Recent Oscar Winners and Nominees

Little Known Facts about the Academy Awards from the 1990s to 2006

Jan 21, 2008

Movie buffs who love Oscar trivia and movies in general may already know all,or most, of these tidbits. For others, it may give new insight into Academy Awards history.

Movie fans eagerly await to learn this year's Academy Awards winners. These winners will become part of Oscar history and perhaps, in so doing, set new records along the way.

Like baseball, the Oscars have records for everything. Here are a few of them that have been set or tied in recent years.

Actors and Actresses

When Jack Palance won his Best Supporting Actor award for City Slickers (1991), it had been 38 years since his last nomination, a record in Academy history. His previous nomination had been for supporting actor in Shane (1953).
Veteran Gloria Stuart, age 87, became the oldest supporting actress nominee as the elder Rose in Titanic (1997). Stuart’s first movie was Street of Women in 1932.
With a best actor Oscar for As Good As It Gets (1997) and another nomination for About Schmidt (2002), Jack Nicholson extended his record for most Oscar actor nominations to 12. Second is Laurence Olivier with 10.
When Robert Benigni won Best Actor in 1998, he became the first such winner for a foreign language film (Life Is Beautiful). Sophia Loren was the first actress so honored for her performance in Two Women (1961) and Marion Cotillard became the second for her role in La vie en rose (2008).
Richard Farnsworth became the oldest best actor nominee when he was nominated for his role in The Straight Story (1999). He was 80.
Hallee Berry became the first African-American to win the Best Actress Oscar for her role in Monster’s Ball (2001).
Denzel Washington became the first African-American to win two Oscars when he was chosen Best Actor for Training Day (2001). Washington had previously won a supporting actor Oscar for Glory (1989).
In 2004, Jamie Foxx became the first African-American actor to be nominated for two Oscars in the same year. He won Best Actor for Ray and was nominated in a supporting role for Collateral.
By being nominated for best supporting actress for The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Meryl Streep extended her record for most Oscar actress nominations. She now has had 14 nominations. Second is Katherine Hepburn with 12.

Best Pictures

Dances with Wolves (1990) became the first Western to win Best Picture since Cimarron (1931). It would not be so long until the next Western winner. Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven won Best Picture in 1992.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) was only the second film from the Suspense/Thriller genre to win Best Picture. The first was Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940).
Shrek (2001) became the first-ever Best Animated Feature Film.
In 2002, Chicago became the first musical to win Best Picture since Oliver! In 1968.
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) became only the second sequel to win Best Picture. The first was The Godfather: Part II (1974).

Brevity Awards

Judi Dench won Best Supporting Actress in 1998 for eight minutes of screen time in Shakespeare in Love.
Anthony Hopkins won Best Actor in 1991 for sixteen minutes of screen time in The Silence of the Lambs.

Longevity Awards

The “Will This Ever End?” award goes to the 2001 ceremonies. At 256 minutes, it was the longest Academy Award program ever.
Roman Polanski in 2002 became the oldest person to win Best Director for his movie The Pianist. He was 69 at the time.

Miscellaneous

Sophia Coppola, for her film Lost in Translation, in 2003, became the first American female director to be nominated for an Oscar. Two earlier women nominated, Lina Wertmuller (1976) and Jane Campion (1994) were from foreign countries (Italy and New Zealand, respectively).
The record for most foreign language film nominations was set by Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). It had 10 nominations with 4 wins.

For more information on the Oscars see: Robert Osborne's 75 Years of the Oscar. New York: Abbeville Press, 2003; Official Academy Awards site; or Oscar, Oscar.

Other Oscar Info:Academy Awards Youngest and Oldest, Academy Awards History and Trivia, Oscar History – The Early Years

The copyright of the article Recent Oscar Winners and Nominees in Classic Films is owned by John K. Davis. Permission to republish Recent Oscar Winners and Nominees in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.