Film: There Will Be Memories

THE Academy Awards may have been around for 80 years now, but, as Suzanne Stone Maretto (Nicole Kidman) in “To Die For” (1995) might have told you, if it wasn’t on television, it didn’t really happen. So an equally important anniversary is that of the Oscar broadcast. The ceremony was first shown on television in March 1953. (Above, Bob Hope was the host for that ceremony.) And it should go on (thank you, Writers Guild of America) for the 56th time next Sunday broadcast on ABC from the Kodak Theater in Hollywood with Jon Stewart as host.

The stars, the films, the analysis. Full coverage of the new awards season.

Granted, the broadcast has problems. The ratings have declined steadily over the decades. (There was a spike in 1998 when “Titanic” was up for 14 awards and won 11.) The reviews are frequently awful. The producers seem to become more desperate every year, trying to make the show better, sometimes with appalling results.

But no true movie lover misses Oscar night, and there’s always something memorable about the evening, as this chart of select broadcast highlights demonstrates. Certain events — among them Rob Lowe’s 1989 “Proud Mary” duet with Snow White, David Niven’s suave response to a streaker zipping by onstage in 1974 (“That was bound to happen”) and Sally Field’s best actress acceptance speech (“You like me”) in 1985 — have been omitted, having long ago achieved classic status. A couple of Cher’s well-known fashion statements, however, have made the list.

HOST

2007: (ABC) Ellen DeGeneres, her first time around.

2001: (ABC) Steve Martin, making his first appearance.

1998: (ABC) Billy Crystal, his sixth of eight appearances so far.

1995: (ABC) David Letterman, his first and probably last time as host.

1986: (ABC) Alan Alda, Jane Fonda and Robin Williams. (The producers tried this multiple-host thing almost a dozen times, mostly in the 70s.)

1984: (ABC) Johnny Carson, his fifth and final year.

1978: (ABC) Bob Hope, his last time around. (His first was in 1940, the year Gone With the Wind won.)

1969: (ABC) Ten of em, including Ingrid Bergman, Sidney Poitier, Frank Sinatra and Natalie Wood.

1962: (ABC) Bob Hope, for the fifth year in a row (if you count 1958 and 1959, when he was a co-host).

1953: (NBC) Bob Hope in Hollywood and Conrad Nagel, an academy founder, in New York.

BEST PICTURE

2007: "The Departed," an all-star gangster flick set in Boston.

2001: "Gladiator," a swords-and-sandals epic set in ancient Rome.

1998: "Titanic," a pre-World War I romantic disaster epic set at sea.

1995: "Forrest Gump," a feelgood comic drama about a simple man and complex events.

1986: "Out of Africa," a love story in which Robert Redford shampoos Meryl Streeps hair.

1984: "Terms of Endearment," a mother-daughter weepie in which the mother gets the best lines.

1978: "Annie Hall," a romantic comedy about neurotic, casually dressed New Yorkers.

1969: "Oliver!," a musical about Dickensian orphans with criminal tendencies.

1962: "West Side Story," a musical about juvenile delinquents with romantic tendencies.

1953: "The Greatest Show on Earth," the Technicolor circus spectacular that made Charlton Heston a star.

WORST DRESS

2007: Jennifer Hudsons brown Oscar de la Renta with truncated metallic bolero. Actually, the bolero was the problem.

2001: The Icelandic singer Bjorks giant swan resting on a body stocking.

1998: Chers champagnebeaded Bob Mackie gown with see-through skirt and frightening amoebashaped hat.

1995: The costume designer Lizzy Gardiners shift made entirely of American Express Gold Cards.

1986: Chers spider-web Bob Mackie monstrosity with bare midriff, topped by an Afro-Mohawk headpiece.

1984: A toss-up between Jane Alexander, in royal blue with bellows sleeves and an unfortunate peplum, and Amy Irving, who appeared to come dressed as a bride.

1978: Vanessa Redgraves bellsleeve monastery gown (the night of her Zionist hoodlums bit), topping Diane Keatons Annie Hall look.

1969: Barbra Streisands seethrough, bell-bottom Scaasi pajamas.

1962: Carroll Bakers fourleaf- clover top was a little strange.

1953: Gloria Swansons dress was all right, but wearing her mink stole and harlequin glasses onstage (to accept an honorary award for a producer) wasnt.

SURPRISES VS. SENTIMENTAL FAVORITES

2007: Sentimental. Martin Scorsese, best director (The Departed), after six nominations over 26 years.

2001: Surprise. Marcia Gay Harden, best supporting actress (Pollock), over the favorite, Kate Hudson, second-generation Hollywood princess, for Almost Famous.

1998: Surprise. Kim Basinger, best supporting actress (L.A. Confidential), beating 87-year-old Gloria Stuart for Titanic.

1995: Sentimental. Martin Landau, 63, best supporting actor as the horror star Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood.

1986: Sentimental. Don Ameche, 77, best supporting actor (Cocoon), having impressed academy voters with his onscreen break-dancing.

1984: Surprise. Linda Hunt, best supporting actress (The Year of Living Dangerously), for playing a male photographer.

1978: Surprise. Richard Dreyfuss, 30, best actor (The Goodbye Girl), over Richard Burton, 52, nominated for his seventh and last time, for Equus.

1969: Sentimental. Ruth Gordon, 72, best supporting actress, as an Upper West Side Satan worshiper in Rosemarys Baby.

1962: Surprise. Rita Moreno, 30, best supporting actress (West Side Story), beating out four grandes dames: Lotte Lenya, Fay Bainter, Una Merkel and Judy Garland.

1953: Surprise. Best picture, The Greatest Show on Earth. Even the director, Cecil B. DeMille, said he had thought High Noon or The Quiet Man would win.

MEMORABLE MUSICAL NUMBER

2007: I guess you dont like laughter. — Will Ferrell, in a duet with Jack Black about the Oscars aversion to honoring comedy.

2001: Bob Dylan, via satellite from Sydney, performing the winning song (from Wonder Boys), Things Have Changed.

1998: Stanley Donen bursting into song, Cheek to Cheek, in the middle of his lifetimeachievement- award acceptance speech.

1995: Elton John singing his own winning song, Can You Feel the Love Tonight? It was one of three best-song nominees from The Lion King.

1986: Howard Keels tribute to MGM musicals with backup dancers including Leslie Caron, Cyd Charisse, Ann Miller, Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds.

1984: Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis Jr. closing the show with Theres No Business Like Show Business.

1978: Debby Boone performing You Light Up My Life, the best-song winner, from the justifiably forgotten film of the same name.

1969: The reading of the costume design nominees, backed by the Soul Rascals, with Romeo and Juliet dancing the jerk and Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine doing the frug.

1962: Andy Williams singing Moon River for the first time, beginning his association with the song for the rest of his life.

1953: Ginger Rogers singing Thumbelina (from Hans Christian Andersen) to her thumb.

NICE MOMENT

2007: Al Gore, winning for the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," pretending to announce his candidacy for president and being cut off by the your time is up music.

2001: I may never be here again. — Julia Roberts explaining to the conductor why she refused to be cut off during her "Erin Brockovich" acceptance speech.

1998: Robin Williams, accepting the supporting actor award for "Good Will Hunting," declaring himself speechless.

1995: Nikita Mikhalkov, bringing his little daughter onstage to accept for best foreignlanguage film ("Burnt By the Sun") and making his exit with her on his shoulders.

1986: Geraldine Page looking frantically for her shoes, which shed kicked off, when her win for best actress (The Trip to Bountiful) was announced.

1984: Jack Nicholson kissing Mary Tyler Moores hand. (She was presenting his supporting actor award for "Terms of Endearment.")

1978: Bob Hope, at the Oscars 50th-anniversary show: If the academy wants me back here in another halfcentury, Im available.

1969: Hello, gorgeous. — Barbra Streisands greeting to her "Funny Girl" Oscar statuette when she tied with Katharine Hepburn for best actress.

1962: Stan Berman, a professional gate-crasher, managing to get to the podium and announcing that he had brought an Oscar for Bob Hope, the perpetual non-nominee.

1953: The red-carpet announcer, working in the rain outside the theater in Hollywood: Ronald Reagan.

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