Oscar trivia: 'The King's Speech' truly reigns among best pictures

Here are some interesting Oscar trivia:

• While stars such as Charles Laughton and Helen Mirren have won Academy Awards for portraying kings and queens of England, no movie about British royals had won best picture before "The King's Speech."

• "The King's Speech's" awards tally (four) curiously matched that of "No Country for Old Men" three years ago. Both films won best picture, director, screenplay and one acting award.

• "The Fighter" stars Christian Bale and Melissa Leo are the eighth pair of co-stars to win the Oscars for supporting roles, following Karl Malden and Kim Hunter ("Streetcar Named Desire," 1951), Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed ("From Here to Eternity," 1953), Red Buttons and Miyoshi Umeki ("Sayonara," 1957), George Chakiris and Rita Moreno ("West Side Story," 1961), Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman ("The Last Picture Show," 1971), Jason Robards and Vanessa Redgrave ("Julia," 1977), and Michael Caine and Dianne Wiest ("Hannah and Her Sisters," 1986).

• "True Grit" joins "Gangs of New York" (2002) for suffering the second-worst shutout in Oscar history, with 10 defeats, no wins. Two films are tied for the worst: "The Turning Point" (1977) and "The Color Purple" (1985) each lost 11 times.

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-- Tom O'Neil

Photo: Colin Firth in "The King's Speech." Credit: Weinstein Co.

Comments

[mr.jabs]

the only best pictures i can remember that features a character who stutter are "The Broadway Melody" and "Shakespeare in Love"

[Tom O'Neil]

Thanks, Jeff. Added.

[A.L. Hern]

"While stars such as Charles Laughton and Helen Mirren have won Academy Awards for portraying kings and queens of England, no movie about British royals had won best picture before 'The King's Speech'."

The only film about a monarch of ANY country to win the Best Picture Oscar was 1987's "The Last Emperor."

Of course, it may be more significant that "The King's Speech" is the first film to win the award whose protagonist is a stutterer (last time I looked, no Porky Pig Looneytune was ever voted Best Picture).

[Jeff]

You forgot about Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed in "From Here to Eternity" as supporting Oscar winners from the same film.