From Olivia Colman to Cher, our favourite Oscar wins in history
Anyone who loves the Oscars will have their favourite Oscar wins – whether it’s a particularly memorable speech, an unexpected bit of category drama, or a long-in-the-works victory for a typically snubbed movie star.
These are the opposite of the more controversial wins. Instead they’re the really great ones, the wins that make the months and months of Oscar-centric rigamarole before the ceremony itself almost worth it.
Ahead of this weekend’s Oscars – which will likely create a handful of genuinely joyous wins – The Independent’s culture desk have selected their personal faves from Oscar history.
Tommy Lee Jones for The Fugitive in 1994 – as chosen by Louis Chilton
It’s no surprise that Tommy Lee Jones has won an Oscar. Even before we take into account his formidable acting chops, the star simply has the vibe of someone who could scowl at Academy voters until they handed him a statuette out of sheer terror. That’s (probably). Jones’s turn simply isn’t the type of performance that ever wins an Oscar: a hard-bitten cop in a brilliant, but not necessarily “elevated”, genre film. Yet the win was fully deserved; there’s a reason his dogged lawman spawned a thousand parodies.
