"This is not going to be 45 seconds, I can say that right now," said best supporting actress winner Penélope Cruz (for Vicky Cristina Barcelona). "Has anybody ever fainted here? Because I might be the first one. Thank you so much to the Academy. I want to share this with my fellow nominees and with the amazing ensemble of actors that I had the privilege to work with in this movie. Thank you, Woody [Allen], for trusting me with this beautiful character. Thank for you having written over all these years some of the greatest characters for women."
Cruz also thanked Bigas Luna and Pedro Almodóvar, and added, "I grew up in a place called Alcobendas, where this was not a very realistic dream. And I, always on the night of the Academy Awards, I stay up to watch the show and I always felt that this was, this ceremony was a moment of unity for the world because art, in any form, is and has been and will always be our universal language and we should do everything we can, everything we can, to protect its survival."
At the end of her speech, she spoke in Spanish to dedicate her award to her fellow Spanish performers.
Cruz's award was presented by last year's winner, Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton).
Also on the Oscar stage were previous best supporting actress winners Goldie Hawn (1969, Cactus Flower), Whoopi Goldberg (1990, Ghost), Anjelica Huston (1985, Prizzi's Honor), and super-veteran Eva Marie Saint (1954, On the Waterfront), one of the best actresses of her generation.
Photo: Darren Decker / © AMPAS.