This list of Academy Awards show fails includes some of the most cringeworthy moments, funny bloopers, acceptance speech mistakes, and red carpet fashion disasters. As Hollywood's biggest night rolls around each year, it's always fun to reflect on the most memorable moments that live on in Oscars infamy. From actors refusing Oscars, a streaker, premature celebration, overjoyed winners, and yea, Bjork's swan dress, there's a little bit of something for everyone.
Vote for the Oscar moments you think were legit fails and downvote the ones you think weren't really so bad. To be clear, this isn't a list of fails in terms of movies or people who won awards (those you can find here: Worst Best Picture, Worst Best Actors) but of actual moments that shook up the annual telecast and had everyone talking at the water cooler the next day.
http://www.ranker.com/list/academy-award-fails/derrick-deane,
The Winner Is Peter...
At the 1961 Academy Awards, Peter Falk (best remembered as Columbo) and Peter Ustinov were both nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Ustinov was nominated for Spartacus and was considered the dark horse nominee with Falk as the front-runner for Murder, Inc.
When it came time to hand out the award, the presenter got as far as, "The winner is Peter..." when Falk stood up to begin heading to the stage. The only problem was the winner was Ustinov, not Falk, who quickly sat down realizing his premature celebration.
George C. Scott Refuses to Attend the 1970 Oscar Ceremony
We're all familiar with Joaquin Phoenix's reluctance to take part in award ceremonies, but decades before Mr. Phoenix was the man who portrayed General Patton himself, George C. Scott. Scott made it no secret that he saw the Oscars as "a two hour meat parade" and when he won the Best Actor award for Patton, he became the first winner to refuse the award.
Come up and Get it, Frank
This was another case of premature celebration, although here, you can't really blame Frank Capra. At the 1934 Academy Awards, there were three nominees for Best Director - Capra, George Cuckor, and Frank Lloyd. After the nominees had been announced, Will Rogers said, "Well, well, well, what do you know. I’ve watched this young man for a long time. Saw him come up from the bottom, and I mean the bottom. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Come up and get it, Frank!"
Capra sprung to his feet and triumphantly strode to the stage to collect his prize, only... it was Frank Lloyd (pictured) who won the award. Capra later described the walk back to his seat as, "the longest, saddest, most shattering walk in my life." Don't feel too bad for Capra though as he would win Best Director three of the next five years for It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, and You Can't Take It With You.
James Franco in Drag
Faced with sagging ratings, Oscar producers decided to inject some youth and pop culture into the 2011 Oscar telecast with some hip new co-hosts. Cue Anne Hathaway and James Franco, who proceeded to deliver one of the worst Oscar hosting performances in recent memory.
While Franco seemed detached from the entire event, Hathaway was forced to overcompensate by being overly cheerful about the ceremony. The coupe de grace came when Franco appeared on staged for a skit in drag, a scarring moment that undoubtedly had kids asking their parents why Harry Osborn from the first Spider-Man trilogy was dressed as a woman.
Michael Moore Gets Booed off the Stage
Michael Moore has made a career of being confrontational, divisive, and certainly not shy about sharing his opinions on political and social issues. With the country in the midst of going to war in Iraq, Moore was afforded a moment to share his thoughts after winning the Best Documentary Oscar for Bowling for Columbine in 2003.
Even with the traditionally left-leaning Hollywood audience, political statements at the Oscars never go over well and such was the case when Moore was booed off stage following his comments about President Bush.
James Cameron Is King of the World
Long before director James Cameron won his Oscar for Best Director at the 1998 Academy Awards, he already had a reputation for being an egomaniacal dictator on sets (mind you with impressive and memorable films as a result) and nothing stokes the ego like winning the industry's most coveted prize.
In his second Titanic acceptance speech of the night (he had already won for Best Editing), Cameron did the usual round of naming names before getting to his parents to whom he said, "there's no way to express to you what I'm feeling right now. My heart is full to bursting except to say..." and then he borrowed Leo's famous line from the film.
Granted it was done in good humor (we think) but the reputation that preceded him made it come off rather condescending to the other nominees which included the likes of Gus Van Sant for Good Will Hunting as well as the directors of L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson) and The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo).
Roberto Benigni Loses His Mind
There are many questionable award results in the history of Oscar ceremonies, but Roberto Benigni's Best Actor win at the 1999 ceremony certainly ranks near the top. Not only did Benigni win the award over Tom Hanks for Saving Private Ryan AND Edward Norton for American History X, but he acted like a fool on his way to the stage.
But before he snagged that award, Benigni was the representative for the Best Foreign Film winner, Life Is Beautiful and the moment would live on in Oscar infamy. After his name was called by Sophia Loren, Benigni proceeded to climb onto the backs on the chairs in front of him and salute the crowd. The hijinks didn't stop there, however. His Best Actor acceptance speech contains nearly two minutes of nonsensical rambling before he was mercifully played off the stage.
Adrien Brody Plants One on Halle Berry
For a young actor, there are very few things that are more thrilling and exciting as winning your first Academy Award. So while you can't really blame Adrien Brody for momentarily losing his mind and planting a kiss on presenter Halle Berry, it still made for an awkward moment, especially when you take in to consideration the company Brody was up against: Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine, Nicolas Cage, and even Daniel "I-Never-Lose-Acting-Awards" Day-Lewis. Can you really blame the guy for being over exuberant?
Marlon Brando Refuses Oscar
Marlon Brando was nominated for Best Actor Oscars every year from 1952 to 1955. He finally won in '55 for On The Waterfront and while he would earn another nomination in 1958, his next win wouldn't come until 1973 for Francis Ford Coppola's classic, The Godfather. Instead of accepting his award like most nominees do, Brando refused and instead used the opportunity to protest the treatment of American Indians by the film industry, as well as an on-going siege at Wounded Knee, by sending Sacheen Littlefeather to the stage. Littlefeather carried a letter from Marlon Brando explaining his refusal.
Bonus: Check out then-James Bond actor and award presenter Roger Moore's awesome puffy shirt!
Streaker Upstages David Niven
It certainly isn't uncommon to see an occasional streaker here or there. Most restrain themselves to sporting events, but if there are cameras rolling, there is always the potential for a streaker attack. To his credit, presenter David Niven did a masterful job at deflecting the attention this Oscar streaker was seeking to gain by delivering one of the greatest retorts in Oscar history.