Academy Awards Fun Facts

on March 4, 2010 at 7:00 AM

red carpet I am a trivia fanatic! I have so many random,useless facts floating through my head, it's a wonder how I'm able to learn anything new. Since the Academy Awards are coming up this Sunday, I thought I'd share some Oscar factoids that you can impress your friends with.

Did you know...

The first Academy Awards were held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in 1929; 250 people attended. Tickets cost $5 and the event lasted ten minutes. Best Picture went to silent movie Wings.
There are three sources that are usually offered for the origin of the "Oscars" nickname: actress Bette Davis, who claimed the name derived from her observation that the statuette's backside had an uncanny resemblance to that of her first husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson; columnist Sidney Skolsky, who allegedly gave the award its nickname in a column in 1934 as part of a joke; and Academy librarian Margaret Herrick, who declared the statuette looked like her Uncle Oscar. The trophy was officially dubbed the 'Oscar' in 1939 by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, but no original source has ever been agreed upon.
The Academy Awards has never been cancelled. It's only been postponed...three times. Once for floods, once because of the MLK assassination, and once for the Reagan assassination attempt.
Clark Gable made the shortest acceptance speech ever by simply saying, "Thank you," after receiving Best Actor award for It Happened One Night.
The only X-rated film to win Best Picture was Midnight Cowboy in 1970.
Walt Disney holds the record for most Oscars received, winning 26 in his lifetime.