Harold Hecht accepting the Oscar® for Best Picture for "Marty" at the 28th Academy Awards® in 1956. Presented by Audrey Hepburn and hosted by Jerry Lewis, co-hosted in New York by Claudette Colbert and Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
And the Best Actor Oscar instantly made Earnest Borgnine a big screen legend in the greater public mind, though his talent was widely known by everyone in the industry already. He made only 5000 dollars for the role of Marty, much like Sylvester Stallone took a small amount of money over a very large amount in order to maintain creative control over "Rocky." Said Earnest Borgnine: [on his $5,000 salary for playing the eponymous lead in "Marty", which won him a Best Actor Oscar] ...I would have done it for nothing. Let this be a lesson to your creators out there about what it takes to get to the top. And don't bullshit me that does not matter. Just for social context on the times he lived in and the attitudes that were prevalent, he also said, "I hate hippies and dopeheads. Just hate them. I'm glad we sent the men off to war. They came back with a sense of responsibility and respect. We should have grabbed the women, given them a bath, put a chastity belt on them, and put them in secretary school." The Lone Comic TM Defender of Creativity and Entertainment SM
Audrey H. is absolutely bewitching here. I could listen to her list nominees all night. And how nice not to have to hear winners thank everybody under the sun. They knew how to get off looking good.
I love watching these times. A whole different world. With classic actresses and actors with class and humor. Marty was a great movie. Glad Ernest won. A far cry from mckales navy. Lol.
When Oscar acceptance speeches were short and eloquent and when the show ended so early, Jerry Lewis had to stretch and stretch and stretch. Also shows that Lewis was capable of ad libbing effectively and being humble. It's interesting that they didn't need big production numbers or even scenes from the movies. Why not? Because most people had seen the nominated films and actors. This was the first Oscar broadcast of which I was aware because my mother was rooting for Borgnine and Magnani to win for acting, and had marked her choices in the little boxes in TV Guide, where you checked off your picks. She was still excited the next morning that two actors had won for playing working class people..
"Marty" also holds a significant place in pop culture infamy; on an episode of "Twenty-One", Herbert Stempel was asked the question on who just won Best Picture, only to "take a dive" (under the auspices of Dan Enright) and say the previous year's winner "On The Waterfront." Charles Van Doren dethroned him, but Stempel’s incorrect answer was the very first sign of rigging in quiz shows.
Oh thank you so much for writing that! If it weren’t for that scene from “Twenty-One”, I wouldn’t have watched either movie. I totally forgot that they weren’t up for nomination in the same year though, so I re-watched this clip 5 times wondering why I kept missing “On the Waterfront” being announced as a nominee, and thought I was going either deaf or senile lol. Thanks for saving me from a frustrated Google search :)
@@crystaldoherty8791 And Stempel's account was at first ignored...until a contestant on "Dotto" finally cracked the door wide open on those quiz show scandals.
Exactly. It's a pity that there is only Harold Hecht who is named for the prize, Burt Lancaster and Paddy Chayefsky, they also produced the movie. Paddy Chayefsky wins the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for the television movie Marty whom he wrote.
They way they’re doing their eyebrows right now will look odd at some point in the future too. Granted back then they were a bit more brazen with the artifice, pretty much just painted them on.
Audry exuded femininity and graciousness. Even the tone of her speaking voice spins a charm. Classiest movie star of the feminine persuasion....along with Leslie Caron. European gold plated elegance.
What a great time in the world, Jerry Lewis and Audrey Hepburn we're marvelous and in spite of what people think now, Jerry Lewis was a great man and terrific entertainer and all the years with his Labor day Telethons for over 40 years and his work with Muscular Dystrophy plus everything else, he gets my vote and Respect!!! R.IP. PERIOD!!!!!
It bugs me when someone is referred to as a "former Academy Award winner." The award hasn't been rescinded. One is "an Academy Award Winner" or a "previous Academy Award winner." Just a personal pet peeve.
I agree! Once someone wins an academy award, they’re an academy award winner for life, but saying former sounds like the award has been revoked or something, so it makes more sense to say “Academy Award Winner”
They used to do this back in the day. It wasn't until the 70s when movie previews started putting a huge emphasis on "Academy Award Winner ____" that people started referring to the title as an ever present thing rather than something past tense
Jerry Lewis was the BEST of the BEST at comedy. Audrey Hepburn was the most beautiful of them all. Amazing how technology has progressively gotten so much better through the years and people have gotten so much worse.
A well-deserved Oscar for “Marty”. 70+ years later, it’s still a wonderful movie. I loved seeing how elegantly everyone was dressed, too. The Academy Awards really were quite the event in those days. I don’t even bother watching them anymore.
What an elegantly Patrician tone of presenting the most important award in the Academy Awards...and it is presented by one of the Most Unforgettable Women in the World!
Audrey is obviously stunning and perfect here. There is something about Jerry Lewis too that I've always thought was so attractive when he was out of character.
That gorgeous, genuine smile when she announces Marty as the winner! ❤️ And the humblest of best picture speeches ever! Oh, that these days could return.
This is just the coolest thing ever! My favorite actor AND actress!!!!!!! Favorite Lewis movie would be Sailor Beware w/ Dean Martin, and fave Audrey movie would be Roman Holiday.
So much class and beauty ,she looks like a real cinderella ,im 28 and these classic moments in cinema make me think wtf happened to now,Rest in peace to all the Greats👏💯❤
Man, just a few minutes earlier, Grace Kelly had presented the best actor award in her last Hollywood appearance and now Audrey Hepburn. To watch the Oscars back then was to watch true elegance and class. The degeneration of the Oscars is off the scale from where it once was.
In 1955, I saw every one of the movies that was nominated for the "Best Picture' award! Even though "Marty" was great, it possibly should have been excluded, because it already was a t.v. play, with Rod Steiger in the lead role! Except for 1939, I consider 1955 one of, if not the greatest year in the history of motion pictures! (Also, if I remember, "Marty" was the "second feature"or B movie, which was unusual!)
Hey Hollywood - get a clue. Listen to what these STARS say regarding their audience. It's very much like that expressed recently by another true STAR, Tom Cruise. Follow their example in speech and in attitude. Success will follow and always remember - Get Woke, Go BROKE.
I believe it was at this Oscars that someone captured a very intriguing photo of Hollywood's two classy, beautiful young "princesses", Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly, chatting backstage. If only they'd done a movie together.
I always wondered how the company of "Hecht-Lancaster" could produce Marty without Burt Lancaster getting an award also. Apparently he wasn't involved in Marty since Harold Hecht was individually named as the producer.
