With the 2014 Oscars just days away, HELLO! Online has rounded up 10 surprising facts you may not have known about the star-studded event, which airs this Sunday.
For example: Did you know that animator and producer Walt Disney has scooped the most Oscars in the 86-year-long history, winning 26 gongs and being nominated for an impressive 59 awards?
This year’s Frozen – released by Walt Disney Pictures and in the running for best Animated Feature Film and best Original Song for Let It Go – could see the movie mogul’s legacy once again cemented.
Idina Menzel will also pay tribute to the twice-nominated children’s film, with her performance of Let It Go scheduled to take place on the night.
Scroll down for ten more interesting facts about the Oscars…
- The name Oscar allegedly comes from a remark by Academy secretary Margaret Herrick, who said the statue looked like her uncle Oscar.
- Oscar winners don't really own their statues. Winners must sign an agreement stating that should they wish to sell their statuettes, they must first offer them to the Academy for $1.
- The Academy has enacted the 45-second rule, where speeches longer than 45 seconds will be cut off by the orchestra after it lasted for over four hours in 2002.
- During World War II, the winners were given Oscar statues made of plaster instead of the usual golden ones, to mark the war effort.
- The red carpet used at the Oscars is a whopping 500 feet long.
- The gold-plated statuette is 34cm tall and weighs nearly 4 kg.
- Tatum O'Neal was the youngest person to win an acting award, at age ten for Paper Moon.
- Lord Of The Rings The Return Of The King won all 11 awards for which it was nominated in 2003.
- The first Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929, in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and lasted only 15 minutes.
- Since then, 2,701 statuettes have been presented.
Check out the Frozen trailer below: