The 24 most memorable Oscar speeches

Frances McDormand's Best Actress win was a foregone conclusion, but her utterly inspired speech breathed fiery life into a ceremony that had all but run out of steam. After dishing out heartfelt thanks to her "Three Billboards" collaborators and her family, McDormand declared, "And now, I want to get some perspective." After asking her fellow nominees to stand, she announced, "We all have stories to tell and projects we need financed." Then she uttered the words that remained on everyone's lips for weeks after the broadcast: "inclusion rider." Since then, the industry has been on notice that if it won't diversify voluntarily, stars will use their power to demand it.

Leaving aside the many troubling elements of "Gone with the Wind" (most notably the woefully outdated attitudes about everything from race relations to sexual assault), the right kind of history was made in 1940 when Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to win an Academy Award, for her scene-stealing portrayal of Mammy. A tearful McDaniel hoped her Oscar would be “a beacon for anything that I may be able to do in the future.”

“I can’t tell you how encouragin’ a thing like this is,” joked the 72-year-old Hollywood veteran as she accepted her first Oscar. The Best Supporting Actress trophy was a long time coming; as she noted in her speech, she made her silver-screen debut in 1915. It was her fifth nomination, coming after three nods as a screenwriter for comedy classics like "Adam’s Rib" and "Pat and Mike."

“It’s a tie,” exclaimed Ingrid Bergman. Experience and youth were served when veteran Katharine Hepburn split the Best Actress Oscar with Barbra Streisand. Director Anthony Harvey accepted first for the absent Hepburn, allowing Streisand to run away with the moment as she grasped her Oscar, gazed at it longingly and said, “Hello, gorgeous.”

The Best Actor trophy belonged to Marlon Brando for his indelible portrayal of Don Vito Corleone in "The Godfather," but the mercurial performer sent Sacheen Littlefeather, a representative of the Apache tribe, to represent him. She declined the award on his behalf due to Hollywood's treatment and depiction of Native Americans. It was a surprising protest and, sadly, ahead of its time. 

Louise Fletcher might’ve earned audiences’ antipathy as the loathsome Nurse Ratched in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest," but she moved them to tears when she signed a message to her deaf parents who were watching at their home in Birmingham, Alabama. “I want to say thank you for teaching me to have a dream. You are seeing my dream come true.”

In picking up her second Best Actress Oscar, Sally Field innocently quoted a line from her first winning performance and got wrongly derided as a braggart. The line “You like me” is a reference to "Norma Rae," but the world misheard it as “You like me! You really like me!” Her speech is still misquoted to this day.

“It was my privilege. Thank you.” That was it. Short, sweet and over so quickly that the orchestra, due to the bane of Oscar winners past, was slow on its cue to play the show into the next segment. Quite a surprise given that Pesci had just won Best Supporting Actor for his fast-talking, notoriously profane performance in "Goodfellas."

The legendary actor just turned 73 when he won his first Oscar, for his performance as the cantankerous Curly in "City Slickers," and he celebrated by interrupting his speech to do a set of one-handed push-ups. Host (and "City Slickers" co-star) Billy Crystal dined out on Palance’s feat for the rest of the broadcast and brought him back to open the 1993 ceremony with more one-handed push-ups.

When Tom Hanks celebrated his high school drama teacher, Mr. Rawley Farnsworth, as one of the “finest gay Americans” he has ever known, he didn’t realize that the still-living gentleman had yet to come out of the closet. Fortunately Mr. Farnsworth was quite all right with Hanks' unexpected revelation. The actor renovated and dedicated an Oakland theater to his teacher in 2002. Screenwriter Paul Rudnick turned the gaffe into the hit comedy "In & Out," starring Kevin Kline.

Winona Ryder was expected to win Best Supporting Actress in 1994 for "The Age of Innocence," so poor 11-year-old Anna Paquin was doubly overwhelmed when she heard her name announced for "The Piano." The youngster gasped for air for several seconds, prompting the audience to explode into encouraging applause. Finally she gathered herself and rattled off her brief speech into a microphone positioned at her eyeballs.

Kirk Douglas was already tapped to accept an honorary Oscar when he suffered a severe stroke on Jan. 28, 1996. Doctors weren’t sure he’d ever speak again. Two months later, on March 25, he accepted that Oscar and gave a defiant tearjerker of a speech. Douglas turned 100 years old in 2016 and remains a seemingly unstoppable force of nature.

No award winner likes being played off by the orchestra when his or her speech goes long, but until Cuba Gooding Jr., no one had thought to defy the play-'em-off music by shouting over it. It helps that few people are as boisterous as Gooding, who seemed to be channeling his "Jerry Maguire" character, Rod Tidwell. After winning the crowd to his side, Gooding finished his speech on his terms and bounded off into Oscar history.

“Roberto,” cried Sophia Loren, proud of her fellow Italian for winning Best Actor. And, oh, how Roberto soaked in the moment, springing to his feet and displaying his physical comedy skills by walking over the backs of auditorium seats as he made his way to the stage to accept his award. It was excessive to the point of embarrassment, and therein lies the occasional genius of Roberto Benigni.

It was Michael Caine’s second Best Supporting Actor win and his first for which he was in attendance. His acceptance speech was a hoot. He made reference to the reason he was absent the last time (he was shooting “Jaws: The Revenge”) and graciously acknowledged each of his fellow nominees (working in a good-natured dig at superstar Tom Cruise for slumming it in the Supporting Actor category).

It was a historic moment as Halle Berry became the first black woman to win Best Actress in the 74-year history of the Academy Awards, and she did not disappoint at the microphone — though things got a little awkward when the orchestra tried to play her off. “Hey! Seventy-four years here,” shot back Berry. They cut the music so she could finish by thanking her esteemed colleagues and, of course, her lawyer.

The Cloon-dog’s Best Supporting Actor win was a fait accompli at the 2006 Oscars. All that was left was the speech, which was expected to be one of the evening’s highlights. As expected, the effortlessly charismatic George Clooney got political. Unfortunately, he did it in a back-patting manner, crediting Hollywood as a force of change in the world when the industry still underemploys women and people of color in significant ways. "South Park" lampooned his speech several weeks later with its “Smug Alert” episode.

Winning Best Director for "The Hurt Locker" was a long overdue triumph for Kathryn Bigelow, one of the most talented filmmakers in the business. Even more overdue was Bigelow becoming the first woman to win Best Director in Oscar history. “It’s the moment of a lifetime,” she observed, easily maintaining her composure as her ex-husband, James Cameron, looked on proudly in defeat. (He was nominated for "Avatar.")

J-Law’s adorable klutz reputation (or is it an act?) began at the 2013 Oscars when she tripped over her elegant Dior dress on the way to collect her Best Actress trophy for her electric performance in "Silver Linings Playbook." When she turned to find a standing ovation waiting for her, she joked, “You guys are just standing up because you feel bad that I fell, and that’s really embarrassing!”

“When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid.” It was an inspiring sentiment from a brilliant young actress, whose tremendous supporting performance as Patsey in "12 Years a Slave" is surely just the beginning of a brilliant career.

As unforgettable as she was in Richard Linklater’s 12-years-in-the-making "Boyhood," Patricia Arquette’s bold Best Supporting Actress acceptance speech will stand for all time as one of the most unexpectedly righteous political statements in Oscar history. Throwing down in support of wage equality and equal rights for all women, Arquette elicited a fist pump from Meryl Streep and a standing ovation.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has used his fame to promote environmental protection issues since he was first thrust on to the world stage in 1997 in the wake of his star turn in "Titanic." Over the course of his career, DiCaprio has advocated for environmental groups such as the World Wildlife Fund and has produced the documentaries "11th Hour," "Cowspiracy" and "Before the Flood," all of which address how man is influencing climate change. In his 2016 acceptance speech for Best Actor, DiCaprio reminded the audience, "Climate change is real; it is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating."

Indignant over President Donald Trump's recently decreed "travel ban," Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi boycotted the 2017 Academy Awards, sending Anousheh Ansari (the first Muslim woman in space) and Firouz Naderi (the Iranian-born director of NASA's Solar Systems Exploration department) to attend in his stead. Ansari read a statement from Farhadi that savaged the new president's "inhumane" law before closing on a guardedly hopeful note. "[Filmmakers] create empathy between us and others," wrote Farhadi, "an empathy we need today more than ever."

It's the most memorable speech never delivered in Oscar history. Due to an envelope snafu that left a confused Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway incorrectly naming "La La Land" Best Picture (blame for which lands squarely on a pair of negligent PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants), Jenkins and his producers were left holding their Oscars in sputtering disbelief as ABC abruptly cut off their broadcast. The following day Jenkins released his speech, which movingly encouraged young artists inspired by his film to realize "dreams you never allowed yourself to have."