Live-Blogging the 1995 Oscar Ceremony (2025)

Last year we took a look back at the 1994 Oscar ceremony, when Tom Hanks won best actor and a big commercial director took top honors. Now, a year later, we revisit the 1995 broadcast, when Tom Hanks won best actor and a big commercial director took top honors. Here's how it all went down.

We secured a blurry recording of the broadcast that also had the Siskel and Ebert pre-Oscar special on it. That's how big these movie critics were: they had their own Oscar night show.

And of course Barbara Walters had her special.

She did exercise machines with Jim Carrey!

Then it was time for the main event.

Celebrity attendees were announced as they arrived . . .

"Hollywood favorite John Travolta."

"Worldwide box-office favorite Arnold Schwarzenegger."

The announcer initially identifies Sharon Stone as a Pricewaterhouse accountant before correcting herself. No matter, look how happy Sharon is! Sharon Stone is very happy to be at these Oscars, you'll come to find.

Young Mara Wilson is here. Ever the show-kid, when she spots the cameras, she begins to dance. It will not be the last time we see her dance tonight.

Quentin Tarantino looks like he belongs there.

And Jamie Lee Curtis raises a fist of solidarity.

Sylvester Stallone came with Angie Everheart. Remember Angie Everheart?

Here's Bullets over Broadway nominee Jennifer Tilly doing a thing.

While Diane Keaton does her Diane Keaton thing.

“Charming young romantic star, Britain’s Hugh Grant” (and Elizabeth Hurley).

On to the show! The president of the Academy comes out and rambles on about the National Endowment for the Arts, and then it’s time to get going. The stage looks like a camera shutter.

The theme of the show this year is "Comedy." Just "comedy." And what’s the most comedic thing you can think of? Why, Tim Curry, Kathy Najimy, and Mara Wilson doing an elaborate song and dance number, of course. So, before anything else happens, they sing "Make ’Em Laugh" while seeming to jump in and out of pre-recorded footage. It’s pretty confusing!

You see stuff like this.

And this.

And this.

Then there’s a weird thing where, just as Kathy Najimy and some dancers burst through the scrim, we see the Wayne’s World "schwing!" thing. Strange timing!

At one point, another little girl dares to dance, so jealous Mara Wilson chases her around with a pie. Sadly, she does not get to throw the pie at her.

Mara Wilson’s face sums up this whole number:

Once this routine is blessedly over, out comes the evening’s M.C., David Letterman. He leads with the famous "Oprah/Uma" riff, which people hated at the time but now seems mostly innocuous.

Oprah:

Uma:

Oprah’s approves.

Uma does too!

Letterman tells a joke about Newt Gingrich working at Blockbuster that Susan Sarandon likes, but John Travolta doesn't seem to get it.

Then it's back to Oprah:

Uma:

Letterman tells the following joke: "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get. Well unless you’re sitting next to Roger Ebert, and then you know you’re not getting any." Tom Hanks laughs politely.

Then it’s on to a joke about how in New York City, Interview with the Vampire was called Bite Me, followed by something about Stallone making another Rocky movie. Remember Rocky jokes?

After that, Letterman does another Oprah/Uma (he's actually doing it less frequently than I remember?), before moving on to a good joke about how foreign language nominee Eat, Drink, Man, Woman is also how Arnold Schwarzenegger asked Maria Shriver out on their first date.

At first, Maria isn’t sure how to react.

But then she laughs.

And laughs.

There’s a joke about Marlon Brando kissing Larry King, after which they cut to Four Weddings and a Funeral star Andie MacDowell for some reason.

Letterman wraps up his monologue with an Oprah/Uma-esque Quincy (Jones)/Sigourney (Weaver) thing that doesn’t really land. He makes a "Hooked on Phonics" joke which is maybe the most dated reference in the whole broadcast. Next he shows a filmed segment where he rides around with New York City cabbies talking about movies and stuff.

He fills a taxi with popcorn.

He makes a reference to Jack Nicholson's infamous golf-club road-rage incident, which had just happened the year before . . .

. . . while some urban youths look on.

Then it cuts to the audience, where I guess the cabbies are sitting, but I’m way more interested in this cool customer with the sunglasses. Who are you, mysterious person??

His opening business done, Letterman introduces Tommy Lee Jones, saying he was "in every movie released last year," which makes T.L.J. the Jude Law of 1994. Jones presents best supporting actress.

Uma seems pleased but a little embarrassed.

While Madness of King George nominee Helen Mirren is apparently attending a royal wedding after the show.

Dianne Wiest wins for her wonderful work in Bullets Over Broadway.

Even though she gets a shout-out, Jennifer Tilly is not pleased.

"Stay tuned for Sharon Stone" the announcer warns as we cut to commercial.

Then we’re back and, sure enough, there’s Sharon Stone to present the award for best costumes. She’s so happy about it!

She’s even happier when she gets to announce that The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert has won.

One of the designers, Lizzy Gardiner, is wearing a now-famous dress made out of American Express gold cards. It’s pretty great.

Afterward, Letterman says "American Express can’t buy publicity like that!" He's probably right. Next, it’s time to introduce Keanu Reeves. Letterman already got a Keanu joke in earlier, saying "Have you kids met 'Keanu'?" to Oprah and Uma. So instead he makes fun of his own network, saying, "the star of Speed, this summer’s action thriller about a bus with a CBS primetime show on board." Apparently CBS was in the ratings toilet back then? My, how times have changed.

Keanu was still in his "monk-in-training" hair phase.

Keanu introduces best-picture nominee Pulp Fiction.

And then it’s on to Rene Russo, "one of Hollywood’s most exciting actresses," introducing best-song nominee, a Randy Newman tune from The Paper.

It’s basically the same Randy Newman song he used to sing at every Oscars. It’s perfectly pleasant.

Pressing on! During a commercial break there’s an AT&T ad featuring the late, great Whitney Houston.

Then it’s time for another salute to comedy, this one to slapstick. One of the clips they show is of Meryl Streep’s neck extending in Death Becomes Her, as if she had actually stretched her neck like that. She didn’t! It was special effects!

They also show Roger Rabbit, who is not even a real rabbit, let alone a person.

Uma comes out to present the award for best makeup. During the little clip reel, the "I think I’ll go home now" line from Forrest Gump gets a hearty laugh. Man did people really love that movie. Meanwhile, doesn’t this drawing look exactly like Sally Field?

Despite that, Ed Wood wins. This is the hair of the guy who did the makeup:

Then Dave comes out with a rolled-up rug.

Asks Tom Hanks to help him unroll it.

And then out comes a dog, who twirls when the audience claps.

Hanks seems confused.

But Tim Robbins loves it.

Once the dog is done, we are introduced to "the star of Honeymoon in Vegas and Miami Rhapsody," Sarah Jessica Parker. It would only be three more years until no one ever associated S.J.P. with either of those movies ever again. While presenting sound-effects editing, Parker kinda makes fun of sound-effects editing, and is greeted a little frostily by the winner, who did the sound-effects editing of Speed.

Remember Speed??

Keanu is pensive, but happy, about this Speed win.

Out comes Steve Martin to present the award for best editing, but before he does that, he gets in a few good jokes, one of which might be the best of the night. He says he can still remember sitting in a dark theater trying to put the moves on a 17-year-old girl. "I even remember the name of the movie: The Lion King." Ellen Barkin thinks this is the funniest thing she’s ever heard.

Forrest Gump wins, a sign of things to come. Then it’s time for another commercial break.

Remember Fruitopia??

And Kodak?

After the break, Sally Field presents best-picture nominee Forrest Gump, followed by tiny, crazy Anna Paquin, wearing a Limited Too dress and still talking with that thick New Zealand accent ("ix-int") of hers. She says, "Thank you, now let’s get serious!" (seriously) and then gets to say names like "Martin Landau" and "Chazz Palminteri." Of course, Landau wins for his performance as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood, and he gives Paquin a sweet kiss on the cheek.

It’s very cute, but not everyone is happy about it. You can see Samuel L. Jackson, nominated for Pulp Fiction, saying "shit" when it registers that he hasn’t won.

After Landau’s long speech gets cut off, the announcer says, "Please welcome one of the finest young actors of his generation." Who might it be? Sean Penn? Johnny Depp? Nope, it’s Matt Dillon.

He seems annoyed as he presents a nominated song from the movie Junior. (Watching Matt Dillon angrily say "Arnold Schwarzenegger gets pregnant" is pretty good.) The singer of the song is Patty Smyth. No, not Patti Smith. Patty Smyth. Get it straight. Patty Smyth passionately sings this song from Junior, which is about Arnold Schwarzenegger getting pregnant.

Now it’s time for Oprah to give the Hersholt humanitarian award to Quincy Jones. She is overcome with love for him.

In the little video package about Jones, we see a young Al and Tipper Gore in the background.

Quincy is another person who mentions the N.E.A. I guess its funding was in jeopardy back then? I don’t know, I’m not a historian. Anyway, once that’s done, Paul Newman presents the award for best cinematography. He screws it up, though, and only reads the name of one nominee. It doesn’t really matter, though. Legends of the Fall wins. Sure. That was a pretty movie.

Next, Jamie Lee Curtis is lowered in on a helicopter, like that scene in True Lies. She’s even screaming "Harry! Harry!", like in that scene in True Lies. It is a little weird that Jamie Lee Curtis is being lowered into the Oscars screaming "Harry!" but oh well. It’s pretty fun. Who doesn’t miss the second heyday of Jamie Lee Curtis?

Hugh Grant sure likes it.

Jamie Lee was the poor sap tasked with handing out the technical awards at that other ceremony, so they show a few highlights from that. She got cozy with one winner, who happens to be the C.E.O. of Kodak.

After the little clip reel, Jamie Lee says congrats to "all the men and not one woman" who won. It’s funny and pointed and then she leaves the stage with a smile. She’s replaced by her future Christmas with the Kranks costar Tim Allen, who makes some jokes about The Santa Clause but mostly seems tired.

In a real rarity, the award that Allen is presenting, live-action short, is a tie. Interestingly, one of the winners is Trevor, a short film about a gay teen that led to the founding of the Trevor Project, which offers counseling and other support services to LGBTQ youth. Who knew! I always assumed Trevor was a real person. But nope, it was a short film that won an Oscar that was presented by Tim Allen. So Tim Allen and The Trevor Project are a lot more closely connected than you thought.

Moving on, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck come out to present the animated short category (there was not an Oscar for animated feature yet). Daffy says a few stars' names, and this is how they react:

Jodie Foster seems cool with it, sure.

Tom Hanks thinks it's mildly amusing.

But Sharon Stone? Sharon Stone is fucking thrilled.

Like so, so happy to hear the Looney Tunes say her name.

What a great Oscars Sharon Stone is having. And she isn’t even nominated! (Little does she know, she will be next year.)

A short called Bob’s Birthday wins the Oscar, and then we go to a montage of pies being thrown in the face. Mara Wilson is nowhere to be found in this montage! Because, of course, she was not allowed to throw the pie.

After Gregory Peck presents best picture nominee Quiz Show, Dave returns to the stage to make a joke about this being the second time in two weeks that Jamie Lee Curtis has "received a warm hand." The audience hoots, but I didn't get it. So, I looked it up. Apparently it has something to do with this? Jon Lovitz is involved, naturally.

Dave then introduces Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, warning the audience, "pay attention, I'm sure they're pissed off about something." The one-time power couple strides out to present best art direction. Sarandon reads the Forrest Gump names in a Southern accent. Sure. Then she congratulates Tim for saying an Italian name well. Don’t you miss them?

The team from The Madness of King George wins, and when the lady gets on stage, she gives Tim a regal bow. It is not the last bow we’ll see tonight.

Also of note is the lady in the audience who seemed really excited just to get up to make room for the winners.

Then the announcer welcomes "one of the screen’s great adventure heroes, Steven Seagal," who does a little pray-hands thank-you bow to the announcer.

Seagal is there to give out the special-effects award, and his little spiel involves the phrase "given the task of removing Gary Sinise's legs." He then says "removed the legs by computer." He also says that True Lies used the "largest green screen stage ever assembled," and then it shows this:

I think green screen stages have gotten bigger since then!

Anyhoo, Forrect Gump wins. Here is what nerds looked like in early 1995:

Dave’s back out to introduce another bit. He had recently been in the movie Cabin Boy, where his one line was "You wanna buy a monkey?" or something along those lines, so he does a fake audition reel with some of his Hollywood friends saying variations of the line. Here are some highlights:

Paul Newman.

John Turturro.

Tom Hanks looking young and cute.

Anthony Hopkins looking like Julian Assange.

Alec Baldwin.

And Madonna, crying.

Dave has more bits! Next he does the Oscars Top Ten.

That Hoop Dreams joke is a reference to the fact that that much-lauded film failed to get a best documentary feature nomination. Letterman also joked about it in his monologue. Which he should have! Because Hoop Dreams is incredible and should have been recognized.

Anyway, after that Angela Bassett comes out to present two of the three song nominees from The Lion King. Aw man, why you gotta make Angela Bassett do The Lion King? Come on, Oscars. Oh well. The two songs are "Circle of Life" and "Hakuna Matata." They're pretty lifeless performances, but they do give a fascinating glimpse of what a Broadway Lion King sans Julie Taymor but with Debbie Allen might have looked like.

Yes, that is a hula hoop representing the circle of life.

Then there's an ad for IBM featuring nuns talking about the Internet. There were Internet ads in early 1995?? I do not remember that!

When we get back, John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson strut out looking like they're at the MTV Movie Awards, set to present documentary short and feature.

The short prize goes to Charles Guggenheim, who looks excited to win.

Good for him. Though, it is strange to watch clips of brutal Civil Rights beatings while triumphant music plays and the audience applauds.

Next is feature, which goes to Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision, about the designer of the Vietnam War Memorial. Sure, but, shoulda been Hoop Dreams.

Dave comes out and makes his second Janet Reno joke of the evening.

Then Ellen Barkin comes gliding out seductively to present the best sound award. Look how sultry she is:

Though, something about the sound award eventually makes her laugh.

While presenting, Barkin also says "if a tree falls on Forrest Gump, does he keep on talking?" Which is a weird joke? I think it’s a weird joke. Oh well! Speed wins. Go Speed!

Jack Nicholson takes the stage to give an honorary Oscar to legendary director Michaelangelo Antonioni. He has a woman with very Italian hair speak on his behalf.

Now it’s Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell’s turn to take the stage, to present best score. Hugh makes a joke about the award category being changed to "Best Original Score or performance by a British actor in a fluffy romantic comedy set in the south of England." Andie replies, "Oh Hugh, you're bitter." O.K., Andie!

Remember when Hugh Grant was this new exciting novelty? Sigh.

Hans Zimmer wins for his Lion King score and, referring to Grant’s little joke, says "I’d like to thank the fluffiest actor in show business." Cute.

Burnt by the Sun, from Russia, wins best foreign language feature. The director/star brings a little Russian girl up on stage with him

Julia Ormond (remember Julia Ormond??) presents the third Lion King song, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight." It looks like she can!

Also, missed opportunity for another Janet Reno joke, Dave.

The announcer says "making his sixth appearance as a presenter at the Academy Awards" while introducing Sylvester Stallone. It’s not the first time she’s mentioned how many times someone has presented. Did that used to be a credential? Who knows. Stallone gives best song to "Can You Feel the Love Tonight." Elton John thanks "my friends in Utah." Curious.

Annette Bening then takes the stage to present Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Hugh and Andie like that.

Sir Anthony Hopkins (was he knighted back then?) comes out to give out the screenplay awards. As he walks to the podium, he gives a little bow.

At the podium, he visibly bristles at the hackneyed lines written for him. The presenter bits are especially florid and silly this year, so I'm glad someone finally said something about it.

Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary win best original screenplay for Pulp Fiction, Avary keeping his thanks short as he's got to pee.

Eric Roth wins adapted screenplay for Forrest Gump, forgets to thank the author of the book.

Then Sigourney Weaver comes out to cue up the In Memoriam reel. It’s surprisingly light on major deaths, or tragic ones. The most notable names are Jessica Tandy, Burt Lancaster, Cab Calloway, and Raul Julia. Not a total bloodbath like in '94!

This evening is getting a little long. Schwarzenegger comes out to give the Thalberg achievement award to Clint Eastwood, who has certainly not stopped achieving in the 20 years since.

Guess who is really happy about Clint Eastwood?

Of course she is.

Next up, Tom Hanks gives out the prize for best actress, Jessica Lange picking up the trophy for the little-seen Blue Sky. She’s perfectly Lange-y while accepting the award

And I know a certain someone who’s really happy for her . . .

There she is!

Next Denzel Washington is introduced as "handsome, versatile, and always working, but has the night off to be here," which he clearly does not like.

He presents best-picture nominee Shawshank Redemption. We’re getting toward the finish line.

Now it’s time for Tom Hanks to win his second Oscar in two years. Sorry if that’s a spoiler. He’s happy and choked up, but not as happy or choked up as his wife, Rita Wilson.

Last year’s winner Steven Spielberg presents best director to Robert Zemeckis for Forrest Gump. Before he reads Zemeckis's name, he says "Alex, your father just won the Academy Award!" Which is a little clique-y, isn’t it? Anyway, who is Alex?

Well, this is Alex hugging his dad, Robert Zemeckis.

And this is Alex listening to his dad’s speech.

And this is Alex giving the speech a big ol’ thumbs-up.

Way to go, Alex!

Zemeckis saves his last thank-you for the general public, saying, "you have embraced a film that at its heart offers a human, life-affirming, hopeful story." Right, because normally we steer so clear of human, life-affirming, hopeful stories? I feel like we embrace those a lot! Oh well.

Then Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, clearly contractually obligated to promote Heat together, come out to present best picture. I mean, just look how excited these guys are about these movies.

Look.

And look.

And look at this.

These guys can barely contain themselves.

Anyway, we know how this ends, don't we? Forrest Gump wins, and this lady with a very 1995 haircut accepts the trophy

And then that's it! No more show! Goodnight! Take it away, Alex.

Uh oh.