1.The first colour film to win best picture was the Vivienne Leigh and Clark Gable classic Gone With The Wind, way back in 1939
2.Despite the current fad for sequels, the only one to scoop the best picture gong was The Godfather Part II in 1974
3.The director to scoop the best director accolade the most times was John Ford, who picked up four Oscars – the first in 1935, then in 1940, 1941 and 1952
4.The only person to actually win an Academy Award for playing the role of an Oscar loser was Maggie Smith in the 1978 movie California Suite
5.Both Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole were nominated for an award on seven separate occasions but never actually won, making them the two most nominated non-winning performers
6.The performer to notch up the most acting Oscar wins for acting was Katherine Hepburn, who scooped four awards throughout her career. Close behind are Walter Brennan, Ingrid Bergman and Jack Nicholson, on three wins apiece
7.Since the Academy was founded in 1928, only two women have been nominated in the best director category – Lina Wertmuller for the Italian film Seven Beauties in 1976, and Jane Campion for the 1993 film The Piano
8.The first person to be nominated as producer, director, actor and screenwriter in a single year was Orson Welles in 1941 for Citizen Kane
9.The youngest person to win a competitive Academy Award was ten-year-old Tatum O’Neal in 1973 for Paper Moon. Child star Shirley Temple had actually received an Oscar when she was just six, in 1934 – but it was a non-competitive special award
10.The first foreign-language performer to win an Oscar was Sophia Loren, who was 1961’s best actress for her work in the Italian film Two Women
