For many performers, being put on the spot is when they shine the brightest. However, as anyone who's ever given a wedding toast knows, nobody's really at their best when they're nervous, kind of drunk and unexpectedly called upon to say a few words. Oscar speeches are the mother of all wedding toasts, and while we honor and respect the nominees who wait until after their category has been called to visit the bar, we all secretly love those who hit the champagne a little too hard in the limo and put on a real show when their name is called. Here are four examples of unforgettable Oscar acceptance speeches that had the world cringing.
Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby, 2004
She may not have been drunk, but Swank's acceptance for the Clint Eastwood-directed boxing drama was still a little bit awkward. "I'm just a girl from a trailer park who had a dream," she declared to the audience upon winning her second Academy Award. Alright, that's very impressive, certainly, but that's the story you tell when you win your first award -- when you've already got a gold statue in your Hollywood mansion at home, it might be time to ease up on the sob stories.
Video: Watch Hilary Swank's Acceptance Speech
Marlon Brando and Sacheen Littlefeather, The Godfather, 1973
I wasn't even born yet but even I get secondhand embarrassment when I think about the Academy Awards ceremony in which Sacheen Littlefeather, a Native American activist, stepped onstage to accept the Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando. Brando boycotted the ceremony in protest of the Wounded Knee incident, and the treatment of Native Americans in the film industry. His heart was in the right place, and though he didn't really strike the intended blow for Native American equality, he was very successful at making everyone watching really, really uncomfortable.
Video: Watch Sacheen Littlefeather's Speech
Roberto Benigni, Life is Beautiful, 1998
Perhaps the most demonstratively dramatic and clearly European acceptance speech of all time was Roberto Benigni's 1998 speech for his World War II/Holocaust epic. Eschewing the more traditional walk-on-the-floor path to the stage, Benigni climbed atop the chairs -- and, in some cases, the heads -- of his glamorous peers, to mount the stage and deliver a babblingly, euphorically amorous acceptance speech where he expressed a desire to "be Jupiter and lie down in the firmament and make love to everybody." No problem, pal! It's your night!
Melissa Leo, The Fighter, 2010
Okay, we all loved The Fighter. We thought it was gonna be stupid, but then we loved it. Everyone did a great job but Melissa Leo's performance was exceptional. At the ceremony, the actress was clearly overwhelmed when her name was called, and it seemed, maybe had a few too many. The result was awkward for everyone; her speech was a little over the top. The gasping, the gesturing, the moaning; it was the award-ceremony equivalent of a fake orgasm.
Video: Watch Melissa Leo's Acceptance Speech
Sally Field, Places in the Heart, 1985
Probably the most quoted, most parodied and most endearingly awkward Oscar acceptance speech in the history of the broadcast was Sally Field's in 1985. As evidenced in her recent Boniva commercials, Sally has never been one for understatement. The moment her name was called she raced up to the stage, clearly ecstatic. In addition to thanking the appropriate folks, Field expressed sincere delight at being honored by the Academy, and respected as an actress in Hollywood. "You like me!", she burbled. "You like me, right now, you like me!" Oh, Sally. Relax.
