Juicy items from Guinness book 50th-year edition

One of the most beautiful birthday gifts I ever received came from ABS-CBN executive Deo Endrinal and it’s none other than the Guinness World Records 2005 (Special 50th Anniversary Edition) containing interesting entries about showbiz which, again, I want to share with Funfare readers. Here are some of them:

• Highest box office gross – James Cameron’s (USA) Titanic (USA, 1997) was the first to take $1 billion at the international box office, and had a total box office gross of $1.835 billion (£1.297 billion).

• Living actor with most screen credits – Actor Christopher Lee (UK) has the most screen credits of any actor alive today, with 211. He has performed in English, French, Canadian, German, Russian, Norwegian, Swedish, Italian, Pakistani, Spanish, Japanese, American, Australian and New Zealand productions, from Corridor of Mirrors (UK) in 1947 to Graduation Day (USA) in 2003.

• Actress with most leading film roles in a career – Kinuyo Tanaka (Japan) made her debut role in Genroku Onna (Japan, 1924) and performed in a total of 241 films including her final role in Daichi no Komoriuta (Japan, 1974).

• Actor with most leading film roles in a career – John Wayne (USA, born Marion Michael Morrison) appeared in 153 movies from The Drop Kick (USA, 1927) to The Shootist (USA, 1976). In all but 11 of these he played the lead.

• Youngest No. 1 box office star – Shirley Temple (USA, born April 23, 1928) was seven years old when she became No. 1 at the box office in 1935, holding the title until 1938.

• Oldest No. 1 box office star – Marie Dressler (Canada, 1868-1934) was 64 when she became the No. 1 box office star in 1933. Born Leila von Koerber in 1869, she began her film career in 1914 and won the Best Actress Oscar for Min Divot in Min and Bill (USA, 1930).

• Highest annual earnings by an actor – The world’s top-earning actor is currently Will Smith (USA), who earned an estimated $60 million (£35.7 million) in 2002, according to the 2003 Forbes Celebrity 100 list.

• Highest annual earnings by an actress – The world’s top-earning actress is currently Jennifer Aniston (USA), who earned an estimated $35 million (£20.8 million) in 2002, according to the 2003 Forbes Celebrity 100 list.

• Highest paid actor per film – Bruce Willis (USA) received $100 million (£61.83 million) for playing Dr. Malcolm Crowe in the $55-million (£34 million) film The Sixth Sense (USA, 1999) through his salary and a percentage of the film’s receipts.

• Longest Oscar-winning career – Katharine Hepburn (USA) had the distinction of having the longest Oscar award-winning career, spanning 48 years and 13 days, from her first Oscar for Morning Glory (USA, 1932) on March 16, 1934 to her last for On Golden Pond (USA, 1981) on March 29, 1982.

• Most Best Actor wins – Seven actors have won Best Actor awards twice: Spencer Tracy (USA) for Captains Courageous (USA, 1937) and Boys Town (USA, 1938); Fredric March (USA) for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (USA, 1932) and The Best Years of Our Lives (USA, 1946); Gary Cooper (USA) for Sergeant York (USA, 1941) and High Noon (USA, 1952); Marlon Brando (USA) for On the Waterfront (USA, 1954) and The Godfather (USA, 1972); Jack Nicholson (USA) for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (USA, 1975) and As Good As It Gets (USA, 1997); Dustin Hoffman (USA) for Kramer vs. Kramer (USA, 1979) and Rain Man (USA, 1988); and Tom Hanks (USA) for Philadelphia (USA, 1993) and Forrest Gump (USA, 1994).

• Oldest Best Actor winner – Henry Fonda (USA, 1905-82) won the Best Actor Oscar on March 29, 1982 for his performance as Norman Thayer Jr. in On Golden Pond (USA, 1981) aged 75 years and 317 days.

• Oldest Best Actress winner – Jessica Tandy (UK, 1909-94) won the Best Actress Oscar for Driving Miss Daisy (USA, 1989) on March 29, 1990 at the age of 80 years and 295 days.

• Youngest Oscar winner – The youngest Oscar winner is Tatum O’Neal (USA, born on Nov. 5, 1963), who was aged 10 years and 148 days when she received the Best Supporting Actress award for Paper Moon (USA, 1973) on April 2, 1974. Shirley Temple was awarded an Honorary Oscar at the age of six years and 310 days for her achievements in 1934.

• Longest film ever made – The Cure for Insomnia (USA, 1987), directed by John Henry Timmis IV, is 85 hours long. It premiered in its entirety at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, USA, from Jan. 31 to Feb. 3, 1987.

• Largest first-edition print run – The release of JK Rowling’s (UK) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on June 21, 2003 marked the largest first-edition print run in history, with a staggering 8.5 million copies.

• Longest novel – Published in 2003, Knickers by Simon Roberts (UK) contains a total of 14,156,074 characters (each letter counts as one character and spaces are also counted as one character each).

• Longest running TV quiz show – It’s Academic (NBC4 USA) has been on air weekly since Oct. 7, 1961. The show, which features high-school teams competing against each other, was created by Sophie Altman (USA) and entered its 43rd season in autumn 2003.

• Longest running TV show – Meet the Press (NBC, USA) was first transmitted on Nov. 6, 1947 and has been aired subsequently each week since Sept. 12, 1948.

• Most watched TV network – The state-owned station China Central Television (CCTV) is transmitted to 90 percent of all viewers in China. It is estimated that more than 1.1 billion people have access to television in China.

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