Goldie Hawn shares biggest Hollywood regret
<p>When Goldie Hawn’s name was read as the winner of the 1970 Best Supporting Actress Oscar, one might have expected the actress to be front and centre to accept the award.</p>
<p>But that couldn’t have been further from the truth - the then 25-year-old was instead tucked up in bed, sound asleep ahead of an early call for her upcoming movie <em>There’s a Girl in My Soup</em>. </p>
<p>And now, the Hollywood heavyweight has confessed that that may just be the biggest regret of her entire career. </p>
<p>It was April 7, 1970, and the budding actress had only a few film credits to her name, as well as a coveted Academy Award nomination for her work in <em>Cactus Flower</em>. </p>
<p>The awards ceremony was being held in Los Angeles’ Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and the nominated actress was an entire ocean away in London, when Fred Astaire took to the stage, opened the life-changing envelope, and read out Goldie’s name. And while 63.1 million Americans tuned in live to witness the moment, Goldie was instead watching the inside of her eyelids. </p>
<p>“I never got dressed up, I never got to pick up the award,” Goldie told <em>Variety</em>, “I regret it. It’s something that I look back on now and think ‘it would have been so great to be able to have done that.’ </p>
<p>“I forgot it was on TV that night,” she continued. “Then I woke up to a phone call at like four in the morning, and it was a man’s voice and he said ‘hey, congratulations, you got it.’”</p>
<p>Goldie went on to explain that she’d asked what the man was talking about, before being informed that she “got the Academy Award for best supporting actress”, and that despite her shock, she was able to thank him, before calling her parents and having a much-needed cry. </p>
<p>The actress admitted that part of the problem - her reason for not attending - was that she hadn’t expected to win. <em>Cactus Flower</em> was her first ‘real’ role in a movie, and she was nominated alongside a number of talented, established actresses. The likes of Sylvia Miles, Dyan Cannon, and Susannah York were her ‘competition’. </p>
<p>Raqual Welch accepted the award on Goldie’s behalf, and until 2023, Goldie had never watched the moment her name was read from that winner’s envelope. It was Jimmy Kimmel - host of the 2023 ceremony - that encouraged her, while the two were on their way to a mutual friend’s party. </p>
<p>“He said ‘did you ever see the part where you’re being announced by Fred Astaire?’” Goldie recalled, “and I said ‘Fred Astaire?!’ He’s my idol.” </p>
<p>She then explained that she hadn’t known Fred was the one who announced her as the winner, and that when she finally saw the moment unfold, she found herself overcome with emotion. </p>
<p>Goldie’s honesty and genuine attitude towards her life and career have followed her from that fateful moment on, a lesson that she told <em>Variety</em> had first been passed down from her father. </p>
<p>“You’ve got to work for a living, stay compassionate, and stay realistic,” she said, “and I’m passing that on because that was what my father taught me: stay in reality, don’t get taken away with everything.”</p>
<p>And Goldie’s reality may just see her make an anticipated return to the silver screen, with the actress noting that she’d take a step out of retirement for the right role - perhaps something that let her have fun with a “wild, crazy character” or even a sequel to one of her existing films, maybe even another film with her beloved long-term partner, Kurt Russell.</p>
<p>“We all have dreams,” she concluded, “but it’s how we fulfil them.”</p>
<p><em>Images: Getty</em></p>
