by Nathaniel R
Diane & Warren / Don & Meryl at the 1981 Oscars
You know what I feel is tragic about online Oscar history, dear readers? It's the lack of abundance of Oscar night photos before, say, 2000. Oh sure you can usually find photos of the winners holding their Oscars but try finding complete gowns of all the Best Actress nominees if you (hypothetically) wanna fantasize about ordering custom doll sets of every vintage. You're out of luck for any year prior to the explosion of 24/7 media coverage and constant Oscar coverage. Take the 1981 Oscars for example...
The best actress nominees were:
- Diane Keaton, Reds
- Katharine Hepburn, On Golden Pond
- Marsha Mason, Only When I Laugh
- Susan Sarandon, Atlantic City
- Meryl Streep, French Lieutenant's Woman
(Who would you have voted for?)
Those two photos above are the best photos I can find of what Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep were wearing on that glitzy night of March 29th, 1982. And don't you REALLY wanna see that Diane Keaton look in full color... even if that color is black!?!
I've seen one (yes, just one) photo of Susan Sarandon from that night (and she definitely doesn't look dressed for the Oscars!) . Good luck finding photos of Marsha Mason. Hepburn, the winner, never attends so I didn't even look for one. And you don't even have to go as far back as 1981 before you run into trouble. I think the only reason I managed 1997 recently was because there was so much coverage of Titanic's Oscar night and also it was in the internet years ...albeit internet in its infancy.
I was recently searching for 1990 Oscar images on a whim and I couldn't find full length red carpet shots of anyone outside of Julia Roberts and found only two poor quality shots of Anjelica Huston, looking fabulous from what I can tell, and nominated for the best performance she ever gave (The Grifters)... and this was Oscar night at the peak of her fame, people!
But, yes, these are first world Oscar fanatic problems. I'm just sad that my imaginary Oscar doll sets can't go much further back then they've already gone.
Okay one more 1981 question.
Which Best Picture would you have voted for? And what do you think would have made the list in the expanded BP era that we have now...
THE NOMINEES WERE
- Atlantic City
- Chariots of Fire
- On Golden Pond
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Reds
The question of the modern Best Picture voting system retroactively imposed as particularly interesting with 1981 because the directors/pictures were 5/5 so it's a little harder to suss out. The most obvious candidates are Ragtime (8 nominations!) and Arthur (4 noms/2 wins) so maybe there would only have been 7 nominees. Other multiple-nominee possibilities: Only When I Laugh, Absence of Malice, Pennies from Heaven, and The French Lieutenant's Woman.