64th Academy Awards
The 64th Academy Awards were presented March 30, 1992 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles.
The show was the third consecutive to be hosted by Billy Crystal. When Jack Palance won Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Curly in City Slickers (which also starred Crystal), Palance's acceptance speech began with the joke "I crap bigger than him (Crystal)" -- a reference to a similar line in the film. Palance also used some of his speech time to prove his virility by performing one-handed push-ups. In mock retaliation for Palance's comment, Crystal peppered the remainder of the telecast with jokes about Palance performing spectacular feats. As a result, Crystal won an Emmy for hosting the show, although he later (in the documentary Get Bruce) credited Bruce Vilanch for providing him many of the Palance jokes.
The Silence of the Lambs won the five major awards out of seven nominations, becoming only the third film to accomplish the feat of winning the "Top Five", after It Happened One Night (1934) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). As of 2009, it is also the only horror movie to ever win Best Picture.
This year's ceremony made Academy Award History as Beauty and the Beast was nominated for Best Picture, the first time an Animated Feature Film was bestowed with such honor. The Picture garnered a total of six nominations in four different categories, eventually collecting two awards for its Music (Best Original Score and Original Song, for "Beauty and the Beast").
The 1991 Academy Award Winners
Picture: The Silence of the Lambs
Actor: Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs)
Actress: Jodie Foster (The Silence of the Lambs)
Supporting Actor: Jack Palance (City Slickers)
Supporting Actress: Mercedes Ruehl (The Fisher King)
Director: Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs)
Adapted Screenplay: Ted Tally (The Silence of the Lambs)
Original Screenplay: Callie Khouri (Thelma & Louise)
Song: "Beauty and the Beast" (Beauty and the Beast)
Original Score: Beauty and the Beast
Cinematography: JFK
Costume Design: Bugsy
Art / Set Decoration: Bugsy
Film Editing: JFK
Foreign Language Film: Mediterraneo (Italy)
Sound: Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Sound Effects: Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Makeup: Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Visual Effects: Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Short Films: Manipulation (Animated) / Session Man (Live Action)
Documentaries: Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment (Short) / In the Shadow of the Stars (Feature)
The sixty-fourth Academy Awards ceremony was held on Monday, March 30, 1992 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center. Full-length cartoon Beauty and the Beast became the first cartoon nominated for best picture. When making his acceptance speech for best supporting actor, Jack Palance proved that he was very much alive, unlike his character in City Slickers, by doing one-armed push-ups on stage. Billy Crystal hosted the ceremony.
