Academy Awards Acceptance Speech Database

[The Academy has newsreel coverage of only portions of Garson's acceptance speech. While it is clear that the opening paragraph is the beginning of her speech, it is not known how the rest of the pieces fit together or the extent of the missing footage.]

GREER GARSON:
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished visitors from the armed forces, Governor Warren, honored guests, Mr. Chairman – Mr. President Chairman: Thank you. That is really all there is to say; but, as this is after all the opportunity of a lifetime, I hope you won't mind if I try to expand that word just, just a little. This is, this is going to be a great evening to remember. We've had some very exciting messages and some very exciting speeches. It should make us all very proud to belong to this great and fascinating industry. Praise from our government and our armed forces and from abroad from our allies for work we have done should make us determined to carry on. We have somehow brought very wide horizons into this room tonight. Anything that I have to say now, which is practically unprepared... [camera cuts]

As for the nominations, I've always felt that to be nominated simply means that you've had the great good luck to be entrusted with one of the best assignments of the current year, and that's a cause for rejoicing in itself. And there isn't a single good craftsman in this industry who if given such an opportunity can't be counted on to measure up to it. Why do we all long to win the award? It's no question of superiority because we're comparing different excellences and they're varied in their nature and they can't be fairly compared. There's no rivalry in this room tonight. There's no competition. As the Dodo said to Alice in Wonderland: "Everybody has won and everybody shall have a prize." The nominations are really the prizes. The award...I, I can hardly believe that it's really for me tonight. It's always seemed to me something very personal, a gesture from the men and women of this industry who choose to show not only recognition of, of work... [camera cuts]

Ladies and gentlemen, I came to this country as a stranger five years ago. I've been very happy and very proud to be a member of this community and of this industry all that time. And from everybody I met or worked with truly I have received such ready kindness that for quite a long while I couldn't believe that it was true, but tonight you have made me feel that you have really set the door of your friendship wide open and that welcome is officially on the mat, and that is why I'm so happy. [camera cuts]

...very humbly, very gratefully I say thank you and I step across your threshold. There... [camera cuts]

...if I may say so, the girl who's always on the sidelines, my quite specially wonderful little mother. And after her, Sidney Franklin the great, the inimitable Willy Wyler... [camera cuts]

[Ed. note: Total speech time of these combined excerpts is 3 minutes 56 seconds.]