Skip to content
    skip to navigation

    Classic FM

    Listen

    On Air Now

    Bill Overton 1am - 4am

    Bill Overton

    Now Playing

    Academic Festival Overture Opus 80 Johannes Brahms Download 'Academic Festival Overture Opus 80' on iTunes

    Academic Festival Overture Opus 80 artwork
    • Playlist
    • Schedule
    • Home
    • Radio
    • News
    • Discover Music
    • Composers
    • Artists
    • Lifestyle
    • Win
    • Charity
    • Podcasts
    • Events
    • Dating
    • Follow us on:
      Follow Classic FM on Twitter
      Follow Classic FM on Facebook
      Follow Classic FM on Instagram
      Follow Classic FM on Youtube

    Events

    • Events Home
    • Buy Tickets
    • Classic FM Live
    • More Classic FM

    15 Fantastic Oscar Facts

    1. Oscars

      1. Silent Oscar Winner

      Silent film 'The Artist' is widely tipped to win the Best Picture gong at this year's Oscars, but the only silent film to previously win an Oscar for Best Picture was 'Wings' in 1929. The movie about two young fighter pilots during World War I starred Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers, Richard Arlen, Clara Bow and a young Gary Cooper.

    2. Oscars

      2. Film with the Most Oscar Nominations

      'The Artist' may lead the film pack this year, with 12 Academy Award nods, but the most nominated movies of all time garnered a whopping 14 nominations. First up was black and white film All About Eve in 1950. 50 years later, Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio's doomed love story 'Titanic' sank all competition.

    3. Oscars

      3. First Technicolour Oscar Winner

      The first colour film to win a Best Picture gong was 'Gone With The Wind' in 1940.

    4. Oscars

      4. The Most Oscars... Ever

      Walt Disney has won more Oscars than anyone else. He was nominated for 64 awards, and won 26! Composer John Williams is the second most nominated person, with 47 Academy Award nominations (and counting).

    5. Oscars

      5. The Top Award Winners

      Only three films have even won all five of the most coveted Oscars for Best Film, Actor, Actress, Director and Writing. They are: 'It Happened One Night' (1935), 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest' (1976) and 'The Silence Of The Lambs' (1992).

    6. Katherine Hepburn

      6. Actor or Actress with the most Oscars

      The actress with the most Oscars is Katharine Hepburn who won four Best Actress Oscars during her career. Clint Eastwood is the male actor with the most Oscars, with a total of 4 trophies to his name, but he didn't win any for acting. He won two Oscars for Best Director and two Oscars for Best Picture for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby.

    7. Oscars

      7. Youngest Oscar Winner

      The youngest ever Oscar winner is actress Tatum O'Neal who was only 10 years old when she won Best Supporting Actress for the film 'Paper Moon'.

    8. Oscars

      8. Oldest Oscar Winner

      The oldest person to win an Oscar was Jessica Tandy at the age of 81. She won the Best Actress Award for her part in 'Driving Miss Daisy'.

    9. Oscars

      9. First Female Best Director

      Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Director in 2010 for her Iraq war thriller, 'The Hurt Locker' in. Kathryn beat her ex-husband James Cameron who was up for the same award for his 3D epic 'Avatar'. She is only the fourth woman to ever receive a nomination, the others are Sofia Coppola for 'Lost In Translation' (2004), Jane Campion for 'The Piano' (1994) and Lina Wertmüller for 'Pasqualino Settebellezze' (1977).

    10. Film of the Year

      10. Cheapest Oscar Winner

      'The Hurt Locker' broke another film industry record when it bagged six Oscars out of a total of nine nominations - including the coveted Best Picture gong - as the lowest grossing movie to ever win at the Oscars. It is estimated to have earned $21 million at the box office, that's less than 2% of what it's competitor 'Avatar' made in ticket sales in the same year.

    11. Avatar

      11. Most Expensive Oscar Winner

      No surprise here - 'Avatar' holds the crown for most expensive movie ever to win an Oscar with a production budget estimated to be around $280 million. While it failed to win Best Picture or Best Director, it did pick up Academy Awards for Art Direction, Cinematography and Visual Effects.

    12. Liza Minelli won an Oscar for Cabaret

      12. An Oscar-winning Family

      Several famous couples have won Oscars, but only one Hollywood family can claim to be truly Oscar-winning - The Minelli's. Liza Minelli, daughter of Vincente Minnelli (who won Best Director in 1959 for Gigi) and Judy Garland (who received a miniature Juvenile Award in 1940), won Best Actress for Cabaret in 1973.

    13. gwyneth paltrow

      13. Memorable Oscar Speech

      Who can forget the moment Gwyneth Paltrow sobbed her way through her Best Actress acceptance in 1999 for 'Shakespeare in Love'? Or Julia Roberts, who got the giggles and forgot to thank her movie namesake, 'Erin Brockovich'. The longer speech however goes to Actress Greer Garson who rambled on for seven-minutes when she won the award for Best Supporting Actress in 1934.

    14. Oscars

      14. Introducing Oscar

      Each gold-plated Oscar award costs $500 to make and weighs around 8 and a half pounds. Chicago based company R.S. Owens starts manufacturing the Oscar statuettes one year in advance of the show. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

    15. Oscars

      15. A few Oscar Numbers

      When they roll out the red carpet on Oscar night spare a thought for the organisers. The specially made carpet is a whopping 500 feet long and has to be rolled out at LA's prestigious Kodak Theatre days in advance, hoovered and covered with protective plastic, before being unveiled just hours before the ceremony.

    Latest on Classic FM

    William is a 10-year-old senior chorister at Ripon Cathedral

    Choirboy William, 10, says singing in a cathedral choir helps manage his arthritis pain

    Discover Music

    9-year-old girl plays 'Titanic' theme in South Africa shopping mall

    9-year-old pianist scores duet deal after viral shopping centre video

    McDonald's in Wrexham to play Beethoven after 5pm to deter loiterers

    McDonald’s restaurant in Wales to play Beethoven to tackle late-night antisocial behaviour

    Beethoven

    This week’s on-air highlights – including Album of the Week and Drive Discovery.

    This week’s Classic FM radio highlights – including Album of the Week and Drive Discovery

    What classical music is in Spielberg’s ‘The Fabelmans’?

    What classical music is in Spielberg’s ‘The Fabelmans’, and does Michelle Williams really play the piano?

    Williams

    Best piano works

    The 16 best pieces EVER written for piano

    Discover Music

    15 most famous opera songs and arias

    15 most famous opera songs and arias

    Discover Music

    A smaller, but still immense, 5,000 strong choir in Japan sing Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’

    Listen to this 10,000-strong Japanese megachoir sing Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’

    Beethoven

    The traditional ‘piping in of the haggis’

    The haggis gets its own entrance music on Burns Night – here’s what it sounds like

    Discover Music

    9-year-old violinist Sora Lavorgna plays Richter's 'Summer 1' in finals of 'Prodiges'

    9-year-old violin prodigy plays Max Richter’s thrilling take on Vivaldi ‘Summer’ in talent show finale

    Discover Music

    More Classic FM Events

    The Classic BRIT Awards

    Classic FM Live

    Music Teacher of the Year

    Gramophone Awards

    Event Photos

    See more Event Photos

    Classic FM Live: Best of British

    Classic FM Live: Best of British

    Luciano Pavarotti 10th Anniversary Concert

    Luciano Pavarotti 10th Anniversary Concert: In Pictures

    Luciano Pavarotti

    Classic FM Live, April 2017

    Classic FM Live 2017 in pictures

    Back to top

    Also on Classic FM

    • Listen to Global Player
    • Alexander Armstrong on Classic FM
    • Google Doodle
    • Quizzes
    • Mozart
    • Debussy
    • Music theory
    • Instruments
    • Classic FM Live
    • Brahms
    • Vivaldi
    • Bach
    • LBC News
    • Tchaikovsky
    • Chopin
    • Andrea Bocelli
    • Florence Price
    • Beethoven
    • Best classical music
    • Classic FM Requests
    • Best pianists
    • Harry Potter music
    • Saturday Night at the Movies
    • Star Wars soundtrack
    • Composer or pasta
    • Music for Studying
    • Best violinists
    • Classical music tearjerkers
    • Relaxing classical

    Useful Links

    • Contact Us
    • Help
    • How To Listen
    • About Classic FM
    • Company Details
    • Cookies
    • Privacy
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Advertise
    • Global Jobs

    Download the app

    Get it on the app store Get it on Google Play

    Follow Us

    Follow Classic FM on Twitter
    Follow Classic FM on Facebook
    Follow Classic FM on Instagram
    Follow Classic FM on Youtube
    © Global 2023
    30 Leicester Square, London, WC2H 7LA
    Privacy Manager