OK, movie buffs, this year's Academy Awards telecast is two days away, so it's time for a visit from the ghosts of Oscars past.
Test your mettle with this little quiz, two dozen queries on a variety of factoids designed to help you prepare for an evening of Hollywood celebs slapping each other on the back and honoring films that most of the voters haven't actually seen but feel that they should. (Answers are at the end.)
1. Bob Hope hosted the most Oscar celebrations but do you know how many? And who comes in second and third for the most emcee gigs?
2. Despite Hope's many jokes about never winning an Oscar ("or as it's known at my house, Passover"), he actually took home how many honorary awards?
3. In what year was the Oscar ceremony broadcast on TV for the first time? And in what year was the broadcast in color for the first time?
4. Name the past five films that have won the best-picture Academy Awards, 2006-10. (Not so easy, is it?)
5. Last year, Kathryn Bigelow won the best-director Oscar for "The Hurt Locker," the only woman to win that award. In fact, she was only the fourth to be nominated. Who were the other three?
6. Name the only brother and sister to win acting Oscars.
7. Name the two sisters nominated in 1941 in the best-actress category, and the two sisters who found themselves in the same situation in 1966.
8. What was the first color movie to win the best-picture Oscar?
9. What were the last two black-and-white movies to win as best picture? (Hint: they were separated by 33 years.)
10. Who won the only two acting Oscars to be awarded posthumously?
11. Who was the only actor to earn posthumous acting nominations two years in a row?
12. It's fairly well-known that Meryl Streep holds the record for the most acting nominations (16), but who among male performers has received the most nominations?
13. What two movie trilogies garnered best-picture nominations for each of the three films in their respective franchises?
14. How many performers have won acting awards in tie votes?
15. John Wayne won his Oscar for playing Rooster Cogburn in the 1968 Western "True Grit." If Jeff Bridges wins this year for the "True Grit" remake, he and Wayne will be the second set of actors to win for playing the same character. Who came first?
16. If Javier Bardem wins for "Biutiful," he will be only the fourth performer to win an acting Oscar for a foreign-language film. Who were the first three?
17. What two actors won best-supporting Oscars for foreign-language performances in English-language pictures?
18. Which two movies hold the record for the most nominations?
19. How many performers have won acting awards two years in a row?
20. Who was the only performer to win an Oscar for playing a member of the opposite sex?
21. No movies have won all four acting awards, but which two movies each won three acting awards?
22. What are the three movies tied for winning the most Oscars?
23. What individual took home 26 Oscars, the most ever?
24. What three animated features received best-picture nominations?
ANSWERS
1. Hope hosted 18 times. Billy Crystal is second with eight, then Johnny Carson with five.
2. Four, in 1940, 1944, 1952 and 1965.
3. The first TV broadcast was in March 1953; the first color show was April 1966.
4. "The Hurt Locker" (2010), "Slumdog Millionaire" (2009), "No Country for Old Men" (2008), "The Departed" (2007), "Crash" (2006).
5. Lina Wertmuller, "Seven Beauties" (1976); Jane Campion, "The Piano" (1993); Sofia Coppola, "Lost in Translation" (2003).
6. Lionel Barrymore, 1931, best actor, "A Free Soul"; Ethel Barrymore, 1944, best supporting actress, "None But the Lonely Heart."
7. In 1941 it was Joan Fontaine for "Suspicion" and Olivia de Havilland for "Hold Back the Dawn" (Fontaine won). In 1966 it was Lynn Redgrave for "Georgy Girl" and Vanessa Redgrave for "Morgan!" (both lost).
8. "Gone With the Wind" (1939).
9. "Schindler's List" (1993) and "The Apartment" (1960).
10. Peter Finch for "Network" (1976); Heath Ledger for "The Dark Knight" (2008).
11. James Dean, in 1955 for "East of Eden" and 1956 for "Giant," both for best actor.
12. Jack Nicholson with 12 nominations.
13. "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Godfather." (FYI: "Star Wars" received a best-picture nomination only for the 1977 original.)
14. Katharine Hepburn ("The Lion in Winter") tied with Barbra Streisand ("Funny Girl") in 1969; Fredric March ("Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde") tied with Wallace Beery ("The Champ") in 1932.
15. Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro, who played Vito Corleone in, respectively, "The Godfather" (1972) and "The Godfather, Part II" (1974).
16. Sophia Loren, best actress for "Two Women," 1961; Roberto Benigni, best actor for "Life Is Beautiful," 1998; Marion Cotillard, best actress for "La Vie En Rose," 2007.
17. Robert De Niro, "The Godfather, Part II," 1974; Benicio Del Toro, "Traffic," 2000.
18. "All About Eve" (1950) and "Titanic" (1997), with 14 nominations each.
19. Five: Luise Rainer, best actress in 1936 and '37 for "The Great Ziegfeld" and "The Good Earth," respectively; Spencer Tracy, best actor, 1937 and '38, "Captains Courageous" and "Boys Town"; Katharine Hepburn, best actress, 1967 and '68, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and "The Lion in Winter"; Jason Robards, best supporting actor, 1976 and '77, "All the President's Men," "Julia"; Tom Hanks, best actor, 1993 and '94, "Philadelphia," "Forrest Gump."
20. Linda Hunt for "The Year of Living Dangerously" (1983).
21. "Network" (1976), with Peter Finch as best actor, Faye Dunaway as best actress and Beatrice Straight as best supporting actress, and "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951), with Vivien Leigh as best actress, Kim Hunter as best supporting actress and Karl Malden as best supporting actor.
22. "Ben-Hur" (1959), "Titanic" (1997) and "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" (2003) are tied with 11 Oscars each.
23. Walt Disney took home 26 Oscars over the course of his career, 22 wins and four honorary awards. (He was nominated 59 times!)
24. "Toy Story 3" is in that category this year (it's also in the best-animated picture category), and another Pixar flick, "Up" (2009) was also nominated as best picture. The first animated film to receive a best-picture nod was Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" (1991).
e-mail: hicks@desnews.com