An interesting piece of Academy Awards trivia is that no one seems to know exactly where the nickname of “Oscar” came from. There are references as early as the second awards when Walt Disney thanked someone for an Oscar, Bette Davis referred to is as such in 1936, and after that the trophy was officially recognized as such by 1939.

What many people don’t realize is that since 1950, all Oscars which are awarded are actually the property of the Academy, not of the people who have been awarded them. This means that it is not allowed for people who win the awards, or those to inherit them, to try and sell them, and this has been held up in court.

The best movies of all times have been the recipient of multiple Oscar wins, as have some of the most legendary actors of the film generation.  An Academy Awards quiz will show that the films which have won the most awards are “The Return of the King” “Ben Hur” and “Titanic” all of which have won eleven statues.

The records for the actors and actresses who have received the most nominations and the most wins belong to different people. The most wins for Best Actress is Katherine Hepburn, who won four separate times, ranging in years from 1932 to 1981. An Actor has only ever won a maximum of two best Actor Oscar’s, and seven men have done this: Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Fredric March, Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando, Gary Cooper, and Spencer Tracy. The record for nominations belongs to Meryl Streep, who has been nominated 15 total times. Jack Nicholson, who has won two best Actor Oscars and one Best Supporting Actor, and has been nominated 12 times in total. An interesting record is also the person who won the most total Oscars in all categories, who is Walt Disney, with a total of 26 wins and 64 nominations.

Of course, Tom Hanks trivia obviously must include his film work, so we’ll start there. Did you know that Tom Hanks has won back to back Oscars? He won the award for Best Actor in both 1993 and 1994 for his roles in Philadelphia and Forest Gump. Another measure of Hanks’ success can be seen if you examine the total worldwide gross income which has been earned by his films – an amount which totals over 3.5 billion dollars – the most of any film star. Hanks has been attached to just under twenty films that have earned over 100 million.

Hanks has been in some of the most well known movies of the last thirty years, including the aforementioned Forest Gump, but also including pictures like Apollo 13, Sleepless in Seattle, Saving Private Ryan, Toy Story, and the Da Vinci Code. This list, which is far from comprehensive, shows definitively that Hanks has experienced significant success across almost every genre in the film industry, having made some of the most memorable performances in comedy, drama, romantic comedy, action, and animation over the course of his career.

As mentioned previously, a good tidbit of information about Hanks would include something regarding his personal life and his kindness as a human being in addition to stories about his excellence as an actor. A recent one of these was associated with his filming of the sequel to the Da Vinci code in Rome. While filming, the crew realized a wedding was trying to make their way to their wedding site. Hanks greeted the bride and asked if he and director could attend the wedding, and later invited both the bride and groom to attend the premier of the film in Rome, a perfect example of his friendly demeanor and generous nature which have become legendary.