The 41st Academy Awards Memorable Moments

41st Oscars

Best Picture: Oliver!


Oliver! also won Academy Awards for Art Direction-Set Decoration (John Box, Terence Marsh, Vernon Dixon, and Ken Muggleston), Directing (Carol Reed), Music – Score of a Musical Picture, original or adaptation (John Green), and Sound (Shepperton Studio Sound Department), and Onna White received an Honorary Award for her outstanding choreography.


Katharine Hepburn became the first person to win three Academy Awards in either the Best Actor or Best Actress categories. This year, she won for The Lion in Winter.


This latest win, however, was in a tie with Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl). This was the second time in Academy history two performers had tied for an Academy Award.


Hepburn also became the third individual to win the honor in consecutive years. Her 11 acting nominations were also a new record.


Martha Raye was presented with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, making her the first woman to be so honored.


On January 22, 1968, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In debuted on NBC.


In April 1968, the film 2001: A Space Odyssey premiered. It earned four Academy Award nominations and won for Special Visual Effects.


On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot outside his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.


On June 6, 1968, U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot shortly after giving a speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He died the next day.


On July 15, 1968, the soap opera One Life to Live premiered on ABC.


In September 1968, Mattel introduced Hot Wheels toy cars.


On September 26, 1968, Hawaii Five-0 debuted on CBS and eventually became the longest-running crime show in television history until Law & Order broke the record.


On September 25, 1968, 60 Minutes premiered on CBS.


On October 16, 1968, at the Olympic Games in Mexico City, 200-meter gold medalist Tommie Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos stood on the victory platform, bowed their heads during the U.S. national anthem and raised their black-gloved fists to raise awareness about racial injustice. The gesture is often referred to as the Black Power Salute.


On October 20, 1968, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.


On November 5, 1968, Republican Richard M. Nixon defeated Democratic Vice President Hubert Humphrey and American Independent Party candidate George C. Wallace in the U.S. presidential election.


Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
To Martha Raye.


Honorary Award
To Onna White for her outstanding choreography achievement for Oliver!


Honorary Award
To John Chambers for his outstanding makeup achievement for Planet of the Apes.