1983: Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, Walter Matthau and Richard Pryor are the mismatched quartet of hosts. When Moore asks Pryor if his suit was expensive, the comic — who accidentally set himself aflame almost three years earlier while freebasing cocaine — quips, “A little. It’s fireproof.”
’84: Johnny Carson’s final hosting gig. “Rhinestone” co-stars Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton stumble and giggle through the Best Actor presentation.
’85: Dr. Haing S. Ngor has to physically stop his “The Killing Fields” co-star Sam Waterston from hugging him as he goes to accept Best Supporting Actor. Ngor is only the second non-actor to win an Oscar.
’86: An elegant Anjelica Huston wins Best Supporting Actress for “Prizzi’s Honor,” marking three generations of Hustons to win an Oscar.
’87: Marlee Matlin wins Best Actress for “Children of a Lesser God”; presenter (and Matlin’s then-boyfriend) William Hurt signs to her from the stage after saying her name.
’88: Playwright John Patrick Shanley accepts his Best Original Screenplay award for “Moonstruck” by dedicating it to “Everybody who ever punched me or kissed me, and everybody who I ever punched or kissed.”
’89: Sean Connery and Michael Caine present Best Supporting Actor to Kevin Kline. When Roger Moore shows up and says he’s Bond, a shocked Caine points to Connery and says, “ He’s Bond!”
’90: Billy Crystal debuts as host (he’ll be doing it for the ninth time Feb. 26). “Where is that big, terrible number that usually opens the Oscars?” he asks before doing what is now his trademark.
’91: Joe Pesci wins “Goodfellas’ ” only Oscar — amazing but true — and accepts his Best Supporting Actor statuette with a simple, “It’s my privilege, thank you.”
’92: Jack Palance’s one-handed pushups are great — but Crystal’s callbacks are even better.
’93: Al Pacino throws his head back as he finally wins Best Actor, for “Scent of a Woman.”
94: In his Best Actor acceptance speech for “Philadelphia,” Tom Hanks recalls his high school drama teacher and a classmate, “Two of the finest gay Americans [he] had the good fortune to be associated with.”
’95: Forget David Letterman’s stillborn “Oprah, Uma” gag. The clunkiest moment is when he brings Sadie, “the dog who spins when you applaud,” onstage.
’96: Christopher Reeve makes his first public appearance 10 months after being paralyzed in a riding accident. His first line: “What you don’t know is, I left New York last September and just arrived here this morning.”
’97: Letterman redeems himself by appearing in the opening montage in “The English Patient’s” plane, gunning for Crystal while muttering, “Oprah, Uma, Oprah, Uma!”
’98: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon hug their moms after winning Best Original Screenplay; Affleck starts an ebullient speech with, “I just said to Matt that losing would suck and winning would be really, really scary!”
’99: Hard to say what’s more memorable: The anger on the faces of Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, Nick Nolte and the rest of the split audience when name-naming director Elia Kazan gets an honorary Oscar, or Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Warren Beatty’s teary respect.
2000: Robin Williams and a cartoony-looking live chorus sing “Blame Canada!” from “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.”
’01: Best Director Steven Soderbergh (“Traffic”) says thoughtfully, “ I want to thank anyone who spends part of their day creating — I don’t care if it’s a book, a film, a painting, a dance, a piece of theater, a piece of music … This world would be unlivable without art.”
’02: In an emotional post-9/11 Oscars, Woody Allen does three minutes of standup before saluting New York. First African-American Best Actress winner Halle Berry says, “This moment … is for every nameless, faceless woman of color who now has a chance because this door has been opened.”
’03: Michael Moore brings the nominated Best Documentary filmmakers onstage to make an anti-Bush speech and compare the truth of documentaries with “fictitious” elections and wars. Love him or hate him, that’s preaching what you practice.
’04: Jack Black and Will Ferrell sing a made-up tune, “Get Off the Stage,” as they present Best Song. Winners never want to hear that song, they deadpan, or its lyrics: “This is it, your time is through … You’re bor-r-r-ing !”
’05: Best Screenplay winner Charlie Kaufman (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”) counts the seconds, saying, “I don’t want to take my time. I want to get off the stage.”
’06: Best Song winners Three 6 Mafia (“It’s Tough Out Here for a Pimp”) make a laughing, expletive-laden speech; host Jon Stewart then wonders, “How come they’re the most excited people here tonight? That’s how you accept an Oscar!”
’07: Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Francis Coppola present a nervous Martin Scorsese with a long-deserved Best Director award. “Hey guys, I never won an Academy Award,” says Lucas. To which Spielberg replies, “So why are you here?”
’08: After Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova win Best Song for “Falling Slowly” from “Once,” they instantly make Oscar history with an ingenuous speech imploring viewers to “make art.” After a commercial, Stewart graciously brings out Irglova, who was rushed off the stage by the orchestra, to finish her speech.
’09: Heath Ledger’s family accepts his Best Supporting Actor Oscar for “The Dark Knight.”
’10: Ben Stiller comes out dressed as an “Avatar” Na’vi to present Best Makeup. “Coo-chee-mahh, jamescameronkingoftheworld, blee-ahh. I see you.”
’11: Aaron Sorkin’s speech for Best Adapted Screenplay (“The Social Network”) keeps things in perspective: “Roxy Sorkin, your father just won the Academy Award, I’m going to have to insist on some respect from your guinea pig.”
