Academy Award 1938 - Best Screenplay
Bernard Shaw won the 1938 Academy Award for Screenplay and Dialogue. (Adaptation by W. P. Lipscomb, Cecil Lewis, Ian Dalrymple). Making him one of two people who have received an Oscar and a Nobel Prize. The film also received nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Leslie Howard) and Best Actress (Wendy Hiller).
Shaw was famously unimpressed by the honour and he reportedly said:
"It's an insult for them to offer me any honour, as if they had never heard of me before – and it's very likely they never have. They might as well send some honour to George for being King of England."
Pygmalion 1938 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Hungarian producer Gabriel Pascal persuaded Shaw to allow him to produce a series of his films starting with Pygmalion. At first Shaw was reluctant because previous films had not met his high standards. Pascal managed to overcome his reservations and gain his trust by allowing him to retain personal supervision of the screenplay. The resulting film was a commercial and artistic success.
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Shaw did not go to the ceremony to collect his award and reputedly used his Oscar to crack nuts and as a doorstop! However friends like Mary Pickford noticed the award was on display when they visited his home. The Oscar Award remains on display at his home Shaw's Corner - National Trust in Ayot St Lawrence Hertfordshire.