The four acting Oscars, particularly the lead ones, are less influential than the main award, Best Picture. But they're still quite instrumental for films that deal with unusually tough topics, or challenging films that lack immediate box-office allure.

Meryl Streep's Best Actress for “Sophie's Choice,” the 1982 film about a doomed Polish Holocaust survivor, is estimated to have increased box-office receipts by at least $4 million.

The 1959's Oscar-winning French film, “Black Orpehus,” benefited in several ways: At least a 50 percent increase in bookings, particularly in cities that rarely showed foreign-language fare, and a double in its gross at the box office.

“Salary increase didn't whet my appetite, but world fame–wow!” That was director Frank Capra's reaction upon receiving the Best Director Oscar for “It Happened One Night,” which swept most of the awards in 1934.

“Was my life changed by winning” Mercedes McCambridge, the 1949 Supporting Actress (“All the King's Men”) notes in her memoirs. “Oh, yes, yes indeed, if change means money. Salary rocketed overnight, literally overnight.”

In the late 1940s, Frank (The Voice) Sinatra enjoyed success on stage, radio, and in musical films. However, in 1952, Sinatra was dropped by RCA when his vocal cords abruptly hemorrhaged. Sinatra's career seemed finished. He didn't give up. Fighting back to get on track, Sinatra literally begged Columbia to cast him as Angelo Maggio in Zinnemann's high-profile drama “From Here to Eternity,” for which he was paid as little as $8,000.