Has any actor or actress ever won an Oscar for his or her first performance?
What country has earned the most Oscar nominations for
Best Foreign Language Film overall? (and also sent to me, for some reason, in
Swedish: Vilket land har genom tiderna kammat hem flest Oscarsnomineringar i
kategorin Bästa utländska film?)
The answer (in English only, sorry, I don't actually SPEAK Swedish) is Italy,
which has won in the Foreign Language Film category 10 times since the category
was created in 1956, as well as twice more between 1948 and 1955 when the
Academy's Board of Governors gave an honorary award each year for foreign films.
Have any actors and actresses have won both a Tony and an Oscar for the same
role?
Actually 9 have: Eight performers have won the Tony and later the Oscar
for the same role:
José Ferrer in Cyrano de Bergerac (Tony: 1947/Oscar: 1950), Shirley Booth
in Come Back, Little Sheba (1950/1953), Yul Brynner in The King and I
(1952/1956), Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady (1957/1964), Anne Bancroft
in The Miracle Worker (1960/1962), Paul Scofield in A Man for All
Seasons (1962/1966), Jack Albertson in The Subject Was Roses
(1965/1968) and Joel Grey in Cabaret (1967/1973).
Lila Kedrova did it the other way around. She won an Oscar for Zorba the
Greek, and 20 years later won a Tony for the same role in Zorba (1964
Oscar/1984 Tony).
How many performers have been nominated for films in which they played
multiple roles?
Fredric March, Best Actor winner for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931/32):
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Laurence Olivier, Best Actor winner for Hamlet (1948): Hamlet and the
Voice of the Ghost
Lee Marvin, Best Actor winner for Cat Ballou (1965): Tim Strawn and Kid
Shelleen
Nicolas Cage, Best Actor nominee for Adaptation (2002): Charlie & Donald
Kauffman
Peter Sellers is the only actor to be nominated (as Best Actor) for playing
three roles in the same film, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop
Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) - as Captain Lionel Mandrake, President
Merkin Muffley, and Dr. Strangelove.
How many films have been nominated for Best Picture without any nominations
for Directing, Writing or Acting?
54 Films have, they are (in backwards chronlogical order): Lord of the Rings:
The Two Towers, Beauty and the Beast, Jaws, Hello, Dolly!, Doctor Dolittle, The
Longest Day, The Music Man, Mutiny on the Bounty, The Ten Commandments, Three
Coins in the Fountain, Ivanhoe, Decision Before Dawn, King Solomon's Mines, The
Red Shoes, The Ox-Bow Incident, One Foot In Heaven, Of Mice and Men, The Wizard
of Oz, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Alexander's Ragtime Band, Grand Illusion,
Test Pilot, One Hundred Men and a Girl, Libeled Lady, A Tale of Two Cities,
Three Smart Girls, Broadway Melody of 1936, Captain Blood, David Copperfield, A
Midsummer Night's Dream, Naughty Marietta, Ruggles of Red Gap, Top Hat,
Cleopatra, Flirtation Walk, The Gay Divorcée, Here Comes the Navy, House of
Rothschild, Imitation of Life, The White Parade, 42nd Street, A Farewell to
Arms, She Done Him Wrong, Smilin' Thru, Five Star Final, Grand Hotel, One Hour
with You, Smiling Lieutenant, East Lynne, Trader Horn, The Hollywood Revue of
1929, The Racket, Wings.
What nine films have had five acting nominations?
Network (1976), Godfather Part II (1974), Bonnie and Clyde
(1967), Tom Jones (1963), Peyton Place (1957), On the
Waterfront (1954), From Here to Eternity (1953), All About Eve
(1950), Mrs. Miniver (1942).
What was the name of the movie which the wrong author won the Oscar for screenplay and later the Academy acknowledged the real authors?
During the hollywood blacklist era, in 1957, French author Pierre Boulle accepted a screenplay Oscar for adapting his novel "The Bridge on the River Kwai," though it was common knowledge he couldn't write in English. The real screenwriters, Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson, received their Oscars posthumously in 1985.
What nine films each got 5 acting moninations?
Network (1976), The Godfather: Part II (1974), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Tom Jones (1963), Peyton Place (1957), On the Waterfront (1954), From Here to Eternity (1953), All About Eve (1950) and Mrs. Miniver (1942)
I've heard that sometimes Oscars turn up at auctions. Do you know what the average selling price is?
Well, the two that have been up for auction in recent memory are Bette Davis's Oscar for Jezebel which Steven Spielberg bought for $578,000 and Clark Gable's Oscar for It Happened One Night which Spielberg bought for $607,500. So by simple calculation, the average would be $592,750. By the way, Spielberg returned both Oscars to the Academy after purchasing them. For the record, the Academy strictly protects the image of the Academy Award. Every nominee has to sign a paper agreeing if he or she wins not to sell his or her Oscar without first offering to sell it back to the Academy for $10.
How many women have won Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress for playing a prostitute?
In 1932, Helen Hayes won best actress for The Sin of Madelon Claudet -- guess what her sin was. Other actresses who won for playing members of the world's oldest profession are Claire Trevor (Dead End), Donna Reed (From Here to Eternity), Shirley Jones (Elmer Gantry), Jane
Fonda (Klute), Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aprhodite) and Charlize Theron (Monster). Liz Taylor won best actress for Butterfield 8, competing against another lady-of-the-evening role by Melina Mercouri in Never on Sunday.
Two actresses were nominated twice for playing trollops, but won neither time: Greta Garbo for Anna Christie and Camille and Shirley MacLaine for Some Came Running and Irma La Douce.
For the record, Gloria Swanson (Sadie Thompson) was the first actress to be nominated for an Oscar for playing a strumpet, at the very first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929. (Also for the record, I had way too much fun thinking of synonyms for hooker...oops, there I go again.)
What actor/actress has appeared in the most films that won the Best Picture Oscar?
As best as I can tell the answer is a select group of actors and actresses who have each appeared in 3 Best Picture winners, they include: Harry Davenport (the only man to appear in 3 consecutive Best Picture winners 1937, '38, and '39), Hugh Griffith, Dustin Hoffman, Clark Gable, Shirley MacLaine, Diane Keaton, Donald Crisp, Meryl Streep, Jack Hawkins, John Cazale and Talia Shire.
What actor's career consisted of five movies, all five of which were nominated for Best Picture?
The answer to this is John Cazale who appeared in The Godfather (1972), The Conversation (1974), The Godfather: Part II (1974), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and The Deer Hunter (1978). All five of these were nominated for Best Picture. He died of bone cancer in March of 1978, thus putting a premature end to his career.
What two time Oscar winner took his surname from a Humphrey Bogart flick?
Maurice Joseph Micklewhite took his showbiz surname from the Humphrey Bogart film "The Caine Mutiny" thus becoming Michael Caine.
Why did George C. Scott refuse his Best Leading Actor Oscar for Patton in 1970?
Scott Once said, "I know what he (Oscar) stands for ... and it's terrific ... I think when people used to hang around and pat each other on the back over drink and dinner, it was wonderful. But when it became an international hoopla where careers lived and died on whether or not you did or didn't get an Oscar, then it got out of hand." He felt that the actors in his category shouldn't be forced to compete against each other over a silly award, none of them was really more of a "winner" than the others. In a sense he was right: Scott was up against Jack Nicholson (Five Easy Pieces), James Earl Jones (The Great White Hope), Melvyn Douglas (I Never Sang for My Father) and Ryan O'Neal (Love Story). Who could pick a real winner out of that line-up?
Has anyone ever won an acting Oscar for a role containing only one line?
Yes! Patty Duke won Best Supporting Actress for portraying Hellen Keller in 1962's The Miracle Worker. In The role she speaks only one word, in the last scene. The word is "water."
Who's the only person to win an Oscar on a write-in campaign?
Hal Mohr won in 1935 for Best Cinematography for the movie A Midsummer Night's Dream. Write-in's were disallowed by the official Academy rules starting the following year.
Who are the only husband and wife nominated for Oscars in the same year?
The only husband and wife nominated in the same year are Richard Burton, for Leading Actor and Elizabeth Taylor for Leading Actress in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Elizabeth Taylor won but was not there to accept because Richard Burton didn't want her to fly, and Burton...well Burton never won a damn Oscar.
What was the first year where a single studio got all the nominations in a single category?
The year was 1974, and the category was Costume Design. Paramount Studios was responsible for all 5 nominees: Chinatown, Daisy Miller, The Godfather Part II, The Great Gatsby and Murder on the Orient Express.
What is the only Best Picture winning film which contains a scene of a character watching another Best Picture winner?
This one took me a really long time to figure out. I had a hunch from the beginning and it turned out to be right...eventually. In the movie Rain Man (Best Picture, 1988), there is a scene where Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman are in a motel room because, "We don't go outside when it rains." Hoffman's character Raymond Babbish spends the entire day watching TV. This includes Jeopardy, The People's Court, and yes, a scene from Casablanca (Best Picture, 1942).
What is the most films nominated for Best Picture in a single year?
This question was apparently asked in a Sam Goody employee contest and I bet I've answered it at least 50 times, so for my sake here's the answer: As you may (or may not) know there were not always 5 nominees per category. The MOST Best Picture nominees in a single year is 12, in 1934. However, this is not the record. In the Documentary Short Subject category in 1942, there were 22 nominees (and 4 winners).
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