Calendar Big Oscars Issue : Oscar Bits

CUT AND RUN

The documentary “Hoop Dreams” is nominated this year for best film editing. The first documentary nominated in that category was 1970’s “Woodstock.”

NO PUSHING

The bleachers outside the Shrine Auditorium this year will be able to hold 2,200 fans. Only 900 seats were available at the Music Center last year. The bleacher seats will be available to the public today at 2 p.m. No bleacher tickets will be issued this year; seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

KING CHARLES

Twenty-one years after winning his Oscar, Charles Laughton reprised his role of Henry VIII in the MGM film “Young Bess.”

STEPPING UP

Best actor nominee Tom Hanks (“Forrest Gump”) made his film debut in a little-seen, low-budget 1981 horror flick, “He Knows You’re Alone,” above.

FOUNDING FATHERS

Original members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences actors branch included: Richard Barthelmess, Jack Holt, Conrad Nagel, Milton Sills, Douglas Fairbanks and Harold Lloyd. The directors branch was headed by Cecil B. DeMille, Frank Lloyd, Henry King, Fred Niblo, John M. Stahl and Raoul Walsh.

The Irving

The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, which Clint Eastwood will receive this year, is a solid bronze head of Thalberg, resting on a black marble base. It weighs 10 3/4 pounds and is 9 inches tall. The trophy design was supervised by Cedric Gibbons and executed by sculptor Bernard Sopher.

OLIVIER’S CROWN

Laurence Olivier is the only performer to direct himself to a best actor Oscar. He directed himself in the 1948 Oscar-winner “Hamlet.” He lost the best director award to John Huston for “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”

BURT & WALTER

Burt Lancaster, who won a best actor Oscar for 1960’s “Elmer Gantry,” directed only one film in his long career: 1955’s “The Kentuckian.” The film also marked the debut of Walter Matthau, who later won the 1966 best supporting actor Oscar for “‘The Fortune Cookie.”

TRIPLE THREATS

Clark Gable, Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman, Shirley MacLaine, Diane Keaton and John Cazale all have appeared in three best-picture Oscar-winning films. Gable starred in 1934’s “It Happened One Night,” 1935’s “Mutiny on the Bounty” and 1939’s “Gone With the Wind.” Streep appeared in 1978’s “The Deer Hunter,” 1979’s “Kramer vs. Kramer” and 1985’s “Out of Africa.” Dustin Hoffman starred in 1969’s “Midnight Cowboy,” 1979’s “Kramer vs. Kramer” and 1988’s “Rain Man.” Shirley MacLaine appeared in 1956’s “Around the World in 80 Days,” 1960’s “The Apartment” and 1983’s “Terms of Endearment.” Diane Keaton starred in 1972’s “The Godfather,” 1974’s “The Godfather, Part II” and 1977’s “Annie Hall.” John Cazale was featured in 1972’s “The Godfather,” 1974’s “The Godfather Part II” and 1978’s “The Deer Hunter” (pictured above, center).

NATURAL BORN ACTOR

Best director and screenplay nominee Quentin Tarantino (“Pulp Fiction”) played an Elvis impersonator on a 1988 episode of the NBC sitcom “The Golden Girls.”

TOPS IN TAPS AND MORE

Fred Astaire won a 1949 special Oscar for his “unique artistry and his contributions to the technique of musical pictures.”

LEAPIN’ LANDAU

Martin Landau, a best supporting actor nominee this year for “Ed Wood,” was one of the stars of the 1981 TV film “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island.”

SWITCH-HITTER

Best supporting actor nominee Gary Sinise (“Forrest Gump”) began his feature film career behind the camera, as director of the 1988 Richard Gere movie “Miles From Home.”

ANTICLIMAX

The first Academy Awards, which took place May 16, 1929, were presented three months after the winners had been announced in the press.

WIEST MOVE

Woody Allen has the chance of becoming the first director to guide a performer to double Oscars. He directed Dianne Wiest to a best supporting Oscar for 1986’s “Hannah and Her Sisters”; he also directed her to a best supporting nomination this year for “Bullets Over Broadway.”

BING’S BUNCH

Bing Crosby introduced four Oscar-winning tunes: 1937’s “Sweet Leilani” from “Waikiki Wedding”; “White Christmas” from 1942’s “White Christmas” “Swinging on a Star” from 1944’s “Going My Way” and “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening” from 1951’s “Here Comes the Groom.”

REPEAT WINNERS

If Tom Hanks, who won best actor last year for “Philadelphia,” wins for “Forrest Gump,” he’ll only be the fifth performer to win back-to-back Oscars. Luise Rainer won best actress for 1936’s “The Great Ziegfeld” and 1937’s “The Good Earth”; Spencer Tracy won best actor for 1937’s “Captains Courageous” and 1938’s “Boys Town”; Katharine Hepburn won best actress for 1967’s “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and 1968’s “The Lion in Winter”; and Jason Robards won best supporting actor for 1976’s “All the President’s Men” and 1977’s “Julia.”

Driving Solo

Only two films have won the best picture honor without the director being nominated: 1931-32’s “Grand Hotel” and 1989’s “Driving Miss Daisy” (above, with Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman).

FOUR FOR FORD

John Ford won four best director Oscars, a feat no other director has accomplished. He won for 1935’s “The Informer,” 1940’s “The Grapes of Wrath,” 1941’s “How Green Was My Valley” and 1952’s “The Quiet Man.”

FIRST LADIES

The original version of “Little Women,” directed by George Cukor and starring Katharine Hepburn, was nominated for best film of 1932-33. The drama won for adapted screenplay.

TITLE HOLDER

Joseph Farnham holds the distinction of being the only title-writing winner. The category was eliminated after the first Oscars. He received his Oscar for “Telling the World.” With his passing two years later, Farnham also became the first Oscar winner to die.

FAMILY TREE

Sean Astin, who is nominated this year for best live action short film for “Kangaroo Court,” is the son of the 1962 best supporting actress winner Patty Duke. His father, John Astin, was nominated for best live action short for his 1968 film, “Prelude.”

VERSATILE VICTOR

Victor Schertzinger was nominated for best director for 1934’s “One Night of Love,” but lost out to Frank Capra for “It Happened One Night.” Schertzinger, though, didn’t go home empty-handed. He won for the film’s thematic music, which he wrote with Gus Kahn.

COLOR IT GOLD

“La Cucaracha,” the 1934 short subject comedy winner, was the first Technicolor picture to win an Oscar.

POST NO VOTES

The 1935 Oscars were the last to accept write-in votes.

TUNESMITH

Irving Berlin presented the 1942 best song Oscar to himself for “White Christmas.”

2 FOR II

Lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II won two best song Oscars for 1941’s “The Last Time I Saw Paris” from “Lady Be Good” and 1945’s “It Might As Well Br Spring” from “State Fair.”

BY DESIGN

This year, 1,600 people are set to attend the Governors Ball at the Shrine Exposition Center after the Academy Awards ceremony. Ambrosia Productions is the designer of the dinner.

EXTRA SPECIAL

A 15-year-old Sophia Loren was an extra in the 1951 best picture nominee “Quo Vadis.” Ten years later, she won best actress for “Two Women.”

MULTIFACETED

Famed French film director Max Ophuls received a 1954 nomination for his art and set direction for “Le Plaisir.”

Divine Decadence

Though 1972’s “Cabaret” failed to win best picture, it won eight Academy Awards--a record for a non-best film winner.

HAYES’ HONORS

Helen Hayes was the first best actress winner (1931-32’s “The Sin of Madelon Claudet”) to subsequently win a best supporting actress award (1970’s “Airport”).

PRIME CUT

The 1955 best picture winner, “Marty,” is the only best picture winner based on a dramatic TV special.

GUNNING FOR A PRIZE

John Cassavetes was nominated for 1967 best supporting actor for “The Dirty Dozen.” The follow year, he was nominated for his original screenplay for “Faces.”

‘HAIR’ GRADS

Two stars of the original Broadway cast of “Hair” went on to win Oscars. Diane Keaton won for best actress for 1977’s “Annie Hall” and Paul Jabara received the 1978 best song Oscar for “Last Dance” from “Thank God, It’s Friday.”

PLAY IT EARLY, SAM

Though “Casablanca” won best film of 1943, it premiered Thanksgiving Day, 1942, at the Hollywood Theatre in New York. It was released nationally in July, 1943.

FUN COUPLE

The 1987 best actress winner Cher (“Moonstruck”) made her film debut with then-husband, now Congressman Sonny Bono in the 1965 musical “Wild on the Beach.”

ELECTRIFYING

From 1971-76, best actor nominee Morgan Freeman (“The Shawshank Redemption”) played the part of Easy Reader on the PBS children’s series “The Electric Company.”

CLOWNING AROUND

The 1950 best actress winner Judy Holliday (“Born Yesterday”) co-wrote the title tune of the 1965 best picture nominee “A Thousand Clowns.”

SIBLING SUCCESS

Lionel and Ethel Barrymore are the only brother and sister to win acting Oscars. Lionel won the 1930-31 best actor for “A Free Soul” and Ethel won 1944 best supporting actress for “None but the Lonely Heart.”

FAMILY TREE II

John Huston is the only person to direct his father and his daughter to best supporting Oscars. Walter Huston won best supporting actor for 1948’s “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” and daughter Anjelica won supporting actress for 1985’s “Prizzi’s Honor.”

REGAL NAME

Helen Mirren, best supporting actress nominee this year for “The Madness of King George,” was born Ilyena Mirnoff.

SELECT CREW

Best supporting actor nominee Paul Scofield (“Quiz Show”) won best actor for 1966’s “A Man for All Seasons.” If he wins best supporting, he’ll be the fifth actor to have won the Oscar in both categories. Jack Lemmon, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro and Gene Hackman have all won best actor and best supporting actor awards.

FAMILY VALUES

The 1942 Oscars awarded a certificate to “MGM Studio for its achievement in representing the American way of life in the production of the ‘Andy Hardy’ series of films.”

SOLO SHOT

The 1975 best actor nominee James Whitmore (“Give ‘Em Hell, Harry!”) is the only performer to be nominated for a one-man show.

GONE BEFORE ‘WIND’

Writer Sidney Howard holds the distinction of being the first posthumous Oscar winner. Howard, who died in 1939, won for his screenplay of 1939’s “Gone With the Wind.”

PROLIFIC

Frank Lloyd won the best director of 1928-29 for three films: “The Divine Lady, “ “Weary River” and “Drag.”

MICKEY MOUSE TROPHY

Walt Disney received a 1931-32 special award for creating Mickey Mouse.

PASTEURIZED

The 1936 film “The Story of Louis Pasteur won both writing awards: original story and screenplay by Pierre Collings and Sheridan Gibney.

BUBBLY BALL

Five hundred seventy-six bottles of 1990 Jordan sparkling wine will be served to the guests at the Governors Ball.

BOYER BOUQUET

Charles Boyer received a 1942 special award certificate for “his progressive cultural achievement in establishing the French Research Foundation in Los Angeles as a source of reference for the Hollywood motion picture industry.”

MR. MUSIC

Oscar- and Emmy-winning composer Bill Conti (“The Right Stuff”) returns as musical director for this year’s Academy Awards. Conti has been the musical director for the Oscar telecast for more years (six) than any other person. He received an Emmy for his work on the 64th annual Academy Awards show.

TOP TWO

The 1950 film “All About Eve” received the most nominations with 14. But 1959’s “Ben-Hur” has received the most awards--11.

CRISP WORK

The 1941 best supporting actor Donald Crisp (“How Green Was My Valley”) appeared as Gen. Grant in D.W. Griffith’s landmark 1915 film, “Birth of a Nation.”

LASTING ‘SCENT’

The 1992 drama “Scent of a Woman” was nominated for best film. Previously, the 1975 Italian original was nominated for best foreign film and best screenplay adaptation.

FILM FEAST

The very first Oscar ceremony, in 1929, featured a dinner of filet of sole saute au beurre, broiled half-chicken on toast, new string beans and Long Branch potatoes, preceded by consomme Celestine.

Wolfgang Puck’s menu for this year’s Governors Ball is far more elaborate. The dinner features six hors d’oeuvres: new roasted potatoes and caviar; four-cheese pizza with sun-dried tomatoes; smoked salmon pizza with dill cream and caviar; duck sausage pizza with wild mushrooms and caramelized onions; Chinois vegetable spring roll with apricot mustard glaze, and crisp potato gelatte with smoked sturgeons and horseradish cream.

The main course will be Chinois lamb chops with cilantro mint vinaigrette and stir-fried vegetables, along with roasted salmon with potato puree and tomato basil fondue. And dessert will be chocolate coffee crunch cake with raspberry sauce and fresh berries--topped with an edible Oscar.