80th Ceremony

[anonymous1980]

We're unlikely to see all the former winners. Miyoshi Umeki's whereabouts, for example, are unknown. Jane Wyman and Dorothy Malone, among others, have been no-shows at previous gatherings.

I read somewhere they neglected to invite Dorothy Malone when they did it the first time. She saw it on TV and was royally pissed she didn't even get an invitation.

[Mister Tee]

We're unlikely to see all the former winners.

Glenda Jackson doesn't even like to acknowledge having been an actress these days -- she thinks of it as a former, trivial life.

What you suggest, along with what Hustler says, is more or less what I had in mind -- an anniversary that really paid organic tribute to the full history of the Oscars (as much as possible, anyway). But as Oscar Guy says, I doubt any producer (CERTAINLY not Gil Cates) would dare to try it. They pay lip service to Hollywood tradition, but they mostly believe the only way to draw in the big ratings numbers is to fill the stage with Justin Timberlakes (he did a movie this year!). Given the financial state of Hollywood these days -- with junk commanding ever more huge grosses, and even the best, most accessible films struggling to top $30 million -- it's becoming harder to argue the point.

So, as much as I'd like to see something like we're suggesting, the likelihood is we'll get another ghetto-ized "tribute" and then slip right back to promoting the upcoming shlock releases with brainless starlets.

[Big Magilla]

I'd like to see a combination of Tee and Hustler's ideas.

We're unlikely to see all the former winners. Miyoshi Umeki's whereabouts, for example, are unknown. Jane Wyman and Dorothy Malone, among others, have been no-shows at previous gatherings. Joan Fotnaine didn't show up at the 75th. It's uncertain whether Luise Rainer and Olivia de Havilland will want to travel from Paris to be paraded out again.

There aren't many non-Oscar winning stars from best picture winners prior to 1980 still alive so it's not like the stage would be over-crowded. The only ones still standing (or perhaps sitting or lying down at this point) are Maureen O'Hara from How Green Was My Valley, Rise Stevens from Going My Way, Jean Simmons from Hamlet, Leslie Caron from An American in Paris and Gigi, Betsy Blair from Marty, Louis Jourdan from Gigi, Richard Beymer and Russ Tamblyn from West Side Story, Omar Sharif from Lawrence of Arabia, Albert Finney and Susannah York from Tom Jones, Christopher Plummer from The Sound of Music, Ron Moody from Oliver! and Sylvester Stallone and Talia Shire from Rocky.

A nice gesture would be allowing best picture to be presented by the three surviving co-stars of Gone With the Wind, the oldest film with particpants still breathing - Olivia de Havilland, Evelyn Keyes and Ann Rutherford.

[Hustler]

I would like to see only past oscar winners as presenters, and for the oscar family album related to this 80th anniversary, it will be amazing to watch every alive past winner sitting there.

[OscarGuy]

we'll just hope Cates isn't back again because you know that's what you're going to get.

I do like your idea Tee, but with 79 years to go back (although many of the older ones may not have living thesps), you'd have too many to fill the void and not enough of the "new hollywood" to present. Awards shows now are about who's either "in" at the time or those celebrities who have big name projects coming up within just a few months of the telecast. I'd love to see that tradition go by the wayside, but much of that's probably arranged through the studios who pay for the advertisement of their film's mention on the show.

I'd love to see old mainstay acting winners pair up with the new hollywood. If they could do it with similar counterparts (before Jimmy Stewart died, would have been a great pairing with Tom Hansk). Shirley Temple Black could present with the likes of Dakota Fanning (no flaming, just an example). Any of the old character actresses like Edith Evans (yes, I know she's dead, but it's an example) could appear with Kathy Bates. Perhaps even Tom Cruise partnered with Burt Reynolds. Debbie Reynolds with Queen Latifah...something like that...I think it would be a blast.

Someone else suggested once that new Hollywood could appear paired with one of their childhood idols (no, Dakota Fanning can't pick Tobey Maguire...).

[Mister Tee]

I had an idea recently that it might be fun to round up surviving cast members of best picture winners -- either solos like Eva Marie Sainte for Waterfront, Caron for Gigi, MacLaine for Around the World/The Apartment, or duos like Hoffman/Voight for Cowboy, Andrews/Plummer for Sound of Music (if they're talking to one another) -- and let them present awards.

Anything but that same old staged picture, which was cool the first time but is apparently Gil Cates' only idea.

[Big Magilla]

I'd like them to do a recap of previous decades as they did with the 40th anniversary in which they had an Oscar winner from each decade recap that decade's winners - Katharine Hepburn, Olivia de Havilland, Grace Kelly and Anne Bancroft. They can either replay the original four and add to them or recreate them with winners still alive - Luise Rainer or Shirley Temple from the first decade, Joan Fontaine or Jennifer Jones from the second, de Havilland or Joanne Woodward from the third (it's about time she did something), Julie Andrews or Patricia Neal from the fourth, Jane Fonda or Diane Keaton from the fifth, Shirley MacLaine or Maggie Smith from the sixth, Susan Sarandon or Whoopi Goldberg from the seventh and Halle Berry or Judi Dench from the eighth.

[OscarGuy]

What do you think the Academy should do to celebrate 80 years?