Since beginning his career in the film The Cry Baby Killer (USA 1958), Jack Nicholson (USA) (b. 22 April 1937) has been nominated for 12 Oscars, four as Best Supporting Actor and the rest as Best Actor between 1970 and 2003. His first nomination was in 1970 for Best Supporting Actor in Easy Rider (USA 1969). He won his first Oscar as Best Actor on his fifth nomination in 1976 for his portrayal of ‘Randle Patrick McMurphy’ in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (USA Continue reading →

In a single year, two actors have had roles in three films nominated for Best Picture. Of the ten films nominated for the title in 1940, Thomas Mitchell (USA) had starred in Gone with the Wind (USA 1939) as Gerald O’Hara, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (USA 1939) as Diz Moore and Stagecoach (1939) as Dr. Josiah Boone. Of the five films up for monination for the 2002 Academy Awards, John C. Reilly (USA) had appeared in Chicago (USA/Can 2002) as Amos Hart, Gangs of Continue reading →

Clint Eastwood (USA) has won the Oscar for Best Director twice for films he has also starred in. The first was on 29 March 1993 for Unforgiven (USA 1992), followed by Million Dollar Baby (USA 2004) on 27 February 2005. In all, he has been nominated in this category three times, the second occasion was in 2004 with Mystic River (USA 2003), a film he did not appear in.

To date, no film has won all four acting Oscars, but in 1952 A Streetcar Named Desire (USA 1951) and in 1977 Network (USA 1976) won three. Nominated for 12 Oscars, A Streetcar Named Desire won five including Best Actress for Vivien Leigh (UK), Best Supporting Actor for Karl Malden (USA) and Best Supporting Actress for Kim Hunter (USA). Network won all three Oscars it was nominated for: Best Actor for Peter Finch (UK), Best Actress for Faye Dunaway (USA) and Best Supporting Actress for Beatrice Continue reading →

The most oranges peeled and eaten in three minutes is six and was achieved by Ashrita Furman (USA) at the Panorama Café in New York, New York, USA, on 14 July 2010. All of the oranges were between 6 and 7 ounces.

The only occasion when three out of four Best Actor nominations were for stars in the same film were for the awards held on 5 March 1936, with Clark Gable (USA), Charles Laughton (UK) and Franchot Tone (USA), nominated for their performances in Mutiny on the Bounty (USA 1935). The winner was the fourth nominee Victor McLaglen (UK) for The Informer (USA 1935).

At the 1929/30 Academy Awards held on 5 November 1930, of the four actors nominated for the Best Actor in a Leading Role category, three were nominated twice: – George Arliss (UK) for The Green Goddess (USA 1930) and Disraeli (USA 1929), Ronald Colman (UK) for Condemned (USA 1929) and Bulldog Drummond (USA 1929) and Maurice Chevalier (France) for The Love Parade (USA 1929) and The Big Pond (USA 1930). George Arliss eventually took the Oscar for his role as Benjamin Disraeli.

Randy Newman (USA, b. 28 November 1943) won the Oscar for Best Music (Song) with “If I Didn’t Have You” from the film Monsters, Inc. (USA 2001) on his 16th nomination at the 74th Academy Awards held on 24 March 2002. He received his first nominations in 1982 for Ragtime (USA 1981) for both Best Song and Best Original Score. This beats the record previously held by Geraldine Page (1924 – 1987) who finally won her Oscar at the eighth attempt with Best Actress for Continue reading →