Oscar Trivia

1) With her nomination for Adaptation, Meryl Streep overtook Katherine Hepburn as the most nominated actress ever, her tally now standing at 13. Gaining his 12th nomination for About Schmidt, Jack Nicholson consolidated his position as most nominated actor, while Paul Newman's nod for The Road To Perdition saw him rise to 9, one behind second-placed Laurence Olivier and level with Spencer Tracy.

2) Nominated as Best Picture, Chicago could be the first musical to take top prize since Oliver! took the statue for 1968.

3) After much humming and ha-ing, Peter O'Toole decided to collect his Honorary Oscar. Apparently, he didn't want a gift-gong while he was still capable of winning for a performance. But then he's always been a confidant boy. Back in 1963, when nominated for Laurence Of Arabia, he announced that his per-film fee would now rise to $500,000, or $1 million if he won. Sadly, he was beaten by Gregory Peck's Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird and, though nominated a further 6 times, he never came out on top.

4) Though the Superbowl attracts a larger US audience, the Academy Awards has more viewers worldwide. If you fancy advertising your business during the show, the price is now $1 million for 30 seconds.

5) If Jack Nicholson wins for About Schmidt, he'll have won the most Best Actor awards ever, having already won for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and As Good As It Gets (1997). The others with 2 wins are Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman and Tom Hanks. But Nicholson has also won a Best Supporting Actor award, for Terms Of Endearment (1983). A win for About Schmidt would see him victorious in 4 separate decades.

6) Nominated for Far From Heaven and The Hours, Julianne Moore appears in both female categories. It's not the first time this has happened. At the 1988 awards, Sigourney Weaver was up for Best Actress for Gorillas In The Mist and Best Supporting Actress for Working Girl. Then the 1993 awards saw Emma Thompson up for The Remains Of The Day and In The Name Of The Father. It bodes ill for Moore that neither woman won anything at all. Then again, Teresa Wright, nominated in 1943 for The Pride Of The Yankees and Mrs Miniver won for the latter, while Holly Hunter, nominated in the same year as Thompson for The Piano and The Firm, did take Best Actress for the former.

7) Julianne Moore's nominations give her 4 in the last 10 years, setting her level with Meryl Streep and Judi Dench as the most nominated actress of the last decade. Just behind, with 3 nominations, are Joan Allen and Emma Thompson.

8) This year's Best Actor nominees are the most heavyweight bunch in years. Despite the presence of newcomer Adrien Brody, they can still muster 23 Oscar nominations between them - 12 for Jack Nicholson, 6 for Michael Caine, 3 for Daniel Day Lewis and 2 for Nicolas Cage. The Best Supporting Actress nominees can rustle up a few, too - 20 in all. That's 13 for Meryl Streep, 4 for Julianne Moore and 3 for Kathy Bates.

9) Despite the best efforts of Ice Cube, LL Cool J and Ice-T, and a late run by Eminem with 8 Mile, Queen Latifah becomes the first member of the rap community to be nominated.

10) When Christopher Walken was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for Catch Me If You Can, it was 24 years since his last nomination - he won in 1978 as the psychotic Russian Roulette player in The Deer Hunter. However, his long wait was nothing compared to that of Jack Palance. When he won for City Slickers in 1991, he hadn't received a nod since Shane, 38 years before.