The height of glitter and glamor, the Oscars ceremony is considered the most chic evening in Hollywood, with its share of highlights, between laughter, emotion and sometimes embarrassment.
Several memorable episodes, over the years, have marked the history of the ceremony: here is an anthology of five of the most memorable of them.
2017, the
Moonlight
imbroglio
The most incredible chapter in the history of the Oscars is still very recent, since it only dates from 2017. That year, when deciding the supreme award for best film, the prestigious golden statuette went briefly to the Damien Chazelle's musical
La La Land
while it was his competitor
Moonlight
, by Barry Jenkins, a much more serious drama, which was the real winner. The experts of the company PricewaterhouseCoopers, in charge of counting and keeping the votes of the Academy, had quite simply given to the presenters, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, the wrong envelope ...
The one that had been read in front of millions of viewers was a duplicate of the Best Actress award, which effectively recognized Emma Stone for her role in
La La Land
.
This blunder was arguably the worst in the long history of the Oscars.
"It was a terrible fiasco,"
wrote critic Jeff Jenson at the time in
Entertainment Weekly
magazine
.
"We were embarrassed for Dunaway and Beatty, who obviously knew something was wrong when he opened the envelope but didn't know how to do it."
Read also: Moonlight best film at the Oscars ... after the erroneous announcement of the victory of La La Land, here is the recap of the night
1973, Marlon Brando and the Native American cause
In March 1973, Marlon Brando won the Oscar for Best Actor for his impressive performance in
The Godfather
, winning against competitors like Michael Caine, Peter O'Toole and Laurence Olivier. But Brando had shunned the awards show, and it was Apache actress Sacheen Littlefeather, a Native American rights activist, who took the stage in his place.
She had refused with a gesture of the hand the statuette held out to him by actor Roger Moore and had spoken in front of a dumbfounded audience, explaining that Marlon Brando
"very much regretted not being able to accept this very generous price"
because he wished thus protesting the way the film industry, according to him, treated Native American actors.
This statement had been greeted with applause and shouts of joy, as well as a few hoots.
Sacheen Littlefeather at the Oscars ceremony in 1973. Intervening on stage to replace Marlon Brando, she refuses the statuette that Roger Moore hands her to read a press release on the place of Amerindians in American cinema.
Everett / Bridgeman pictures
1969, a double Oscar for Barbra Streisand and Katharine Hepburn
There have been a few rare draws in Oscar history but few have been as noticed as that of 1969, when the Academy jury failed to decide between Barbra Streisand and Katharine Hepburn for the prize of the best actress.
"The winner ... we have a tie!"
, exclaimed the presenter, Ingrid Bergman, opening the envelope.
Barbra Streisand had received her first Oscar for her role as Fanny Brice in
Funny Girl
while Katharine Hepburn, champion all categories in the actors with four Oscars in total, triumphed in
The lion in winter
.
Only Barbra Streisand attended the ceremony and she said
"Hi my pretty!"
by receiving the precious statuette.
To read also: Behind the bangs of Daphne Bridgerton, the shadow of Audrey Hepburn
2003, Adrien Brody kisses Halle Berry
Actors often get overwhelmed by their emotions when they receive an Oscar, but in 2003 Adrien Brody may have gone a little too far.
When he took the stage to receive his award from Halle Berry, the previous year's Oscar winner for Best Actress, Adrien Brody took everyone by surprise, including the actress, by l 'suddenly hugging for a brief but passionate kiss on the mouth.
"This was not planned. I did not know anything about that "
, had explained in 2017 Halle Berry, confirming that, under the effect of the surprise, she had decided
" to accompany the movement "
.
For his part, Brody had said that
"time had slowed down"
for him at this moment but that his momentum had almost deprived him of speech.
"When I finished kissing her ... They had already lit the sign to say 'leave the stage, your time is up',"
he told the Toronto film festival.
Adrien Brody kisses Halle Berry on stage, in 2003, when he has just received an Oscar.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP
Read also: After the flops and the divorce, the return to form of Halle Berry
1992, Jack Palance wows the gallery
The late Jack Palance won his only Oscar in 1992, for a supporting role alongside Billy Crystal in the western comedy
Life, Love, Cows
. After receiving the statuette, the actor, 73 years old at the time, made a brief acceptance speech in which he pinned the producers who are reluctant to hire the actors
"from a certain age"
.
"They fail to ask"
if they are still able to do certain things, Jack Palance had said before starting to do one-handed push-ups on the stage, unleashing thunderous applause.
“I didn't know what else to do”
to drive the point home, he said later.
