* The HFPA was formed in 1943 as a way for international journalists to band together, exchange ideas and gain access to Hollywood stars.

* The organization's first awards took place in 1944 with an informal ceremony at the 20th Century Fox studios. Jennifer Jones received the best actress award for "The Song of Bernadette," which also won for best film, while Paul Lukas won best actor for his role in "Watch on the Rhine." Awards were presented in the form of scrolls.

* In conjunction with the Golden Globes presentation, the HFPA held its first gala social event in 1945 with a formal banquet at the Beverly Hills Hotel. "Going My Way" was best picture, and Ingrid Bergman and Alexander Knox won best actress and best actor.

* The actual Golden Globe award appeared in 1946, when HFPA President Marina Cisternas came up with the idea of using a statuette of a "golden globe" with a film strip encircling it.

* In 1952 the HFPA created the Cecil B. De Mille Award to recognize "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field." The first recipient was De Mille himself.

* In 1955 the Golden Globes began honoring achievements in television as well as film. Honorees in the best television show category that year included "Lucy & Desi" and "Davy Crockett." In 2007 the Golden Globes started an award for best animated feature film. The awards now recognize achievements in 25 categories, with 14 in motion pictures and 11 in television. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is the only film to win the Globe in all five major categories (best motion picture, best actor, best actress, best director and best screenplay)

. * Meryl Streep has won the most Golden Globes (eight), followed by Jack Nicholson (six) and Francis Ford Coppola, Shirley MacLaine, Rosalind Russell and Oliver Stone (five apiece). Rosalind Russell won all five Golden Globes she was nominated for, though she never won an Oscar. Marlon Brando refused his best actor Globe for "The Godfather" in 1973 to protest U.S. "imperialism and racism." He also refused his Oscar statuette that year.

(Reporting by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Douglas Royalty)

(The factbox was fixed to remove byline, dateline and editing credit; change location of awards in paragraph 1 to Beverly Hills; combine first and second paragraphs to remove reference to Golden Globes as a key indicator of which movies will compete for the Academy Awards)

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