May 16,1929 marked the first hosting of the Academy Awards ceremony at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. For that debut awards ceremony, statuettes were awarded to outstanding contributors to the film-making industry of the time for their works between the years 1927 and 1928.

The ceremony ran for less than 20 minutes with an audience of 270 persons. Now the Academy Awards (the Oscars) has over 40 million viewers yearly. This book looks back on the women who have won Best Actress at the Oscars through the last 87 years.