Roberto Benigni: Acceptance SpeechRoberto Benigni's performance as Guido Orefice in La Vita è bella (Life Is Beautiful, 1997) was rivaled only by his performance at the Academy Awards, where the film (nominated for seven awards) won a Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar.
Some time later, Benigni approached the podium again to collect the first Best Actor Oscar ever awarded for a non-English speaking role. "Thank you," he said (taking the stage after jumping over several rows of seats). "This is a terrible mistake, because I used up all my English! ... I would like to be Jupiter and kidnap everybody and lie down in the ground making love to everybody - because I don't know how to express - it's a question of love. You are really... this is a mountain of snow, so delicate, the suavity and the kindness, it is something I cannot forget!"
Benigni's excitement actually peaked backstage. "I'm so happy," he exclaimed, "that every organ in my body is moving in a very bad way!"
[Benigni later met Italian president Oscar L. Scalfaro. "Now," he said as the men shook hands, "I have the Oscar in my hand!" (On the day the "L'Ulivo" party won the Italian elections, Benigni jumped on the stage and kissed Roman mayor Walter Veltroni.)]
[Trivia: "Charlie Chaplin used his ass better than any other actor," Roberto Benigni once remarked. "In all his films his ass is practically the protagonist. For a comic, the ass has incredible importance."]
Benigni, Roberto (1952- ) Italian writer, actor, and director [noted for various films]
[Sources: Westminster News Online, 16/03/2004]More Roberto Benigni anecdotesRelated Anecdote Keywords:
Oscars Academy Awards Acceptance Speeches Excitement Enthusiasm Kissing Genitalia Erections
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