The Kisses, Falls, and Angelina Jolie’s Leg: 15 Most Memorable Moments in Oscar History

Over the years at the Academy Awards ceremonies, there have been many events that have particularly stuck in our memories. We decided to remember the 15 most memorable ones.

Dream Couple

Синди Кроуфорд и Ричард Гир в 1991 году

Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford became one of the most beautiful couples in the history of the Academy Awards, appearing hand in hand on the red carpet in 1991. It was their first public appearance together as an official couple. For the event, Cindy chose a crimson Versace dress with an incredible neckline, which is included in all lists of the best Oscar outfits.

Jennifer Lawrence’s fall

Дженнифер Лоуренс

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence won the award for Best Actress in 2012 for the film “Silver Linings Playbook,” in which she starred alongside Bradley Cooper. But receiving the coveted statuette wasn’t so smooth: the actress fell on the stairs, catching her dress hem.

Legendary Decline

Сашин Литтлфезер
Sasha’s Little Feather

Marlon Brando refused to accept his “Oscar” in 1973 for his role in “The Godfather” – instead, the actor sent Sacheen Littlefeather, an activist of the Native American community, to the stage. He wanted to protest against the misrepresentation of American Indians in Hollywood. Littlefeather was not warmly received on stage, for which the Academy apologized only 49 years later, in 2022.

Kiss on stage

Эдриан Броуди и Холли Берри
Adrien Brody and Halle Berry

One of the most romantic, beautiful, and unexpected surprises at the film awards happened in 2003. Stepping onto the stage to accept the award for Best Actor in the film “The Pianist,” the then-young actor Adrien Brody passionately kissed Halle Berry, who was presenting him with the statuette.

The iconic selfie


ELLEN DEGENERES

Each Oscars ceremony is truly a historic event because on any other day of the year, you’re unlikely to encounter such a high concentration of A-list stars in one place. In 2016, TV host Ellen DeGeneres, who also served as one of the hosts of the awards, decided to immortalize the historic moment in a photograph. In the selfie taken by Bradley Cooper, there were Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lawrence, and other film stars. Ellen captioned the photo on her social media with: “If only Bradley’s arm was longer.” Who knows how many more celebrities could have fit into that photo.

Jumping for joy

Роберто Бениньи
Roberto Benigni

Roberto Benigni literally began jumping for joy when he heard his name announced as the winner of the award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1999 from Sophie Loren. The Italian director and lead actor in the film “Life is Beautiful” leaped onto the stage, jumping over the audience’s chairs.

The youngest laureate was…

Actress Tatum O’Neal became the youngest Oscar winner at the age of 10 in 1974. The daughter of Ryan O’Neal received the award for Best Supporting Actress in the film “Paper Moon,” where she starred alongside her father.

First woman – “Best Director”

Кэтрин Бигелоу
Kathryn Bigelow

Throughout the history of the film awards (and there have been 94 of them already), women have been nominated for the “Best Director” award only 7 times, and they have won it three times. The first woman to win the coveted statuette was Kathryn Bigelow: in 2008, she won in this category with her film “The Hurt Locker.” After that, Chloe Zhao (“Nomadland,” 2021) and Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog,” 2022) have won in the directing category.

“The Oscars” posthumously

Родители и сестра Хита Лэджера с его наградой
Heath Ledger’s parents and sister with his award

Perhaps the saddest award presentation for Best Actor occurred in 2009. The winner was Heath Ledger, who had passed away shortly before the ceremony at the young age of 28. Accepting the award for his role as the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” were Heath’s parents and sister, while many guests in the audience couldn’t hold back their tears.

A controversial award

In 1969, the then-young 26-year-old Barbra Streisand and the 11-time Oscar nominee Katharine Hepburn received an equal number of votes from the jury—3030 each. Hepburn was absent from the ceremony, and Barbra ultimately received her debut award for the film “The Lion in Winter.” Streisand’s transparent dress also became legendary—it was the first of its kind in history.

Angelina Jolie’s Leg

In 2012, Angelina Jolie’s velvet Atelier Versace dress turned her into one of the most viral internet memes. Thanks to its unusual provocative slit, it seemed like the actress’s leg had a life of its own, which sparked the imagination of hundreds of internet users to create their own variations of this photo.

Historical error

Продюсер «Ла-Ла Ленда» Джордан Хоровиц показывает залу карточку с правильными результатами
Producer Jordan Horowitz shows the audience the card with the correct results.

It seemed that at such a prestigious award ceremony as the Oscars, everything should be organized flawlessly. However, no one is immune from mistakes. In 2017, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, who were presenting the award for Best Picture, accidentally received an envelope with Emma Stone’s name, who had won the award for Best Actress for her role in “La La Land.” Seeing the name of the film on the card, the presenters proclaimed it the winner. Amidst enthusiastic applause, the “La La Land” team took to the stage, accepted the coveted Oscar, and the producers even managed to deliver thank-you speeches. At that moment, Jimmy Kimmel walked onto the stage, whispered something to Jordan Horowitz, and handed him another envelope. Horowitz displayed it to all the audience in the hall and showed it to all the cameras, after which he announced that the actual Best Picture winner was “Moonlight.”

The Slap from Will Smith

Уилл Смит бьет Криса Рока на сцене
Will Smith hits Chris Rock on stage

One of the most recent scandals that occurred at the 2022 Oscars was when an enraged Will Smith stormed onto the stage and slapped Chris Rock. The incident happened after the host made a joke about Will’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith’s hairstyle. Jada suffers from alopecia and was bald at the time. Despite publicly apologizing the next day, the Academy banned Will from attending the awards for 10 years.

Favorite heroine on stage

Джимми Киммел с ослицей Дженни на «Оскаре-2023»

Jimmy Kimmel with Jenny the Donkey at the 2023 Oscars

Last year, among the main favorites of the ceremony was Martin McDonagh’s film “Banshee Inisherina.” The main award was lost by the film to “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” but the audience was delighted to see their favorite heroine — Jenny the donkey, who played the beloved pet of Colin Farrell’s character. However, after the ceremony, the organizers admitted that they simply found a similar animal in America — after all, a trip to the Oscars from Ireland could have been too stressful for Jenny. But her “double” on stage was greeted with enthusiastic applause.

The reunion we deserved

Харрисон Форд и Ке Хюи Куан

Harrison Ford and Kelly Huị Quân.

Ke Huy Quan’s speech, in which he tearfully shouts “Mom, I just won an Oscar,” went viral on all social media platforms. However, there was another highly touching moment during the award ceremony of the movie “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.” Ke Huy Quan’s first role ever was in the film “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” where he starred alongside Harrison Ford. And now, 39(!) years later, his first “Oscar” was presented to him by Harrison Ford.

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