1). Titanic does not hold sole title for the most Oscar wins, but it is tied for that honor with Ben-Hur and with Lord of the Rings: Return of the King -- each with 11 wins. I had said that I thought it was All about Eve, which had received 14 nominations, but it actually only won 6. It should be noted however that besides winning best picture and director, Titanic won the following: Best costume design, visual effects, sound, sound effects, original dramatic score, film editing, song, art direction, and cinematography. Thus it did not win any acting or writing awards. LOR is somewhat similar in terms of no acting wins, but it did at least win best adapted screenplay. Therefore, even though three films won 11 oscars, I'd give Ben-Hur a little more credit than the other two (On the other hand, it won for the 1960 Oscars and, for Mike's information, it was the first time I got really angry because the wrong film won -- It should have gone to Some Like it Hot, which wasn't even nominated. Note: I was only three months old at the time, but I always had good taste in films)
2). I was correct that only three films have won best actor, actress, picture and director -- Silence of the Lambs, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, and It Happened One Night.
3). I did get my facts wrong on no film winning, without the director getting nominated. It's happened three times, with Wings in 1927, Grand Hotel (1931) and Driving Miss Daisy (1989). I knew better, even mentioning Miss Daisy in the conversation. What I was wrongly remembering is that no director has won, when his picture was not also nominated. However, I just checked and that's not even completely true, in that it happened in 1928 and 1929 -- However the rules were very different then and I do not believe it could happen now.
That's all the Oscar trivia for now.
3 comments:
Speaking of Oscar trivia, I have one: Which Director was nominated 5 times for a Best Director Oscar and never won?
(Hint: It's a travesty that he never won. I get dizzy just thinking about it.)
I think Hitchcock. But he got an honorary award because I remember he gave the shortest acceptance speech in history, just saying "Thank you" or something of that nature. But maybe Robert Altman. I know there's been quite a few great directors who have repeatedly and unfortunately lost.
As per #3, that's another reason I'm discounting Atonement.
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