In its 87 years, the Oscars have provided us with incomparable emotional moments: from euphoria to actors bursting into tears, from the memory of film legends to tributes to deceased stars, Oscar material has always entertained us immensely. Sometimes these gripping moments have instilled a life-changing inspiration and motivation into the hearts and minds of millions of viewers. Over the course of 87 years, the Oscars have produced many curious and interesting records. Of these many moments, we have compiled 15 in the history of the Academy Awards. Let us browse through them and then you can tell us your favorite record in the history of the Oscars.
1. The only person to win both an Oscar and a Nobel Prize
George Bernard Shaw: The Irish playwright has the honor of winning both prizes: He won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 1938 film Pygmalion and the 1925 Nobel Prize for Literature.
2. The oldest man to win Best Actor
Henry Fonda: The sixth biggest male star of all time & the patriarch of a family of famous actors won the award for best actor at the age of 76 for the 1981 film On Golden Pond.
3. The oldest woman to win Best Actress
Jessica Tandy: At the ripe old age of 80, Jessica won the 1989 Best Actress award for the film Driving Miss Daisy. She was named one of the “50 Most Beautiful People” by People magazine.
4. The youngest winners of an Oscar
- Tatum O’Neal: The youngest Oscar winner ever. Tatum was 10 years old when she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, playing opposite her father Ryan O’Neal in the 1974 film Paper Moon.
- Shirley Temple: At the age of 6, Shirley Temple won the Juvenile Academy Special Award in February 1935 for her outstanding contribution as a youthful actress in motion pictures.
5. The oldest person nominated for Best Actor/Actress
Gloria Stuart: 101-year-old Rose Dawson from the 1997 Titanic film is the oldest person to be nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actress at the age of 87. She died on 26 September 2010 at the age of 100.
6. The most nominated actor without winning
Peter O’Toole: The British-Irish actor, who played the legendary role of T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia in 1962, was nominated a record-breaking 8 times, without a single victory in the acting category. In 2002 he finally received an Honorary Academy Award. His outstanding talent has provided some of the most memorable characters in film history.
More on The Oscars Records: 20 The First Oscar Fascinating Records
7. The most nominated actor before their first win
Al Pacino & Geraldine Page: The godfather of the acting arena and Geraldine Page were the actors who were nominated 8 times before they won an Oscar. Geraldine Page received her Oscar for Best Actress for the 1985 film The Trip to Bountiful & Al Pacino received the highest award for Best Actor for the 1992 film Scent of a Woman.
8. Highest number of Oscars for a Black Actor
Denzel Washington: Washington is the lucky black actor who has won two Oscar awards: Best Supporting Actor for the historic war movie Glory in 1989 and Best Actor for the 2001 crime drama Training Day.
9. The longest time between film release and Oscar victory
20 years: Yes: the film Limelight waited 20 years to win its Oscar after its initial release. The film was originally released worldwide in 1952 and was extremely popular in Japan and extremely successful in Europe, but it had a very poor performance, earning only $1 million, in the USA. The reason was Charlie Chaplin: the face of the film was seen by many in the USA as a communist sympathizer. Many US cinemas refrained from screening the film. It was re-released in the USA in 1972, and after 20 long years, it was finally awarded Best Original Dramatic Score at that year’s awards.
10. The highest number of Oscars for film production
There are 3 fortunate producers, each of whom has received 3 Oscars for the production of the best films.
Sam Spiegel: The first to win the Oscar for Best Film three times: 1954 Elia Kazan’s Am Wasser, 1957 The Bridge over the River Kwai & 1962 Lawrence of Arabia
Saul Zaentz: The producer was awarded three Oscars for the best film: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1975, Amadeus in 1984 and the third award came in 1996 for The English Patient.
Darryl F. Zanuck: The silent era legend received 3 Academy Awards for Best Picture: How Green Was My Valley from 1940, Gentleman’s Agreement, which appeared in 1947, and his last victory was the 1950 classic All About Eve.
11. The maximum number of Oscar nominations without winning
Kevin O’Connell: Sound producer O’Connell has been nominated 20 times without winning even once. He was first nominated in 1983, and his most recent nomination came in 2007.
“I’ve been the luckiest guy in the world. Our family has met world leaders, the pope, presidents; we have been in the company of the elite of Hollywood when we were out there working with the likes of Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Sammy Davis Jr.” – Kevin O’Connell, courtesy: buffalonews.com
12. The film series with the most Best Picture awards
The Godfather series: The crime and underworld saga films The Godfather and The Godfather II are two of the greatest masterpieces of world cinema, and are lucky enough to have both won Best Picture. In 1993, The Godfather II was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress of the USA for its “cultural, historical or aesthetic significance”.
13. Maximum Oscars won for a single character
Vito Corleone: This character has won the most Oscar, with 2. In 1972 the character, played by Marlon Brando in The Godfather, won the prize for Best Actor. Two years later, in The Godfather II, the same character won the prize for Best Supporting Actor despite being played by a different actor, Robert De Niro.
14. The most nominated person in Oscar history
Walt Disney: The legendary cartoonist & cultural icon of the world has been nominated 59 times, winning 22 Academy Awards and earning 4 special Oscar honors, making him the most awarded and nominated person in Oscar history.
15. The oldest Oscar winner for acting
Christopher Plummer: The Canadian actor received the award for Best Supporting Actor at the age of 82 for the 2011 movie Beginners.
“You’re only two years older than me, darling. Where have you been all my life?” Christopher Plummer, Best Supporting Actor, The Beginners, 2012
These records are also fascinating: 25 Interesting Oscar Records
