From Katharine Hepburn to Shirley Temple: A look back at Old Hollywood Oscars and little-known trivia

The 95th Academy Awards are just around the corner and some of the greatest stars in cinematic history have taken home an Oscar statuette.

From 1929, the year of the very first ceremony, to postponements and the shortest acceptance speeches, here are fascinating facts ahead of Oscars 2023 – plus moments of nostalgia.

OSCARS QUIZ! HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW THE FACTS ABOUT THE ACADEMY AWARDS?

1. When did the first Oscar award ceremony take place?

The first Oscars ceremony took place on May 16, 1929, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California,” according to the Academy’s official website, oscars.org. The distribution of the awards reportedly took 15 minutes.

1935: American child actor Shirley Temple receives a special Oscar from American screenwriter Irwin S Cobb (1876 – 1944) at the Academy Awards ceremony, Biltmore Bowl, Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles, California. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

2. Who are the youngest Oscar winners?

At the age of 6, Shirley Temple is the youngest Academy Award Honoree. 

Tatum O’Neal is the youngest winner, at age 10, for her performance in “Paper Moon” and Justin Henry is the youngest Oscar nominee at the age of 8-years-old for “Kramer vs Kramer,” according to oscars.org.

3. Who won the most Oscars?

Katharine Hepburn is the most decorated actor and actress with four Academy Awards to her name. In 1934, Hepburn was awarded the Best Actress Oscar for “Morning Glory,” oscars.org reports. She then won two consecutive Best Actress awards in 1968 and 1969 for “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and “The Lion in Winter,” the latter she shared with Barbra Streisand. 

Her final Academy Award was in 1982 for “On Golden Pond.”

Meryl Streep holds the record for most nominations, 21, by a performer in the acting categories, but she has only taken home three Oscars, according to oscars.org.

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4. Who holds the longest gap between Oscar nominations?

Judd Hirsch holds the longest gap between nominations at the Academy Awards at 42 years. Hirsch won his first Academy Award in 1981 for his performance in “Ordinary People” and has been nominated for his second Oscar at the upcoming 95th Academy Awards.

Hirsch’s record was recently acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records.

5. Has the winners list ever been leaked before the Oscars ceremony?

In 1940, The Los Angeles Times broke the Academy’s embargo, by releasing the winning achievements prior to the award ceremony, the Academy reported in its article, “History of the Oscars Presentation.” 

Since then, the Academy has adopted the “sealed-envelope” approach making sure no winners will be announced until the evening’s festivities, according to The Los Angeles Times. This system is still used today.

6. Who is the oldest Oscar nominee?

Composer John Williams is the oldest Academy Award nominee at the age of 90, oscars.org reported. He is nominated at the upcoming 95th Academy Awards for scoring “The Fabelmans,” directed by Steven Spielberg.

Composer John Williams (right) attends 50th Annual Academy Awards on April 3, 1978 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images)

If Williams takes home the Oscar, he will become the oldest Academy Award winner taking the title away from Anthony Hopkins who won Best Actor in 2021 at the age of 83 for his performance in “The Father.”

7. Which actor received two Oscars for the same role?

Harold Russell is the only actor to have received two Academy Awards for the same role. The World War II veteran lost both his hands during his military service and went on to portray Homer Parrish in “The Best Years of Our Lives.” 

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The veteran won Best Supporting Actor and was awarded an honorary Oscar for “bringing aid and comfort to disabled veterans through the medium of motion pictures” in 1947, stated the U.S. National Archives.

8. Who delivered the longest Oscar speech?

The record for the longest Academy Award acceptance speech, reportedly lasting for nearly six minutes, belongs to Greer Garson at the 15th Academy Awards. She was named Best Actress in 1942 for her performance in “Mrs. Minidriver.”

The Academy Awards Acceptance Speech Database states that from the footage it currently has, the combined excerpts from Garson’s speech equals three minutes, 56 seconds. The Academy also reports that the newsreel coverage has “only portions” of Garson’s speech.

Actress Greer Garson won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Mrs. Miniver, and actor James Cagney won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Yankee Doodle Dandy. (Getty Images)

“While it is clear that the opening paragraph is the beginning of her speech, it is not known how the rest of the pieces fit together or the extent of the missing footage,” the Academy wrote.

The Academy reportedly now imposes a time limit of 45 seconds per speech.

9. Which Oscar winner had Oscar-winning parents?

No other mother, father and daughter combo can say they are all Academy Award winners, except for Judy Garland, Vincente Minnelli and Liza Minnelli. 

While Judy Garland never won a competitive Academy Award, the legendary actress was presented with a special Academy Juvenile Award in 1940, for her performance in “The Wizard of Oz” and “Babes in Arms.” 

Garland was presented with a special Academy Juvenile Award in 1940, for her performance in “The Wizard of Oz.” Here Garland appears in a scene from the 1939 film, performing “Over the Rainbow.” The tune won an Oscar for best original song and is considered by many critics the greatest song in American history. (Photo by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty Images)

Garland’s former husband, Vincente Minnelli, won the Oscar for Best Direct in 1958 for the film “Gigi,” starring Leslie Caron. Liza Minnelli won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Sally Bowles in “Cabaret” (1972), according to oscars.org.

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10. What were the shortest Oscar acceptance speeches?

After winning the Oscar in 1963 for Best Supporting Actress in “The Miracle Worker,” Patty Duke’s acceptance speech consisted of only two words — “Thank you,” according to oscars.org. 

Alfred Hitchcock received the “Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award” at the 1968 Academy Awards and said, “Thank you,” before walking away from the microphone. He returned to the podium to finish his sentiment with “very much indeed,” but the microphone had already been muted, oscars.org reported in its acceptance speech database.

11. How many films won Oscars in the 5 major categories?

Three films have won the five major awards — Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay. The record-breaking films include, “It Happened One Night” (1934), “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975) and “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991), according to Academy Award statistics on oscars.org.

“It Happened One Night” starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. Winner of all 5 major 1934 Oscars. (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)

12. How many deaf actors have won Oscars?

Two deaf artists have been awarded Oscar. Marlee Matlin, Best Actress 1987 for “Children of a Lesser God,” held the title as the only deaf person to receive and Academy Award for over 30 years.

In 2022, Troy Kotsur was awarded Best Supporting Actor for his performance in “CODA,” starring alongside Matlin.

13. Where is Audrey Hepburn’s ‘lucky’ Oscars dress?

Audrey Hepburn’s dress that she wore for her Academy Award win in 1954 for her performance in “Roman Holiday” (1954) was sold at auction in 2011 for $131,292. Her dress was a custom-designed Givenchy gown that was made to replicate the original dress designed by Edith Head that Hepburn wore in the film.

Hepburn often referred to the ivory lace gown as her “lucky dress,” according to Kerry Taylor Auctions, through which the dress was sold.

14. How many times have the Oscars been postponed?

The Academy Awards have never been canceled, but the ceremony has been postponed. In 1938, the ceremony was delayed one week following a major flood in Los Angeles, according to oscars.org.

In 1968, the award show was postponed from April 8 to April 10 out of respect for Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral, which took place on April 9.

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The Academy Awards ceremony has been postponed several times due to weather, historical events or a health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. (STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

In 1981, celebration was postponed for 24 hours after the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.

In 2003, five days before the Awards ceremony, the U.S. officially declared war and invaded Iraq. “Initially, Academy officials considered postponing the ceremony; the final decision was to proceed as scheduled, but without the usual red carpet fanfare,” according to oscars.org.

In 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 93rd ceremony was moved from February 28, 2021 to April 25.

Pictured: (top to bottom) The hosts of the 47th Academy Awards: Bob Hope, Shirley Maclaine, Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra. (NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

16. Which celebrity most-served as host for the Oscars?

Legendary comedian Bob Hope has hosted the Academy Awards more than any other Hollywood star, with 19 ceremonies to his name, according to the New-York Historical Society.

The comedian hosted some of the most historical ceremonies, including the first televised Oscars in 1953 and the first Oscar broadcast in color in 1966, the organization reported.

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17. Have there been any Oscar-win ties? 

In the history of the Academy Awards, there have been two ties for an acting award. In 1932, Wallace Beery, “The Champ,” and Fredric March, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” split the Best Actor Oscar. 

While it was not a true tie, March had one more vote over Beery, the rules at the time stated that “if an achievement came within three votes of the winner, that achievement would also receive the award,” stated the Oscars Award database.

The 95th annual Academy Awards is just around the corner and throughout history we have seen some of Hollywood’s most legendary stars take home their own golden statuette. (Getty Images)

The first ever exact tie in a principal Oscar category took place in 1969. Katharine Hepburn, “The Lion in Winter,” and Barbra Streisand, “Funny Girl,” each received 3,030 votes for Best Actress, according to History.com. Hepburn was not in attendance to receive her award, but when Streisand was presented with her statuette, she delivered the iconic Fanny Brice line, “Hello, Gorgeous!”

There have also been ties in Best Documentary (Short Film, 1949), Best Documentary (Feature, 1986), Best Short film (Live Action, 1994) and Best Sound Editing in 2012.

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