20 Devastating Oscars Moments Hidden In Plain Sight
15. Henry Fonda FINALLY Wins Oscar, Too Sick To Attend
At the 1982 Oscars, the legendary Henry Fonda finally won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in On Golden Pond - the culmination of almost 50 years of iconic acting work.
Sadly, though, the award came late enough in Fonda's life that he was too ill to attend the ceremony, leaving his daughter Jane to collect the Oscar on his behalf.
Jane gave one hell of an acceptance speech for her father, spending most of it commending the cast and crew of On Golden Pond, enough that the unlearned observer might not even know why Henry Fonda wasn't at the show in person.
In reality, he was stricken with both prostate cancer and heart disease, the latter ultimately causing his death barely four months after the Oscar ceremony.
Jane's acceptance speech remains an all-timer, even if it's suffused with the heartbreaking knowledge that it was for her father's final role shortly before he died.