To John Mills's British colleague, Dame Judi Dench, the Oscar ceremonies were also “unbelievable,” to use her words. As she recalled: “The first time I went (for “Shakespeare in Love”), I took my daughter and it was so larky. I'm always terribly star struck. We were black-and-blue from nudging each other the whole time, trying to draw attention to people. The next time we went, we were all rather blas?© about it. Our car was late. We got there and the place was all locked up. Somebody said, 'Oh, God, they want a shot of her while Whoopi Goldberg arrives as Elizabeth II.' So we were smuggled in.”

Audrey Hepburn's choice as presenter of the 1965 Best Actor Oscar turned out to be ironic. Hepburn had not been nominated for “My Fair Lady,” which stirred a scandal, but her co-star Rex Harrison was, and his chances to win were excellent. “It was a strange evening,” Harrison later reported. “I knew that if I won the Award I would be on the stage with two Fair Ladies. Julie Andrews had been nominated (for “Mary Poppins”); Audrey Hepburn had not, but she was in Hollywood to present the awards to the winners.

In 1969, when John Mills was watching the rushes of his scene with the lobsters in “Ryan's Daughter,” director David Lean asked him, “Johnny, have you ever won an Oscar” To which the actor said, “No, I haven't. Why” “Nothing,” said Lean, “I just wondered.” Exactly a year later, Mills received a cable from the Academy congratulating him for his Supporting Actor nomination.

Awards are very silly. They put very talented and good people against each other and they hurt the hell out of the ones that lose. And I think they relieve us that win–Dustin Hoffman, Kramer Vs. Kramer