Random Oscar Facts

Random Oscar Facts

A note on year notation: The Academy Awards are presented in March for the artistic achievements of the previous year. It is for this reason that all dates refer to the year in which the movie was released, not the year in which the award was presented.)

These trivia facts don't quite fit into categories.

Shortest/Longest Oscar Ceremonies

The shortest Oscar ceremony in history was the first Oscars, in 1929. The awards portion of the evening lasted only about 15 minutes (shorter than some speeches take these days), since all the winners had been announced three months earlier.

The longest awards in history was the 2001 (ceremony in 2002) awards which lasted approximately 256 minutes, beating the previous record by about 16 minutes.

Foreign Language Films With Nominations in Competitive Categories

Foreign Language Films Nominated For Best Picture

Grand Illusion (1938, France)
Z (1969, Algeria)
The Emigrants (1972, Sweden)
Cries and Whispers (1973, Sweden)
Il Postino (The Postman) (1995, Italy)
Life Is Beautiful (1998, Italy)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Taiwan)

Foreign Language Films Nominated For The Most Oscars

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, 10 nominations, 4 Wins)
Life Is Beautiful (1998, 7 nominations, 3 wins)
Das Boot (1982, 6 nominations, 0 wins)
Fanny and Alexander (1983, 6 nominations, 3 wins)

People Nominated for Acting, Directing and Writing the Same Film

Orson Welles (Citizen Kane, 1941)
Woody Allen (Annie Hall, 1978)
Warren Beatty (Heaven Can Wait, 1978) (Also nominated as Producer)
Warren Beatty (Reds, 1981) (Also nominated as Producer)
Roberto Benigni (Life Is Beautiful, 1998)

The Only Films To Win Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress And Screenplay:

It Happened One Night (1934)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)

The Only Consecutive Double Oscar Winners:

Joseph L. Mankiewicz won Directing and Screenplay Oscars for A Letter To Three Wives in 1949, and All About Eve in 1950
Alan Menken won Oscars for Best Song and Best Original Score in 1991 for Beauty and the Beast and again the following year for Aladdin.

The First Film To Be Released On Video Before Winning Best Picture:

The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)

The Only Television Film To Be Adapted Into A Best Picture Winning Film:

Marty (1955)

The First Posthumous Oscar Winner:

Sidney Howard, for the screenplay of Gone With The Wind (1939)

The Only Twins To Win Oscars:

Julius J Epstein and Philip G. Epstein shared the shared the Screenplay with Howard Koch for Casablanca (1943)

The Only Oscar To Win An Oscar:

Oscar Hammerstein II (Best Song: 1941, 1945)

Two Families With Three Generations Of Oscar Winners:

Walter Huston (Best Supporting Actor, The Treasure Of Sierra Madre, 1948)
John Huston (Best Director, The Treasure Of Sierra Madre, 1948)
Anjelica Huston (Best Supporting Actress, Prizzi's Honor, 1985)

AND

Carmine Coppola (Best Original Dramatic Score, The Godfather: Part II, 1974)
Francis Ford Coppola (Best Original Screenplay, Patton, 1970; Best Adapted Screenplay, The Godfather, 1972; Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay, The Godfather: Part II, 1974)
Nicolas Cage A.K.A. Nicolas Coppola: Francis Ford Coppola's nephew (Best Actor, Leaving Las Vegas, 1995)
Sophia Coppola Daughter of Francis Ford Coppola, Grandaughter of Carmine, Cousin of Nicolas Cage (Best Original Screenplay, Lost in Translation, 2003)

The Only Women Nominated As Best Director:

Lina Wertmuller, Seven Beauties (1976)
Jane Campion, The Piano (1994)
Sophia Coppola, Lost in Translation (2003)

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