There is one day in the year when all film lovers hold their breaths and try to guess who is going to receive the most appreciated award of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ‒ Oscar. Actually, you do not even have to be a movie fan to know that winning the Oscar is cool. Here are 20 facts about the award which will surprise both Oscar fans and those who know very little about it.
- Oscar represents an Academy Award Merit. A small golden statuette is a knight with a sword. The statuette symbolizes five branches of the Academy.
- The name “Oscar” is used since 1939, yet its origin is not known. Such small statuette is made for each nominee.
- The youngest winner of the award was 10 years old, the youngest nominee – 6 years old.
- Just for a comparison, the oldest winner – Christopher Plummer – was 82.
- Nowadays, people in almost 200 countries watch the ceremony. It is broadcast since 1953, but the first ceremony (1929) was a small private party with only 270 people.
- Speaking of inequality, throughout the whole history, there were only four female directors nominated for the award.
- Liza Minelli, who got her Oscar in 1972, “inherited” the victory – both of her parents were the winners of the statuettes.
- Two actors were awarded posthumously.
- An undisputed leader in nominations among actors– with the total of 19 – is Meryl Streep.
- A record in winning the biggest number of statuettes – four – was established by Katherine Hapburn.
- Initially, the ceremonies were held at Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Nowadays, when the number of visitors is growing by the day, it takes place near Dolby Theater.
- Speaking of the impressively successful movies one cannot but mention “Ben Hur”, “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King”, with each of the movie winning 11 Oscars.
- The winners are not allowed to sell their statuettes.
- Nominations for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay are known as “Big Five”. Only 3 films received awards in all the categories: “Silence of the lambs”, “One Flew over the Cookoo’s Nest”, and “It Happened one Night”.
- The names of the winners come in sealed envelopes. The tradition was introduced after 1941 when a famous newspaper unfairly revealed the names of all winners before the ceremony.
- Alfred Hitchcock, an outstanding director, was nominated five times, but never got his Best Director award.
- John Williams is a living legend of Oscar. He has been nominated 50 times for his compositions.
- The record in the biggest number of nominations and prices belongs to Walt Disney. He was nominated 59 times, 26 of which were successful.
- The longest pronounced speech lasted for more than five minutes. Nowadays, actors have only 45 seconds. If they don’t manage to say everything they want, their microphone is simply switched off.
Oscar also prides a legendary host – Bob Hope – who has been given an opportunity to host the ceremony 19 times.
Now that you know so much about the ceremony, you can make well-informed predictions of the next winners and impress your friends.
