Final Oscar® Ballots Due by 5 p.m. Tuesday

Voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are reminded the Post Office will be closed this Monday, 19 February, for Presidents Day. Since they must return their completed final Oscar ballots to PricewaterhouseCoopers before 5 p.m. Tuesday, 20 February, California voters should post them today or tomorrow. New York voters better get overnight delivery now, if they have not yet done it. Ballots received after the 5 p.m. deadline will not be counted.

I remember receiving a call, at what was then Price Waterhouse, from actor Richard Crenna the day after the ballot deadline. He said his secretary had failed to mail his ballot, he had just discovered it, and asked if he could send it by courier immediately. I told him, as politely as possible, that the deadline had passed, and there were no exceptions to the rule. He understood, just thought he would give it the old college try.

Once PricewaterhouseCoopers has tabulated the votes, the winners’ names will be placed in sealed, foil-lined envelopes. Only two people at PWC will know the results before the envelopes are opened onstage Oscar Night®, Sunday, 25 February, lead partners Brad Oltmanns and Rick Rosas. 5,830 final ballots were mailed to voting members of the Academy on Wednesday, 31 January.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2006 will be presented that night at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®. The Oscars® will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST).

The evening begins with a half-hour arrivals segment, “The Road to the Oscars®,” before the start of the presentation ceremony at 5 p.m., PST. Film historian, television host, and Hollywood Reporter columnist Robert Osborne will once again serve as the Academy's red carpet celebrity greeter. Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley will be the voice of fashion, and Allyson Waterman will interview the various celebrities.