93 Fun Facts About Hollywood

Which film won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Picture in 1929?

Wings (1927), a World War I aviation epic, won the first Academy Award for Best Picture (then called Outstanding Picture) at the ceremony held on May 16, 1929.

Which 2009 James Cameron film lost the all-time box-office crown in 2019, then took it back with a 2021 re-release?

Avatar's March 2021 China re-release lifted its worldwide total to about $2.85 billion, passing Avengers: Endgame's $2.80 billion; Cameron's own Titanic had held the record from 1998 until Avatar overtook it in 2010.

Which actor has won the most Academy Awards for Best Actor?

Daniel Day-Lewis holds the record with three Best Actor Oscars: for My Left Foot (1989), There Will Be Blood (2007), and Lincoln (2012). No other actor has won three times in the lead category.

What was the first feature-length film to use synchronized dialogue throughout?

Lights of New York (1928) was the first all-talking feature; the famous 1927 part-talkie that preceded it had only a handful of synchronized dialogue scenes inside an otherwise silent picture.

Which studio produced the first full-length animated feature film in Hollywood history?

Walt Disney Productions released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, making it the first full-length cel-animated feature film produced in the United States.

Erected in 1923 as a temporary advert for a housing development, what did the Hollywood Sign originally spell?

HOLLYWOODLAND was the name of the development, in 50-foot letters; the sign was left up as it grew famous and the last four letters came down in 1949.

Which actress holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations?

Meryl Streep holds the record with 21 Academy Award nominations across her career, winning three times: for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Sophie's Choice (1982), and The Iron Lady (2011).

Which 1939 film is widely considered to be the most-watched film in cinema history?

The Library of Congress names The Wizard of Oz the most-watched film in history: it lost money in 1939, turned a profit on its 1949 re-release, and annual TV broadcasts from 1959 reached vast audiences.

What was the first film to earn $1 billion at the worldwide box office?

Titanic (1997) was the first film to cross the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office, eventually earning over $1.8 billion in its initial run.

Which director has won the most Academy Awards for Best Director?

John Ford holds the record with four Best Director Oscars: The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952).

In which year was the Academy Awards ceremony first shown on television?

The 25th Academy Awards on 19 March 1953 were the first televised: NBC paid the Academy $100,000 for the rights, and the show ran simultaneously from Hollywood and New York.

Which film studio is the oldest major Hollywood studio still in operation?

Universal Pictures, founded on 30 April 1912 by Carl Laemmle and partners, is the oldest surviving US studio; worldwide only Gaumont, Pathé, Titanus and Nordisk Film are older.

Who was the first African American to win an Academy Award?

Hattie McDaniel won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939) at the 12th Academy Awards in 1940, becoming the first African American Oscar winner.

What is the longest film ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture?

Gone with the Wind (1939) runs approximately 3 hours and 58 minutes (238 minutes), making it the longest Best Picture winner in Oscar history.

Which 1927 Al Jolson film is counted as the first feature 'talkie', even though most of it is silent?

The Jazz Singer has only a few minutes of synchronised sound, yet 'You ain't heard nothin' yet' ended the silent era; Sunrise and Metropolis came out the same year.

Which film gave Pixar its first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature?

The category only began in 2001, when Shrek took it; Pixar's earlier hits predated it, and Nemo (2003) beat Brother Bear and The Triplets of Belleville.

Which film first used digital image processing, pixellating footage for an android's point of view?

Westworld (1973) was the first major feature film to use CGI, employing 2D computer-generated imagery to represent the android's pixelated point-of-view. Tron later popularized 3D CGI.

Who is the youngest person to win a competitive Academy Award?

Tatum O'Neal was 10 when Paper Moon (1973) won her Best Supporting Actress, the youngest competitive winner ever; Shirley Temple's statuette at age 6 was an honorary juvenile award.

Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack were the founding brothers of which studio, incorporated in 1923?

Warner Bros. was incorporated on 4 April 1923 by Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack Warner; Jack, the youngest, took sole control in 1956 after buying out his surviving brothers.

What was the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture?

The Godfather Part II (1974) was the first sequel to win Best Picture. It remains one of the rare sequels to be considered equal to or better than the original by many critics.

Which actress has won the most Academy Awards?

Katharine Hepburn won four Academy Awards for Best Actress: Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981).

In the classic Hollywood studio system, what were the 'Big Five' major studios?

The Big Five were MGM, Paramount, Fox, Warner Bros. and RKO; with the Little Three (Universal, Columbia, United Artists) they controlled about 95% of the US market in the 1930s and 1940s.

What was the first major Hollywood film released with a PG-13 rating?

Red Dawn (1984) was the first film released with a PG-13 rating on August 10, 1984. The rating was created largely in response to complaints about the violence in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Gremlins.

Which film's director kept merchandising and sequel rights, creating Hollywood's modern franchise model?

Star Wars (1977): George Lucas traded salary for merchandising and sequel rights, and the toys, sequels and licensing that followed became the template for every modern Hollywood franchise.

Who was the first woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director?

Italian director Lina Wertmüller was the first woman nominated for Best Director for Seven Beauties (1976). Kathryn Bigelow later became the first woman to win the award for The Hurt Locker (2009).

Which studio produced Iron Man (2008), the first film of a shared cinematic universe?

Marvel Studios, under the leadership of Kevin Feige, created the MCU starting with Iron Man in 2008. While Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment in 2009, the MCU was conceived and launched independently by Marvel Studios.

What was Citizen Kane's famous last word?

Rosebud is the famous last word spoken by Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane (1941). The film follows reporters trying to discover its meaning, which is revealed to be the name of Kane's childhood sled.

Which director is known for his cameo appearances in nearly all of his own films?

Alfred Hitchcock made cameo appearances in 40 of his 54 surviving major films. These brief appearances became a beloved trademark, and audiences would often try to spot him early in the film.

Which 1948 Supreme Court case ended the studio system by breaking studios' control of theaters?

The United States v. Paramount Pictures (1948) Supreme Court decision ruled that major studios' ownership of theater chains was an illegal monopoly, forcing them to divest and ending the studio system's vertical integration.

Which Hollywood film was the first to cost over $100 million to produce?

True Lies (1994), directed by James Cameron, was the first Hollywood film to have a production budget exceeding $100 million. Waterworld and Titanic later surpassed it.

Which actor refused his Academy Award for Best Actor in 1973?

Marlon Brando refused the Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather in 1973, sending Sacheen Littlefeather to decline on his behalf to protest Hollywood's treatment of Native Americans.

Which Hollywood theater hosted the 1977 debut of Star Wars and three Oscar ceremonies?

Opened in 1927 as Grauman's Chinese Theatre, it is best known for the celebrity hand- and footprints in its forecourt concrete.

Which X-rated film won the Academy Award for Best Picture, the only one ever to do so?

Midnight Cowboy (1969), starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, is the only X-rated Best Picture winner; it was re-rated R in 1971 without a single frame being changed.

What iconic prop from Casablanca was sold at auction in 2014 for over $3.4 million?

Sam's piano from Rick's Café went under the hammer at Bonhams in November 2014 for $3.4 million; the other piano, from the Paris flashback, had sold at Sotheby's in 2012 for over $600,000.

Which director has the highest cumulative worldwide box office gross?

Steven Spielberg holds the record for highest cumulative worldwide box office gross as a director, with his films (including Jurassic Park, E.T., Indiana Jones series, and Jaws) earning over $10 billion combined.

Which actress is traditionally said to have stepped accidentally into the Chinese Theatre's wet concrete?

Norma Talmadge is the actress named in the theatre's founding legend; the first formal prints were made by Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford on 30 April 1927, and Talmadge's own are dated May 1927.

Which was the last black-and-white film to win Best Picture before The Artist (2011)?

Schindler's List (1993), Spielberg's Holocaust drama shot in black and white with a few colour touches like the girl's red coat, was the last monochrome Best Picture winner until The Artist in 2012.

In which 1951 film did Marlon Brando reprise his Broadway role as Stanley Kowalski?

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) earned Brando the first of four consecutive Best Actor nominations, and it was the first film to win three of the four acting Oscars (Leigh, Malden, Hunter).

The first colour film to win Best Picture was released in which year?

Gone with the Wind, released in 1939, was the first colour Best Picture winner, taking the prize at the February 1940 ceremony along with an honorary award for its use of colour.

Which 2012 Disney film lost so much that Disney took a $200 million writedown on it?

John Carter (2012) grossed $284 million worldwide against a combined production and marketing cost of about $350 million, and Disney announced a $200 million writedown on it.

Which actor portrayed the Joker and won a posthumous Academy Award?

Heath Ledger died in January 2008, six months before The Dark Knight opened; his family accepted his Best Supporting Actor Oscar at the February 2009 ceremony.

What is the Bechdel Test used to evaluate in Hollywood films?

The Bechdel Test gauges gender representation in film: whether two named women talk to each other about something other than a man. It first appeared in Alison Bechdel's 1985 strip Dykes to Watch Out For.

Which 1966 film won Production Code approval despite banned language, hastening the Code's collapse?

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) got a Code exemption after Jack Valenti brokered a compromise cutting 'screw' but keeping 'hump the hostess'; the Code gave way to MPAA ratings in November 1968.

How many Academy Award nominations did Walt Disney receive during his lifetime?

Walt Disney received 59 Academy Award nominations and won 22 competitive Oscars during his lifetime, both all-time records. He also received four honorary awards.

Which 1950 Billy Wilder film stars Gloria Swanson as faded silent star Norma Desmond?

Sunset Boulevard (1950), Billy Wilder's Hollywood noir, stars Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, with William Holden's screenwriter narrating from her swimming pool; it won three Oscars from eleven nominations.

Which iconic Hollywood film features the line 'Here's looking at you, kid'?

Casablanca (1942): Bogart says 'Here's looking at you, kid' four times, though it was in none of the draft screenplays; it reportedly began as a remark he made to Ingrid Bergman between takes.

Who directed In Old California, the 1910 Biograph short that was the first film ever shot in Hollywood?

D. W. Griffith shot the 17-minute short at a time when Hollywood itself banned movie theatres; DeMille's The Squaw Man, the first feature made there, came in 1914.

Who registered the subdivision map that first put the name Hollywood on his ranch in 1887?

Harvey Wilcox, a prohibitionist from Kansas, filed the Hollywood subdivision with the Los Angeles County recorder on 1 February 1887; his wife Daeida is usually credited with choosing the name.

In what year was Hollywood incorporated as an independent municipality?

Hollywood incorporated in November 1903 by a squeaker of a vote, 88 for and 77 against; within seven years it had merged into Los Angeles.

Why did the independent city of Hollywood vote to merge into Los Angeles in 1910?

To secure water and sewer access, Hollywood gave up its independence in 1910 and merged into Los Angeles, a merger that also renumbered every address in the district.

In 1904, Hollywood voters banned the sale of what within the city, except for medicinal use?

Liquor: the 113-96 vote of 1904 meant hotels and restaurants could not even serve wine with meals; before annexation the town also banned movie theaters, of which it had none.

What was Hollywood Boulevard called before the 1910 annexation renamed it?

The renumbering was drastic: 100 Prospect Avenue at Vermont became 6400 on the new boulevard.

Which station, launched in 1947, was the first commercial TV station west of the Mississippi?

KTLA signed on from Hollywood on 22 January 1947 as the first commercial station west of the Mississippi; that December The Public Prosecutor became the first network series filmed in Hollywood.

Who held the ceremonial title of honorary 'Mayor of Hollywood' from 1980 until his death in 2008?

Grant also chaired the Walk of Fame committee, hosted more than 500 star unveilings and instituted the fee that funds the Walk's upkeep.

Hollywood's first film studio, opened by the Nestor company in 1911, occupied what kind of building?

Nestor rented the old Blondeau Tavern, a roadhouse at Sunset and Gower, in October 1911; the company had been sent west by the New Jersey-based Centaur Film Company.

Early filmmakers moved to Los Angeles partly to escape patent lawsuits from whose New Jersey-based Motion Picture Patents Company?

Thomas Edison's trust held most camera patents and sued freely, but enforcing them 3,000 miles away on the West Coast was far harder, and the sunshine did not hurt.

Which actress jumped to her death from the top of the sign's letter 'H' in September 1932?

Peg Entwistle, 24, a Broadway actress newly arrived in Los Angeles, climbed a workman's ladder to the top of the H in September 1932 and jumped.

The actress who leapt from the sign's 'H' in 1932 appeared in only one film — which?

The film was released posthumously. On Broadway she had inspired a teenage Bette Davis, who said she wanted to be 'exactly like' her.

After a February 1978 windstorm, what did the dilapidated sign actually read?

HuLLYWO D: the first O had splintered into something like a lowercase u and the third O had fallen entirely; a full steel rebuild was unveiled that November.

Which rock singer sponsored an 'O' of the rebuilt sign in memory of Groucho Marx?

Alice Cooper paid $27,777 for an O in memory of Groucho Marx at the 1978 rebuild, in which nine donors each bought a letter; Andy Williams took the W and Gene Autry an L.

Who donated the final $900,000 in 2010 to stop mansions being built on the peak beside the sign?

Hugh Hefner gave the final $900,000 of the $12.5 million purchase in April 2010; the Trust for Public Land had draped the letters with SAVE THE PEAK banners, and the 138-acre parcel joined Griffith Park.

In 1987, the sign was changed for five days to read what, promoting a new TV network?

FOX: the letters were altered for five days in 1987 to launch the Fox network; a later official change was RAMS HOUSE after the Rams' Super Bowl LVI win in February 2022.

The first unauthorised alteration of the sign, in January 1976, made it read what?

HOLLYWEED: Danny Finegood's 1 January 1976 prank marked a state law easing cannabis penalties; the same joke reappeared on New Year's Day 2017 after recreational legalisation.

On which mountain does the Hollywood Sign stand?

Mount Lee, not Mount Hollywood, carries the sign at 1,578 feet; Mount Hollywood is a separate summit in the same park, above the Griffith Observatory.

Howard Hughes bought land by the sign in 1940 intending to build a mansion for which actress?

Ginger Rogers broke off her engagement to Hughes and the lot sat empty for decades, eventually becoming the 'Save the Peak' parcel bought for Griffith Park in 2010.

How many categories are Walk of Fame stars awarded in?

Motion pictures, television, recording, radio, live theater/performance and sports entertainment. Film stars make up about 44% of the total.

Who is the only person honored with Walk of Fame stars in five different categories?

Bob Hope and Tony Martin have four each. A plaque beside Autry's fifth star notes the feat.

Whose Walk of Fame star was set vertically in a wall so that it would not be walked on?

Ali shares his name with the Islamic prophet and asked that it not be trodden upon; the committee justified his star by calling boxing live performance.

Which family holds the most Walk of Fame stars, six in all?

The Barrymores hold six stars, among them Lionel, Ethel, John, John Drew and Drew Barrymore; the Hustons, Carradines, Bridges and several other families have three or more.

Which was the first fictional character added to the Walk of Fame after its 1960 opening?

Mickey Mouse got his star in November 1978 for his 50th anniversary, the first fictional character added since the Walk opened; Lassie and Rin Tin Tin had been among the original 1960 honorees.

The first permanent Walk of Fame star, set in March 1960, honored which director-producer?

Stanley Kramer's star, laid on 28 March 1960, was the first permanent one; Joanne Woodward is often credited because she was first photographed with one of the eight 1958 prototype stars.

Whose son sued for $400,000 in 1958 after his father was dropped from the Walk of Fame?

Charlie Chaplin's son Charles Jr. sued after local business owners pressured the committee to drop his father's name; the suit was dismissed and Chaplin's star finally came in 1972.

Which Hollywood Boulevard restaurant, open since 1919, is Hollywood's oldest?

Musso & Frank Grill opened on Hollywood Boulevard in 1919 and is Hollywood's oldest restaurant, long favoured by writers such as Raymond Chandler and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Which hotel, opened in 1927 opposite the Chinese Theatre, hosted the first Academy Awards in 1929?

The Hollywood Roosevelt's Blossom Room hosted a private dinner for 270 guests on 16 May 1929, three months after the winners had already been announced.

What word does the blinking light atop the Capitol Records Tower spell out in Morse code?

It was switched on by Leila Morse, granddaughter of Samuel Morse, and briefly blinked 'Capitol 50' for the label's 1992 anniversary.

The Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood is considered the world's first what?

Architect Louis Naidorf was 24 and did not know the client, so the resemblance to a stack of records on a spindle was pure coincidence.

The Capitol Records Tower is nicknamed 'The House That ___ Built' after which of the label's best-selling artists?

Nat King Cole sold so many records for Capitol that the building became 'The House That Nat Built'; Sinatra recorded the first album made there, Tone Poems of Color.

Which guitarist engineered the eight underground echo chambers at Capitol Studios?

Les Paul designed the eight concrete echo chambers, which sit more than 20 feet below ground; a neighbouring condo excavation in 2006 was fought as a threat to them.

Which studio's lot sits on 40 acres that were once part of Hollywood Forever Cemetery?

The cemetery, founded in 1899, is the only one actually in Hollywood. In 1986 plot owners sued after studio staff were allowed to park among the graves.

The Oscars' home theatre on Hollywood Boulevard opened in 2001 under which film company's name, before Dolby took over in 2012?

Kodak paid $75 million for the naming rights and then went bankrupt in 2012, the year digital finished off film; Dolby signed a 20-year deal and installed Atmos sound.

Which theatre, bought by Howard Hughes for RKO, hosted the Oscars from 1950 to 1960?

The Pantages, opened in 1930 as the last great movie palace built in Hollywood, hosted the ceremonies of 1950 to 1960; Hughes kept his personal offices on its second floor.

Which 1922 Douglas Fairbanks film opened the Egyptian Theatre with Hollywood's first movie premiere?

Robin Hood opened Sid Grauman's Egyptian Theatre on 18 October 1922 in what is counted as Hollywood's first premiere; five years later Grauman's Chinese Theatre took over as the premiere showplace.

Which streaming company bought Hollywood's 1922 Egyptian Theatre in 2020 and spent over $70 million restoring it?

Netflix bought the theatre from the American Cinematheque in 2020 and reopened it in November 2023 with David Fincher's The Killer; the Cinematheque kept weekend programming.

Which band's 1964 and 1965 Hollywood Bowl concerts became a live album released in 1977?

The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, released in 1977, drew on their 23 August 1964 and 29-30 August 1965 shows; George Martin mixed the tapes, and a remix followed in 2016.

The Hollywood Bowl was carved into a canyon picnic spot known by what name?

Daisy Dell was the canyon's name; William Reed and his son picked it in 1919 for its natural acoustics, and early tickets were held to 25 cents.

Who designed the Hollywood Bowl's acclaimed 1927 and 1928 band shells?

Lloyd Wright, Frank Lloyd Wright's son, built the pyramidal 1927 shell, said to have the best acoustics in Bowl history, but it was judged too avant-garde and demolished after one season; his arched 1928 shell followed.

Which Hollywood restaurant is credited with inventing the Cobb salad in 1937?

The Brown Derby: owner Bob Cobb is said to have tossed the first Cobb salad at the Vine Street branch in 1937; the original 1926 Wilshire Boulevard location was built in the shape of a derby hat.

Which NASA program's astronauts learned celestial navigation at Griffith Observatory?

Apollo astronauts trained in celestial navigation under the planetarium dome in the 1960s, as wartime pilots had; Griffith J. Griffith's bequest required admission to stay free when the observatory opened in 1935.

Which director openly hired blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo for Exodus in 1960?

Otto Preminger announced in January 1960 that Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten, would be credited on Exodus; with Kirk Douglas's Spartacus crediting him the same year, the blacklist was broken.

Which administrator, appointed by Will Hays, rigidly enforced the Production Code from 1934 to 1954?

Breen was a Catholic layman from public relations. The Code was finally replaced by the MPAA rating system in 1968.

The studio behind the Melrose Avenue lot dates its founding to which 1912 firm?

Adolph Zukor's slogan was 'Famous Players in Famous Plays'. Zukor and Lasky later bought out distributor W. W. Hodkinson and merged the companies into one.

What does MGM's Latin motto 'Ars Gratia Artis' mean?

'Ars Gratia Artis' means 'Art for art's sake'; publicist Howard Dietz chose it for Goldwyn Pictures, and it came along with Leo the Lion when Loew's merged Goldwyn into MGM in 1924.

The Hollywood Christmas Parade began in 1928 as a daily procession down what?

Santa Claus Lane was the name merchants gave a mile of Hollywood Boulevard in 1928 to boost shopping; that first year only Santa and actress Jeanette Loff rode, and Gene Autry's 1946 ride inspired 'Here Comes Santa Claus'.