An exceptionally honest speech was given by Ingrid Bergman, shocked upon learning of her fifth nomination for Sidney Lumet’s glossy version of Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express.”
Recalled Bergman, who had previously won two Best Actress Oscars (for “Gaslight” in 1944 and for “Anastasia” in 1956): “To be nominated for something so small; I really had only one scene.”
Upon winning her third Oscar, Bergman rushed up to the stage and said: “This is unfair. I want this award to go to Valentina Cortesa (nominated for Trufaut’s “Day for Night,” in which she played an aging actress who can’t remember her lines). The spotlights and cameras swept across to Valentina Cortesa, who stood up and blew kisses at Bergman.
“It was really sad that she hadn’t gotten it,” Bergman later said, “because she really deserved it.” Please forgive me Valentina,” she apologized, “I didn’t mean to.
Hours later, Bergman realized that it was not “quite the right thing to say as the movie industry is supposed to be impartial, and there were three other supporting actresses besides Cortesa who did not win.”