania. And for the next 25 years the statue was proudly displayed at J.M. Stewart & Co., the family hardware store.
10) In his chicken coop: Russell Crowe keeps the Best Actor Academy Award he won for Gladiator in 2000 in his chicken coop on his ranch in Australia. He claims it helps the hens "lay bigger eggs.”
11) In storage: few Oscar winners have less regard for their trophies than Gwyneth Paltrow. She keeps the 1999 Best Actress Oscar she won for Shakespeare in Love in storage. “I don't want that thing in the house. It scares me!" she says.
12) In a museum in Amsterdam: Shelley Winters is perhaps the most altruistic Oscar winner. She donated the 1965 Academy Award she won for The Diary of Anne Frank to the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam. Shelley did, however, keep the second Oscar she won for 1965's A Patch of Blue.
13) Given to a little boy: Clark Gable gave away the Oscar statue he was awarded for It Happened One Night in 1934 to a small child. He told the boy, “It's winning the award that counts, not owning it.” After Gable's death, the little boy gave the Oscar back to the Gable family.
14) Stolen and never recovered: Perhaps the saddest fate of any Academy Award was what happened to Hattie McDaniel's historic Best Supporting Actress Oscar from 1939 she won for her unforgettable performance in the legendary Gone With The Wind. It was the first-ever Oscar awarded to an African-American. After Hattie's death, her Oscar was willed to Howard University in Washington D.C. During the student riots of the 1960’s, it was stolen and was never recovered.