Moments that created history at the Oscars!

Truly a world event, the Academy Awards, now in its 90th year has enjoyed a plethora of some of the most iconic moments and we are summing them all up for you!

Marlon Brando refusing his Oscar
Instead of attending and collecting his statue in 1973 for his gut-wrenching role as Vito Corleone in ‘The Godfather’, he decided to boycott the event altogether and send the Native American civil rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather to the podium instead! While there, she read a letter from the actor that explained why Brando was rejecting the Oscar – due to ‘the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry.’

First black Oscar winner
Hattie McDaniel had broken many stereotypes when she won the award for her portrayal of Mammy, a slave in the Georgian plantation in the classic film – ‘Gone with the Wind’. For the 1940 awards, she was made to sit at the back due to segregation. Yet, her Oscar win urged her forward to the front and on-stage, paving the way for many more people of colour to be nominated and even win thereon!

Heath Ledger awarded posthumously
He was one of the stand out characters from the film – ‘The Dark Knight’ and it came as no surprise that he won the award for best supporting actor posthumously at the 2008 Oscars ceremony. His daughter going on-stage on his behalf to collect the award didn’t leave a dry eye in the auditorium, or anywhere in the world! Undoubtedly, this was and has been one of the most heart-wrenching moments in the Oscars history!

‘Crash’ winning best picture
Winning an Oscar is every director and producers dream and when they make movies, they hope their hard work can get all the acclaim. But Paul Haggis was left truly stunned when his movie ‘Crash’ ended up winning the best film at the Oscars over everyone’s favourite and critically acclaimed movie ‘Brokeback Mountain’. Even Jack Nicholson, who was the presenter of the award was left shocked when he opened the envelope. This moment went down in history to prove that the world’s most esteemed film award ceremony can truly never be predicted!

Cuba Gooding Jr’s speech
Every Oscar Winner is given exactly 45 seconds to make their Oscar Speech, for Cuba Gooding Jr it fell short by a minute. The star won his first Oscar for his portrayal of sportsmen Rodney ‘Rod’ Tidwell in the romantic comedy ‘Jerry Maguire’ in 1997 and over shot his 45 second timeframe by a minute when he continued his speech over the orchestra.

Halle Berry Oscar win
Although Hattie McDaniel was the first black recipient of an acting Academy award, it was Halle Berry’s win in 2002 for her role in ‘Monster’s Ball’ that was the first ever for the most coveted title of ‘Best Actress’, won by a woman of colour! Her heart-warming speech has to date been a topic of conversation owing to how mesmerising it was with diversity at the crux of it!

DeGeneres’ selfie
When Ellen DeGeneres invited a few of the nominees and winners for a selfie and posted it on her social page, it caused one of the world’s biggest social media mediums to suffer a temporary breakdown as it received over 3.4 million retweets from audiences and fans, from across the globe! Not only has this moment become a world-event memory but we are certain that audiences around the globe have this selfie saved on their smart phones or systems!

DiCaprio’s Oscar speech
Winning the award for Best Actor is every actor’s dream and for an actor par excellence such as Leonardo, it has been a dream for far too long, despite his most splendid and deserving performances! After being snubbed five times over a period of 23 years with his first Oscar nomination at the age of 20, the beloved actor was finally called on-stage to collect the golden statute for his performance on ‘The Revenant’. Even then, the speech he gave was nothing short of pure magic and went down in Oscar history to become a more important event than his win!

‘La La Land’ gaffe
The Miss World blooper repeated itself once again. Only this time, it was at one of the most honourable film award ceremonies in the world! We all know how ‘La La Land’ not only won hearts around the world but also went on a winning spree at the 89th Academy Awards. So, it was not a surprise when they were announced to come on-stage to collect the most sought-after title of ‘Best Picture’ at the awards ceremony! Only, they didn’t win!

When the entire cast and crew of the beloved movie came on-stage to give their speech, award presenter Warren Beatty doubled back with the claim of an incorrect announcement, going on to declare that ‘Moonlight’, indeed, was the winner that night. While everyone laughed it off, the shock that came with the second announcement has cemented itself as one of the biggest goof ups yet and goes to make its place as one of the most iconic moments in the 91 years of Oscar history!

Watch the Oscars live on February 25 at 6:30 am on Star Movies and Star Movies Select HD.