The Academy awards twenty-four Oscars every year. In their forty-five seconds, winners can bore the public with a list of people they want to thank, or touch people’s hearts with genuine emotions, or shock them with the unexpected – in 1992, accepting his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, 72-year-old Jack Palance did one-arm push-ups on stage. Cuba Gooding Jr. had a long list of people to thank after winning the Oscar in 1997 for Best Supporting Actor in Jerry Maguire, but his speech was certainly not boring!
Cuba Gooding Jr. (American accent): I know I have a little bit of time so I’m gonna rush to say everybody, and you cut away, I won’t be mad at you. God, I love you! Hallelujah! Thank you, Father God, for putting me through what you put me through, but I’m here … and I’m happy! I just wanna … oh … here we go. OK. The studio, I love you, and Cameron Crowe, and Tom Cruise, I love you, brother, I love you, man … Derek Brose, Shawn Suttles ... Keith Butler, all my behind-the-scenes crew, Regina King, I love you! You did a great job! We made the movie! Everybody involved with the movie, I love you! … Oh, my goodness! Here we are! I love you … but keep going!
SELF-DEPRECATION
Acceptance speeches often have an element of self-deprecation. Put that together with humour, and you have a classic moment. The late Robin Williams gave a great example when he received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Good Will Hunting in 1998:
Robin Williams (American accent): Oh, man! This might be the first time I’m speechless! … Oh, thank you so much for this incredible honor. And most of all, I wanna thank my father, up there, the man who, when I said I wanted to be an actor, he said: “Wonderful! Just have a back-up profession, like welding!”
A PERFECT SPEECH
Sometimes an actor or actress delivers a speech that is listened to in respectful silence. A perfect example is Peter O’Toole, when he received an Honorary Oscar in 2003.
Peter O’Toole (Anglo-Irish accent): I have my very own Oscar now to be with me till death do us part. I wish the Academy to know that I am as delighted as I am honoured … and I am honoured. The magic of the movies enraptured me when I was a child. As I totter into antiquity, movie magic enraptures me still. Having already bagged this baby, as it were, and so spared uncertainties prior to the opening of an envelope, I’m able to think. I think of the United States, and of the loves and friendships I’ve known here for more than half a century, and of how much the nation has given to me, both personally, privately and professionally. I am deeply thankful. And now, at this last, you have given me this delightful shock. You’re very good. Good night and God bless you.
GRAZIE, AMERICA
And although they may have prepared a speech, some struggle to find words to express their emotion. Especially if it is not their native tongue:
Sofia Loren (Italian accent): Thank you very much, your generosity fills me with happiness and great pride. I remember my first Oscar. It was so overwhelming for me that the terror of having to face you all made me find so many excuses not to be with you thirty… thirty years ago. Now a thousand feelings grab my heart while I’m holding this wonderful statue and words are very difficult to find for me and to express it all in this wonderful moment in my life. So I’ll try to revert to my native language and say simply ‘grazie, America’. Thank you.