The Opening of the Academy Awards: 1969 Oscars
Video Overview & Insights
Gregory Peck opens the 41st Academy Awards in 1969, featuring "friends of Oscar" Ingrid Bergman, Sidney Poitier, Jane Fonda, Frank Sinatra, Natalie Wood, Walter Matthau, Diahann Carroll, Rosalind Russell, and Burt Lancaster, plus an appearance by Ron Moody and Jack Wild.
Amazing that they sat through Sinatra singing, looking like they just wanted it t be over, then no standing O.
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Was in rehab with Tony Curtis!
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ABOUT THE ACADEMY
I love Jane Fonda's hairstyle ❤
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the world's preeminent movie-related organization, with a membership of more than 6,000 of the most accomplished men and women working in cinema. In addition to the annual Academy Awards—in which the members vote to select the nominees and winners—the Academy presents a diverse year-round slate of public programs, exhibitions and events; provides financial support to a wide range of other movie-related organizations and endeavors; acts as a neutral advocate in the advancement of motion picture technology; and, through its Margaret Herrick Library and Academy Film Archive, collects, preserves, restores and provides access to movies and items related to their history. Through these and other activities the Academy serves students, historians, the entertainment industry and people everywhere who love movies.
Now they dress like WHORES. Where is this style, you plebeians?
More User Perspectives
ja ja @ nancy sinatra's dad.
@cheripiez67Interesting that Frank quipped that Natalie was a good skier. The following year, she had injured her leg skiing and was in a cast, and Burt Lancaster carried her out to the podium. A unique moment.
@BarryRedmond-c7yBack before Oscar winners won on talent, not politics.
@dougwood8549Now those were stars! The ones today think dressing like hookers is chic and glamorous. Hollywood today has lost it's glamour and chic. Most have zero talent and look like waxen figures from Madam Tussauds museum.
@Sandy_P13Loretta young was gorgeous
@lesleymaner2851if they can do this kind of intro for todays oscars that would be awesome and so historic
@oAYRoThey all look fed up when Frank is singing, especially Vanessa Redgrave and Barbra Streisand! I adored Frank, we saw him multiple times in London, especially The Albert Hall. These were real stars, the looked so classy. RIP the very best of times
@vickifriend9285Amazing opening and footage. I was going off to college the next year. What wonderful stars to see. Sinatra singing, Natalie Wood; amazing.
@marysketch4772The audience was so unreactive.
@traceyneeb9290The Dorothy Chandler Pavillion was brand new then....elegant always, and looking iridescently beautiful this night....
@DonaldCrabtree-p1dwhat the heck was this??lol
@thegrey04Where have all the stars gone? This is amazing.
@1marianneWhat a dead audience. I've never seen so many frowny faces especially while being sang to by Sinatra. 😆🤔
@deehello1177Wow Patricia O’Neil and Dahl!
@nancylucas7897The women have clothes on that cover their skin!
@thinkingoutloud8460Jane Fonda?! Yuck
@paulgonzales9Oh I so wish the academy awards were still this polished and ENTERTAINING !!
@rogerruthven2195Used to love the Oscars, no cursing, slapping but most of all, no politics!!!
@mona2242🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
@wagnerotto3217We have nothing like those people today. I work in the entertainment industry and thankfully I have had the chance to work side by side with Jane and Walter and many other big talent of that time frame and all real class acts. The later crop of talent well not so much.
@bettermostReal stars in them days.⭐️⭐️
@trilby5546Zero political agendas from stars who should shut up and act! No one cares about their opinions!!!!🤨
@tackcolin6645From the celebrities on stage only Jane Fonda is still alive although I did spot Barbra Streisand, Elliott Gould and Joanne Woodward in the audience.
@michaelterry1000Jack Wild appeared in character as the Artful Dodger during the opening of the 41st Academy Awards on April 14, 1969. The ceremony featured a unique outdoor opening in downtown Los Angeles where Wild performed alongside his Oliver! co-star Ron Moody, who was also in character as Fagin. During this segment, Fagin jokingly assured the Dodger that if they didn't win their respective Oscars, they would "pinch it" instead. Wild was 16 years old at the time and was attending as a nominee for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Oliver!. Although he did not win (the award went to Jack Albertson), his presence was a highlight of the night, furthered by a giant "Hollywood welcomes Jack Wild" billboard that greeted him upon his arrival in Los Angeles.
@michaelterry1000I wonder if he threatened anyone with his “ring hand”
@georgeforallThe people born in the late 19th century and the early 20th century lived some amazing years,cars ,planes, radio, television.
World wars.
My parents and.
Nice people both generations.
The boomers the people born in the 1940s, ruined everything.
Wow, did we lose something since those days.
@rberka555Ingrid Bergman looks stunning.
@howard-h8mSet is really nice
@maeshellewest-davies7904All gone now, except for Jane.
@paulveg8524Was tat Carl Reiner?
@ChelseasMomWhat a class act!
@FancylooksNever more than the talent assembled here. Incredible!
@williamdonahue6617When you had a program which featured more than a dozen true mega-stars in the first eight minutes and showed another dozen out in the audience, you had something worth watching. To make an analogy, the Oscar show of 1969 was like a four-course gourmet meal, while the Oscar show of 2026 was like the steaming turd that was that meal now floating in a toilet bowl. I’ll have the steak, please.
@scotthamilton007The only ones that are still alive in 2026 is Jane Fonda
@creolelady182What an amazing group of Hollywood legends and even in the audience. So many are gone now.😢
They were in many ways our Royalty, and it was a very special time in the entertainment industry.
We will never see the likes of it again.👏👏👏
oh my God roald dahl and he looks so bored.
@writeract2funny thing, i believe greg peck and bergman wer sl. more than dear freinds.
@writeract2Back before they lost their heads.
@Cat_Town.2.06:21 Loretta Young is 56 here! What a knockout.
@spockboySo many stars, not only on stage but in the audience!
2026 and there are no stars on stage! Depressing 😞
I grew up watching every single one of these people, not to mention the ones they focused in on in their seat seats, and for the vast majority of my childhood I only watched these people in black-and-white, and when color came into play, I was amazed to find out of their color hair And just the general way they look and most importantly how the men have a certain stride all to their own.
@woodsman1382But whats with the celebrities aitting they all look mad or bored lol
@pink_peony68Thank for posting this was amazing
@pink_peony68Hollywood and the Propaganda Media have made themselves the least admired/respected occupations in America today.
@bobwhite7687