61st Academy Awards

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61st Academy Awards
Date March 29, 1989
Site Shrine Auditorium
Los Angeles, California
Host None
Producer Allan Carr
Director Jeff Margolis
TV in the United States
Network ABC
Duration 3 hours, 19 minutes
Ratings 42.77 million
Drew Barrymore and Corey Feldman at 61st Academy Awards
Drew Barrymore and Corey Feldman at 61st Academy Awards

The 61st Academy Awards were presented March 29, 1989 at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles.

Contents

[edit] Production background

The producers of the ceremony attempted to change established Oscar traditions for this year's show. One noticeable difference was that instead of an award presenter saying, "and the winner is.." they'd say, "and the Oscar goes to...". Many however, continued announcing winners with the traditional line. In addition, there was no official host for the ceremony this year. The show's opening number consisted of an elaborate stage-show featuring Merv Griffin, Snow White (portrayed by actress Eileen Bowman), and Rob Lowe - the latter two singing an unpopular rendition of the song "Proud Mary". This debacle, in addition to the changes made by the producers, led to the television broadcast receiving a disastrous reception. Consequently, producer Allan Carr would not return to produce the ceremony again, and future ceremonies would not open with a lavish "Broadway-style" opening number until the 74th Academy Awards.

See: 61st Academy Awards nominees and winners

[edit] Films

  • Best Picture: Rain Man - Right before Cher was to present the award for Best Picture, she had an anxiety attack. Jack Nicholson was brought backstage to help calm her down and almost had to present the award with her.

[edit] Direction

[edit] Acting

  • Best Actor: Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man - Winner Hoffman, upon realizing he'd forgotten to thank Tom Cruise and director Barry Levinson in his Best Actor acceptance speech, asked Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn (who were presenting next) to please thank them for him before presenting their award, which Russell did. Then, when Hoffman and Cruise took the stage later in the show to present the Best Actress award, Hoffman said "In my nervousness, I left out the director's name and I left out Tom's name. Tom, thank you very much. I love you very much."

[edit] Writing

[edit] Music

[edit] Additional notes

Lucille Ball at her last public appearance, at the Awards
Lucille Ball at her last public appearance, at the Awards

This was the final public appearance of Lucille Ball, who died less than one month later. Ball presented an Oscar with long-time friend Bob Hope.

Academy Award Portal


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