The 1970's were a time in the Academy's history when it was "trendy" to diss the Academy, as a number of nominated actors did not even show up on Oscar Night. The charge seem to have begun in 1970 when George C. Scott won for Patton, but flatly refused the Oscar. Two years later, Marlon Brando would make a mockery of the occasion by sending an actress purporting to be an Apache Indian to refuse his 1972 Oscar for The Godfather.
So it was no surprise that several actors began buying into the thought that the Academy Awards were just a "garish" charade, as Dustin Hoffman exclaimed in the early 70's. Frank Sinatra publicly rebuked Hoffman on the Academy Awards of 1975, until finally, Dustin Hoffman himself won his first Academy Award. And it was his speech that night that I have selected as the best Oscar acceptance speech of all time. His acceptance speech to me represents everything a good speech should be, filled with humor, with tribute to the craftspeople who helped them in the film they were honored for, and finally for clearly expressing the emotion of the victory. Hoffman went one step further though. Because of his past criticism of the Academy, he felt the need to address his reasons why, and he ended up giving a heartfelt speech about the community of film craftsmen, some who never receive such public honors. It was brilliantly said, and even more brilliant because he didn't read it off a piece of paper which so many in more recent times do. He said it from his heart.
It was the 52nd Annual Academy Awards, taking place on the evening of April 14, 1980, the ceremony to honor 1979's film achievements. The location was the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Kramer vs. Kramer was the big winner that night, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. The writing awards had just been presented by Neil Simon, and Best Actor was the third to the last award. The previous year's Best Actress, Jane Fonda, arrived on stage to present Best Actor in a Leading Role. In a strange new addition, each of the nominees, when their name was announced, were introduced with retrospectives of their film careers, before playing a clip of their performance nominated that year. The nominees were Dustin Hoffman for Kramer vs. Kramer, Jack Lemmon for The China Syndrome, Al Pacino for ... And Justice For All, Roy Scheider for All That Jazz, and Peter Sellers for Being There. Only Lemmon and Hoffman were present. Jane Fonda opened the envelope, and announced Dustin Hoffman as the winner. There was an extended applause greeting Hoffman, and finally Hoffman took the stage. He decided to open with two lines of humor, which were brilliant in loosening up the audience for his much more serious speech to come. Here is the entire speech he delivered that night:
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