The 94th Academy Awards, or Oscars, take place in Hollywood tonight (March 28 2022).
Hosted by Regina Hall, Wanda Sykes and Amy Schumer, many of the world’s biggest stars of the silver screen will be walking the red carpet as they prepare to find out who has won some of the film industry’s most prestigious awards.
Throughout the years, the winners have given audiences some of the most memorable awards speeches of all time – from the bizaare, to the heartwarming and to the political.
Ahead of the Oscars, Daily Star takes a look at some of the event’s most memorable speeches.
Barbara Streisand and Katherine Hepburn tie – 1969
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Every Academy Awards ceremony has categories where the winners are far too close to call, but in 1969 they certainly were.
The Best Actress category included huge names of the silver screen in some of their biggest roles, leading to a surprise tie between two famous stars.
Both Katherine Hepburn and Barbara Streisand won the Best Actress award, after the judges could not choose between them – and we can certainly see why.
Katherine was nominated for her role in The Lion In Winter, while Barbara was nominated for Funny Girl – two of their most famous roles – and both each a deserving winner of the award.
While the both won the award, each came up on stage to give their acceptance speeches individually, after being presented with the prize by Ingrid Bergman.
Jane Fonda – 1979
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Hollywood icon and activist Jane Fonda is one of the many stars to have used her Oscar acceptance speech to raise awareness of an issue or a community globally.
After collecting her Best Actress award for the film Coming Home, in which she played a paraplegic Vietnam War veteran, she used her speech to raise awareness of the millions of deaf Americans in the country.
She was also one of the first stars to use sign language throughout her speech, saying that “movies have not just the power to entertain, but to inspire, teach, and be healing.”
Jack Palance – 1992
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It’s not every day that a star takes to the stage to show the world their fitness skills, but in 1992, actor Jack Palance did just that.
Jack won the Best Supporting Actor award for his role in City Slickers, which came later on in his career at the age of 73, having previously appeared in other huge films including Tango & Cash and Batman.
However, the actor was keen to address issues of ageism in the film industry, and began his speech asking why people question what an actor can or cannot do at a certain age.
Keen to show he could do anything, he then performed a series of push ups on stage – much to the excitement and applause of the audience.
Halle Berry – 2002
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Following in the footsteps of other Hollywood stars, Halle Berry gave an emotional speech following her 2002 Best Actress award win for her role in Monsters Ball.
The win was a landmark moment in Academy Awards history, as the actress was the first black woman to win the award, and used her speech to pay tribute to other actresses who had come before her.
She said: “This moment is so much bigger than me,” before paying tribute to actresses including Diahann Carroll, Angela Bassett and Jada Pinkett Smith.
La La Land and Moonlight best film mix up – 2017
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The Academy Awards ceremony in 2017 was the birth of the famous #envelopegate saga, where two of the biggest films of the year were caught in a huge Best Picture mix up.
Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced that Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling picture La La Land had won the award, with an emotional and excited cast arriving on stage to accept the prize.
However, halfway through their acceptance speeches, the presenters realised that the wrong envelope had been opened and that Moonlight had won Best Picture instead.
Jennifer Lawrence – 2013
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Jennifer Lawrence has been nominated for Academy Awards multiple times in her career, finally winning in 2013 following her role in Silver Linings Playbook.
However, her speech was overshadowed by her arrival onstage – which saw the actress stumble and fall midway on the stairs.
Despite this, she laughed and picked herself up, while the audience stood up in cheers of applause in a standing ovation for the star.
She later said in her speech: “You guys are just standing up ’cause you feel bad that I fell, and that’s really embarrassing, but thank you.”
Patricia Arquette – 2015
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Patricia Arquette’s 2015 acceptance speech gained worldwide praise following her Best Supporting Actress win for the film Boyhood.
After thanking the cast and crew of the film, the actress called out the female wage gap in the film industry, telling the audience: “To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation: We have fought for everybody else’s equal rights.
“It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America!”
The speech gained rapturous applause in the auditorium, with many stars from the world of entertainment on their feet in support of the star.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
