Monday, February 21, 2011

And the winner is...



James Franco, Anne Hathaway
The last of the awards are being handed out in a few days at the 83rd Oscars. The 2011 Oscars air on ABC at 8 p.m. (EST) on
Feb. 27, 2011. James Franco and Anne Hathaway are hosting this year’s awards.

In the past I have never shown an interest for award season; however, this year I have been fascinated with the nominations, styles, and gossip around the awards.

During my award captivation I have learned a few interesting facts and figured I would share them.

Did you know…
  • The red carpet at the Kodak Theatre, where the ceremony is held, is about 500 feet long and 33 feet wide. Along this 500 foot long space, over 100 photographers and 300 TV media members will be documenting every moment. No wonder actors and actresses get stressed out when it comes to finding the best red carpet outfit.  

Youngest winners
Tatum O'Neal
  • The youngest Oscar winner, excluding special awards, was 10-year-old Tatum O’Neal, who won for best supporting actress for 1973’s Paper Moon.
  • Youngest to receive an Oscar of any kind was Shirley Temple at the age of five in 1934; however, Shirley’s Oscar was considered an honorary award.




Oldest Winner
  • In 1990, Jessica Tandy won the Best Actress Oscar at age 81 for Driving Miss Daisy.
Longest acceptance speech
  • Actress Greer Garson’s acceptance speech went on for an overwhelming five minutes. Today, Oscar winners are advised to keep their speeches to 45 seconds in length.

 Additional Facts
  • The Academy Awards were first broadcast on radio in 1930.
  • Over 90 million people watched the first television broadcast in 1953.
  • Gone With the Wind was the first coloured movie to win best picture (1939).
  • The biggest loser of all times is Kevin O'Connell, a sound re-recording mixer who holds the record for most Academy Award nominations without a win at 20. He originally set the record in 2006 with his 18th nomination and loss, making him the "unluckiest nominee in the history of the Academy Awards".

Share your knowledge; please add any “award winning” facts below.


Sources: Oscar.com, Oddee.com, Wikipedia.com, Oscarworld.net, Popmatters.com

10 comments:

  1. All of this is news to me - very cool.

    I found the longest acceptance speech particularly interesting. If someone were to do that now, the audience would tune him/her out after 60 seconds - assuming the hosts were not instructed to cut them off before then.

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  2. Interesting facts, Kait. It's funny when music starts when the winners' acceptance speeches are going too long. I'm glad they cut the speeches to only 45 seconds; I don't think I could sit through a 5 minute speech!

    Also...why do they call it the Oscars? Anyone know?

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  3. I learned that the red carpet is not actually a true red - it is a shade of cranberry (or something like that) and it only looks like a true shade of red on TV which I thought was kind of interesting.

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  4. Interesting facts! I'm not usually one to tune into the Oscars, but this year I'm intrigued because of Anne Hathaway and James Franco as hosts.

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  5. Samantha, I found this online and its one of the claims of how it started, but there is no set in stone explanation for why the its ca;;ed the Oscar.
    "Academy's Executive Secretary, Margaret Herrick, first saw the award in 1931 and made reference to the statuette's reminding her of her "Uncle Oscar"'

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  6. I am obsessed with the Oscars. Every year I look forward to awards seasons, and have always joked around with my guy friends that the Oscars are my "Superbowl". I can't believe that poor man lost 20 times! I know Randy Newman has been nominated about 20 times, but he has won a couple of times so he is definitely luckier than Kevin O'Connell

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  7. This was really interesting Kait. I had also heard about the cranberry-ish red carpet and on TV I found that it looked pink almost and not red. Did anyone else think so too? I like the traditional deep red coloured carpet because it is tradition.

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  8. This is really neat, I did watch the Oscars and I thought they were pretty good this year. I never knew about the Red Carpet fact but thats really cool. A lot goes on behind the scenes that the general public just doesn't understand

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  9. Interesting facts. I can't believe 90 million viewers in 1953...that number surprised me. I went to the Kodak theatre a few years ago and found out that the red carpet is actually on the road. They close it off for the awards because the event is so large. Great facts for trivia!

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  10. I agree with Courtney; the Oscars are my Superbowl lol. I liked this year's show even though they were a desperate attempt to appeal to a younger crowd. I think that Ellen as the host was more entertaining and can appeal to a wider range of demographics. However, I can't wait for the summer blockbusters, I've had enough of the Oscar buzz and biases towards films.

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