The truth is
that when official ballots were actually cast, Zanuck didn't even bother voting, joking or not.
The genesis of the rumor that he not only did receive many votes, but won, can be traced back to
a different Warner Bros. executive, Darryl Zanuck.
The story goes that when he first
caught wind of a ceremony celebrating Hollywood, Zanuck wrote a letter to Academy executive Frank
Woods that including a faux ballot that only nominated Warner Bros. features and workers to demonstrate what he believed would happen if the idea became reality- that everyone would just vote for their own stuff.