The only person to have ever received their Oscar from bed
There are a number of entirely valid reasons why somebody can’t show up in person to collect their Academy Award, but the only recipient of a competitive Oscar to accept the trophy from the comfy confines of their bed was inevitably accused of orchestrating it as a publicity stunt.
Of course, drama both on and off-screen was a hallmark of Joan Crawford’s legendary career, and still, to this day, nobody seems entirely sure of when exactly she was even born. Rising to prominence in the 1920s and 1930s, her popularity tailed off towards the end of the latter decade when a string of commercial disappointments almost ruined her status appeal and came close to destroying her entire career.
Crawford embarked on a resurgence towards the end of the 1940s, though, winning the Oscar for ‘Best Actress’ on her very first nomination after blowing everybody away with her work as the title character in Mildred Pierce. When the time came to collect her prize, the actor claimed to be stricken by the flu.
Not to be deterred from having her crowning glory unfold under the bright lights, photographers assembled around her bed as Crawford – who got dressed to the nines for the occasion despite her bedridden state – to take photographs and listen to her acceptance speech.
“Whether the Academy voters were giving the Oscar to me, sentimentally, for Mildred or for 200 years of effort, the hell with it, I deserved it,” she graciously offered. While Crawford maintained in her memoirs that she was genuinely unwell, not everybody was entirely convinced of her medical maladies.
Shaun Considine’s book Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud described her bout with the flu as “a psychosomatic condition used by Crawford on her Oscar day”, suggesting that “a bottle of Jack Daniels bourbon” was another reason she couldn’t find the strength to make it to the Oscars in person.
Turner Classic Movies veteran Dave Karger was suitably impressed either way, explaining to The New York Post that it was perfectly on-brand given her reputation and desire to be celebrated both in front of and by her peers.
“I don’t think there’s anyone who would have the guts, or maybe the lack of self-awareness, to try any of the stunts that Joan Crawford attempted over the years,” he said. “She just seemed to have no shame – and no problem showing the industry how badly she wanted the attention”.
Whether she was really suffering from the flu or fabricating her frailty to ensure the headlines would be all about her the following day, it was a classic Crawford move to finally win an Oscar and accept the coveted statue from the surroundings of her own home, with the press invited and given full access to ensure her antics and acceptance speech would be the talk of the town.
