George C. Scott (Best Actor for “Patton”)regarded Oscar politics as “offensive, barbarous, and innately corrupt,” a prize that encourages the public to think that awards are more important than the work itself. Thus, when he received his third nomination for Patton he declined it again: “Life isn't a race, and because it is not a race, I don't consider myself in competition with my fellow actors for awards or recognition.”

His long-held cynicism toward the Oscar mellowed the very moment that he himself won the coveted award.

March 4, 2007–Fox Searchlight's “The Last King of Scotland,” for which Forest Whitaker won the Best Actor Oscar, benefited immensely at the box-office, rising 24%. The film made $975,000 off 517 screen, with a cumulative of $16.7 million to date.

Cicely Tyson took great pride in her first nomination, as Best Actress for “Sounder,” in 1972: “I'm proud and I want every person in the world to see the film. It was a special honor for a black actress to be nominated, and in a year in which Diana Ross was also a nominee, it was a double honor.”

Penelope Milford, one of the youngest nominees, Supporting Actress for “Coming Home,” in 1982 recalls: “The minute the nominations were announced, the telephone started ringing. A lot of people now are telling me they always knew I had talent and how wonderful it is that I've been nominated. They're the same guys who wouldn't take a phone call from me last week. I'd like to blast them, but let's face it, that's not the way to play the game. You've got to keep cool.”