20 Of The Shortest Oscars Speeches Ever – And Why The Stars Shut Up Fast

An Oscar acceptance speech is a strange beast. Sometimes heartfelt words can hit the emotional highs, but other times gushing stars fall very, very flat. And while there have been great oratories that went long, others have decided to keep their thoughts brief – and sometimes remarkably so. These 20 winners opted for brevity with their speeches; the results were decidedly mixed.

20. Patty Duke - 1963

Patty Duke was only 16 years old when she won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker. She had previously played the deaf-and-blind icon on Broadway from 1959 to 1961 and took her amazing performance to the big screen in 1962. Her acceptance speech, if you could even call it that, still stands as the shortest ever. It was two simple words, “Thank you.”

19. Morgan Freeman - 2004

The legendary Morgan Freeman bagged his first Oscar when he won Best Supporting Actor for Million Dollar Baby. It was his fourth nomination and, having lost out three times before, you might have thought he’d have a lengthy speech in his pocket for this one. But he kept it simple, saying only 62 words, and signing off with, “This was truly a labor of love.”

18. Frances McDormand - 2021

Nomadland was the biggest winner at the 2021 Academy Awards, taking home three trophies including Best Picture and a historical Best Director win for Chloe Zhao. Frances McDormand also won Best Actress and her speech for that award was easily the shortest of the evening. Her carefully chosen words were powerful, though; they included the lines, “My voice is my sword. We know the sword is our work,” making a particular impact.

17. Billy Wilder - 1961

In 1961 director Billy Wilder picked up three trophies for his film The Apartment. He kept the speeches for all three wins short, with his Best Picture speech running to a brief 70 words. That was long in comparison to the other two, though, which were only a handful of words each. Amusingly, he and co-writer I.A.L. Diamond thanked each other during their speech for Best Screenplay. Brilliant.