See unforgettable memories from past years' telecasts, including a bare bottom, a bare chest, and other events that bear repeating.
SHE HATHAWAY ABOUT HER (2009)
In the midst of host Hugh Jackman's opening showstopper, the Boy from Oz walked down into the audience and carried Best Actress nominee Anne Hathaway from her seat up onto the stage to musically re-enact a scene from Frost/Nixon. While she at first pretended to be flustered, she quickly let loose her formidable vocal chops and then wrapped her limbs around Jackman as he crooned sweetly to her, ''Oh, Nixon, you know I love you, too.'' Sock it to me.
HUDSON BRIDGES (2007)
It's not often that a first-time actress wins an Oscar. It's even more rare that she wins for a musical. And for that actress to have been discovered by a reality TV show...well, that's just never happened before. But Jennifer Hudson defies the odds and wins a Best Supporting Actress golden boy for her heartbreaking role as Effie White in Dreamgirls. Take that, Simon Cowell.
CUBA LIBRE (1997)
Winning an Oscar has never seemed as joyous as when Cuba Gooding Jr. won a Best Supporting Actor statuette for his role as undervalued football player Ron Tidwell in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire. He was having his own party on that stage, and the rest of the world was invited.
CHAIRWAY TO HEAVEN (1999)
We suppose that if Sophia Loren shouted our name with such élan, we'd jump out of — and on top of — our chairs. Sure, we couldn't make any sense of Roberto Benigni's acceptance speech when his Life is Beautiful won the Best Foreign Language Film award...but we got the gist of it.
JULIA! (2001)
America's sweetheart finally got the respect she deserved when Kevin Spacey revealed that her name was inside the Best Actress envelope. Before getting into her lovely, heartfelt speech, the Erin Brockovich star advised the orchestra's conductor to "sit...because I may never be here again."
LIP SERVICE (2003)
The little-seen drama The Pianist makes Adrien Brody an Oscar winner, but it is his acceptance speech that makes him a star, as he takes advantage of his moment at the podium to plant a big, wet, lengthy kiss on startled presenter Halle Berry. ''I bet they didn't tell you that was in the gift bag,'' he quips as he becomes the youngest man ever to win the Best Actor Oscar. A year later, Brody milks the memory for laughs when he delivers the Best Actress prize — and a tamer smooch — to Monster's Charlize Theron.
PALANCE BEAM (1992)
After 42 years in Hollywood, Jack Palance finally bags an Oscar for playing macho cowboy Curly in City Slickers. Accepting his Best Supporting Actor prize with a nod to host and costar Billy Crystal (he repeats his ''I crap bigger than him'' line from the film), the then 72-year-old Palance expresses his joy by dropping to the floor and doing three one-armed push-ups. Palance's virility becomes fodder for Crystal and his gag writers for the rest of the evening and at the next year's ceremony as well, when Crystal enters astride a giant Oscar trophy — dragged onstage by Palance.
LIKE STORY (1985)
Accepting the Best Actress statuette (her second) for Places in the Heart, Sally Field gushes, "You like me! Right now, you like me!" The ecstatic utterance instantly becomes a punchline — one which she herself uses the following year, before presenting William Hurt with a Best Actor Oscar for Kiss of the Spider Woman, when she says to the crowd, "Let's see which one you like — you really, really like."
GOLDEN GIRL (1969)
"It's a tie!" exclaims Best Actress presenter Ingrid Bergman: The Lion in Winter's Katharine Hepburn and Funny Girl's Barbra Streisand both claim the top prize, marking the first (and only) time in Oscar history two women would share the honor. Hepburn is a no-show, and a visibly overwhelmed Babs steals the spotlight by cooing "Hello, gorgeous!" to her first golden guy.
HAIR RAISER (1986)
Perhaps Oscar's first great screw-you fashion moment. Snubbed for her performance in Mask, Cher stuns the fastidious Academy by wearing a belly-baring Bob Mackie number that is one part spider, two parts Vegas showgirl. ''I did receive my Academy booklet on how to dress like a serious actress,'' she cracks. Two years later, Cher is named Best Actress for Moonstruck.
BUTTING IN (1974)
As David Niven introduces Best Picture presenter Elizabeth Taylor, a nude streaker dashes behind him, flashing a peace sign. The man (later identified as Robert Opal) is apprehended and dragged to the press room for photos. Not to be upstaged, Niven quips, "Probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings."
KINGDOM COME (1998)
Best Director winner James Cameron turns the Academy Awards into an impromptu coronation by declaring (à la Titanic hero Jack Dawson) that he is ''king of the world!'' By the end of the night, his $200 million disaster epic sails away with 11 statuettes, including Best Picture, and ties 1959's Ben-Hur (and, later, 2003's Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) for the most Oscar wins.
NATIVE APPEAL (1973)
Not even the Don can strong-arm Marlon Brando into attending the ceremony. So when The Godfather star wins Best Actor, his proxy, Apache Sacheen Littlefeather, declines the award, citing the actor's opposition to ''the treatment of American Indians...by the film industry.'' Littlefeather turns out to be an aspiring actress named Maria Cruz.
BERRY EMOTIONAL (2002)
It's a historic night for African-American actors. Denzel Washington is named Best Actor for Training Day, Sidney Poitier (the first black man to win Best Actor) earns an honorary award, and Halle Berry is the first black woman to be named Best Actress. "This moment is so much bigger than me," the Monster's Ball star says, sobbing. And it is.
LECTER CIRCUIT (1992)
Eight-time Oscar host Billy Crystal makes his most memorable entrance ever, as The Silence of the Lambs' Hannibal Lecter: wearing a muzzle, strapped to a gurney, and wheeled into the room. Crystal recalls later that he'd been worried backstage: ''What if they don't laugh, and I'm stuck with this mask on my face, going, 'I thought you'd like it!''' But Crystal gets a huge laugh that sets the mood for one of the funniest Oscar shows ever. That night, Silence becomes the third (and to date, the last) movie to sweep the top five prizes: Best Picture, Director, Screenplay (Adapted), Actor, and Actress.
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This post should just be about all things Oscars, including the upcoming ceremony. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS AND THE HURT LOCKER FTW
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