Cher pulled off an Oscar win for Best Actress over Glenn Close in 1988 for Moonstruck. This video explains how it happened.
Thirty years before Lady Gaga became an Oscar frontrunner for A Star is Born, Cher took home the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in 1987 romantic comedy Moonstruck.
But how did a musician turned actress take home Oscar gold for her film debut? Well, this video by Be Kind Rewind answers that question.
Cher was up against a murderer's row of veteran actresses including Oscar favorite Meryl Streep for Ironweed, Sally Kirkland for Anna, Holly Hunter for Broadcast News, and most famously, Glenn Close for Fatal Attraction.
Close was on her fourth nomination and highly favored to win—she'd go on to be nominated twice more without any wins (though that might change this year). However, a mix of “publicity, name recognition, and an actor's relationship to the Academy” ended up swaying the race in her favor.
This race is particularly important considering Lady Gaga, another pop star turned actress, is in contention for her performance in A Star is Born. Can she pull it off
Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.