9. "Marlon Brando's" Acceptance Speech For The Godfather
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QUacU0I4yU If you're wondering why "Marlon Brando" is in ironic quotation marks, it's because the actor didn't himself collect his Best Actor Award for The Godfather in 1972. Instead, in the most famous Academy Award acceptance speech ever (as well as a contender for the most Marlon Brando moment ever), the actor arranged to have Sacheen Littlefeather, a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), collect the award by proxy, the actor choosing to boycott the ceremony in protest against the ongoing siege at Wounded Knee, and the constant misrepresentation of Native American's on film and television (Brando, fully in his activism period, had recently aligned with the AIM). The speech prompted a mixture of nervous applause and even some jeers, and it ensured that Brando's status as a divisive firebrand continued, the actor provoking mixed responses from his fellow actors in the aftermath. (Most vocal was Michael Caine, who criticised Brando for letting "some poor Indian girl" accept on his behalf). As a consequence of the whole affair, the Academy has since disallowed proxy acceptance, except in instances where it is unavoidable, vis. posthumous awards. As a side note, Roger Moore (in perhaps the most Roger Moore moment ever), not knowing what to do with the award he so awkwardly holds throughout the speech, simply took it home, where it stayed overnight until armed guards came to collect it in the morning.