Oscar Party Trivia and Fun Facts

Crown your own Oscar winner with Academy Awards trivia.

Ask your guests these questions during the commercials. Whoever shouts out the answer first gets the point. Use the 15th question as the tiebreaker.

Give out mini, personalized Oscar trophies to the movie buff with the most points.

1. Q: Which movie won the first Animated Feature Film Award?
A: “Shrek” (2001).

2. Q: Of the many pictures that have won Oscars® in every category in which they were nominated, which picture received the most awards?
A: “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003) with 11 awards in 11 nominations.

3. Q: Who was the first black performer to win an Academy Award®?
A: Hattie McDaniel, for her supporting performance in 1939’s “Gone with the Wind.”

4. Q: Name the only two pairs of performers who received Oscar nominations for playing the same character in the same film.
A: Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Gloria Stuart as Old Rose in “Titanic” (1997) and Kate Winslet as Young Iris Murdoch and Judi Dench as Iris Murdoch in “Iris” (2001).

5. Q: Which five performers have won Academy Awards for performances in languages other than English?
A: Sophia Loren (1961, Actress in “Two Women”); Robert De Niro (1974, Supporting Actor in “The Godfather Part II”); Roberto Benigni (1998, Actor in “Life Is Beautiful”); Benicio Del Toro (2000, Supporting Actor in “Traffic”); Marion Cotillard (2007, Actress in “La Vie en Rose,”).

6. Q: Name the only director in Oscar® history to direct both his father and his daughter in Academy Award®-winning performances.
8. A: In 1948 John Huston directed his father, Walter Huston, to a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” Thirty-seven years later he directed his daughter Anjelica to a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in “Prizzi’s Honor.”

7. Q: What is the longest movie to ever win an Academy Award?
A: War and Peace (1969), winner of Best Foreign Language Film.

8. Q: Which actor has appeared in more movies with fellow Oscar nominees than any other?
A: Anthony Quinn.

 9. Q: Which three pictures had the most nominations for a single movie?
A: Ben-Hur, All About Eve and Titanic, with 14 nominations each.

10. Q: Who has had the most nominations for Best Screenplay?
A: Woody Allen.

11. Q: Which two actors had the longest drought between acting nominations?
A: 38 years, shared by both Helen Hayes and Jack Palance.

12. Q: What is the most expensive movie (adjusted for inflation) to be nominated for Best Picture?
A: Cleopatra (1963). 

13. Q: Which movies have won the most Academy Awards without also winning Best Picture?
A: Star Wars and The Aviator.

14. Q: Who was the oldest man to win Best Director?
A: Clint Eastwood, who won the award at age 74 for Million Dollar Baby.

15. Q: Name the only song from a documentary film to win an Original Song Oscar.
A: “I Need to Wake Up” (music and lyric by Melissa Etheridge) from “An Inconvenient Truth,” in 2006.

For more fun facts, check out these informative, engaging books: 80 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards by Robert Osbourne and So You Think You Know Oscar: Test Your Academy Award IQ by Gerald Granozio.

1. The first televised Oscar ceremony was in 1953.

2. In its more than 80-year history, the Academy Awards has only failed to take place as scheduled three times:

• In 1938 massive flooding in Los Angeles delayed the ceremony by a week.

• In 1968 the Awards ceremony was postponed from April 8th to the 10th out of respect for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who had been assassinated a few days earlier.

• In 1981 the Awards were once again postponed, this time for 24 hours because of the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

3. The person to give the longest acceptance speech ever was Greer Garson. Her Best Actress win for Mrs. Miniver produced a six minute long spiel.

4. The Oscar statuette only measures 13½ inches high.

5. According to the Variety article “Oscar trophies, lost and found," the Academy forbids winners or their heirs from selling their Oscar statuettes. The legal document is known as "The Winner's Agreement," and it has been in place since 1950.

Oscar Statuette Mishaps:

The article also mentions that several Oscar winners have had trouble holding on to their statues. Future winners, take notice, and upgrade your security systems stat!

• Whoopi Goldberg's supporting actress Oscar for "Ghost" mysteriously disappeared after it was sent out for cleaning.

• When Clark Gable's best actor Oscar for 1934's "It Happened One Night" came up for auction in 1996, it was scooped up for over $600,000 by an anonymous bidder, who turned out to be Steven Spielberg. The director donated it to the Academy.

• Alice Brady won a supporting actress Oscar for the movie "In Old Chicago" in 1938, but was too sick to attend the ceremony. When her name was announced, a man jumped up onstage and accepted on her behalf. Unfortunately, the actress didn't know the stranger and her Oscar was never seen again.

Check out the article “Oscar trophies, lost and found,"for more Oscar mishaps.