With our seventh outing in our Favorite Oscar Moments series, Peter, Tripp and I continue sharing our favorite moments from Oscar history. The moments that we remember best or that have struck our fancy as we’ve consumed Oscar’s history. This is also the second time two of us have agreed on a particular moment to remember.
Wesley Lovell & Tripp Burton
1974, 47th Academy Awards
Wesley: David Niven, hosting the 47th Academy Awards was rewarded with one of the greatest, most memorable moments in Oscar history. It was an era where streakers were common, but no one ever dreamed there would be one at the Oscars. As he’s introducing Elizbaeth Taylor, who would later quip “that really upset me”, an unknown man, naked as a jaybird, comes streak out from backstage and across the stage while flashing a peace sign. Some believe it may have been staged, but regardless, it’s Niven’s quintessential comment that really makes the scene enduring. Tripp: The streaker is a classic Oscar moment, but people often forget that it was followed by David Niven’s perfect comeback!
Peter J. Patrick
1981, 54th Academy Awards
Barbara Stanwyck, accepting her long overdue honorary Oscar, tearfully thanks William Holden, the Oscar winning actor who had died several months earlier. At the 50th Anniversary celebration in which they were co-presenters, Holden had made an impromptu speech thanking her for her on-screen generosity in Golden Boy for making his career.
Well it was a surprise for the audience anyway, though not as big a surprise as Katharine Hepburn showing up.
It really does look staged, though. Not only does Niven look to the right in anticipation but his delivery is a bit slow. It’s also a bit slow after the streaker leaves, as though he were waiting for him to be safely out of sight.
Security may not have been as tight as it is nowadays but surely someone could/would have stopped him before he ran across the stage photographed by the TV cameras at waist level. Rumors have long persisted that the show’s producer, Jack Haley, Jr., was behind the stunt which has never been publicly acknowledged by anyone including Robert Opel, the streaker who was murdered in his book store in San Francisco in 1978.
It’s possible it was staged, though I’d be surprised if it were entirely staged. I wonder if he just heard a commotion backstage and turned his attention towards it? Who knows. Still a classic Oscar event.
I just watched the streaker clip – instead of looking straight at the audience Niven has his head turned slightly to his right as if waiting for the guy to run across the stage, after which he faces the audience straight ahead to make his follow-up comment.
With our seventh outing in our Favorite Oscar Moments series, Peter, Tripp and I continue sharing our favorite moments from Oscar history. The moments that we remember best or that have struck our fancy as we’ve consumed Oscar’s history. This is also the second time two of us have agreed on a particular moment to remember.
Tripp: The streaker is a classic Oscar moment, but people often forget that it was followed by David Niven’s perfect comeback!
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