Great Moments in Oscar History

by Sarah Soliman, Marketing Assistant

The 89th Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, Feb. 26, and there are sure to be some memorable moments. La La Land could tie (or even surpass) Ben-Hur, Titanic, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King for most Academy Awards won by a single film, and it’s director, Damien Chazelle, would be the youngest ever Best Director winner. This year, Viola Davis became the first Black actress to be nominated for three Academy Awards, and it seems certain that this is the year she will take home her first. It would be an EGOT for composer Lin-Manuel Miranda if he won a statue for “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana—and that’s a man who knows how to make an acceptance speech. The Best Actor race is a close one, with Manchester by the Sea’s Casey Affleck and Fences’ Denzel Washington seemingly neck-in-neck, creating a feeling of suspense often absent by this stage of awards season.

Before the ceremony—and hopefully before you fill out any Oscar pools—you can join JBFC President Janet Maslin and film writer Mark Harris for Oscar Talk on Wednesday, Feb. 22. In the meantime, enjoy this look back at some memorable Oscar moments from the ceremony’s 89 year history.

12^th Academy Awards—In 1940 Hattie McDaniel became the first Black winner of an Academy Award, for her role as Mammy in Gone With the Wind.

40^th Academy Awards—Alfred Hitchcock never won a Best Director Oscar, but in 1968 he was presented with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, an “honorary Oscar,” and famously gave a two word acceptance speech.

57^th Academy Awards—Sally Field’s 1985 acceptance speech for Places in the Heart is maybe the most famous, most misquoted Oscar speech of all time. What she really said was “I can’t deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me.”

64^th Academy Awards—Jack Palance was 73 in 1992, when he won his first Oscar for City Slickers, but that didn’t stop him from dropping to the floor to perform one-handed push-ups in the middle of his speech.

70^th Academy Awards—Matt Damon and Ben Affleck might be best known for their acting work, but they won their Academy Awards in 1997 for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting. Both in their mid-twenties at the time, they gave an exuberant acceptance speech that radiated their surprise and joy.

71^st Academy Awards—Speaking of exuberance, when Roberto Benigni won his Oscar in 1999 for Life is Beautiful, he chose a unique and memorable way of getting to the stage.

73^rd Academy—At the 2001 ceremony when Julia Roberts won Best Actress for Erin Brockovitch she made it clear that she was going to take her time and enjoy the moment.

74^th Academy Awards—Halle Berry made history in 2002 when she won the Best Actress Oscar for Monster’s Ball.  Berry was the first Black woman to win in the Lead Actress category. Her moving speech paid tribute to the actresses who helped carve a path, as well as her contemporaries.

76^th Academy Awards—In 2004 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King won, well, pretty much all of the Oscars. With eleven awards it tied for the most wins ever, an achievement made even greater by the fact that the Academy doesn’t often award fantasy films. It’s likey that every single person from New Zealand or living in New Zealand got thanked.

81^st Academy Awards—Hugh Jackman was one of the best Oscar hosts in recent memory. His charmingly weird opening number included “homemade” props, an “impromptu” duet with Anne Hathaway, and an interpretive dance number about not yet having seen The Reader.

82^nd Academy Awards—In 2010 Kathryn Bigelow became the fourth woman nominated for the Best Director Oscar, and the first one to take the award home. Her film, The Hurt Locker, also won Best Picture that year.

87^th Academy Awards—John Legend and Common’s performance of their song “Glory,” from Selma—a powerful tribute to the Selma to Montgomery marches—had the audience on their feet, many in tears. “Glory” was awarded Best Original Song later that evening.

88^th Academy Awards—Room’s Jacob Tremblay was an adorable delight throughout the 2015-16 awards season, especially when he talked about his love for all things Star Wars. His excitement when BB-8, R2D2, and C-3PO appeared on stage became one of the most gif-able moments of the 2016 ceremony.

88^th Academy Awards—In 2016 a longstanding injustice was put right: Leonardo DiCaprio finally won an Oscar. For years, his bad Academy Awards luck was one of the most popular memes on the internet, and it seems that Leo himself was in on it. After winning Best Actor for his role in The Revenant, he made the final Leonardo DiCaprio has never won an Oscar joke.

Tickets for Oscar Talk 2017 are available now.