I can't embed this clip here but you might want to click and watch it. It's from the 1974 Academy Awards ceremony. Jack Lemmon presents an honorary Oscar to Julius "Groucho" Marx. Go watch it.
And while we're at it: At the 1977 ceremony, the Best Actor award went to Peter Finch for his performance in Network. Since Mr. Finch had passed away, someone had to be designated to accept on his behalf. (They stopped doing this at some point, at least on the lesser awards. I'm not sure if they still do it on the major ones.) Anyway, the Finch family and all his friends wanted the accepter to be his widow, Eletha. The Academy said that was not possible. After 1972 when Marlon Brando dispatched Sacheen Littlefeather to accept — actually, decline — his award for The Godfather, the Academy made a rule: A substitute accepter had to be a member of the Academy. Eletha Finch was not.
So Paddy Chayefsky, who wrote Network and was an Academy member, was selected to accept. When Finch won, Chayefsky did a smart and classy thing. He got to the podium and called the widow to the stage to accept the trophy. On some interview show the next day, he said, "What were they going to do? Have Security tackle her on her way to the stage and wrestle her to the ground to stop her?"
But I've always been a tad suspicious about whether Chayefsky did this on his own accord. I suspect the producers of the telecast knew about it in advance and perhaps suggested it. After all, it enabled them to get that nice, emotional moment for their show without violating the Academy's rule. Notice how quickly the camera is on her. The director sure knew where she was sitting. (And you may notice that when she's led down the aisle, she passes our old pal, Pat McCormick.) Here's that clip.
One more: George Burns in 1976 winning Best Supporting Actor for The Sunshine Boys. I remember being surprised that he didn't mention Jack Benny in his acceptance speech but it was still great to see him win. Go see him win.