1. “Ben-Hur” (1959) was the third film version of the classic story
2. “Rebecca” (1940)
3. Joan Fontaine for “Suspicion” (1941)
4. Peter Ustinov for “Spartacus” (1960)
5. Four: Ellen Burstyn for “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Any More” (1974), Robert DeNiro for “Raging Bull” (1980), Paul Newman for “The Color Of Money” (1986) and Joe Pesci for “Goodfellas” (1990)
6. Harold Russell won the Best Supporting Actor Award and was presented with a Special Oscar for his performance in “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946)
7. Robert DeNiro’s Italian language performance won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for “The Godfather Part II” (1974)
8. John Mills’ performance as the mute Irish villager in “Ryan’s Daughter” (1970) won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar
9. Emil Jannings won the Best Actor Oscar for “The Way of All Flesh” (1927), but no prints of the film are known to survive
10. Joel Grey’s Best Supporting Actor-winning performance in Cabaret (1972) consisted entirely of musical numbers
11. “The Red Balloon” (1956)
12. “The Young Americans” won the 1968 Best Documentary Oscar, but the honor was voided after it was discovered the film was actually ineligible for consideration since it had theatrical playdates in the previous year
13. “Marty” (1955) was first presented as a 1953 live TV drama
14. Three: “The Broadway Melody” (1928/29), “Grand Hotel” (1931/32) and “Mutiny on the Bounty” (1935) only captured the Best Picture Award
15. The Japanese drama “Gate of Hell” (1954) won the award for Best Costume Design in a Color Film
16. The 1971 “Sentinels of Silence” won Best Documentary Short and Best Live Action Short; the following year, the Academy changed its rules to prevent a film from being nominated in both categories
17. One: “The Official Story” (1985) from Argentina
18: One: “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) from Taiwan. However, before the category for Best Foreign Language Film was created in 1956, three Japanese productions–“Rashomon” (1950), “Gate of Hell” (1954) and “Samurai: The Legend of Musashi” (1955)–were given Special Oscars as the Best Foreign Language Film of their respective years
19. No production by African filmmakers has ever won an Oscar, although two French films shot in Africa won the Best Foreign Film Oscar as the official entries of the nations where they were filmed: “Z” (Algeria) in 1969 and “Black and White in Color” (Ivory Coast) in 1976
20. Charles Chaplin’s “Limelight” premiered in New York in 1952, but could not get booking in Los Angeles due to the Red Scare boycott against Chaplin. The film finally premiered in Los Angeles in 1972, thus making it eligible for the Academy Awards…and it won the Best Original Score Award for that year
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