Spanning 70 years, decade by decade, a glance back at the WINNERS of Oscars past!
Ceremony: March 24, 1997
Host: Billy Crystal
Oscar 1996–The Big Winners:
Best Picture: The English Patient — starring Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas, with Juliette Binoche. Based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje, a tragic romance set in World War II between a debonair Hungarian and his married mistress.
Best Actor: Geoffrey Rush for Shine
Best Actress: Frances McDormand for Fargo
Best Director: Anthony Minghella for The English Patient
Best Moment: Cuba Gooding Jr.’s unbridled shout out, “Show me the money!” at the podium for his Jerry Maguire, Best Supporting Actor win!
Best First: Director Joel Coen and his leading woman, Frances McDormand, were the first married couple to be nominated for the same film, Fargo, since John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands in 1974 for the harrowing drama A Woman Under the Influence.
Best Trivia: All was ‘seemingly rosy’ in married-land when industry newbie Billy Bob Thornton won an Academy for Best Original Screenplay, sharing an abundance of hugs and kisses with his wife, Pietra. A week later, he and Pietra split, permanently.
Where Are They Now?: Anthony Minghella‘s morose tri-county drama, Breaking and Entering, starring Jude Law and Patient muse, Juliette Binoche, struggles at the box-office in its fourth week of wide release. Admittedly, Cuba Gooding Jr. was last seen on-screen in Norbit, 2006’s Best Supporting Actor, Oscar nominee, Eddie Murphy‘s shameless latest paycheck. They say one step forward, two steps…
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Ceremony: March 30, 1987
Hosts: Paul Hogan, Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn
Oscar 1986–The Big Winners:
Best Picture: Platoon — starring Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen, with Forest Whitaker. A gripping war saga, centered on the dehumanization of a group of soldiers sent to fight in Vietnam, which focuses on the battle between two father figures for a young soldier’s soul.
Best Actor: Paul Newman for The Color of Money
Best Actress: Marlee Matlin for Children of a Lesser God
Best Director: Oliver Stone for Platoon
Best Moment: Marlee Matlin, in her debut performance, becomes the youngest actress, at 21, to receive the Best Actress award; and she does so, being called to the stage by her Children romantic co-star, and real-life love, William Hurt, where the hearing-impaired actress delivers a heart-felt speech, in part, in sign (language).
Best First: Sigourney Weaver was nominated for Best Actress for her pulsating turn in Aliens; it was the first nomination, ever, for a woman playing an all-action role.
Best Trivia: Actress Debra Winger, then wildly popular for her starring turn in Terms of Endearment, was originally cast for Kathleen Turner‘s nominated Best Actress role in Peggy Sue Got Married, but had bow out due to a back injury.
Where Are They Now?: Well, according to Matlin in an interview with Glamour magazine, veteran William was certainly ‘hurt’ by the novice, actress’ win, as their romance came to a quick end following her emotional win. Matlin has made many TV cameo appearances since. Slipping through without any nominations, Oliver Stone‘s 2006 gripping film, World Trade Center, was met with both reverence and anger by a fickle post-9/11 American viewing audience. Two decades pass, and acting phenom Forest Whitaker emerges from the ensemble as a more than likely Best Actor winner. And twenty years later, Paul Newman‘s talents are, once again, behind an Oscar nomination–this time, the Route 66 romp, Cars nominated for Best Animated Feature; you have to wonder where does he fit it all in, between launching six new salad dressings for Newman’s Own, and having, overall, donated over $200 million to thousands of charities since 1982, Paul Newman certainly leads the class of Oscar ’86 with flying colors!
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Ceremony: March 29, 1977
Hosts: Jane Fonda, Ellen Burstyn, Richard Pryor, Warren Beatty
Oscar 1976–The Big Winners:
Best Picture: Rocky — starring super-celeb-to-be Sylvester Stallone and Talia Shire, with Burgess Meredith. The pugnacious tale of a down-and-out Philly boxer who gets a surprise shot at fighting for the heavyweight championship, and rises to the challenge, while finding love in the arms of a reclusive girls who works at the local pet shop.
Best Actor: Peter Finch for Network
Best Actress: Faye Dunaway for Network
Best Director: John Avildsen for Rocky
Best Moment: Prolific, songwriter of modest stature, Paul Williams–the co-writer of “Evergreen” from A Star Is Born–announces into the mic, “I was going to thank all the little people, but then I remembered I am the little people.”
Best First: The gifted actor, Peter Finch, receives the first posthumous Oscar for Best Actor for his insanely, riveting turn in Network.
Best Trivia: One-of-a-kind sensation, Barbra Streisand, ridiculously popular at the time, hired two limousines for Awards ceremony transport. The first limo had a look-alike Babs in the back seat to fool her fans.
Where Are They Now?: Thirty years later, two words for ya’: Rocky 6 (officially known as Rocky Balboa)…we know, either you ran to it–or ran from it. Either way, we know that Sylvester Stallone has recently vowed that there will be no more comebacks from the all-time comeback story. Is that vow, perhaps, what, led 60-year-old Sly to allegedly tote some banned bodybuilding substances ‘Downunder’; we’ll leave that up to the Australian authorities to decide. 1977: a statue…2007: a summons!
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Ceremony: April 10, 1967
Host: Bob Hope
Oscar 1966–The Big Winners:
Best Picture: A Man for All Seasons — starring Paul Scofield and Wendy Hiller, with Orson Welles. A play charting the intense, moral tug-of-war between Sir Thomas Moore and the king against whom he stood in opposition, Henry VIII, who is feverishly pushing towards obtaining a divorce, to re-marry, against the laws of the Roman Catholic Church.
Best Actor: Paul Scofield for A Man for All Seasons
Best Actress: Elizabeth Taylor for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Best Director: Fred Zinnemann for A Man for All Seasons
Best Moment: Silky smooth hoofers Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, rumored to be feuding on-again and off-again, briefly reunited to announce the Best Screenplay Award, and apparently brought the house down with a perfectly executed swirl and dip.
Best First: Actor-cum-politician Ronald Reagan made his first appearance at the Oscars as California’s governor, and was met with both cheers and boos.
Best Trivia: Battle of the Oscar-prep bulge–reportedly both Best Actress nominated female leads, Elizabeth Taylor for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Lynn Redgrave for Georgy Girl, each gained 20 pounds for their respective roles.
Where Are They Now?: Now and again, in print, and sometimes on TV, you can still catch glittering Liz, digitally re-mastered in all her glory, pumping out ads for her famed fragrance: White Diamonds–part of her extensive perfume line that includes Forever Elizabeth, Diamonds and Rubies, and Passion Cologne for men. The ‘eerie’ music, Liz bathed in white light sporting black bouffant-inspired ‘do’, the shutter sounds of the paparazzi–the commercial is surely worth a guilty YouTube visit!
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Ceremony: March 27, 1957
Host: Jerry Lewis from Hollywood, Celeste Holm from New York
Oscar 1956 — The Big Winners
Best Picture: Around the World in 80 Days — starring David Niven and Shirley MacLaine. Based on a book, the fantastic adventures of Englishman Phileas Fogg who, to win a bet, journeyed around the world in the “record time” of 80 days using every mode of transportation from train to boat to elephant and balloon.
Best Actor: Yul Brynner for The King and I
Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman for Anastasia
Best Director: George Stevens for Giant
Best Moment: In a truly triumphant return to Hollywood, Ingrid Bergman, the one-time sweetheart blacklisted from American films for seven years for her adulterous, and very public affair with Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, utters upon the statue’s acceptance, “I’ve gone from saint to whore, and back to saint again, all in one lifetime.” Besides, where would ’80s and ’90s alterna-cinema have been without one of the babies birthed of their union, the glamazon, Isabella Rossellini?
Best First: All five movies nominated for Best Picture were filmed in color–welcome to modern times!
Best Trivia: Furthering his ‘cool’ legend, James Dean was the only actor to be nominated posthumously twice.
Where Are They Now?: In 2006, Shirley MacLaine co-starred alongside Christopher Plummer and–yes, believe it—Mischa Barton in a period, drama romance, set in Belfast about World War II tracking down a ring’s owner. Closing the Ring is set for release sometime in 2007.
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Ceremony: March 27, 1947
Host: Jack Benny
Oscar 1946–The Big Winners:
Best Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives — starring Fredric March and Myrna Loy. Upon returning to small-town America, three World War II veterans have difficulty readjusting to life at home, discovering that both they and their families have irrevocably changed.
Best Actor: Frederic March for The Best Years of Our Lives
Best Actress: Olivia de Havilland for To Each His Own
Best Director: William Wyler for The Best Years of Our Lives
Best Moment: Caught on camera–battling sisters! When Joan Fontaine reached out to congratulate her sibling, Olivia de Havilland, for her Best Actress win, she was boldly rebuffed by the fiery winner; their long-standing feud gained momentum. The awkward photo made the front page of almost every newspaper the next morning, eclipsing the other wins–clearly, not much has changed in the way of salacious entertainment news coverage.
Best First: The Best Years of Our Lives was the first and only Samuel Goldwyn production to win a Best Picture nod.
Best Trivia: Alfred Hitchcock was snubbed for his thriller classic, Notorious, the Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman starrer, considered one of Hitchcock‘s cinematic masterpieces.
Where Are They Now?: The only surviving principal cast member of the epic Gone With the Wind (1939), the 90-year-old Academy winner Olivia de Havilland, who’s resided in Paris for decades, makes rare appearances, and is reportedly working on an autobiography. In 2003, she appeared as a presenter at the 75th Annual Academy Awards before resounding applause. In June of 2006, de Havilland showed up for a tribute to her 90th birthday at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.
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Ceremony: March 4, 1937
Host: George Jessel
Oscar 1946–The Big Winners:
Best Picture: The Great Ziegfeld — starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. An epic biopic based on the life of Flo Ziegfeld, who begins his career as a sideshow barker and works his way to becoming the Broadway impresario extraordinaire, while coasting along turbulent relationships with actresses. Ziegfeld liked expensive costumes, beautiful women, and lots of stairs–everything was in excess.
Best Actor: Paul Muni for The Story of Louis Pasteur
Best Actress: Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld
Best Director: Frank Capra for Mr. Deeds Goes To Town
Best Moment: Toasting glamour–ovebirds Carole Lombard and Clark Gable seen sipping expensive bubbly with the recently engaged amorous power duo William Powell and Jean Harlow.
Best First: The “Best Supporting Actor” categories were first introduced; awardees received plaques rather than statuettes.
Best Trivia: Beloved actress Jean Harlow, tragically, died two months following the Oscars ceremony from an inflamed gall bladder. Her eccentric, forceful mother, a Christian Scientist, forbade her daughter to get the operation, insisting she would cure Ms. Harlow by means of prayer.
Where Are They Now?: Most are–hopefully–floating above in Hollywood Heaven!
