The 81st annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, will be handed out Feb. 22, 2009. Following are facts and figures about the Oscars to help revellers get into the spirit of Hollywood's biggest night.
1. How much does an Oscar statuette weight?
- 8.5 pounds
2. What year were the first Oscars given out?
- 1929
3. Who has most often hosted the Oscars?
- Bob Hope hosted the Academy Awards 19 times.
4. Who was the youngest actress to win an Oscar for best supporting actress?
- Tatum O'Neal. She was 10 when she won the Oscar for her role in Paper Moon, 1974.
5. Who gave the longest Oscar acceptance speech?
- Greer Garson, when she accepted her award for best actress in 1942's Mrs. Miniver. She reportedly spoke between 5.5 and seven minutes.
6. How did the Academy Awards come to be known as the Oscars?
- Academy librarian Margaret Herrick remarked that the statuettes looked like her uncle Oscar.
7. What film won the most Oscars without winning best picture?
- Cabaret won eight Oscars, but lost best picture to The Godfather in 1973.
8. What movie won the award for best picture just last year (at 2008's ceremony)?
- No Country for Old Men
9. What two movies have been the most nominated in Academy Award history?
- Titanic (1997) and All About Eve (1950), with 14 nominations each.
10. Who is the youngest person to earn six Oscar nominations?
- Actress Kate Winslet. She received her sixth nomination for The Reader at 33.
11. Who is the person to have received the most Oscar nominations?
- Actress Meryl Streep. Her 2009 nomination for Doubt brings her total to 15.
12. How many categories are there in the 2009 Academy Awards?
- 24
13. What was the shortest performance to win an Oscar?
- Judi Dench's portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love. She received less than eight minutes of screen time.
14. Who was the only Oscar to win an Oscar?
- Oscar Hammerstein II (best song, 1941, 1945)
15. What is the only animated film thus far to be nominated for best picture?
- Beauty and the Beast, 1991.
16. Where do Emma Thompson, Elizabeth Taylor and Susan Sarandon each keep their Oscars?
- The actresses each keep their Oscars in their bathrooms.
17. What is the only fantasy film to date to have won the Oscar for best picture?
- The Lord of the Rings- The Return of the King (2003)
18. What was the first colour film to win best picture?
- Gone With the Wind (1939)
19. What is the first film to be released on video before winning the best picture Oscar?
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
20. What two families include three generations of Oscar winners?
- The Hustons and the Coppolas.
The Academy Awards ceremony can be unpredictable (it's a live show, after all), which will no doubt provide more facts and figures to keep movie fans entertained until next year's ceremony.
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