- Presented the very first African-American winner with the Oscar statuette when Hattie McDaniel won Best Supporting Actress for Gone with the Wind (1939) (February 29, 1940, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles).
- Following her death, she was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Her husband was a military officer who was buried there.
- Her husband Reginald Sydney Hugh Venable (1890-1964) was a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy.
- She became one of the few performers to be nominated for lead and supporting Oscars in the same year (for White Banners (1938) and Jezebel (1938)). She won for the latter.
- Was the 12th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Jezebel (1938) at The 11th Academy Awards on February 23, 1939.
- Along with Teresa Wright, Barry Fitzgerald, Jessica Lange, Sigourney Weaver, Al Pacino, Holly Hunter, Emma Thompson, Julianne Moore, Jamie Foxx, Cate Blanchett and Scarlett Johansson, she is one of only twelve actors to receive Academy Award nominations in two acting categories in the same year. She was nominated for Best Actress for White Banners (1938) and Best Supporting Actress for Jezebel (1938) at the 12th Academy Awards in 1939, winning the latter award. Not only that, she is the first actress to have ever been nominated in both categories in the same year, and also the first to have a nomination in both categories ever.
- Her son Reginald died on June 27, 1974 in Los Angeles, California at age 50.
- Gave birth to her only child at age 29, a son Reginald S. Venable Jr. on July 23, 1923. Child's father was her husband, Reginald Venable Sr.
- Daughter of Charles Frederick Bainter (1849-1928), born in Illinois, and Mary Okell (1850-1922), born in England.
- A change in the Academy Awards nominating and voting rules was made because of confusion over her two nominations in 1938.
- She was pushed into acting by her mother. As a girl, she was on stage by age 6, and made her Broadway debut at age 18. Nothing came of it, so she went back to working in stock acting companies.
- Was 3 months pregnant with her son Reginald when she completed her run of the Broadway play "The Lady Cristillinda".
- Biography in "Actresses of a Certain Character: Forty Familiar Hollywood Faces from the Thirties to the Fifties" by Axel Nissen.
- Returned to work 5 months after giving birth to her son Reginald when she began performing in the Broadway play "The Other Rose".
- Aunt of Dorothy Burgess.
- Was in three Oscar Best Picture nominees: Jezebel (1938), Our Town (1940) and The Human Comedy (1943).
- She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.
- Screen, stage and television actress.
- Is one of 15 Oscar-winning actresses to have been born in the state of California. The others are Gloria Grahame, Jo Van Fleet, Liza Minnelli, Tatum O'Neal, Diane Keaton, Sally Field, Anjelica Huston, Cher, Jodie Foster, Helen Hunt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Marcia Gay Harden and Brie Larson.
- Younger sister of Grace Burgess (May 22, 1880-March 10, 1974).
- Presented the Academy Award (Oscar) For Best Supporting Actress to Hattie McDaniel for her role as Mammy in Gone With The Wind (1939).
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