The first awards were held in 1944 with The Song of Bernadette winning best film and its star Jennifer Jones garnering the best actress award. The Song of Bernadette chronicles the story of French peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous, who witness the Virgin Mary in the grotto at Lourdes.

Paul Lukas was awarded Best Actor for his role in Watch on the Rhine, which also starred Bette Davis and Geraldine Fitzgerald. The movie, based on a Lillian Hellman play, delves into Nazi intrigue and WWII heroism.

The Golden Globes reputation for picking potential Oscar winners begins here. The Song of Bernadette was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won 4, one of which was Best Actress. Watch on the Rhine received the Academy Award for Best Picture and Paul Lukas won the Oscar for Best Actor.

Since the Hollywood Foreign Press Association banded together to promote the importance of foreign markets in Hollywood, the idea of the globe as award statue symbolized this mission. In 1945, then president Marina Cisternas suggested a golden globe encircled by a strip of film reel. The statue and the award’s ceremony moniker were born.

For more about the history of the Golden Globes and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association visit http://www.goldenglobes.org/about/