Oscars

An Oscar for five minutes: The shortest performance to ever win an Academy Award

Beatrice Straight won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress after appearing on screen for only five minutes.

Update: Mar 1st, 2025 15:00 EST

The Oscars have incredible stories and milestones. Some examples are ‘Titanic’, with 11 awards from 14 nominations, Halle Berry, the only Black actress to win the Oscar for best female performance, or Beatrice Straight, who in 1977 achieved something that seems unsurpassable today. The American won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for ‘Network’ having only appeared on screen for five minutes. Her winning speech lasted not much less.

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Respect, allegiance—and a monologue for the ages.

Beatrice Straight's Oscar-winning performance as Louise Schumacher in NETWORK. pic.twitter.com/URZV4zOeIl
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) November 25, 2024

Beatrice Straight’s interest in acting and major role in ‘Network’

Beatrice Straight won an Emmy nomination for her part as the matriarch Alice Dain Leggett in the miniseries The Dain Curse. She also played the part of Lynda Carter’s Queen Mother in the 1970s Wonder Woman series. The actress was born Beatrice Whitney Straight in Old Westbury on Long Island. Her mother, Dorothy Payne Whitney Straight, was an heiress of the Whitneys, a family with money from the East Coast. Straight became interested in acting while a student in Devonshire, England.

People being confused how Isabella Rossellini could be nominated for best supporting actress with only a few minutes of screen time when Beatrice Straight was only onscreen for a comparable amount and won the same award for Network (1976) and she deserved it. pic.twitter.com/P9DW2UGzsA
— Margaret "Molly" Rasberry🎧🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸 (@RasberryRazz) January 24, 2025

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Oscars

Winners of the mini Oscar

She is best known for her role in the 1976 movie ‘Network,’ after only three days of work in that movie in just a few scenes that actually made it into the final cut, Beatrice Straight contributed such a stellar performance that she earned the Academy Award for the best performance by a supporting actress.

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