The INSIDER Summary:
• "La La Land" was mistakenly named best picture at the Oscars after an envelope mix-up.
• A similar envelope mix-up happened once before in 1964.
• Sammy Davis Jr. received the wrong envelope to announce best adaptation or treatment score.
• He actually announced the winner for best original score.
• Davis Jr. quickly rectified the mistake.
Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty's announcement of "La La Land" as the winner for best picture — instead of, correctly, "Moonlight" — at Sunday night's Oscars is the biggest flub in the history of the show.
The last time a mistake close to that magnitude happened in 1964, at the 36th Academy Awards. Entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. went onstage to announce the award for best adaptation or treatment score.
He took out the card from the envelope and said the winner was "John Addison, for 'Tom Jones.'"
The problem? John Addison wasn't even nominated for that category, nor was anyone else from the movie "Tom Jones." Addison was nominated for the best original score category instead. It wasn't until the 1985 awards that best adaptation or treatment score and best original score were merged into a single category.
After a light applause, and some muttering, Davis Jr. rushed back to the microphone and apologized.
"They gave me the wrong envelope. Wait 'till the NAACP hears about this," he joked.
Davis Jr. then received the correct envelope, put on his glasses, and announced that André Previn won for the film "Irma la Douce."
Previn went onstage for a brief speech. Afterwards, Davis Jr. read out the nominees for the best original score category.
"...and John Addison for 'Tom Jones,'" he said. "Guess who the winner is?"
Addison, it turned out, wasn't even at the ceremony that night. His friend Elmer Bernstein accepted the award on his behalf.
Watch the full video below:
