There were 15 statuettes awarded during the first Academy Awards presentation including one for Best Actress. Here are the first 13 actresses to receive the recognition decades before Meryl Streep became a household name:
Douglas Fairbanks, Janet Gaynor
1. Janet Gaynor was 22 when she won Best Actress at the first Academy Awards on May 16, 1929. She won the award for her performances in three 1928 silent films namely "Seventh Heaven," "Street Angel" and "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans."
Hans Kraly, William C. de Mille, Mary Pickford, Warner Baxter
2. Mary Pickford was 37 when she became the second Academy Awards for Best Actress winner on April 3, 1930. She was recognized for her performance as the daughter of a Southern doctor in her first talkie titled "Coquette."
Conrad Nagel, Norma Shearer
3. Norma Shearer was 30 when she became the third winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress on November 5, 1930. She was recognized for her role as a part of the New York in-crowd in the 1930 pre-Code drama film "The Divorcee."
Marie Dressler, Lionel Barrymore
4. Marie Dressler was 63 when she won the fourth Academy Award for Best Actress on November 10, 1931 for her role as a woman running a dockside inn in the 1930 pre-Code comedy-drama film "Min and Bill." She passed away two years after the recognition.
Louis B. Mayer, Helen Hayes, Lionel Barrymore
5. Helen Hayes was 32 when she became the fifth winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress on November 18, 1932. The recognition was for her role as a mother with complicated relationships during the World War I in the 1931 pre-Code drama film "The Sin of Madelon Claudet."
Adolphe Menjou, Katharine Hepburn
6. Katharine Hepburn was 26 when she won the sixth Academy Award for Best Actress on March 16, 1934 for her role as a performer from a small town dreaming to make it big on Broadway in the 1933 pre-Code drama film "Morning Glory." She went on to receive three more Oscars for Best Actress and 12 other nominations but never attended an Oscars awarding ceremony as an nominee or an awardee.
Shirley Temple, Claudette Colbert
7. Claudette Colbert was 31 when she won the seventh Academy Award for Best Actress on February 27, 1935 for her role as a spoiled heiress of millions in "It Happened One Night." The 1934 pre-Code romantic comedy film was the first film to win all five major Academy Awards, which are Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Picture.
Grace Kelly, Bette Davis
8. Bette Davis was 27 when she won Best Actress at the eighth Academy Awards on March 5, 1936 for her role as a former most promising Broadway actress in the 1835 drama film "Dangerous." She won the award again at the 11th Academy Awards on February 23, 1939 for her role as a strong-willed belle engaged to a banker in the 1938 romantic drama film "Jezebel."
Luise Rainer
9. Luise Rainer was 27 when she won Best Actress at the ninth Academy Awards on March 4, 1937 for her role as the real-life Broadway star Anna Held in the 1936 musical drama film "The Great Ziegfeld." She was 28 when she won the award again at the 10th Academy Awards on March 10, 1938 for her role as a servant in pre-World War I northern China in the 1937 drama film "The Good Earth."
10. Vivien Leigh was 26 when she won Best Actress at the 12th Academy Awards on February 29, 1940 for her role as the wealthy and intelligent Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind," the 1939 film adaptation of Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel of the same name. She won the same award at the 24th Academy Awards on March 20, 1952 for her role as an aging high school teacher in the 1951 film adaptation of Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 play of the same name.
James Stewart, Ginger Rogers
11. Ginger Rogers was 29 when she won Best Actress at the 13th Academy Awards on February 27, 1941. It was for her role as a New York boutique saleswoman in the 1940 film "Kitty Foyle."
12. Joan Fontaine was 24 when she won Best Actress at the 14th Academy Awards on February 26, 1942. It was for her role as a daughter of a wealthy general in the 1941 romantic psychological thriller "Suspicion."
Van Heflin, Greer Garson, Teresa Wright, James Cagney
13. Greer Garson was 38 when she won Best Actress at the 15th Academy Awards on March 4, 1943. It was for her role as a mother of three in the 1942 romantic war drama film "Mrs. Miniver."
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