Chevy Chase Consoled Oscar Loser Dan Aykroyd During the Ceremony
The Academy Awards have honored legendary actors like Meryl Streep, Daniel Day-Lewis, Sidney Poitier, Al Pacino and Katharine Hepburn. They also once nominated the Bass-O-Matic guy.
It’s easy to forget that Dan Aykroyd was nominated for an Oscar back in 1990, thanks to his work in a certain 1989 film — no, not Ghostbusters II. Although, if there was a “Best Performance By An Actor Pretending to Drive a Slime-Covered Statue of Liberty With a Nintendo Controller” category, he would have been a shoo-in.
Aykroyd was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category for playing Jessica Tandy’s son in Driving Miss Daisy. Today the movie is generally considered to be one of the worst Best Picture winners in Oscars history, a tone-deaf exploration of racism whose primary focus was to alleviate white guilt. Making its shortcomings all the more glaring was the fact that Spike Lee’s more challenging, nuanced take on contemporary race relations, Do the Right Thing, didn’t even get a nomination for Best Picture.
While Driving Miss Daisy won the top prize, Aykroyd went home empty-handed, losing in his category to Denzel Washington for Glory. In addition to Washington, the other nominees that year included Danny Aiello for Do the Right Thing, plus Martin Landau and Marlon Brando. The category was so stacked with acting greats, it was no surprise that the star of My Stepmother Is An Alien never stood a chance.
In fact, the outcome was apparently such a guarantee that when Aykroyd showed up later in the ceremony to present the award for Best Visual Effects with Chevy Chase, the two performed a seemingly pre-written bit all about Aykroyd’s loss.
As Aykroyd began reading a spiel about the nominated visual effects artists, Chase quickly cut in. “Dan, let me just interrupt, this wasn’t expected, but as one of your old friends, a guy who started with you in the business, being nominated is just as honorable as being a winner, congratulations. Really, you did a great job,” the Fletch star said while shaking his old SNL co-stars hand.
He then continued to interrupt Aykroyd in order to praise the other nominees, pointing out that Marlon Brando had already won two Oscars, and Martin Landau did fine work in Crimes and Misdemeanors. “He was good too, I voted for him,” Chase slipped in.
“You voted for him?” Aykroyd questioned.
“No no, I voted for you. Congratulations,” Chase replied.
Chase went on to note that Aiello was “a little better” than Aykroyd, and condescendingly added, “I know Denzel Washington was the sentimental favorite, and congratulations to him, but still in my book, you’re the winner.”
Chase also couldn’t help but sing his own praises. “I thought I was pretty good in Christmas Vacation, quite frankly,” he joked. “And I didn’t get anything. So you know, you can’t win them all.”
While Chase has still never won an Oscar, at least someone who strongly dislikes Chevy Chase will very likely win one this year.
