Oscar Trivia-Dame Judi Dench- Page 3

[slimandslam]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 9:51am

Oh, and here's a fun sequence:

In 1991, Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar for playing Hannibal Lecter. He acknowledged that he based the character's voice on a combination of Katharine Hepburn and Truman Capote.

Since then, a performer has won an Oscar for playing Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett in The Aviator), and another performer has won an Oscar for playing Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote).

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 11:06am

"If I did my research right, then Dreamgirls is the first film ever to have had the most nominations in a given year, without being nominated for Best Picture."

Yes, slimandslam... considering they've been publicizing that fact non-stop in the media since Tuesday, I'd say you did your research right.

Dreamgirls is already in the Oscar record books... perhaps not the way they had hoped for, but it's there nonetheless.

Here's a few more tidbits off the top of my head:

There have only been two times where actors in the same film have been nominated for the same role... Rose in Titanic (Kate Winslet and Gloria Stuart) and Iris Murdoch (Judi Dench and Kate Winslet) in Iris.

Interesting that Kate was nominated in both of them.

There has only been one instance when an actor has received TWO acting nominations for the exact same performance.

Barry Fitzgerald in "Going My Way" was nominated for Best Actor AND Best Supporting Actor for the same performance in 1944. He actually received enough votes in both categories, which was the first time that had happened. The rule was changed after this year, as a result, and now if an acting performance gets enough votes to be in the top five in both categories, the nomination with the most total votes will count, and the second nomination will be disqualified altogether. We'll never know if it's happened since. (Barry won the Supporting Oscar that year, by the way, and his co-star Bing Crosby won the leading award.)

There has only been one instance where a person has been awarded TWO Oscars for the same performance.

Harold Russell in "The Best Years of Our Lives." The Academy voted him an honorary Oscar for his inspirational work in the film, giving hope to disabled veterans of WWII... and then he went on to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor that year as well. Same performance... TWO Oscars.

[lildogs]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 2:05pm

Yes, Marlee Matlin was there to receive her Oscar--you can see it on the Oscar's greatest Moments tape.

Just a slight amendment to your Tony/Oscar list: Yul's Tony was for Featured, his Oscar for Lead...weird huh?

[StageManager2]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 2:10pm

I think someone asked that of Shirley Booth, lildogs, not Marlee.

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 3:20pm

I think the only sisters to receive Oscars are 90 year old Olivia de Havilland and 89 year old Joan Fontaine and they are both still alive!!!!

[StageManager2]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 3:27pm

... and feuding.

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 3:28pm

Blessings to Luise Rainer, the oldest Double Oscar Winner for Best Actress.....Just turned 97!!!!!!

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 3:42pm

Tatum was considered lead for the GGs (and lost Best Actress Comedy/Musical) and Linda Blair won the GG. For the Oscars she was put in the supporting category. I wonder how they accomplished that considering she is obviously the lead.

[lildogs]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 4:41pm

I also always forget Voight and Jolie are father and daughter...

And yes, Joan and Olivia are the only winning sisters, but Vanessa and Lynn have competed against each other as well.

[DG]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 4:46pm

Warren and Shirley are winning brother and sister - although, they don't seem to ackowledge that at all. Shirley hasn't attended Warren's Kennedy Center Honors tribute OR the Cecil B. award at the Globes.

[hannahshule]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 4:47pm

Audrey Hepburn won an Oscar for her first American film I believe (Roman Holiday), but she'd already appeared in films before in Europe.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 4:53pm

lildogs---You're right. That's because for the Tony Awards initially "Featured" had solely to do with billing. It didn't mean "supporting" at all.

Only names with star billing (above the title), were eligible for a Leading Actor or Actress Tonys.

Anyone with featured billing (aka below the title) was automatically submitted in the Featured categories, regardless of the size of the role.

Other leading performances that won a "Featured" Tony:

Isabel Bigley in "Guys and Dolls"
Barbara Cook in "The Music Man"
Tom Bosley in "Fiorello!"
Maureen Stapleton in "The Rose Tattoo"

Over the years, these awards grew to parallel other acting awards, and "featured" gradually came to mean "supporting," even though the rules hadn't been changed.

Then in 1969, along came William Daniels who had been billed alphabetically with all his fellow cast members in "1776." (This was a popular Broadway trend known with the unions as "favored nations" billing.) He received a Featured Tony nomination and angrily refused it, telling them to remove his name entirely from consideration... which they did. If you look him up in any record book, you won't see his name on the list of nominees that year, and there is noticeably one less nomination in that category.

He was not the only one to complain about it, just the first to physically DO something about it.

So, it changed a few years later, finally, with Donna McKechnie, in the same situation. She was billed alphabetically with her cast members in A Chorus Line (aka "favored nations"). The nominating committee allowed her to be submitted as a leading actress that year, and the rules were forever changed.

But if you look back at Yul Brynner, Barbara Cook, Maureen Stapleton, Tom Bosely and Isabel Bigley, and many others, you might wonder what the Tony voters were thinking.

Updated On: 1/26/07 at 04:53 PM

[StageManager2]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 5:05pm

What's so bad about being a Featured Actor nominee?

Updated On: 1/26/07 at 05:05 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 5:16pm

"Tatum was considered lead for the GGs (and lost Best Actress Comedy/Musical) and Linda Blair won the GG. For the Oscars she was put in the supporting category. I wonder how they accomplished that considering she is obviously the lead."

doodle---Ask Jennifer Hudson.

Or Hang S. Ngor.

Or Peggy Ashcroft.

Or Catherine Zeta-Jones.

It's all about the PR "spinning." All of those For Your Consideration adds that "suggest" members put certain performances in certain categories. As you can see, it does pay off from time to time.

It can also backfire, when voters split on which category they want to choose, and a performance ends up with not enough votes in either category.

It can also surprise you... I remember that Susan Sarandon was heavily promoted for a Best Supporting Actress nomination for "Atlantic City." All the ads and several of the precursors put her in that category. Yet she wound up with a Leading Actress nomination that year. She was shocked herself.

I agree, though, that Tatum is probably the worst example of that PR spinning. She's virtually in every single scene in the film. How can that be supporting? What is she supporting exactly? The 4 shots where they cut away to someone else?

[lildogs]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 5:19pm

They put them in the category in which they think they can win--I remember other scuffles involving George Burns for SUNSHINE BOYS and Valerie Perrine for LENNY....

[Hiram]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 9:15pm

I believe Hilary Swank is the first performer to win her two Oscars in two different centuries.
BOY'S DON'T CRY (199 - 1999 Ceremonies
MILLION DOLLAR BABY(2004) - 2005 Ceremonies Updated On: 1/26/07 at 09:15 PM

[StageManager2]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 9:26pm

Actually, Swank won her first Oscar in 2000. Still, the 20th century did not officially conclude until midnight on Jan. 1, 2001, so you may be on to something.

Updated On: 1/26/07 at 09:26 PM

[Hiram]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 9:32pm

Oops! You're right. I just checked on imdb. I guess you could say she was the first performer to win two Oscars for two films released in two different centuries.
You're also right that the 21st Century did not begin till Jan. 1st, 2001. So either way, Ms. Swank made history. Updated On: 1/27/07 at 09:32 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/26/07 at 9:45pm

Katharine Hepburn won her four Oscars in three different decades.

And Walter Brennan won his three acting Oscars in just five years (still a record).

[Kristie-K2]

Posted: 1/27/07 at 1:18pm

One more time!!!

Katharine Hepburn still holds the record for Best Actress Nominations=12

Meryl Streep holds the record for all around acting nominations
Best Actress=11
Best Supporting=3


Katharine Hepburn=4 Best Actress Oscars

Meryl Streep=One Best Actress and One Supporting Oscar
Updated On: 1/27/07 at 01:18 PM

[mattonstage]

Posted: 1/27/07 at 1:27pm

Oscar nominated actresses Dyan Cannon and Christine Lahti were also nominated in the Best Short Film category, for films they directed.

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 1/27/07 at 8:25pm

judy is amazing

[lildogs]

Posted: 3/21/07 at 5:13pm

Here's one for you best12 and/or munk:

Who was the first person to receive noms in 2 different categories?

PS--Not who you'd think....I was surprised by this one

[StageManager2]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 2:26am

What about me, dogs?

Anyway, the answer to your question is Fay Bainter, who was nominated for Best Actress (WHITE BANNERS) and Best Supporting Actress (JEZEBEL) in 1938. She won for the latter.

That said, Barry Fitzgerald is the only actor to be nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the same role in the same movie, GOING MY WAY (1944). He won for Supporting Actor.

[lildogs]

Posted: 3/22/07 at 3:32pm

And your answer is wrong, SM2...try again....