Movies of War

Prince announces the Oscar for best original song during the 77th Academy Awards Feb. 27, 2005 at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images Trending on Billboard With the 98th Oscars coming up on Sunday March 15, we’re looking back at past Oscar ceremonies, and specifically, who presented the Oscar for best original song each year. Related Here’s How the Oscars Plan to Showcase the Nominated Songs from ‘Sinners’ & ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Alex Warren Explains What Led Up to ‘Horrifying’ Grammy Performance Mishap: ‘I’ve Never Talked About This’ T.I. Tops Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay Chart for First Time Since 2013’s ‘Blurred Lines’ The late, great song and dance man Gene Kelly did the honors four times, more than anyone else in Oscar history. That’s fitting: Kelly starred in Singin’ in the Rain, which topped the American Film Institute’s 2006 list of AFI’s Greatest Movie Musicals. Kelly presented best original song in 1951, in 1975 (in tandem with Shirley MacLaine), in 1980 (with Olivia Newton-John, with whom he starred in the soon-to-be-released, ill-fated musical Xanadu) and in 1986 (with his Singin’ in the Rain costars Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor). Six people are tied as runner-up, having presented best original song three times: They are Burt Bacharach, Angie Dickinson, Gregory Hines, Jennifer Lopez, Queen Latifah and John Travolta. J.Lo presented three times within four years (1999-2002), a record for most presenter assignments in the shortest time. (Not coincidentally, J.Lo landed three of her four No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in those years.) Bacharach and Dickinson, Hollywood’s golden couple of the era, teamed to present the award in 1971 and 1976. Bacharach teamed with Ann-Margret to present the award in 1974. Dickinson teamed with Luciano Pavarotti to present it in 1981. Six people who won Oscars for best original song also served as presenters in the category (obviously not in the same year they won). They are Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Barbra Streisand, Bacharach, and the team of Common and John Legend. The latter team presented in 2016, the year after their win for “Glory” from Selma. Prince, who presented in 2005, never won for best original song, but he did win for his song score to Purple Rain. The reunion of the Singin’ in the Rain cast wasn’t the only cast reunion that Oscar show producers arranged in connection with this category. In 2013, 10 years after Chicago became the first musical in more than three decades to win best picture, that film’s stars, Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah and Catharine Zeta-Jones, presented best original song. In 1988, seven years after they teamed in the box-office hit Arthur, Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli co-presented the award (which had gone, in 1982, to “Arthur’s Theme”). In 1993, a decade after their collaboration on the Broadway cast album Lena Horne: A Lady and Her Music, Quincy Jones and Lena Horne co-presented the award. In 1996, a few years after they co-starred in the Tina Turner biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It, Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne co-presented the award. In some cases, Oscar producers had people co-present to plug an upcoming movie in which they were to co-star. Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda co-presented in 2018, months before the release of Mary Poppins Returns. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande co-presented in 2024, months ahead of their teaming in Wicked. In 2015, Idina Menzel and John Travolta teamed to present the award – one year after Travolta inexplicably mangled Menzel’s name on the Oscar stage while attempting to introduce her performance of “Let It Go” from Frozen. (He called her Adele Dazeem.) In this presentation teaming, Menzel jokingly introduced him as Glom Gazingo – and they gracefully put it to rest. Some presenter pairings held symbolic meaning. In 1989, singer/dancer/actor Gregory Hines co-presented with Sammy Davis Jr., the top song and dance man of a previous generation. Davis died of complications from throat cancer in May 1990. In 1944, Dinah Shore became the first woman to present in this category. In 1984, the biracial Jennifer Beals, star of the previous year’s smash Flashdance, became the first person of color to present in this category. The youngest presenter was Miley Cyrus, who was just 17 in 2010 when she co-presented with Amanda Seyfried. Bacharach and Dickinson weren’t the only married couple to present in the category. Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows presented in 1961, followed by Sonny & Cher in 1973. One parent and child separately presented in this category: In 1997, Goldie Hawn co-presented with her The First Wives Club co-stars Bette Midler and Diane Keaton. In 2023, Hawn’s daughter, Kate Hudson, co-presented with Janelle Monáe. Hudson is a best actress nominee at the 2026 ceremony. Pavarotti was the second classical star to present in the category. The first was conductor Leopold Stokowski in 1937. Here is the presenter of the Oscar for best original song from the first year it was presented, 1935, to the present. The years shown are the year of the ceremony. We’ll add the name of the presenter of best original song at the 2026 ceremony once it is known. Brief identifications are shown in the early years to help our younger readers. After that, you’re on your own. 1935: Irvin S. Cobb (author) 1936: Frank Capra (director) 1937: Leopold Stokowski (conductor) 1938: Irving Berlin (songwriter) 1939: Jerome Kern (songwriter) 1940: Gene Buck (president of ASCAP) 1941: B.G. DeSylva (songwriter, film producer, co-founder of Capitol Records) 1942: B.G DeSylva 1943: Irving Berlin 1944: Dinah Shore (singer) 1945: Bob Hope (comedian) 1947: Van Johnson (actor) 1948: Dinah Shore 1949: Kathryn Grayson (actress) 1950: Cole Porter (songwriter) 1951: Gene Kelly (actor) 1952: Donald O’Connor (actor) 1953: Walt Disney (film producer and entertainment mogul) 1954: Arthur Freed (lyricist and film producer) 1955: Bing Crosby (singer) 1956: Maurice Chevalier (singer) 1957: Carroll Baker (actress) 1958: Maurice Chevalier 1959: Sophia Loren & Dean Martin 1960: Doris Day 1961: Steve Allen & Jayne Meadows 1962: Debbie Reynolds 1963: Frank Sinatra 1964: Shirley Jones 1965: Fred Astaire 1966: Natalie Wood 1967: Dean Martin 1968: Barbra Streisand 1969: Frank Sinatra 1970: Candice Bergen 1971: Burt Bacharach & Angie Dickinson 1972: Joel Grey 1973: Sonny & Cher 1974: Burt Bacharach & Ann-Margret 1975: Gene Kelly & Shirley MacLaine 1976: Burt Bacharach & Angie Dickinson 1977: Neil Diamond 1978: Fred Astaire 1979: Ruby Keeler & Kris Kristofferson 1980: Gene Kelly & Olivia Newton-John 1981: Angie Dickinson & Luciano Pavarotti 1982: Bette Midler 1983: Olivia Newton-John 1984: Jennifer Beals, Matthew Broderick 1985: Gregory Hines 1986: Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor & Debbie Reynolds 1987: Bernadette Peters 1988: Liza Minnelli & Dudley Moore 1989: Sammy Davis Jr. & Gregory Hines 1990: Paula Abdul & Dudley Moore 1991: Gregory Hines & Ann-Margret 1992: Shirley MacLaine & Liza Minnelli 1993: Lena Horne & Quincy Jones 1994: Whitney Houston 1995: Sylvester Stallone 1996: Angela Bassett & Laurence Fishburne 1997: Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton & Bette Midler 1998: Madonna 1999: Jennifer Lopez 2000: Cher 2001: Jennifer Lopez 2002: Jennifer Lopez 2003: Barbra Streisand 2004: Jack Black & Will Ferrell 2005: Prince 2006: Queen Latifah 2007: John Travolta & Queen Latifah 2008: John Travolta 2009: Zac Efron & Alicia Keys 2010: Miley Cyrus & Amanda Seyfried 2011: Jennifer Hudson 2012: Will Ferrell & Zach Galifianakis 2013: Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, Renée Zellweger & Catherine Zeta-Jones 2014: Jessica Beal & Jamie Foxx 2015: Idina Menzel & John Travolta 2016: Common & John Legend 2017: Scarlett Johansson 2018: Emily Blunt & Lin-Manuel Miranda 2019: Gal Gadot, Brie Larson & Sigourney Weaver 2021: Zendaya 2022: Jake Gyllenhaal & Zoë Kravitz 2023: Kate Hudson & Janelle Monáe 2024: Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande 2025: Mick Jagger Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up Want to know what everyone in the music business is talking about? 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