Oliver! became the onlyBest Picture winner to have received aG-rating prior to winning, the ratings system having replaced the oldHays Code on November 1, 1968 (though a number of Best Picture winners have received the rating retroactively). It was the last British film to win Best Picture untilChariots of Fire in1981, and the last musical to win untilChicago in2002.
Cliff Robertson's performance inCharly, which had received a mixed-to-negative reception from critics and audiences, engendered controversy when he won theAcademy Award for Best Actor. Less than two weeks after the ceremony,TIME mentioned the Academy's generalized concerns over "excessive and vulgar solicitation of votes" and said "many members agreed that Robertson's award was based more on promotion than on performance."[5]
Also notable this year was the only instance to date of the Academy revoking an Oscar after the ceremony:Young Americans won the award forBest Documentary Feature Film, but on May 7, 1969, it was discovered that it had premiered in October 1967, thus making it ineligible.Journey into Self, the first runner-up, was awarded the Oscar the following day.[7][8]
Controversy over the Tonight Show announcing the winners hours before the ceremony
A minor controversy was created when, in a sketch onThe Tonight Show, which was recorded three hours before the awards ceremony,Johnny Carson andBuddy Hackett announcedOliver! as the winner for Best Picture andJack Albertson asBest Supporting Actor.[9] ColumnistFrances Drake claimed that most observers believed Carson and Hackett "were playing a huge practical joke or happened to make a lucky guess".[10] Referring to it as "The Great Carson Hoax", PricewaterhouseCoopers stated in a 2004 press release that it was "later proven that Carson and Hackett made a few lucky guesses for their routine, dispelling rumors of a security breach and keeping the integrity of the balloting process intact".[11] Carson would go on to host the ceremony five times.[2]
On the day after the broadcast, the liveABC television audience was estimated at 60 million in the United States.[12] It was the first Oscars to be widely telecast throughout the world – live in the United States, Canada and Mexico,[13] and licensed for delayed broadcast[a] in at least 30 other countries.[b][c]
The show opened outdoors at night in downtown Los Angeles. English actorsRon Moody and sixteen-year-oldJack Wild were in character as Fagin and the Artful Dodger, from Best Picture nomineeOliver!. Fagin assured Dodger that if they didn’t win the golden statuette, they would “pinch it.”[14][15]
Theteleprompter was not yet invented, so the presenters read off of handwrittencue cards.[14][19] During the Best Original Screenplay presentation (which was won byMel Brooks forThe Producers), comedianDon Rickles carried a cue card up to Frank Sinatra at the podium.[20]
Hope later observed that “Oscar is more naked than usual...They’re doing things on the screen today I wouldn’t do in bed, even if I had the chance.”[24]
Ruth Gordon won Best Supporting Actress as the nosy neighbour inRoman Polanski’sRosemary’s Baby.[12] The 72-year-old actress exclaimed, “I can’t tell you how encouraging a thing like this is!" In closing Gordon said, "thank all of you who voted for me, and all of you who didn’t – please excuse me.”[25][26]
The director and choreographerGower Champion wanted the show to appeal to a younger audience.[14][16] He relaxed the dress code fromwhite tie and tails toblack tie and tuxedos.[14][27] He reduced the show’s length to two hours, partly by easing access to the stage with a wide center ramp over the orchestra pit.[17] The brevity of several speeches also contributed to the overall running time.[12][28][29]
Champion also targeted the youth market "with a little help from" Jane Fonda’s friends,The Soul Rascals.[f] The rock group played cover songs as choreographed dancers displayed the Best Costume designs.Danilo Donati, the costume designer forFranco Zeffirelli'sRomeo and Juliet, was not present, so Fonda handed the Oscar to the dancers portraying the star-crossed lovers as a “symbolic” gesture.[30][31][32]
Throughout the ceremony Champion introduced rear-screen projection of photos and film excerpts onto five movable screens that filled the stage.[14][33][34]
Announcing the best actress winners, Ingrid Bergman gasped “It’s a tie!”[37] According to an Academy spokesperson in 1969, the actual vote count by the 3,030 eligible Academy members was "never divulged".[12][i]
Katharine Hepburn was not in attendance, so 38-year-oldAnthony Harvey, the English director ofThe Lion in Winter, accepted on her behalf.[38]
Twenty-six year old Barbra Streisand briefly tripped, stepping on the bell-bottomed leg of herArnold Scaasi-designed pantsuit, en route to the stage.[25][39][40][41][j]
Streisand was shocked to discover her Scaasi suit appeared transparent under the stage lights and photographers’ flashes.[38][39][42]
Looking down at her Oscar, Streisand said “Hello, gorgeous!” – her opening line fromFunny Girl.[14] She acknowledged the honor of “being in such magnificent company as Katharine Hepburn.”[27]
Sidney Poitier had the distinction of presenting Best Picture, the final award of the night, declaring that “1968 was really a vintage year for motion pictures.”[43]
Later that night at the Governors Ball held in theBeverly Hilton Hotel, the show’s producer, director and choreographer Gower Champion[34] was applauded for his achievement.[44] The show earned mostly favourable reviews for its informality, look and pace, but some critics lamented the lack of glamour of previous Oscar nights.[16][30][33][38][44][45][k]
Don Rickles (Presenter: Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen)
Rosalind Russell (Presenter: Best Original Score for a Motion Picture (Not a Musical), Best Sound and Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Awards)
Frank Sinatra (Presenter: Best Supporting Actor, Best Song Original for the Picture and Writing Awards)
Natalie Wood (Presenter: Best Art Direction and the Scientific or Technical Awards)
^As per theAcademy Report Volume 12 Number 2, December 1969 from the Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections atOscars.org, "The broadcast was presented abroad in an abbreviated, one-hour form on a trial basis."
^As of publication prior to the April 14, 1969 broadcast, the 30 countries were: "United Kingdom, Australia, Korea, Venezuela, Argentina, Austria, Greece, Holland, Finland, Italy, New Zealand, Uruguay, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, San Salvador, Honduras, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines" as per theAcademy Report, Volume 12 Number 1, April 1969 from the Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections atOscars.org. But the article noted that "several other countries may soon be added to the roster".
^As per theAcademy Museumwebsite: the 1969 show "is broadcast to 37 countries in a 56-minute 'capsule' version."
^The stage manager Selig Frank's 41st Academy Awards 1969 production binder script on eBay has handwritten notes indicating that both the opening Oliver! skit and Gregory Peck's intro were "pre-taped".
^As per theAcademy Report, Volume 12 Number 2, December 1969, Raye was the first woman to win the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
^Jane Fonda's scripted line in the show production script was "with a little help from my friends, The Soul Rascals."
^Best Actress nominee,Vanessa Redgrave was pregnant and attended the awards ceremony with actorFranco Nero, the father ofCarlo Gabriel Redgrave Nero, as per thisphoto from the Academy Awards show photographs, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
^In the show production script this segment is described as a "choreographed montage of slides of the five nominees for best actress projected on the screens onstage, underscored as a cinematic ballet". Ingrid Bergman enters to podium left and says, "There they are...the best actresses of 1968."
^As per theTurner Classic MoviesFunny Girl trivia article on its website, "The accounting firm of Price Waterhouse confirmed that they counted and re-counted the votes, and it was an exact tie."
^The show was written byTom Waldman and his brotherFrank Waldman as per the article "Champion Completes Production Staff; Show Plans on Schedule" in theAcademy Report in the Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collection atOscars.org
^abcWarga, Wayne (April 15, 1969). "Old Excitement Lives as Oscar Finds New Home".Los Angeles Times. p. 3.
^abStreisand, Barbra (2023).My Name is Barbra Chapter 15, Hello, Gorgeous.Viking an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. pp. 314–315.ISBN9780698405257.
^Graham, Sheilah (April 15, 1969). "Oscar's Love – 'Tis Capricious".Hollywood Citizen-News. p. 9 Academy Awards Section.
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