Eighteen days before the awards ceremony, 55 Oscar statuettes en route from Chicago to the Academy were stolen from a Roadway Express shipping dock in Bell, California. A week and a half later, a scrap metal dealer, Willie Fulgear, found 52 of the statuettes in a Dumpster behind a grocery store. (In the meantime, the Academy had had replacement statuettes made.) For finding the awards, Mr. Fulgear received two tickets to the Academy Awards show, where he was praised by host Billy Crystal, and a $50,000 check from the shipping company. A few months later, $40,000 of his reward was stolen from a safe in his apartment.

[Warren Beatty and a pregnant Annette Bening are in the audience]


Billy Crystal:
As host, I have a lot of duties to do tonight. If Warren happens to be on stage, if Annette goes into labor, I have to be her Lamaze coach. But she's a pro and I know she'll do it in one take. And if Roberto Benigni gets out of hand, I've got the stun gun.

Music by Jerry Goldsmith