In subsequent ceremonies at the DCP, Midnight Cowboy   became the first and only X-rated movie to win Best Picture (1970) and George C. Scott refused his Oscar win for Patton    in 1971 because he didn’t believe that actors should be in competition with each other. The 1972 Oscars saw one of the last public appearances of actress Betty Grable, who would pass away from lung cancer a year later and was also the first ceremony that had the nominees' pictures superimposed while they were announced.  

Perhaps the most notable moment of the 1972 ceremony occurred when Hollywood legend Charlie Chaplin was given an Honorary Academy Award. Since Chaplin had been an icon of Hollywood's silent era, the bulk of his movies had been made before the Oscars existed. Blacklisted during the Red Scare because of his progressive views, Chaplin moved to Switzerland and severed all ties with Hollywood, remaining a controversial figure in the industry for decades. His Honorary Oscar was an attempt by the Academy to make amends. It had been 20 years since Chaplin had set foot in the U.S. and he was hesitant to come back. But when he walked onto the stage to receive his Oscar, he received a 12-minute standing ovation, the longest in Oscar history and perhaps the longest ever in DCP history.  

It wasn’t the last time Hollywood needed to right a wrong. The 1973 Oscars were the most viewed in its history. With groundbreaking hits like The Godfather   and Cabaret    nominated for multiple awards, it was sure to be a night to remember no matter the outcome. The biggest stars of the time were there, of course, but what is remembered most about that night is who wasn’t there. Marlon Brando was leading the race to win Best Actor over Michael Cain, Laurence Olivier and Peter O’Toole, but the method actor didn’t have any plans to attend the ceremony. Instead, he asked Sacheen Littlefeather, an actress and activist for Native American rights, to decline the award in his stead and to bring up the mistreatment of Native Americans in film. Her speech was met with boos and Littlefeather was blacklisted from Hollywood. Littlefeather received a formal apology from the Academy nearly 50 years after the incident. (Her claims of being Native American have been disputed following her death.) No matter what you think of Littlefeather, it was a moment that brought widespread attention to how Native Americans were portrayed in Hollywood. 

On the lighter side, the next year’s ceremony saw Tatum O’Neal become the youngest Oscar winner in a major category, at only 10 years old, with her performance in Paper Moon.   But it was another incident that stuck in the minds of audience members and television viewers that year. At the end of the night, host David Niven was introducing Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor to present the award for Best Picture. In the middle of Niven’s speech, a naked man ran across the stage, throwing a peace sign to the audience. (This was during the streaking epidemic trending in colleges across the country at the time.) The audience was shocked but roared with laughter that was further amplified by Niven’s quick quip: “Isn't it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?” (We hope nothing of the sort will happen during one of our performances.) 

The Oscars would occupy the DCP regularly through 1999. But the challenges of fitting the awards into the vast concert schedule of the LA Philharmonic (which performed at the DCP until Disney Concert Hall opened in 2003) became even more complicated when LA Opera came on the scene in 1986. The Academy needed its own home. The ceremony was held at the Shrine Auditorium in 2001 and 2002 before moving full-time to what is now called the Dolby Theatre. Still, we’re proud of our theater’s legendary history and hope that when you revisit these iconic moments, you’ll remember that they happened on this very stage.