Receiving the most publicity of all, however, was Woody Allen‘s refusal to attend the Oscar telecast in 1978, in which his comedy Annie Hall was nominated for major awards, including Best Picture, Director, and Actress (Diane Keaton).
During the Academy Awards ceremony, which as usual was held in Los Angeles on a Monday night, Allen was playing clarinet in a Dixieland band at Michael’s Pub in New York City.
Allen had to escape from the bar before the awards were announced, apparently very embarrassed, due to the throng of reporters who showed up at Michael’s Pub to record his reaction.
Allen once criticized his own comedy in the press by saying, “It massages the prejudice of the middle class.”
He also went so far as to say that Annie Hall was “nothing special.”
Diane Keaton won her first and only Best Actress Oscar for Allen’s 1977 comedy.
