She's Finally Got It!
Sunday, November 17, 2013 at 5:34PM Congratulations to Angela Lansbury! Mrs Iselin is finally clutching her own deserved Oscar gold! You can see her acceptance speech if you haven't yet after the jump...
It's been 69 years since Angela Lansbury entered the movies in Gaslight (1944) securing the first of three Oscar nominations in the supporting actress category. But competitive statues at the Oscars and the Emmys proved impossible to come by so she's in her victory lap of lifetime achievement prizes now. (Other awards bodies have been more generous. She's won 6 competitive Golden Globes and 5 Tonys.) This one feels especially sweet because Team Experience recommended her.
Costume Designer Pier Tosi (not in attendance), actor Steve Martin and humanitarian Angelina Jolie who were also honored at yesterday's event. As per usual we wish this were still part of the High Holy Night with hundreds of millions of people watching. Don't they deserve it?
But here are the acceptance speeches
angela
steve
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Reader Comments (24)
Yay for Ms Lansbury. All I can say is "Treguna mekoides trecorum satis dee"
Aw, love that top pic. Wonderful choices from the Academy.
I love Angela Lansbury and her voice. No wonder she has conquered every medium. I am certain if Sweeney Todd had been made into a movie in 1980s, she would have won the Oscar. She brought an entirely unique and acrobatic mix of humor, sadness and tragedy to the role.
Why isn't she a dame yet? While we are at it, why weren't Kerr and Garson damehooded?
I loved that speech so much-I'm so glad we were able to, in 2013, have a speech where Kate Hepburn, Bette Davis, and Clark Gable were name-checked. Does Lansbury have a memoir written, because if not I would rush out to buy one if she wrote it?
Also, what a treat it was to have Claudia Cardinale (talk about your actressexual moment!) accept for Tosi in his absence!
Dela, very good question on Kerr, Garson and Lansbury. Always wondered why Vivien Leigh didn't either.
Glenn Close.
In my nominees she won in 78 as bsa.
Good for them!
FWIW, both Lansbury and Martin have been in Ashman/Menken musicals.
And both Jolie and Lansbury have been in movies written by Linda Woolverton.
It's so hard to believe that the Academy passed up a chance to honor Angelina at the actual ceremony.
Personally, if Lansbury and Martin could have gotten their awards at the ceremony the old-fashioned way with clips and all, it would have elevated the ceremony SO MUCH! When I was young, honorary awards taught me lots about film history, and learning is good!
Mike in Canada -- this is absolutely true. the Oscars had such a profound impact on my cinematic awareness... and not just what was being honored that year. I mean i remember going back to learn about shirley maclaine's career because of her win that first time I was watching. her speech "this show has been as long as my career" was like a drug for me and i had to have another hit.
but the great hollywood tradition of the oscars being about loving the cinematic tradition (mainstream cinematic tradition sure) is sadly just not the case anymore since they lost their self-confidence and listened to the super boring critics who think the show is too long. i have never met anyone who really loved the Oscars that had a problem with devoting 4 hours of their life to it once a year. If the show was 120 minutes long people would still complain about the length because people like to complain. end of story.
Congratulations to all three.
angelina jolie's speech should be heard by as many people as possible - that was a thing of beauty
Nathan, it's heartbreaking that the great stars of the past have been all but eliminated from the Oscarcast. Crass marketing has supplanted respect for the rich legacy of the movies. It's nauseating to me.
And I feel just like that pic of Angela after making Comment Du Jour! So cool!
i got teary-eyed just seeing that picture of her hugging the oscar :")
It's lovely to see Angela Lansbury honored. And Emma Thompson just gives the best speeches! So nice that Lansbury had two good speakers and artists and co-workers (Thompson and Geoffrey Rush) to introduce her.
I like the awards ceremonies that have split off from the Oscars better than the Oscars. They're not rushed and impersonal. People have time to speak, and time to listen, and they are so wonderfully enthusiastic. They are more classy and artistic. I'm glad that the honorees are surrounded by a group of their peers who truly appreciate them. That's way nicer than them having 90 seconds at the televised Oscars.
@Nathaniel R--Shirley is totally hands down my all time favorite Oscar speech. "You manifest what you deserve...I deserve this."
I agree that it is an affront to cinema as an art form to shuffle this ceremony to the side. Shameful on the part of the Academy, and there's no way around that. But I imagine it's a both a disappointment and a relief to recipients. At least this way, Angela Lansbury has the time to speak and no one is rushing her or rolling their eyes and waiting for the next award, which is gross, but which totally happened when these awards were part of the ceremony. Just very disappointing that it's not a broadcast event.
And I'm ashamed to admit it, but I kind of enjoy that this seems like it's part of the preseason circuit now. We're about to start my favorite part of the season--the preseason gladhanding phase if you will--and it tickles me to see that a ticket to the Governors Awards is the hot seat in town.
Love the last shot. I see a comedy/drama with them as mother/son/daughter-granddaughter. That would be awesome.
Yay for Angela! How in the Maker's name did she miss for "The Manchurian Candidate"?
I adore Angela Lansbury so much that I didn't think it was possible to love her any more - until that speech. I also love that she CHOSE Robert Osborne to present the award to her! I kinda want to be him when I grow up.
I am now officially a fan of Angelina Jolie. Her speech is absolutely stunning in its eloquence.
Extremely happy for Ms. Lansury, who deserves this Honorary Oscar 100%. A tremendous talent and a total legend.
Such a shame that they awards were not televised and apparently she won't even be able to attend the Oscar ceremony in March.
Now, if only she can get at least one film role the likes of Dench, Smith or Redgrave getting all the time. I totally see her winning a competitive Oscar if the right project comes alone.
Would love to see her in a Woody Allen or Wes Anderson movie.
I understand both sides of the 'should they be or not be on the main oscar show' argument. So how about a compromise? Let all the honorary award recipients present the Best Picture award? Not only will they get to appear on the main oscar show instead of being hidden away on the sides of the theatre and it will spare us from seeing Stephen Spielberg or Jack Nicholson presenting the main award.
I'm all for letting Lansbury, Jolie, and Martin present Best Picture. It's a much better way of honoring them during the main event instead of awkward wavering from the box. Too bad Angela Lansury won't be at the Oscars because she is scheduled to headline the West End production of Blithe Spirit in February.
The lovely and talented Barbara Rush (1/04/1927), star of "The Young Lions" (1957), "The Young Philadelphians" (1959), "Hombre" (1967), TV Batman Villaness (1968); Pretty Nancy Gates (2/01/1926), in two famous Frank Sinatra vehicles, "Suddenly" (1954) and "Some Came Running" (1958), and Carla Laemmle (10/20/1909), perhaps the oldest on this list, coach passenger in "Dracula" (1931), neice of Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle, and still acting today!