Eight times Academy Awards trophies have gone missing

The Oscars trophy has a long history of going missing due to burglary, ransom, misplacement, or pranks. Actors Angelina Jolie, Jared Leto, Matt Damon, and Jeff Bridges have admitted to losing their Oscars. Recently, documentarian Pavel Talankin's Oscar was recovered after being checked at a New York airport; Lufthansa is arranging its return. In the Los Angeles wildfires, costume designer Colleen Atwood lost three Oscars: those for Memoirs of a Geisha and Alice in Wonderland melted, and the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Oscar was charred. The Academy will replace statuettes for living winners in catastrophic loss cases. Frances McDormand's Oscar was stolen from the 2018 Governors Ball but returned; a man was arrested but charges were dropped. Two Weinstein Company Oscars for The King's Speech and The Artist went missing from New York offices. Jared Leto misplaced his 2014 Oscar for six years, recovering it in 2024. Matt Damon's Oscar disappeared in a 2007 flood in his New York flat. Whoopi Goldberg's Oscar vanished when shipped for cleaning in 2002 but was later found by an airport security guard. Olympia Dukakis's Oscar was stolen and ransomed; she bought a replacement for $78. In 2000, 52 Oscars were found in a California rubbish bin; two men were charged with stealing 55 statuettes, three remain missing.