Oscars: History and odd facts

Streep and Redgrave
Meryl Streep and Vanessa Redgrave star in "Evening" directed by Lajos Koltai
Image courtesy Focus Features

Interesting oddities, facts, figures and trivia related to this year's Academy Awards nominees:

IN RARE AIR: "Up" is only the second animated feature film to receive an Oscar nomination for best picture. "Beauty and the Beast" was the first, nominated in 1991.

PROTECTING HER LEAD: Meryl Streep remains Oscar's most nominated performer, with this year's best-actress nod for portraying Julia Child in "Julie & Julia" bringing her total to 16. That's four ahead of Katharine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson, who have 12 nominations apiece. But Hepburn, who died in 2003, still leads Oscar winners with four statuettes. Nicholson has three and Streep has two.

BACK IN BLACK (AND WHITE): "The White Ribbon" becomes only the ninth predominantly black-and-white movie to be nominated for a best cinematography Oscar since the Academy eliminated the separate black-and-white cinematography category in 1967. It joins "The Man Who Wasn't There" and "Good Night, and Good Luck" as the only ones since 2000.

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BEST AND WORST: By the time Sandra Bullock learns whether she's won a best actress Oscar for her role in "The Blind Side," she'll also know whether she has received a Razzie for worst actress in another movie this year, "All About Steve." But whether she receives two trophies, one or none, Bullock can take solace in the fact her best and worst reviews didn't come for the same film, something that is unusual but not unprecedented. James Coco was nominated for an Oscar and a Razzie for his role in 1981's "Only When I Laugh" and so was Amy Irving for her part in 1983's "Yentl."

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Source: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)