Here's something that struck me as…well, not so much odd as puzzling. In 1974, Walter Matthau and Jack Benny were cast in The Sunshine Boys, the movie version of Neil Simon's play of the same name.
Benny died before the film began shooting and he was replaced by his lifelong friend, George Burns. MGM should probably have put Burns up for an Oscar in the Best Actor category but they figured he and Matthau would split the votes of those who liked the movie and neither would win or even get nominated. So they put Matthau up for Best Actor and Burns (and Richard Benjamin) up for Best Supporting Actor.
This may have been unfair to Mr. Benjamin who did not get nominated. Matthau though was indeed nominated for Best Actor but he was beaten by Jack Nicholson for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest…and how could he not be? I'll bet he also finished behind Al Pacino for Dog Day Afternoon, as well. But Mr. Burns was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role and as you'll see in the clip below, he won.
We never know why the Academy voters vote as they do and it would be silly to suggest they all have the same thinking process or reasons. It did however seem like people liked the idea of an old guy finally getting recognized this way and they thought George would give a great, memorable acceptance speech.
He was indeed a favorite. The folks who seat the nominees at the telecast have no actual information on who's going to win but you'll notice they gave Burns the seat that provided the quickest access to the stage. Maybe that was because he was the oldest nominee that evening but maybe they also suspected he'd need to get up there. I remember noticing the seating at the time.
I also remember hearing Burns start his speech and I was pretty sure I knew how he was going to end it. I was certain his last line would be something like, "The only thing that would make me happier tonight would be if I was sitting home right now watching my dear friend Jack Benny win this." But as you can see, he didn't mention his best friend at all and I still don't know why…