30 March, which can mean only one thing — yes, it’s the anniversary of the release of Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, which saw P H Vazak become the first dog nominated for a screenwriting Oscar.
I have no idea why Robert ‘Chinatown’ Towne named his dog that, but he wrote the script, hoping to direct it. Unfortunately, Personal Best, his first movie as writer/director, flopped, so he had to flog the Greystoke script.
Towne didn’t like the finished product, so he had his name in the credits changed it to that of his faithful hound. It was the year of Amadeus, so we don’t know how the Academy might have handled P H Vazak winning.
Still, top marks to the Wikipedia contributor who came up with:
Vazak became the first dog nominated for an Oscar for screenwriting, but he did not fetch the award
…although sadly, the bit after the comma has now been deleted.
