Before the 92nd Academy Awards this Sunday, let’s look at a few of the records that have been set, met or have been broken over the last 92 years
Photos, courtesy: AMPAS
Click here for all the predictions for the 2020 Oscars
OSCAR
RECORDS HELD BY MOTION PICTURES
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Titanic holds the record for the highest number of Oscar nominations and wins for a motion picture
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Ben Hur (1959): Best motion picture, directing (William Wyler), actor (Charlton Heston), actor in a supporting role (Hugh Griffith), art direction—color, cinematography—color, costume design—color, film editing, music, sound, special effects
Titanic
(1997): Best picture, directing, art direction, cinematography, costume design, film editing, music—score, music—song (‘My heart will go on’), sound, sound effects editing, visual effects
The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003): Best picture, directing, art direction, costume design, film editing, make-up, music—score, music—song (‘Into the west’, sound editing, visual effects, writing—adapted screenplay
The motion pictures with the highest number of Oscar nominations are La La Land (2016), Titanic (1997) and All About Eve (1950), with 14 nominations each.
The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003): Best picture, directing, art direction, costume design, film editing, make-up, music—score, music—song (‘Into the west’, sound editing, visual effects, writing—adapted screenplay
The motion pictures with the highest number of Oscar nominations are La La Land (2016), Titanic (1997) and All About Eve (1950), with 14 nominations each.
OSCAR
RECORDS HELD BY INDIVIDUALS
The actors with the
highest number of Oscars are Daniel Day-Lewis, Jack Nicholson and Walter
Brennan—all with three each. Of them, Daniel Day-Lewis holds the record for having
won the highest number of Oscars for leading roles.  |
| Daniel Day-Lewis with his Oscar for Lincoln |
Daniel Day-Lewis: My Left Foot (1989), There Will Be Blood (2007), Lincoln (2012)
Jack Nicholson: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Terms of Endearment (1983) [supporting], As Good as It Gets (1997)
Walter Brennan: Come and Get It (1936), Kentucky (1938), The Westerner (1940)
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| Katharine Hepburn and Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator |
The actress who holds the record of having won the highest number of Oscars is Katharine Hepburn, with 4 Oscars for leading roles—Morning Glory (1932/33), Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), On Golden Pond (1981).
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| Meryl Streep with her Oscar for The Iron Lady |
The actress with the highest number of Oscar nominations is Meryl Streep, with 21 nominations—The Deer Hunter (1978) [supporting], Kramer Vs Kramer (1979) [supporting; won], The French Lieutenant’s Wife (1981), Sophie’s Choice (1982) [won], Silkwood (1983), Out Of Africa (1985), Ironweed (1987), A Cry In The Dark (1988), Postcards From The Edge (1990), The Bridges Of Madison County (1995), One True Thing (1998), Music Of The Heart (1999), Adaptation (2002) [supporting], The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Doubt (2008), Julie & Julia (2009), The Iron Lady (2011) [won], August Osage County (2013), Into The Woods (2014) [supporting], Florence Foster Jenkins (2016), The Post (2017). Four nominations have been for supporting roles. Streep has won three Oscars.
The oldest actor to have won an Oscar is Christopher Plummer, who won supporting actor Oscar for Beginners (2012), at age 82.
Walt Disney holds the
record of the individual to have won the highest number of Oscars, with 22 wins.
The director with the highest number of Oscars for directing is John Ford. He won four Oscars—The Informer (1935), The Grapes Of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Quiet Man (1952).
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| Kathryn Bigelow with her Oscars for directing and Best Picture for The Hurt Locker |
Only five women have
ever earned Oscar nominations for directing—Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties (1976), Jane Campion for The Piano (1993), Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation (2003), Kathryn
Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (2009), and Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird (2017).
Bigelow became the first, and has since been the only woman to have won an
Oscar for directing. The Hurt Locker also won the Oscar for Best Picture that year. Gerwig's film Little Women is nominated for six Oscars this year, including one for best picture.
Parasite could become the first ever foreign film to win the Oscar for best picture.
Lead actress nominee Cynthia Erivo is already an Emmy, Grammy and Tony winner, which means she is just one Oscar away from achieving the distinction of being an ‘EGOT’—one that only 15 people have earned to date.
Composer John Williams, who is nominated for his original score for Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker, is the living person with the maximum Oscar nominations, next only to the late Walt Disney, who earned 59 Oscar nominations—the highest number achieved by any individual.
TRIVIA REGARDING THE 2020 OSCARS:
Parasite is the first film from South Korea to earn a
nomination for best international feature film.
Parasite is only the sixth movie to be nominated for both,
international feature as well as best picture.
Parasite could become the first ever foreign film to win the Oscar for best picture.
Cynthia Erivo is only the
third person to be nominated for acting (in Harriet)
and original song (‘Stand up’ from Harriet)
together, the first two being Mary J. Blige (Mudbound, 2017) and Lady Gaga (A
Star Is Born, 2018).
Lead actress nominee Cynthia Erivo is already an Emmy, Grammy and Tony winner, which means she is just one Oscar away from achieving the distinction of being an ‘EGOT’—one that only 15 people have earned to date.
Composer John Williams, who is nominated for his original score for Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker, is the living person with the maximum Oscar nominations, next only to the late Walt Disney, who earned 59 Oscar nominations—the highest number achieved by any individual.
