Oscar envelope opens to some surprise winners

All of Hollywood, including usually cool Jack Nicholson, was shocked speechless when underdog Crash upset heavy favorite Brokeback Mountain and won the Academy Award for best picture in 2006. Colin Firth was King George VI, with Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen Mother, in 'The King's Speech,' which beat favorite 'Social Network' for best picture. By Laurie Sparham, Weinstein Co. Colin Firth was King George VI, with Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen Mother, in 'The King's Speech,' which beat favorite 'Social Network' for best picture. By Laurie Sparham, Weinstein Co. Colin Firth was King George VI, with Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen Mother, in 'The King's Speech,' which beat favorite 'Social Network' for best picture. The actor's eyebrows darted above his sunglasses as he opened the envelope and finished the sentence "And the winner is …" "He even mouthed the word 'Wow' after he read it," says Kristopher Tapley, who presides over the In Contention awards blog at Hitfix.com. That potential for wild unpredictability is what makes the Academy Awards so exciting for Robert Osborne, longtime host of Turner Classic Movies' annual 31 Days of Oscar programming, now airing. "There's always something that can surprise you," he says. The surprises usually happen when somebody gets "paid off" for being great in a past year but not winning. At this year's ceremonies Feb. 26, Meryl Streep could win for The Iron Lady "almost as much for the fact that she hasn't received an Oscar since Sophie's Choice way back in her career (in 1983)," Osborne says. Or there might be an upset like Braveheart in 1996, which swooped in for a last-minute best-picture win after an awards season when Apollo 13 and Sense and Sensibility were the lead dogs. If The Artist and The Descendants split this year's vote, perhaps The Help or War Horse could follow Braveheart's path to victory. More watchdogs and pundits than ever are analyzing campaign news. USA TODAY has rounded up a few to give their biggest Oscar surprises. 2011: Voters feel anti-Social Hollywood thought David Fincher's The Social Network was "an unstoppable juggernaut" after it swept all the film critics' awards, says Tom O'Neil of GoldDerby.com. Yet when the time came, Oscarologists saw a complete left turn and a consistent vote for The King's Speech, which won best picture. "We've never seen such a thing before," O'Neil says. "We were humbled as pundits to be reminded of how differently the Hollywood crowd feels about movies than the critical crowd." 2003: Three statuettes for The Pianist Roman Polanski's World War II-era drama won three Oscars, and all were unexpected, beginning with Adrien Brody taking home the best-actor trophy. The best-director win by Polanski (who had fled to Europe to avoid prison after pleading guilty to statutory rape in 1978) over Rob Marshall (Chicago) and Martin Scorsese (Gangs of New York) was easily the biggest surprise in modern times, O'Neil says. "It was Hollywood saying, 'All is forgiven. Come home.' " 1999: Shakespeare pulls off a 'real coup' Armed with Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and the legacy of military heroes on its side, Saving Private Ryan looked to have a field day. Spielberg won best director, but Shakespeare in Love won the war, getting two acting Oscars (Gwyneth Paltrow, Judi Dench) as well as best picture. "That was a real coup for Miramax at the time, and for Harvey and Bob Weinstein," says Tapley of the indie studio's founders. "There was a lot of talk about how much they spent that year, but it was a big deal to beat Spielberg's movie." 1971: George C. Scott, the unwilling winner Scott had refused his nomination for supporting actor for The Hustler in 1962 because he didn't want to be in competition with his peers, and he did so again nine years later when he was in the best-actor category for Patton. Scott did win for starring as Gen. George S. Patton, but he didn't show up for the ceremony and refused his Oscar afterward. His win was a shock to presenter Goldie Hawn, whose first reaction after ripping open the envelope was "Oh, my God" instead of "And the winner is …" 1955: A Star is crushed With her first nomination, for A Star Is Born, Judy Garland was everybody's pick to win best actress, but a different star was born when Garland was foiled by up-and-coming Grace Kelly of The Country Girl. "Groucho Marx famously called it the worst robbery since Brink's," O'Neil says. 1952: No Place in the Sun for best picture The Gene Kelly musical An American in Paris racked up Oscars for art direction, costume design, cinematography and music. But best picture was expected to go to A Place in the Sun with Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor. It was a great moment — for the people who stuck around. "It was so much considered a foregone conclusion that A Place in the Sun would win that the audience was getting very bored with the ceremony," O'Neil says. "About half of them had already gotten up to leave when they opened up the envelope." 1948: Russell left in Mourning Rosalind Russell, a major star who had won a bunch of awards for her performance in Mourning Becomes Electra, was a sure thing for best actress. Her studio, RKO, thought so, enough to outfit a Hollywood nightspot with banners congratulating her before the ceremony even started, Osborne says. Russell was pretty sure, too: Right before the winner was announced, she got out of her seat to fix her large dress before making her victory walk. However, the name called was Loretta Young for The Farmer's Daughter, and Russell was forced to sit down in embarrassment. "It turns out Loretta Young was her best friend," Osborne says, "although I think it seriously damaged the friendship."影视帝国悬疑电影推荐 经典悬疑电影 好看的悬疑片