Both of the Oscars wins for "Django Unchained" - (Best Supporting Actor) and (Best Original Screenplay) - are history making.
Waltz, who claimed this same award three years ago for "Inglorious Basterds, " his first collaboration with Tarantino, is the seventh actor to win more than once in this category, following:
- Walter Brennan: "Come and Get It" (1936), "Kentucky" (1938), "The Westerner" (1940);
- Anthony Quinn: "Viva Zapata!" (1952), "Lust for Life" (1956);
- Peter Ustinov: "Spartacus" (1960), "Topkapi" (1964);
- Jason Robards: "All the President's Men" (1976), "Julia" (1977);
- Melvyn Douglas: "Hud" (1963), "Being There" (1979); and
- Michael Caine: "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986), "The Cider House Rules" (1999).
Waltz is only the second performer to win the Oscar without a corresponding SAG nomination. Marcia Gay Harden pulled off this feat with her Best Supporting Actress win for "Pollock" in 2000. Waltz's SAG snub is attributabe to a botched campaign early on in the season - Waltz was submitted in lead and SAG voters did not get DVD screeners.
Waltz also joins an exclusive list of winners who batted a thousand, winning both their bids:
- Luise Rainer: Best Actress, "The Great Ziegfeld" (1936); Best Actress, "The Good Earth" (1937);
- Vivien Leigh: Best Actress, "Gone with the Wind" (1939); Best Actress, "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951);
- Helen Hayes: Best Actress, "The Sin of Madelon Claudet" (1931); Best Supporting Actress, "Airport" (1970);
- Kevin Spacey: Best Supporting Actor, "The Usual Suspects" (1995); Best Actor, "American Beauty" (1999); and
- Hilary Swank: Best Actress, "Boys Don't Cry" (1999); Best Actress, "Million Dollar Baby" (2004).
Sally Field had been on this list for her two Best Actress wins - "Norma Rae" (1979) and "Places in the Heart" (1984) - but lost her third nomination this year - Best Supporting Actress for "Lincoln" - to Anne Hathaway ("Les Misérables").
Rainer was the only German-speaking performer with multiple acting Oscars. Waltz is now the first male actor to pull off this accomplishment, and is also the only double-winner from Austria.
Tarantino, who prevailed in this same race in 1994 for "Pulp Fiction, " becomes only the fifth person to win multiple Oscars in the Best Original Screenplay category, following:
- Charles Brackett: "Sunset Boulevard" (1950), "Titanic" (1953);
- Billy Wilder: "Sunset Boulevard" (1950), "The Apartment" (1960);
- Paddy Chayefsky: "The Hospital" (1971), "Network" (1976);
- Woody Allen: "Annie Hall" (1977), "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986), "Midnight in Paris" (2011).
With Tarantino having directed both of Waltz's Oscar-winning performances, many have wondered how often director-actor pairings have reaped multiple wins. So far, only three other collaborations have done so:
- Walter Brennan and William Wyler: Best Supporting Actor, "Come and Get It" (1936) [co-directed with Howard Hawks]; Best Supporting Actor, "The Westerner" (1942);
- Dianne Wiest and Woody Allen: Best Supporting Actress, "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986); Best Supporting Actress, "Bullets Over Broadway" (1994); and
- Jack Nicholson and James L. Brooks: Best Supporting Actor, "Terms of Endearment" (1983); Best Actor, "As Good as It Gets" (1997).
As to why their collaboration with each other has been so successful, Waltz says, "Quentin writes poetry, and I like poetry."
