10 Least Deserving Oscar Winners Ever

Roberto Benigni ran a ferociously annoying campaign through the 1998-99 awards season, delivering bizarre, hyperactive victory speeches and antics throughout. His chair hopping lunacy at the Oscars was certainly memorable and as ridiculous as the film he was winning for. Life Is Beautiful is a treacly, tawdry hybrid of old-fashioned physical comedy and the horrors of the Holocaust. It's immediately off-putting to see one of the worst acts of bloodshed in human history be mentioned in the same sentence as 'comedy'. The 2 go together about as well as orange juice and toothpaste.

Benigni's clownish flick took Tinseltown by storm for a spell, leaving career best performances from Ian McKellen (Gods and Monsters), Nick Nolte (Affliction) and Edward Norton (American History X) in the rear view mirror. Jim Carrey's exceptional performance in The Truman Show wasn't even nominated.

Benigni's shenanigans at the SAG Awards might've swayed voters who were desperate for entertainment. Wholly unlike any other acceptance speech before or since, Benigni's win was a memorable narrative for that year's awards show and a break from more straight-laced, Hollywood leads thanking the Academy for 3 minutes.