1968 Academy Awards
Martin Luther King Jr. Was Assassinated 4 Days Before the 1968 Oscars: The Show Did Not Go On
The Oscars initially planned to go forward as scheduled, but it became increasingly apparent that the show simply couldn’t go on. The show was pushed back two days, to April 10, the day after the funeral. With that, these four stars agreed to appear on the show in these roles. The Oscar telecast opened, appropriately, on a serious note. Gregory Peck, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences at the time, offered some sober remarks. “This has been a fateful week in the history of our nation. We join with fellow members of our profession and men of goodwill everywhere in paying our profound respects to the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Society has always been reflected in its art and one measure of Dr. King’s influence on the society we live in is that of t...
