It is hoped that these memories of these precious moments will cement in your mind even further how special and unique the Academy Awards are, and most of all, just serve as a fun reminder of the great moments that exist in our collective consciousness from the 71 years that Academy Awards have been bestowed.
Here are the greatest moments from the Oscar telecasts of the 20th century counting down from 51 to 41.
Academy Moment Number 51
May 16, 1929, at 8:00 PM, in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel ... the first ever Academy Awards. This moment has to be on the list ... A lavish banquet, only about five minutes of which was made up of presenting Oscars, this was the moment that started it all. Douglas Fairbanks presented all the awards that night, and none of them could have ever imagined that night how big the Oscars would eventually become.
Academy Moment Number 50
From 1996 - Cuba Gooding Jr. accepting his Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Jerry Maguire. When he exceeded his allotted speech-making time, the orchestra began to play him off, but Cuba was defiant, yelling over top of the orchestra, expressing his love and thanks to everyone he wanted to, igniting riotous applause from the audience.
Academy Moment Number 49
From 1996 - Frances McDormand's acceptance speech when she won Best Actress for Fargo. She gave a very passionate and eloquent speech, which was a tribute to the power of women, and also a compliment to the directors and producers who cast roles based on talent, and not always on box office draw. It was a well-said compliment for the hard work of independent filmmakers.
Academy Moment Number 48
From 1998 - Norman Jewison's speech when accepting the Irving J. Thalberg award. Jewison made several comments which drew well-deserved applause, most notably as he inspired new and struggling filmmakers to write good stories, and saying that the best movie is not always the one that makes the most money. It was an argument for the art of the movies over the commerce of the movies.
