I don’t know about you but I’ve been having way too much fun poring over the videos the Academy has put up online. For instance, here is 1967 – all of the Redgraves are in attendance. Lady Redgrave. Lynn and Vanessa. Ronald Reagan too. The camera identifies Walter Matthau but not Mike Nichols sitting in front of him.
It still makes my stomach hurt that Emma Thompson was shut out of this year’s Oscar race all because, what, silliness. As usual, the wrong people get punished when the hysteria machine goes into overdrive. But this second video was the Mary Poppins year.
First ever televised broadcast:
Most of the videos disable embedding, unfortunately.
Why was Emma snubbed ???? Any Adams seems to have taken her
Spot …
Schell was amazing in “The Man in the Glass Booth” and did an understated moving supporting performance in “Julia”.
I think if Al Pacino (“Dog Day Afternoon”) and Jack Nicholson (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”) not been nominated that year, Schell would have received his 2nd Oscar in 1975 for TMITGB.
Seattlemoviegoer: THANK YOU! You are right. It is Beulah Bondi. I had a suspicion my initial guess (Beatrice Lilli) was wrong. It is, indeed, Ms. Bondi, a really great character actress from the 50s and 60s.
Oh, no. Schell was always intense, even in a comedy like Topkapi, and was probably the most successful German-speaking actor in Hollywood. He was great in Judgement at Nuremberg and didn’t make enough films. Shame. RIP
I know this has nothing to do with this article but i have to report sad news! Academy Award winning Actor Maximilian Schell has died! R.I.P.
They didn’t identify Buelah Bondi either…and she looked great! What a fun video. Nice to see Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero enjoying themselves and it’s so cool that they are a couple again in their later years. LOVE the overture conducted by the brilliant Johnny Green—his talent with score adaptations was unreal (WEST SIDE STORY, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, BRIGADOON, OLIVER, BYE BYE BIRDIE, etc. etc.)
Great looking ladies of the golden years, completely free from botox.
Thankyou so much for posting these. My first love of film wasn’t for current movies, it was for classics. For years all I did was watch classics, I didn’t give a fig for anything new. Eventually that changed. Seeing my classic film stars at the oscars when they were all young and beautiful is really special to me.
You said it on Emma Thompson. Amen. It still feels like she was pushed out for the wrong reasons, even if a case can be made for the 5 nominees’ roles being more challenging. As if that always mattered in the past. It’s just a party, after all.
OMG! I am going through these old videos and they are a hoot, reliving the memorable choices from the past. Crash over Brokeback Mountain, Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan, Godfather over Cabaret. I wish I could find the one where Judy Holiday wins over Anne Baxter, Gloria Swanson, and Bette Davis.
Steve McQueen is so handsome (and his only Oscar nomination . . . pity). He was also very good in “Bullit” and “The Reivers”.
Neely McQueen, his first wife, was also quite a beautiful brunette.
From the clip, I also loved seeing Rachel Kempson (Lynn and Vanessa’s actress mother) sitting in between her daughters.
Saw Raquel Welch a couple years ago on an interview show. She still looks amazing . . . and she’s in her 70s. They need to bring her back as a presenter at the Oscars! It think it would be a hoot.
zooming in is not allowed, thus making reading and posting extremely hard to do.
Andre,
I had not tried to tap and zoom on mobile till you mentioned it. Now I see what you mean. I’ll let Sasha know and we’ll see if this can be fixed. Thanks.
OT: I’m posting this on my iPhone and it’s only showing on half the screen. Since you’re updating the layout, I thought I should let you know.
Wow! Thanks so much for posting, Sasha.
I listened to the entire 1967 broadcast on my transistor radio (one earpiece only) under my covers because my parents wouldn’t stay up and watch it on TV. I had my charts, flashlight, etc. Thought they “nipped that in the bud.” It wasn’t until the following year that I saw my first broadcast.
Kiefer – I think it is Bea Lillie.
Noticed Vanessa was sitting with Franco Nero. They just married a couple of years ago after so many decades of playing the field. A real love story.
Were Rock Hudson and Steve McQueen lookers or what?
Have to go back and watch the rest….
Yeah, those were the glamor days. You can’t help but miss Hope. I’m proud to say I’ve been watching since that 1953 telecast.
Love these! Thanks for posting.
But I have a question regarding the opening sequence of the 1967 awards:
At 2:10 on the clip (after they identify Joan Blondell on the teleprompter), does anybody recognize the older well-attired and bejeweled actress (unidentified).
She’s a character actress but for the life of me I can’t say for sure.
I THINK it is Beatrice Lillie.
Does anybody else have a guess or know for certain?
Thanks.
Just a comment here – but Bob Hope, to me, is distinctly UNFUNNY. What was the big hoopla over him anyway as host. I find him quite boring.
Yeah, these are fun, used to VHS record the Oscars every year and rewatch fun moments in the days before online videos were common. Hope was the perfect host, fun lines, great humor and carrying it all with some grace so the audience was at ease during the show which is needed. Carson was also good too and just like how they show the ceremony always such an amazing deal for everyone present.