Posted by: Sarah Fisher
Date: March 6th, 2006
Source: Assorted

With the usual glitzy frocks, priceless jewellery, teary speeches and lets not forget, some outstanding performances, the biggest night in Hollywood's showbiz calender, the Oscars, has come and gone for another year.

In celebration of the 78th Annual Academy Awards, here is the A-Z of the Oscars, past and present.

A - Academy Awards - The Oscar's ceremony have a huge worldwide audience. It has been broadcast around the globe since 1969, reaching fans in over 100 different countries.

B - Ben Hur - The most awards for a film is 11 achieved by 'Ben-Hur' (1959), 'Titanic' (1997) and 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' (2003).

C - Clooney - Nominated for three awards this year, heart-throb George managed to scoop Best Supporting Actor for his role in the politically-charge thriller, 'Syriana'. 'C' is also for 'Crash' - winner of this years Best Film Award.

D - Don Vito Corleone - This role in 'The Godfather' series is unique because it allowed 2 actors to win an Academy Award for playing the same character. Best Actor to Marlon Brando as the older Don in 'The Godfather' (1972) and Best Supporting Actor to Robert De Niro for his portrayal of the younger Don in 'The Godfather Part II' (1974).

E - Envelopes - Until the envelopes are opened, only two Price Waterhouse accountants know the results of the vote. The envelopes are guarded like treasure until they're given to the presenter who is announcing the award.

F - Francis Ford Coppola - Talk about keeping it in the family! Francis Ford Coppola won Best Director for 'The Godfather Part II' in 1974 and his father Carmine, won Best Musical Score for the same film. Francis' daughter Sofia completed the hat-trick by winning Original Screenplay for 'Lost in Translation' (2003).

G - Greer Garson: The British actress gave the longest speech in Oscar history (5 mins 30 secs) when she won Best Actress for 'Mrs Miniver' in 1942.

H - Henry Fonda: At the age of 76, Jane's famous late father is the oldest Best Actor winner. He took home the award for 'On Golden Pond' in 1981.

I - It Happened One Night: In 1934, classic romantic comedy 'It Happened One Night' was the first film ever to receive Best Picture, Director, Writing, Actor and Actress. Since then, only two other films have repeated that success -'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (1975) and 'Silence Of The Lambs' (1991).

J - John Singleton: In 1991, Singleton became the youngest nominated director for his powerful film 'Boyz 'N' The Hood'. He also wrote the story.

K - Kramer vs Kramer: When 8-year-old Justin Henry received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role in 1979's drama 'Kramer vs Kramer, he became the
youngest ever Oscar nominee.

L - Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King - Peter Jackson's adapation of Tolkein's fantasy epic achieved 100% Oscar success in 2004, winning all 11 awards it was nominated for.

M - Meryl Streep: With 13 nominations, Meryl Streep is the most nominated actress in Oscar history.

N - Nominations - With 14 nominations each, 1997's blockbuster 'Titanic' (which won 11) and 1950's classic 'All About Eve' (which won 6) hold the record for the most nominations.

O - Oscar - The famous statuette is a knight standing on a reel of film with 5 spokes representing actors, directors, writers, producers and technicians. No one knows who gave the statue its famous name.

P - Paul Newman - Newman has 9 acting Oscar nominations to his name. He won an Academy Honorary Award in 1985, Best Actor in 1986 for 'The Color of Money' and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1993.

Q - Queen Katherine - With 4 wins, Katherine Hepburn is the most honoured actor in Oscar history. She won Best Actress in 1932/33 for 'Morning Glory', 1967 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner', 1968 'The Lion in Winter' and 1981 for 'On Golden Pond'.

R - Reece Witherspoon & Rachel Weisz - The once 'Legally Blonde' star has proved she is no dumb blonde with her breath taking performance in the Johnny Cash biopic, 'Walk the Line'. And 2006 is definitely Witherspoon's year as she scooped Best Actress to accompany the Bafta she won just a few weeks ago.
British beauty, Weisz picked up a well deserved Best Supporting Actress award this year for her role as Tessa Quayle in the beautifully shot film, 'The Constant Gardener.'

S - Seymour Hoffman - This year's clear favourite romped home to victory scooping Best Actor for his potrayal of Truman Capote. Philip already has a spectacular collection of awards for this role, including a Golden Globe and Bafta.

T - Tom Hanks - Won two Best Actor awards in consecutive years, 1993/94 with Philadelphia and Forrest Gump. He became the first actor to do so since Spencer Tracy in 1937/38.

U - Upset - In the category of Best Actor for 2002, nobody fancied Adrien Brody to win over Daniel Day-Lewis, Jack Nicholson, Nicolas Cage or Michael Caine. But when Halle Berry announced Brody's name, the shocked actor completely lost the plot, even snogging Berry at the podium!!

V - Vanishing Act - Some Oscar winners have found living up to their win difficult with the likes of Tatum O Neal and Mira Sorvino hardly ever gracing our screens after scooping awards.

W - Walt Disney: He achieved an astounding 64 Academy Award nominations in his lifetime and 32 wins. John Williams, composer of music for films including the 'Star Wars' and 'Jaws' shares second place with 43 nominations (5 wins) making him the most nominated person living. 'W' is also for 'Wallace & Grommit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit', which won Best Animated Feature this year for creator, Nick Park.

X - X-Rated: 1969's gritty classic 'Midnight Cowboy' starring Jon Voigt and Dustin Hoffman is the only X-rated film ever to win an Oscar for Best Picture.

Y - Youngest: The youngest Best Actor winner is Adrien Brody. He was 29 when he won for The Pianist in 2002. Marlee Matlin is the youngest Best Actress winner at aged 21 when she won Best Actress for her role in 'Children of a Lesser God'.

Z - Zero: In 1985 'The Color Purple' set an astounding record. It received 11 nominations without winning a single award.

Who will add to the winner's and loser's in 2007? With a host of fantastic films due out later this year and more politically charged drama's entering the circuit, the race for the 2007 Oscar nominations is already on.