Grand Hotel became the only Best Picture winner to be nominated for Best Picture and nothing else.[3] It was the first of five films to date to win Best Picture without a Best Director nomination, followed by Driving Miss Daisy, Argo, Green Book, and CODA; and the third of seven to win without a screenwriting nomination.[4]
There was a tie for Best Actor, a unique event in Academy history. Fredric March had led Wallace Beery in the balloting by only one vote, and the rules (later changed) said that the leader and runner-up could both be considered winners if they were only 3 votes apart.[7] This left the Academy short one Oscar.[7] By winning Best Actor for The Champ, as well as starring in Grand Hotel, Wallace Beery is the only performer to date to appear in a Best Picture-winning film and win an acting Oscar for a different Best Picture nominee in the same year.
This was the last ceremony to date in which no film won more than two Oscars.