Roberto Benigni
The Oscars were hit with an Italian storm of delightfulness when the Life Is Beautiful actor won for best actor. Despite having an aisle seat, he famously climbed over the armrests and backs of multiple A-listers en route to the stage. The specatcle was culminated by his speech that included the following quote: "I would like to be Jupiter! And kidnap everybody and lie down in the firmament making love to everybody, because I don't know how to express. It's a question of love. You are really—this is a mountain of snow, so delicate, the suavity and the kindness, it is something I cannot forget, from the bottom of my heart."
Well said!
Robin Williams
Even after iconic roles in films like Good Morning, Vietnam in 1987, Dead Poets Society in 1989 and The Fisher King in 1991, the actor still hadn't won a golden boy. When he finally won for Best Supporting Actor for his role as therapist Dr. Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting, it solidified his position as a serious actor. The touching speech is even more touching now that he's gone.
After telling Ben Afleck and Matt Damon "I still want to see some ID" in his acceptance speech, he ended with this gem: "And most of all, I want to thank my father, up there. The man who, when I said I wanted to be an actor, he said, 'Wonderful, just have a back-up profession, like welding.'"
Will Ferrell & Steve Carell
When the comedians walked on to the stage at the 78th Academy Awards to present the Oscar for best makeup, they were decked out in some pretty horrendous looks. Ferrell looked sun burned and Carell was wearing a thick mask of pancake makeup and false eyelashes. The deadpan delivery about the craft of makeup was made even funnier by Carell's constant eye-twitching falsies.
Sally Fields
When making an Oscar list of memorable moments, one cannot omit the Lincoln star's 1984 acceptance speech for her Places in the Heart Best Actress win. Few realized that she was making a reference to her Norma Rae character when she made the iconic speech.
"I haven't had an orthodox career, and I've wanted more than anything to have your respect," gushed the actress. "The first time I didn't feel it, but this time I feel it, and I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!" It is frequently misquoted as "You like me, you really like me!" and was even spoofed by Sean Penn during his 1996 acceptance speech at the Independent Spirit Awards for Best Male Lead in Dead Man Walking when he said, "You tolerate me. You really tolerate me!"
Halle Berry
In 2001 the star's win for Monster's Ball made history as she was the first woman of color to win a Best Actress Oscar.
"Oh my God. Oh my God. I'm sorry," her emotional speech began. "This moment is so much bigger than me. This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll. It's for the women that stand beside me, Jada Pinkett, Angela Bassett, Vivica Fox. And it's for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened."
Cuba Gooding Jr.
When the actor won for Jerry Maguire for Best Supporting Actor in 1997, he joyously thanked everyone he ever met. Despite going long, the crowd couldn't help but give him a standing ovation.
Three 6 Mafia
Hearing Queen Latifah say the words "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" for the winning song at the 78th Academy Awards was amazing. The Hustle & Flow song was the second hip-hop song to win an Oscar for best song after Eminem's "Lose Yourself."
Kathryn Bigelow
Up until 2010, no woman had ever won a Best Director Oscar. Bigelow's win was made even more monumental because her film The Hurt Locker out-won her ex-husband's film, Avatar, by three awards, including Best Picture.
Lupita Nyong'o
From the dress to the heartfelt acceptance speech, the12 Years A Slave star stole our hearts at the 2014 Oscars.
Martin Scorsese
"Could you double-check the envelope?" Scorsese asked when he finally won his first Best Director Oscar for The Departed in 2007. He had been nominated five previous times, for Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York and The Aviator. And he's been nominated twice since his win!
Ellen DeGeneres
Whether it was a publicity stunt for Samsung or just one cool photo moment, the most tweeted pic in the world was one awesome selfie. The epic cast of characters included Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep, Kevin Spacey, Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong'o and her brother Peter Nyong'o, Channing Tatum and Jared Leto's side face.
Adrien Brody
Not only did he plant a big smackeroo on Halle Berry, he also told the orchestra to "Cut it out, cut it out" when they tried to play him off. And they did!
Daniel Day-Lewis
We think that some of the most memorable acceptance speeches have come from this talented man. They're humble, funny and wickedly entertaining. Here are some quotes from his three winning Best Actor speeches:
"You've just provided me with the makings of one hell of a weekend in Dublin," he said after his 1989 Best Actor win for My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown.
"I'm looking at this gorgeous thing that you've given me and I'm thinking back to the first devilish whisper of an idea that came to him and everything since and it seems to me that this sprang like a golden sapling out of the mad, beautiful head of Paul Thomas Anderson," said the actor of There Will Be Blood director Paul Thomas Anderson in his 2008 acceptance speech for his role as Daniel Plainview in the film.
"I had actually been committed to play Margaret Thatcher. [Laughs] And Meryl was Steven's first choice for Lincoln. And I'd like to see that version. And Steven didn't have to persuade me to play Lincoln but I had to persuade him that perhaps if I was going to do it that Lincoln shouldn't be a musical," he joked during his 2013 Best Actor win for Lincoln.