Oscar Facts

2. The Oscar statuette weighs 8.5 pounds, sculpted by American sculptor George Stanley, designed by Cedric Gibbons, Chief Art Director at MGM and stands 13.5 inches tall. Its official name was “Academy Award of Merit” and adopted the “Oscar” nickname in 1939.  The statuette is plated 24k gold and made of solid bronze.  Rumor has it, named Oscar because it resembled then Academy librarian, Margaret Herrick’s Uncle Oscar.  Due to metal shortages, during World War II for 3 years, statuettes were made of painted plaster

3. The first Oscar ceremony was held May 19, 1929, it cost $5 to attend, only lasted 15 minutes attended by only 270 people and only twelve categories

4. Since 2002 with exception with COVID in 2021, the ceremony being held at Union Station. Otherwise, it’s been at the Dolby Theatre also known as the Kodak Theater

5. In the 30’s, three performers won duplicate Oscars: Spencer Tracy, Luise Rainer and Bette Davis

6. The following films have received 13 or more nominations All About Eve Titanic La La Land Gone With the Wind From Here to Eternity Mary Poppins Chicago Oppenheimer Shakespeare in Love Forrest Gump The Shape of Water The Lord of the Rings

7. The first movie Warner Brothers released with sound nominated for Best Picture was The Jazz Singer (1927)

8. The youngest honoree was Shirley Temple at age 6 and the oldest honoree was Mickey Rooney at age 18 for the Juvenile Award

9. Walt Disney holds the most nominations with 59

10. Fifteen films have won 8 or more Oscars: Ben-Hur Titanic West Side Story Gig The Last Emperor The English Patient Cabaret Gandhi The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King My Fair Lady Amadeus Slumdog Millionaire Gone With the Wind From Here to Eternity

11. Presenting the Best Picture Award most is Jack Nicholson 8 times as Warren Beatty and Audrey Hepburn presented 4 times

12. Katharine Hepburn may have won four Best Actress Oscars but never attended a ceremony she was honored

13. Anthony Quinn won two Best Supporting Actor awards in 1952 and 1956 respectively

14. Director John Ford won Best Director four times

15. Price Waterhouse Coopers has been the accounting firm tallying the Oscar results since 1934

16. Daniel Day Lewis is the only actor to win 3 Best Actor awards. Jack Nicholson has 3 also, but one Best Supporting and two Best Actor awards

17. Frances McDormand has 3 Best Actress awards and 1 Best Picture Oscar, being part of producing team of Nomadland

18. Meryl Streep has 3 wins, however 2 were Best Actress awards and 1 Best Supporting Actress and holds the record for most nominations for one person at 21

19. The Oscars first aired in color in 1966

20. The Oscars are aired in more than 225 countries world wide

21. Thirteen films have won seven Oscars: The Bridge Over the River Kwai Gravity Patton Everything Everywhere All a Once Oppenheimer Going My Way Dancing with Wolves The Sting Out of Africa Schindler’s List Out of Africa Lawrence of Arabia The Best Years of Our Lives

22. Only three films have won Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Picture and Best Writing. The 3 were: It Happened One Night The Silence of the Lambs One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

23. Paramount Studios won its first Oscar for the “silent” film, Wings and it was also the first Best Picture winner

24. Best Hair and Makeup award first presented in 1981 was won by the team on the film, An American Werewolf in London

25. Tatum O’Neal at age 10, was the first juvenile to win a comptetive Oscar in 1974

26. Since 1976 ABC had broadcast the Oscars

27. Food isn’t served during the ceremony only afterwards at the Governor’s Ball. For the past 30 years, chef Wolfgang Puck and a team of 120 chefs catered the post ceremony dinner

28. Iconic late basketball legend Kobe Bryant won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for Dear Basketball

29. Regis Phiblin was the first official host for the Oscar Red Carpet pre-show in 1979; thus, the red carpet runs 500 feet in length

30. In 2000, 55 Oscars were reportedly stolen from a loading dock, 53 were found later in a storage bin. The person finding them were given two seats to the Oscars and a $50,000 reward. Since the heist, instead of being shipped by truck, they are now by plane and accompanied by armed guards

31. Since 1928, Slumdog Millionaire, a Best Picture winner was shot entirely with Fuji film not Kodak

32. When Greer Garson accepted her 1943 Best Actress Oscar, she gave the longest acceptance speech at 6 minutes resulting the Academy setting a 45 second limit to speeches in 1944

33. Film composer John Williams’ career has spanned over 70 years, second most nominations with 53 next to Walt Disney

34. In 2011, the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Citizen Kane in 1942 sold for $862,000. In 1999, the Oscar for Gone With the Wind for $1.5 million

35. With winning all of its 11 nominations in 2003, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King made its franchise an ongoing winner for the best with 17 total