Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty will probably never live down Sunday’s epic Oscars flub. At least they can console themselves in knowing they’re not the first to make such an error at the Academy Awards.
In 1964, Sammy Davis Jr. endured a similarly awkward moment after he was handed the wrong envelope when presenting the Oscar for Best Music Score. Instead of announcing the winner as Andre Previn for “Irma la Douce,” Davis Jr. read his card, which mistakenly listed the winner as John Addison for “Tom Jones.” Addison, however, wasn’t even up for the award, so the mistake was immediately fixed when Davis Jr. announced the wrong winner.
“Oh I am… they gave me the wrong envelope,” Davis Jr. told the crowd upon realizing the error. “Wait till the NAACP hears about this.”
After the flub, Davis Jr. was handed the correct envelope, prompting him to put on a pair of reading glasses. “I ain’t gonna make no mistake this time, baby,” he said to cheers from the audience.
Like Davis Jr., Beatty and Dunaway were handed the wrong envelope. Instead of listing the Best Picture winner, the card was a duplicate announcing Emma Stone’s Best Actress win for “La La Land.” Dunaway blurted that film’s title following a confused pause from Beatty, which led to the wrong winner being crowned.
For the record: A previous version of this story misspelled the title “Irma la Douce.”