but mechanical.
• An Oscar statuette is 34.3 cm tall.
• On the set of The Usual Suspects (1995), Kevin Spacey glued his fingers together to keep his left hand consistently paralysed.
• Jane Seymour’s real name is Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg.
• Hollywood actor Tony Curtis is great friends with Harrods owner Mohammed Al Fayed.
• The Roosevelt Hotel, in Hollywood, is apparently haunted by the ghost of Marilyn Monroe.
• Thora Birch, the actress who played Janie in American Beauty (1999), was only 17 during filming and so her nude scene had to be filmed in the presence of her parents and child labour representatives.
• Doris Day’s dog was named after the beer Heineken.
• The Oscar award ceremony has never been cancelled.
• Both Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole have been Oscar nominated a record seven times without winning.
• Disney Studios has the record for the biggest global box-office year of all time, grossing over $3 billion in 2003.
• Marilyn Monroe’s ex-husband Jo DiMaggio had fresh roses delivered to her crypt three times a week for 20 years after her death.
• The real names of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were Dino Paul Croccetti and Jerome Levitch.
• ‘Her virtue was that she said what she thought, her vice that what she thought didn’t amount to much.’ Peter Ustinov on Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper.
• A few witty remarks from comedienne actress Mae West:
‘Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.’
‘When I’m good I’m very good, but when I’m bad I’m better.’
‘There are no good girls gone wrong, just bad girls found out.’
‘When choosing between two evils, I always like to pick the one I’ve never tried before.’
• Inscription on Rodney Dangerfield’s tombstone: ‘There goes the neighbourhood.’
• The most copied noses in Hollywood are those of Heather Locklear, Nicole Kidman and Catherine Zeta Jones.
• The longest film title was Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil, Mutant, Alien, Flesh Eating, Hellbound, Zombified Living Dead Part 2: In Shocking 2-D released in 1991.
• Pete the Pup, a pit-bull mix that appeared in the Our Gang shorts, had a fresh circle drawn around his right eye before every shoot.
• Only 3 dogs have a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame: Strongheart, Rin Tin Tin and Lassie.
• Cary Grant had been offered the role of James Bond, 007, and refused it before the producers offered it to Sean Connery.
• Marilyn Monroe had six toes on one foot.
• Actor Bill Murray doesn’t have a publicist or an agent.
• During The Empire Strikes Back’s famous asteroid scene, one of the deadly hurling asteroids is actually a potato.
• Rocker Ozzy Osbourne has had two smiley face tattoos etched on his kneecaps so he can talk to them when he’s feeling lonely.
• Oasis singer Liam Gallagher has received the top prize in Nuts magazine’s ‘man boobs’ awards.
• The sound effect for the light sabres in Star Wars was recorded by moving a microphone next to a television set.
• In 1979, Oscar-winning actress Shirley MacLaine used the podium to cheer up her sibling, Warren Beatty, who had lost out for Heaven Can Wait. ‘I want to use this opportunity to say how proud I am of my little brother. Just imagine what you could accomplish if you tried celibacy!’ He was not amused.
• A low-cut gown worn by Elizabeth Taylor in 1969 fetched £98,000 at auction.
• The youngest actor to win an Oscar was 29-year-old Adrien Brody in 2003 for The Pianist. Shirley Temple is the youngest actress. She won a special award in 1934 aged six.
• The song ‘When Irish Eyes Are Smiling’ was written by George Graff, who was German and was never in Ireland in his life.
• Talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey and legendary singer Elvis Presley are distant cousins.
• The estates of 22 dead celebrities earned over £2.6 million in 2004. These celebrities include Elvis Presley, Dr Seuss, Charles Schulz, J R R Tolkien and John Lennon.
• CBS’s fine for Janet Jackson’s ‘wardrobe malfunction’ in the 2004 Super Bowl show was £286,000. This could be paid with only 7.5 seconds of commercial time during the same Super Bowl telecast.
• Kill Bill star Vivica A Fox ruined a diamond-encrusted dress worth $1.5 million with red wine.
• In 1938, Walt Disney won one full-sized Oscar and seven miniature Oscars for his classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
• Actor Gary Lucy thought he had paid £6,000 for one of Paul Weller’s guitars at an auction, but got rugs belonging to Madonna instead.
• Nicole Kidman says when she was younger she used to pray she would be turned into a witch.
• Al Gore’s roommate in college (Harvard, class of 1969) was Tommy Lee Jones.
• The trucking company Elvis Presley worked at as a young man was owned by Frank Sinatra.
• Lenny Kravitz says he’s happy Courtney Love is his neighbour – because she runs around naked.
• Britney Spears has more hate websites than Saddam Hussein.
• Calvin Klein model-turned-actor Travis Fimmel had to audition nine times before landing the title role in the new TV series Tarzan.
• Three Oscars have been refused by winners, including Marlon Brando in 1972, who rejected his second Oscar for The Godfather.
• The Strokes star Nikolai Fraiture once shamed his dad when he was caught trying to steal a Luke Skywalker doll from the Macy’s store where his father worked as a security guard.
• Actress Rosie O’Donnell’s lover Kelli Carpenter has founded a new travel company that helps gay and lesbian couples seek out the perfect getaway. R Family Vacations will specialize in gay cruises.
• The first Oscar went to Emil Jannings in 1929 for Best Actor. He didn’t turn up for it.
• US singer Shania Twain has started the day off the same way for the past ten years – with a fruit smoothie
