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The 13 Worst Moments in Academy Awards History

© Nicholas Moreau

Academy Award Worst Moment Number 9

From 1952 -- The Greatest Show on Earth winning Best Picture. Presenter Mary Pickford even seemed shocked when she presented the Best Picture Oscar that year. And it later prompted someone to say "Who picks these things anyway?" There were so many other great films that year, and ultimately the Academy picked a lightweight spectacle film, that now ranks as one of the most undeserving winners of Oscar's most coveted prize.

Academy Award Worst Moment Number 8

From 1994 -- Martin Landau's acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actor for Ed Wood being cut off by the orchestra. One of the prime bad examples of the Academy's 45 second limit, Martin Landau, one of Hollywood's great veterans, finally won his first Oscar, and was about to deliver a final tribute to the actor he portrayed in the film, Bela Lugosi, but instead the orchestra cut him off, and it was another example of how the Academy should at least let the acting and directing winners give their full speeches, and stop cutting them off to save a little time.

Academy Award Worst Moment Number 7

From 1972 -- the infamous moment when Marlon Brando sent Sacheen Littlefeather in his place when he won Best Actor for The Godfather. Definitely one of the more infamous moments in Oscar history, Littlefeather, who actually was not even Apache Indian as she said, but merely an actress, came on stage to say that Brando could not accept his Oscar because of the film industry's treatment of Native Americans. Any Oscar winner choosing to use the Academy Awards as a pulpit for their political propaganda is always a moment in bad taste, but Brando outdid everyone with this one.

Academy Award Worst Moment Number 6

From 1994 -- Host David Letterman getting Tom Hanks on stage to help him with a stupid pet trick. And how stupid it was. This was simply a bizarre choice for the Oscars ... Letterman had a dog on stage who would respond to audience applause by spinning around in a circle. To add insult to injury, he pulled Tom Hanks from the crowd, certainly one of Oscar's most respected actors, to help him lay down a huge carpet for the dog. Hanks was even seeming to look on in disbelief ... (wow, I won Best Actor last year, I'm favored to win again this year, and Letterman has me up here watching a dog spin around) ... you could just picture those thoughts in his head. The only funny moment from that bit was when Letterman insulted Hanks a bit, saying "Would it have killed you to wear a tie?"