Cher winning an Oscar

I love watching the old Oscar clips of years gone by, and seeing the reactions of the winnners and losers, but I often wonder "did he/she know they were going to win?"

I know nowadays the results are basically a foregone conclusion in a lot of cases, with Oscar night just confirming what we expected - what I'm asking is, was this the case with Cher back in '88? Or did she have much competition from the other illustrious nominees? Was there any resistance to giving arguably the most prestigious award to a one-name outrageous singer?

I know you guys have long memories.

P.S. Isn't Moonstruck wonderful?
Cher winning Best Actress

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And even though she wasn't favored to win, Streep has to be mentioned for that devastating performance she gave in IRONWEED.

But Cher was the rightful winner that night. I really do think she's one of the most effortless, realistic actresses alive. Surprisingly. lol

1. Paul Newman!

2. Meryl was so young! And she totally wanted Cher to get it.

3. What best said. And Cher had already been nominated once for Silkwood. And she'd also done Mask, one of the first movies that cemented her as a "real" actress.

God, Fatal Attraction. Once I hit 35 or so I really started to feel like Alex was misunderstood.

"God, Fatal Attraction. Once I hit 35 or so I really started to feel like Alex was misunderstood."

Oh, honey. I just turned 35 a few days ago. After listening to COMPANY on repeat for 2 days and crying I think I'm ready to sit down and sympathize with Alex for a couple hours.

Happy Birthday, Bobby.

Your present is on the stove...

Cher as Morticia would be AMAZING!!

Didn't Cher turn down "The Addams Family"?

YES!! That film was so undeservedly overlooked!!

Cher turned down a lot of films. I was surprised to hear how she turned down Moonstruck at first. She didn't think she could do the accent, and she didn't think she was right for the part. Norman Jewison had to work very hard to convince her that she could do it.

Cher turned down Baby Boom. She turned down Thelma (Susan Sarandon's part) in Thelma & Louise, too.

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It will be fun to see a Witches of Eastwick mini re-union when Cher and Michele Pfeiffer appear on Graham Norton's show together next week.

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Moonstruck is one of those delicious films where everything comes together like a finely tuned instrument; every performance is so perfect it's impossible to imagine anyone else playing the parts. The movie had many unforgettable moments, but the one that will stay with me forever is when Cher stepped out of the cab at Lincoln Center and looked for Nicolas Cage in the crowd. She was gorgeous, he was beautiful, and the moment their eyes met I melted. Gets me every time.

I know I've told this story here before, but I was standing there (with about 20 other people) at night, watching them film the scene after the opera where they argue outside the apartment and it starts to snow.

I was living in Brooklyn at the time, and I was walking home from a friend's house who lived about four blocks from my place. On the way, I spotted the trailers and lights, etc., just one block away. So I walked over to see what was going on. I saw Cher looking gorgeous and Cage in his tux. They were working out the dolly movement on the sidewalk as they walked along and argued. I probably stayed for about 30 minutes of the filming. A small group of us behind a roadblock that was maybe at most 30 feet from where they were filming.

I remember asking someone from the crew about the name of the film, and he said "Moonstruck." I thought it was such an unusual title that I didn't forget it. By the time the film came out, I was living in Los Angeles. I went to a screening of it at the Academy with a friend who voted for the Oscars. So much had changed in a year!

But every time I watch that movie, I still remember standing just off camera, about 30 feet away, for that scene.

Pure magic.

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