Burl Ives, who won Best Supporting Actor in 1958, called Oscar ''the sweetest baby in the world.'' Other luminaries would beg to differ:
''The Academy Awards are the biggest farce that's ever happened to
this industry.''
-Director Richard Donner, 1992
''The ceremonies are a two-hour meat parade, a public display with
contrived suspense for economic reasons.''
-George C. Scott, 1971
''The Academy Awards are obscene, dirty...no better than a beauty
contest.''
-Dustin Hoffman, 1975
''It should be fun to go to — not agony. There's something barbaric
about it.''
-Paul Newman, 1969
''Watching it on television...I felt disgusted — as though I were
attending a public hanging....No one should have a chance to see so
much desire, so much need for a prize, and so much pain when it was
not given.''
-Glenda Jackson, 1979
''The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...has failed in
every single function it has assumed. The sooner it is destroyed and
forgotten, the better for the industry.''
-A 1935 Screen Directors
Guild newsletter
''Nothing would disgust me more morally than receiving an Oscar.
Nothing in the world would make me go accept it. I wouldn't have it
in my home.''
-Luis Buñuel, 1971
''Hollywood — that's where they give Academy Awards to Charlton
Heston for acting.''
-Shirley Knight, 1963
''I know I am not equipped to vote on the niceties and details
governing the prize in set decoration or film editing, and
conversely, I am not prepared to put too much credence on Sylvester
Stallone's opinion on composition.''
-André Previn, 1991
