Which Actor Has the Most Oscar Nominations?

As of 2010, the most nominated actor is Meryl Streep with 16 nominations. She was nominated for:

The Deer Hunter (1978)
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
Sophie’s Choice (1982)
Silkwood (1983)
Out of Africa (1985)
Ironweed (1987)
A Cry in the Dark (1988)
Postcards From the Edge (1990)
The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
One True Thing (1998)
Music of the Heart (1999)
Adaptation (2002)
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Doubt (2008)
Julie & Julia (2009)

Meryl won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Kramer vs. Kramer and Best Actress in Sophie's Choice.

Runners Up

The two runners up for the title of “Most Oscar Nominations” are Katharine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson.

Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Hepburn comes in second with 12 nominations for these films:

Morning Glory
Alice Adams
Woman of the Year
The Philadelphia Story
The African Queen
Summertime
The Rainmaker
Suddenly Last Summer
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
The Lion in Winter
On Golden Pond

She won an Oscar for: Morning Glory, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Lion in Winter and On Golden Pond.

Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson ties for second with Katherine Hepburn for most nominations. The 12 films are:

Easy Rider
Five Easy Pieces
The Last Detail
Chinatown
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Reds
Terms of Endearment
Prizzi's Honor
Ironweed
A Few Good Men
As Good As It Gets
About Schmidt

He won the Oscar for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Terms of Endearment, and As Good As It Gets.

Interesting Academy Awards Facts

The most Academy Awards won by any film is 11. The three that hold this title are: Ben Hur, Titanic, and The Lord of the Rings.
Only three movies have won awards for all of these five categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Writing. And the winners are: It Happened One Night, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and The Silence of the Lambs.
Edith Head, a costume designer, has won 8 Oscars, more than any other woman.
Walt Disney has been awarded 26 Academy Awards.

Academy Awards History

In 1927, 36 people got together and formed the International Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The word “international” was dropped later. Some of the people were MGM’s studio chief Louis B. Mayer (chief of MGM Studios), Cecil B. DeMille, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and George Cohen.

At first, five branches were created:

Writers
Directors
Producers
Actors
Technicians

In 1928, the Awards of Merit committee suggested the number of awards be increased to twelve. In May 1929, the first awards ceremony was held with Academy President Douglas Fairbanks handing out the statues.

The next year, the categories were reduced to seven:

Acting (two awards were given)
Directing
Writing
Picture
Cinematography
Art direction

The number has increased over the years. The Academy tries to honor quality in films, not just honor popular movies and big box office hits, so many times blockbusters aren’t recognized.

Naming the Statue Oscar

There are several theories as to how the award came to be nicknamed “Oscar.” One is from 1931, when the Academy's Executive Secretary, Margaret Herrick, said the award reminded her of her Uncle Oscar. A columnist, named Sidney Skolsky overheard her and wrote in his column that the employees had nicknamed the statue “Oscar.” This was four years before it was claimed that Bette Davis had named it.

The other story is from the secretary to Louis B. Mayer, who said it looked like King Oscar II. Later that day, she referred to the statue as “Oscar” and the name stuck. It was officially dubbed “Oscar” in 1939 by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.