Oscar records: Most wins and longest speeches in history

Before the 2024-25 award season bids us farewell, one staple heralds the grand finale for film fans. The Oscars, which has been enjoying its run of nearly a century, is to be held on March 2 – or for UK viewers, the early hours of March 3. But ahead of the star-studded event that will see golden accolades handed to a number of rising and well-established names in acting, here are some past records, including the most wins and longest speeches.

In terms of its length, Greer Garson’s speech was second to none. In 1943, the actress from Manor Park, London, took to a lectern at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, where she spoke for a whopping five minutes – that is, in comparison to the roughly 45-second window winners are given today (though many go beyond this time).

Garson had received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in Mrs Miniver, a romantic war drama directed by William Wyle. She was only the 15th actor in the history of Hollywood to take home the trophy. To date, her acceptance speech remains the longest in the history of the Academy Awards but, unfortunately, has not been preserved in full. However, audiences do hear Garson express gratitude and speaking about arriving in the US as an immigrant.

In one part, she says: “Ladies and gentlemen, I came to this country as a stranger five years ago. “I've been very happy and very proud to be a member of this community and of this industry all that time. And from everybody I met or worked with, truly, I have received such ready kindness that for quite a long while I couldn't believe that it was true, but tonight you have made me feel that you have really set the door of your friendship wide open and that welcome is officially on the mat, and that is why I'm so happy. [camera cuts]”.

It may come as a surprise but, despite movie stars having dominated the stage for the most part in Oscars history, the person with the most Oscar awards ever is in fact not an actor at all. It is Walt Disney, who won some 26 Oscars, of which 22 were competitive awards and four were honorary.

He also holds the record for most nominations, with 59. One of his most special awards, granted in 1933, was for the creation of Mickey Mouse. Then, in 1937, he was a recipient of an honorary Academy Award for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. For acting, Katharine Hepburn received the most. These were for many films which remain extremely successful, including Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981).

And for films themselves, three won 11 oscars, including Ben-Hur (1959), followed by Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). The latter won all 11 of its nominations back in 2004. The first Black person to win an Oscar was Hattie McDaniel in 1940, who received the award in a segregated hotel, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Actress and singer-songwriter McDaniel won against her Gone With the Wind costar Olivia de Havilland as she secured the Oscar for her role as Mammy. The film itself was hugely popular and actually won eight Oscars overall for best picture. McDaniel famously eschewed the speeches written for her and wrote her own with the help of Black writer Ruby Berkley Goodwin, Entertainment Weekly reported.

Upon accepting the award, she told the crowd: "It has made me feel very, very humble, and I shall always hold it as a beacon for anything I may be able to do in the future. “I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry.".

Hollywood is fickle and many worthy actors have been ignored by the academy. However, some fan-favourites have racked up several nominations, including the likes of Saoirse Ronan, though the same could be said of her former costar, Timothée Chalamet.

Ronan, at the age of only 30, has received several nominations, for films including Atonement, Brooklyn, Lady Bird and, most recently, Little Women. However, she has never won an Oscar – though has won a Golden Globe. Then there’s Winona Ryder, one of Hollywood’s most sought-after actresses in the ’90s, who won nominations for an earlier adaptation of Little Women (1994), along with one for The Age of Innocence (1993). She has recently seen a resurgence in popularity for recent roles in Stranger Things and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but the actress is yet to be recognised by the academy.