Oliver! became the only Best Picture winner to have received a G-rating prior to winning, the ratings system having replaced the old Hays Code on November 1, 1968 (though a number of Best Picture winners have received the rating retroactively). It was the last British film to win Best Picture until Chariots of Fire in 1981, and the last musical to win until Chicago in 2002.
Cliff Robertson's performance in Charly, which had received a mixed-to-negative reception from critics and audiences, engendered controversy when he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Less than two weeks after the ceremony, TIME mentioned the Academy's generalized concerns over "excessive and vulgar solicitation of votes" and said "many members agreed that Robertson's award was based more on promotion than on performance."[5]
Also notable this year was the only instance to date of the Academy revoking an Oscar after the ceremony: Young Americans won the award for Best Documentary Feature Film, but on May 7, 1969, it was discovered that it had premiered in October 1967, thus making it ineligible. Journey into Self, the first runner-up, was awarded the Oscar the following day.[7][8]
A minor controversy was created when, in a sketch on The Tonight Show, which was recorded three hours before the awards ceremony, Johnny Carson and Buddy Hackett announced Oliver! as the winner for Best Picture and Jack Albertson as Best Supporting Actor.[9] Columnist Frances Drake claimed that most observers believed Carson and Hackett "were playing a huge practical joke or happened to make a lucky guess".[10] Referring to it as "The Great Carson Hoax", PricewaterhouseCoopers stated in a 2004 press release that it was "later proven that Carson and Hackett made a few lucky guesses for their routine, dispelling rumors of a security breach and keeping the integrity of the balloting process intact".[11] Carson would go on to host the ceremony five times.[2]
The televised ceremony
On the day after the broadcast, the live ABC television audience was estimated at 60 million in the United States.[12] It was the first Oscars to be widely telecast throughout the world – live in the United States, Canada and Mexico,[13] and licensed for delayed broadcast[lower-alpha 1] in at least 30 other countries.[lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3]
The show opened outdoors at night in downtown Los Angeles. English actors Ron Moody and sixteen-year-old Jack Wild were in character as Fagin and the Artful Dodger, from Best Picture nominee Oliver!. Fagin assured Dodger that if they didn’t win the golden statuette, they would “pinch it.”[14][15]
The teleprompter was not yet invented, so the presenters read off of handwritten cue cards.[14][19] During the Best Original Screenplay presentation (which was won by Mel Brooks for The Producers), comedian Don Rickles carried a cue card up to Frank Sinatra at the podium.[20]
Hope later observed that “Oscar is more naked than usual…They’re doing things on the screen today I wouldn’t do in bed, even if I had the chance.”[24]
Ruth Gordon won Best Supporting Actress as the nosy neighbour in Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby.[12] The 72-year-old actress exclaimed, “I can’t tell you how encouraging a thing like this is!" In closing Gordon said, "thank all of you who voted for me, and all of you who didn’t – please excuse me.”[25][26]
The director and choreographer Gower Champion wanted the show to appeal to a younger audience.[14][16] He relaxed the dress code from white tie and tails to black tie and tuxedos.[14][27] He reduced the show’s length to two hours, partly by easing access to the stage with a wide center ramp over the orchestra pit.[17] The brevity of several speeches also contributed to the overall running time.[12][28][29]
Champion also targeted the youth market "with a little help from" Jane Fonda’s friends, The Soul Rascals.[lower-alpha 6] The rock group played cover songs as choreographed dancers displayed the Best Costume designs. Danilo Donati, the costume designer for Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, was not present, so Fonda handed the Oscar to the dancers portraying the star-crossed lovers as a “symbolic” gesture.[30][31][32]
Throughout the ceremony Champion introduced rear-screen projection of photos and film excerpts onto five movable screens that filled the stage.[14][33][34]
Announcing the best actress winners, Ingrid Bergman gasped “It’s a tie!”[37] According to an Academy spokesperson in 1969, the actual vote count by the 3,030 eligible Academy members was "never divulged."[12][lower-alpha 9]
Katharine Hepburn was not in attendance, so 38-year-old Anthony Harvey, the English director of The Lion in Winter, accepted on her behalf.[38]
Twenty-six year old Barbra Streisand briefly tripped, stepping on the bell-bottomed leg of her Arnold Scaasi-designed pantsuit, en route to the stage.[25][39][40][41][lower-alpha 10]
Streisand was shocked to discover her Scaasi suit appeared transparent under the stage lights and photographers’ flashes.[38][39][42]
Looking down at her Oscar, Streisand recited “Hello, gorgeous!” – her opening line from Funny Girl.[14] She acknowledged the honor of “being in such magnificent company as Katharine Hepburn.”[27]
Sidney Poitier had the distinction of presenting Best Picture, the final award of the night, declaring that “1968 was really a vintage year for motion pictures.”[43]
Later that night at the Governors Ball held in the Beverly Hilton Hotel, the show’s producer, director and choreographer Gower Champion[34] was applauded for his achievement.[44] The show earned mostly favourable reviews for its informality, look and pace, but some critics lamented the lack of glamour of previous Oscar nights.[16][30][33][38][44][45][lower-alpha 11]
Don Rickles (Presenter: Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen)
Rosalind Russell (Presenter: Best Original Score for a Motion Picture (Not a Musical), Best Sound and Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Awards)
Frank Sinatra (Presenter: Best Supporting Actor, Best Song Original for the Picture and Writing Awards)
Natalie Wood (Presenter: Best Art Direction and the Scientific or Technical Awards)
↑ As per the Academy Report Volume 12 Number 2, December 1969 from the Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections at Oscars.org, "The broadcast was presented abroad in an abbreviated, one-hour form on a trial basis."
↑ As of publication prior to the April 14, 1969 broadcast, the 30 countries were: "United Kingdom, Australia, Korea, Venezuela, Argentina, Austria, Greece, Holland, Finland, Italy, New Zealand, Uruguay, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, San Salvador, Honduras, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines" as per the Academy Report, Volume 12 Number 1, April 1969 from the Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections at Oscars.org. But the article noted that "several other countries may soon be added to the roster."
↑ As per the Academy Museumwebsite: the 1969 show "is broadcast to 37 countries in a 56-minute 'capsule' version."
↑ The stage manager Selig Frank's 41st Academy Awards 1969 production binder script on eBay has handwritten notes indicating that both the opening Oliver! skit and Gregory Peck's intro were "pre-taped".
↑ As per the Academy Report, Volume 12 Number 2, December 1969, Raye was the first woman to win the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
↑ Jane Fonda's scripted line in the show production script was "with a little help from my friends, The Soul Rascals."
↑ Best Actress nominee, Vanessa Redgrave was pregnant and attended the awards ceremony with actor Franco Nero, the father of Carlo Gabriel Redgrave Nero, as per this photo from the Academy Awards show photographs, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
↑ In the show production script this segment is described as a "choreographed montage of slides of the five nominees for best actress projected on the screens onstage, underscored as a cinematic ballet." Ingrid Bergman enters to podium left and says, "There they are...the best actresses of 1968."
↑ As per the Turner Classic MoviesFunny Girl trivia article on its website, "The accounting firm of Price Waterhouse confirmed that they counted and re-counted the votes, and it was an exact tie."
↑ The show was written by Tom Waldman and his brother Frank Waldman as per the article "Champion Completes Production Staff; Show Plans on Schedule" in the Academy Report in the Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collection at Oscars.org
Related Research Articles
William Wyler was a German-born American film director and producer. Known for his work in numerous genres over five decades, he received numerous awards and accolades, including three Academy Awards. He holds the record of twelve nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director. For his oeuvre of work, Wyler was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, the Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award, and the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award.
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the first performer awarded an EGOT.
Best Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.
The 42nd Academy Awards were presented April 7, 1970, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. For the second year in a row, there was no official host. This was the first Academy Awards ceremony to be broadcast via satellite to an international audience, though outside North America, Mexico and Brazil were the only countries to broadcast the event live.
The 49th Academy Awards were presented Monday, March 28, 1977, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, hosted by Richard Pryor, Ellen Burstyn, Jane Fonda, and Warren Beatty. Both Network and All the President's Men won four Oscars, the most of the evening, but lost Best Picture and Best Director, as well as Best Editing, to Rocky.
The 27th Academy Awards were held on March 30, 1955 to honor the best films of 1954, hosted by Bob Hope at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood with Thelma Ritter hosting from the NBC Century Theatre in New York City.
The 35th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1962, were held on April 8, 1963, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California, hosted by Frank Sinatra.
The 36th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1963, were held on April 13, 1964, hosted by Jack Lemmon at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. This ceremony introduced the category for Best Sound Effects, with It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World being the first film to win the award.
The 28th Academy Awards were held on March 21, 1956 to honor the films of 1955, at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles, California. In this year, Jerry Lewis became the host, replacing Bob Hope.
The 18th Academy Awards were held on March 7, 1946, at Grauman's Chinese Theatre to honor the films of 1945. Being the first Oscars after the end of World War II, the ceremony returned to the glamour of the prewar years; notably, the plaster statuettes that had been used during the war were replaced by bronze statuettes with gold plating and an elevated base.
Funny Girl is a 1968 American biographical musical film directed by William Wyler and written by Isobel Lennart, adapted from her book for the stage musical of the same title. It is loosely based on the life and career of comedienne Fanny Brice and her stormy relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nicky Arnstein.
"Mon Homme", also known by its English translation, "My Man", is a popular song first published in 1920. The song was originally composed by Maurice Yvain with French lyrics by Jacques-Charles and Albert Willemetz. The English lyrics were written by Channing Pollock.
The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 1st Academy Awards to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Actor winner.
James Trittipo was an American television art director and stage set designer in New York and Hollywood, known for his designs of television variety shows including The Bing Crosby Show, The Frank Sinatra Show (CBS), The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis, and An Evening with Fred Astaire. Trittipo won Art Direction Emmy Awards for the ABC Television variety series The Hollywood Palace and An Evening with Fred Astaire. He was the art director on behalf of both ABC Television and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for the 41st Academy Awards on April 14, 1969 and he designed a set "evocative of waterfront pilings" for Rod McKuen's May 10, 1969 television special on NBC. He died of a heart attack at age 43.
The David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress is a category in the David di Donatello Awards, described as "Italy's answer to the Oscars". It was awarded by the Accademia del Cinema Italiano to recognize outstanding efforts on the part of non-Italian film actresses during the year preceding the ceremony. The award was created during the second edition of the ceremony, in 1957, and cancelled after the 1996 event. The award was not granted in 1958.
Alan Bergman and Marilyn Keith Bergman were an American songwriting duo. Married from 1958 until Marilyn's death, together they wrote music and lyrics for numerous celebrated television, film, and stage productions. The Bergmans enjoyed a successful career, honored with four Emmys, three Oscars, and two Grammys. They are in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
References
↑ Champlin, Charles (April 15, 1969). "Streisand and Hepburn Tie; Robertson Voted Best Actor". Los Angeles Times. p.1.
1 2 3 Warga, Wayne (April 15, 1969). "Old Excitement Lives as Oscar Finds New Home". Los Angeles Times. p.3.
1 2 Streisand, Barbra (2023). My Name is Barbra Chapter 15, Hello, Gorgeous. Viking an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. pp.314–315. ISBN9780698405257.
↑ Graham, Sheilah (April 15, 1969). "Oscar's Love – 'Tis Capricious". Hollywood Citizen-News. p.9 Academy Awards Section.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
