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Year: 1984 (57th) Academy Awards
Category: Best Picture
Film Title: Amadeus
Winner: Saul Zaentz, Producer
Presenter: Laurence Olivier
Date & Venue: March 25, 1985; Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
SAUL ZAENTZ:
Thank you. Nine years ago Audrey Hepburn gave us Oscars for "Cuckoo's Nest," and tonight Sir Laurence Olivier for "Amadeus." What a wonderful and rewarding profession for a movie fan. Gregory Peck and Larry Gelbart asked me to speak for fifty-five minutes to make it a four-hour show but I only have thirty-two minutes prepared.
There're five pictures nominated this year. All had a curious relationship in the fact that the filmmakers who made them had to fight, and overcame many obstacles to make their films and to film their visions. One has to be proud to be a peer of the people who made "Killing Fields," "Passage to India," "Soldier's Story" and "Places in the Heart."
Our thanks to Orion Pictures, and distributors and theater owners throughout the world who recognized "Amadeus" before it was released. And thanks must be given to others because, regardless of what you might have heard or what you might think, I really didn't do it all myself. To Neville Marriner, Twyla Tharp, and Josef Svoboda, whose creative contributions to "Amadeus" do not fit into any Academy category. To a marvelous group of actors whose talents no longer remain unsung. And to a Mike Hausman-led crew composed of Americans, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Italians, Czechs, and nine translators.
And my love to my children: Jon, Athena, Josh, Dorian. To the boys from Myrtle and Monroe. And to the gang up in Berkeley who were behind the picture all the way. Thank you very much.
© Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
[Note: All winners are present except where noted; NOT all winners may have spoken.]
