Oscar highlights, low blows
NOW THAT the latest batch of Oscar nominees have been named, it’s time to recall some Academy Awards trivia—not to “trivia-lize” the popular annual film rite, but to honor it by citing some of its highlights—and low blows:
What film won the first Best Picture Oscar? “Cimarron” (1929-30) was cited as Best Production, but “Wings” was the first official winner of the Best Picture trophy.
Categories with awards in the first year only: Comedy Direction, won by Lewis Milestone for “Two Arabian Knights”; Title Writing, and Artistic Quality of Production, won by “Sunrise.”
The only films to have won all five of the top awards—Best Picture, Lead Actors and Actresses, Director and Screenplay: “It happened One Night” (1954), “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975), “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991).
Three Best Picture winners not nominated for Best Director: “Orange Hotel,” “Wings,” “Driving Miss Daisy.”
Last all black-and-white film to win Best Picture: “The Apartment” (1960). “Schindler’s List” (1993) was mostly black-and-white.
Wittiest ad-lib at the Oscars: When an unexpected streaker dashed across the stage during the 1973 awards, host David Niven cracked, “Just think, the only laugh that man will probably ever get is for stripping and showing off his shortcomings.”
What did Shirley MacLaine say when she lost to Elizabeth Taylor, who was a “sentimental winner” for “Butterfield 8”?: “I lost to a tracheotomy!”
Who has won the most Oscars? Walt Disney, 22 trophies.
The most nominations in a single category: Gibbons with 40 nominations for design work, followed by Edith Head with 33 for costuming.
Actor with most nominations: Jack Nicholson with 11, followed by Laurence Olivier with 10.
Most nominated artist, regardless of category: Woody Allen, nominated 19 times for acting, writing and directing.
Most nominations without a single victory: Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton (7 each). Deborah Kerr received six Best Actress citations without winning, but was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1993.
Most nominations for a single film? Orson Welles received four citations for “Citizen Kane” (1941)—for Best Producer, Director, Actor and Screenplay. Warren Beatty did the same twice—for “Reds” and “Heaven Can Wait.”
Five performers won Oscars in consecutive years: Luise Rainer, Katharine Hepburn, Jason Robards, and Tom Hanks for “Philadelphia” and “Forest Gump” (1993-94).
Best Picture winner with the longest running time: “War and Peace,” the 1968 foreign language film winner from the Soviet Union, at eight hours.
Finally, the Best Picture nominee with the longest title: “Dr. Stranglove: Or, How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”!
Best Picture nominee with the shortest title: “Z.” Best Picture winner with the shortest title: “Gigi.”
What category had the most nominees? In 1942, a record of 25 films were nominated as Best Documentary (there were four winners).
