Academy Awards(Oscars) - Facts

Created as a non-profit organisation in 1927, the original Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was made up of 36 producers and film-makers. Led by MGM studio chief Louis B Mayer, its membership included such notables as Douglas Fairbanks, Harold Lloyd and Mary Pickford. It now boasts more than 6,000 members, a quarter of them actors

For years, the Oscar oscillated between the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Los Angeles Music Center and the Shrine Auditorium near the University of Southern California.

From 2002 to 2012, the Oscars were held at the Kodak Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, although in 2012, Kodak ended its sponsorship deal with the Oscars shortly before the event

In May 2013, it changed its name to the Dolby Theatre in a new sponsorship deal and the Oscars will continue to be held there for the foreseeable future.

The awards were televised for the first time in 1953, attracting the largest audience in commercial TV's five-year history. But it was not until 1966 that they were broadcast in colour, prompting host Bob Hope to quip: "Now we can see the losers turn green."

The award was formally called by the name in 1939, a decade after its establishmen

The Oscar statuette stands 13.5 inches high and weighs 8.5 pounds. It is made of gold-plated britannium.

The Academy's rules states that a film cannot be nominated for an Oscar unless it has played in Los Angeles. This was the reason Charlie Chaplin's Limelight, which was produced in 1952, won an Oscar in 1972, only after it played in Los Angeles.

In 1989, the phrase 'And the winner is...' was replaced by 'And the Oscar goes to...'.

38 of the 84 movies to have won the Best Picture award have been adapted from novels. Two of these novels also won the Pulitzer Prize: Gone With The Wind (1939) and All the King's Men (1949)

Only 3 films have won the 'Big Five' (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay).They are -

• It Happened One Night (1934)
• One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and
• The Silence of The Lambs (1991).

Two films hold the record for the most Oscar nominations without winning a single. The Turning Point (1977) and The Color Purple (1985) both got 11 Oscar nominations each, but did not win a single Academy Award.

Walt Disney holds the record for winning the most number of Oscars by an individual. He has walked off the stage 26 times with the golden statuette, of the 64 times that he was nominated

Katharine Hepburn has the most number (four) of Best Actress awards

Meryl Streep holds the record for the most nominations (17) for acting, including three wins (two for Best Actress - one for Best Supporting Actress for Kramer Vs Kramer)

Jack Nicholson holds the record for male actors, with 12 nominations, including three wins (twice for Best Actor, once for Best Supporting Actor)

Woody Allen has the most nominations (14) for writing.

Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to win a best director Oscar for ''The Hurt Locker'' in 2010. The film also won best picture.

Bob Hope holds the record for having hosted the ceremony 19 times over the course of 39 years

Midnight Cowboy made Oscar history in 1970 by becoming the first (and to date only) X-rated movie to be named best picture.

Tatum O'Neal holds the record as the youngest Oscar-winner after she was named best supporting actress for Paper Moon at the age of 10.  But the youngest Oscar recipient is Shirley Temple, given an honorary award at six for "her outstanding contribution to screen entertainment."