Beyod the Forest, starring Bette Davis, was nominated for Max Steiner's score; he lost the Oscar to Aaron Copland for William Wyler's “The Heiress.”

Sweeping most (nine) of the Oscars in 1996, “The English Patient” easily beating out the other four contenders: The American studio movie “Jerry Maguire” (the only Hollywood movie, and a comedy at that, in competition), the American indie “Fargo,” the British “Secrets and Lies,” and the Aussie “Shine.”

In 1995, the main competition in the Best Picture category was between Gibson's violent historical epic “Braveheart,” which received 10 nominations, and Ron Howard's fact-inspired adventure “Apollo 13,” with 9, though director Howard was snubbed by the Academy.

At Oscar time, “Silence of the Lambs” swept all the major awards: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Adapted Screenplay. In only three times in the entire Academy's history, a single film has been recognized in all top categories: It Happened One Night in 1934, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975, and now Silence of the Lambs.

Sweeping most of the Oscars in 1990, “Dances With Wolves” received 12 nominations, that largest that year. Kevin Costner's Western competed with two crime films: Coppola's “The Godfather: Part III” and Scorsese's “GoodFellas,” each of which got 6 nominations. The other two nominees for Best Picture were Penny Marshall's melodrama “Awakenings” and the spiritual romantic drama “Ghost,” the most commercially successful of the five nominated films.