The longest acceptance speech in the history of the Oscars is just as powerful today

If there is a guarantee for the Academy Awards, the show jokes will contain how long the ceremony itself takes. Sometimes these jokes predominate by far the number of ceremonies that actually run for a long time. In addition, this probably applies just as much to other large awards as the Golden Globes and the Emmys, but it often feels most especially in relation to the Oscars.

The term is simple enough: Because the Oscars on network television also with the reality that it is a live event that could happen any number of things unexpectedly, the show must end at some point – even if this means that certain Awards are shortened or speeches are canceled. The latter is the most common; We have all seen that an acceptance speech was cut off, no matter what happens, and sometimes, no matter who is in front of the camera. Yes, for the last big awards like the best actor or the best actress, the people who lead the show tend to a little long in their speeches (but only a little).

Of course, it is just as true that the Oscar line -ups have distributed golden statuettes since the emergence of television. Since the academy approaches 100 years of award ceremonies quickly, they have only been broadcast on television since March 1953 (((When the best Oscar went to the television series “The Greatest Show on Earth” later turned). Perhaps this explains that the fact that an acceptance speech went long – how, six minutes Lang – and still manages to be among the most profound and touching awards that have ever been delivered. Although this may still be true, it may also be the reason why acceptance speeches never reach such lengths today.

When she played the leading role in the drama “Mrs. Miniver” in 1942 by director William Wyler, Greer Garson had already been nominated twice for the best actress at the Oscars. The film in which she plays the title figure would not only secure the actor her third overall nomination, but also Mark The second of five straight nods that Garson received in the category. At the moment, your seven best actress nominations will make you in the fourth time category.

“Mrs. Miniver” was a great success at the Oscar ceremony, which took place on March 4, 1943, where it also won the best picture, the best director and the best supporting actress. It is also a remarkable piece of Oscars story because it is the first big Oscar winner to concentrate specifically on the Second World War (as well as the first film that receives five separate nominations). In a way, the fact that a) Garson has won the Oscar, and b) she has a lot of runway to go in her acceptance speech for a long time. The victories of the film were also not unexpected; It was a film that practically everyone had predicted that he dampened in his categories about any other candidate when “Titanic” won 11 of 14 Oscars in the late 1990s.

What is honestly remarkable about Garson’s acceptance speech is that the sections that have survived for decades over Newsreel have survived Don’t even make the full speechBut they still make up about four minutes what she said on stage. Anyone who is familiar with a temporary familiarity of speeches about the award is not too shocked by the general arch of what Garson had to say, since he recognizes how important and sensible it is only to be nominated to the other big ones To praise players in the film themselves. It should also be noted that Garson came to the States at the end of the 1930s, which makes it a rather youngest immigrant at the time of winning the trophy. In view of the effects of the Second World War on Hollywood and the world, it is not a shock that Garson has recognized the greater moment that explains: “(P) Increase in our government and our armed forces and from abroad (…) should make us Determined to continue.

Garson also spent a lot of time with it recognition What it meant to be a recent transplant to the states, the kind of rousing feelings that is too careful in the year of our Lord in 2025. On the other hand, we should note that Garson tends to roam more than a little. The fact that she was able to quote Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” in the middle of her speech is both exemplary and a good sign that she wanted to milk her time on stage as much as possible. Yes, it is applicable that the Dodo apparently said: “Everyone has won and everyone has a prize” in relation to Oscar candidates who are themselves winners to get the nod, but at the same time it is the kind of things that Guaranteed are too Now let them play them out by the orchestra.

From 2010 the timing is pretty simple: Oscar winners receive 45 seconds for their acceptance speeches. Here, too, this is not always true like The youngest winners like Cillian Murphy and Christopher Nolan for “Oppenheimer” May got a bit of scope in view of the awards that they accept and the film itself. But the general rule is that they have less than a minute with a few exceptions. We cannot know exactly whether Garson’s acceptance speech was the straw that broke the back of the camel. (Although there were news players of the event, regular annual television productions of the ceremony have not occurred for a further decade.) But many have the feeling that their lengthy monologue, as well as the strength to welcome the American film industry as a polite film industry Power to be nominated by her colleagues was what the Oscars prompted to encourage his winners firmly to keep things tight.

The idea of ​​a long acceptance speech in the Oscars could see an anathema for the industry if not only the network that exudes the ceremony. But although Garson can probably keep things a little brakers, the fact that she climbed onto the stage and spoke for so long and managed to do everything without copying anything in advance (the above YouTube link can Only one show, a short part of her speech, but she does not read any index cards or the like) is amazing. Today’s winners, even among the large acting categories, rarely attract attention in the same way, and if this is the case, it is usually because they do not become through monologous . (Think of something like Cuba Gooding, Jr.s, who is thrilling and yet not very rehearsed, acceptance of “Jerry Maguire”.) Garson had her big shot when she won her sole Oscar for “Mrs. Miniver” and did it to deliver an unforgettable and effective role that accidentally determines the sound for the coming decades, even if the today’s winner may not realize him.