Human Flower Project
Mo’Nique and Hattie at the Oscars
Mo’Nique with her Oscar for Best Actress in a supporting role (and best memorial good-luck flower) poses with presenter Robin Williams at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, March 8.
Mo’Nique looked the part of a winner last night, with three lovely white gardenias knotted onto her up-do. The actress, who won the Oscar for her harrowing “supporting” role in the movie Precious, paid tribute to Hattie McDaniel, the first African American to be nominated for, and win, an Academy Award. Dressed in royal blue as McDaniel had been 70 years before, Mo’Nique explained, “This is the flower Hattie McDaniel wore when she accepted her Oscar. So for you, Miss Hattie McDaniel, it’s about time the world feels you all over them.”
Actually, it was McDaniel who, gloriously, felt flowers all over herself on February 29, 1940, as she won the Oscar for her portrayal of “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind. You can see and hear her acceptance speech. Or just delight in the photo below, her casque of gardenias AND the major floral stole over her right shoulder.
Congratulations, Mo’Nique. And next time, we hope you spring for the whole fragrant costume.
Hattie McDaniel won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her work in Gone with the Wind, February 29, 1940. Fay Bainter, right, presented the award.
Photo: via Afrocity Blog