When Life is Beautiful won the Oscar for best foreign film (now called best international film), the irrepressible director, screenwriter, and star of the film reached the stage in a way that was anything but conventional: he literally climbed over the seats in the audience, passing over the heads of the celebrities and then arriving with a series of leaps on the steps, directly, into the arms of presenter Sophia Loren. Benigni’s acrobatic entrance triggered a standing ovation, but he was so overwhelmed with emotion that he did not even notice. In front of the audience, beaming, he exclaimed, “I would like to kiss you all!” In his speech, Benigni then thanked his parents who had remained in Vergaio, a small town in the province of Prato, saying fondly, “They gave me the most beautiful gift of my life: poverty.” With his usual poetry he also quoted Dante, evoking “the love that moves the sun and the other stars,” before dedicating the award to his wife and muse, Nicoletta Braschi.
Halle Berry (2002)
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Berry made history by becoming the first Black woman to win the best actress Oscar for her performance in Monster’s Ball. While accepting the honor, she celebrated those who had paved the way, such as Dorothy Dandridge, the first African American nominated in the category in 1955, and fellow women still fighting for equality in Hollywood. “This moment is so much bigger than me,” said Berry, later adding, “it’s for every nameless, faceless Black woman who now has a chance, because this door tonight has been opened.” Decades after her historic victory, Berry remains the only Black woman to win best actress at the Academy Awards. “I’m heartbroken,” she told Vanity Fair about the continued lack of diversity among best actress winners in 2022. “I would love to sit here today and say that meant something on that night which allowed five others to be standing there next to me in 20 years, right? That would be a huge win.”
