Oscars Fun Facts and Trivia, Three of the nominees for best film — "Hugo," "Midnight in Paris" and betting favorite "The Artist" — are set during cinema's golden age.The 84th annual Academy Awards is being held in Los Angeles today, February 26, 2012. The Oscar statuette is the most recognized trophy in the world. It has graced the mantels of the greatest moviemakers in history since 1929.

Cedric Gibbons designed the Oscar and won it 11 times, he was nominated on 37 occassions.
Since the first awards banquet on May 16, 1929, in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel’s Blossom Room, 2,809 statuettes have been given out.
Oscar stands 13.5 inches tall and weighs in at a hearty 8.5 pounds. The film reel has five spokes for the five original branches of the Academy: actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers.

Greer Garson 1942 Academy Award acceptance speech lasted over an hour for Best Actress in Mrs. Miniver.

Vivien Leigh's Oscar was sold at auction for $563,000 at Sotheby's in New York in 1993. In December of 1996 Clark Gables Oscar from 1934's "It Happened One Night" was auctioned for $607,500.

2011 Academy Awards show lasted 3 hours, 37 minutes. Shortened from the 5 hour norm. 37.6 million viewers watched the 2011 Oscars, down 10 percent from 2010.

Titanic garnered 14 Oscar nominations in 1998, received 11 Oscar wins.

Walt Disney holds record with 22 Academy Award wins, won 4 honorary Oscars.

Composer John Williams holds record with 47 Oscar nominations.

Katharine Hepburn and Barbara Streisand share best actress oscar in 1968 for the first and only time (so far) in Oscars history.

Seven black actors have won Oscars. Hattie McDaniel was the first.

What time are the 2012 Oscars? Regardless of what you might have seen online, the 84th Academy Awards show starts at 5:30 p.m. Pacific on ABC. Red carpet coverage begins at 4:00 p.m.