Oscar 2016: Most iconic award show moments of all time

This year, the Oscar awards are sure to have one particular memorable moment — whether Leonardo DiCaprio manages to win his first-ever Academy award for his role in The Revenant or not the night is going to be all about him.

But the previous years have had their fair share of beautiful, comic and outrageous moments. So here's a look at some of the most iconic moments in Oscar history.

1) Sidney Poitier becomes the first black actor to win an Oscar for best actor: Lillies Of The Field brought Sidney Poitier his first Oscar back in 1964. It also was the first time in Academy Awards history that a black actor took home gold for best actor.

2) Charlie Chaplin returns after 20 year exile: Comedy legend Charlie Chaplin stole the show at the 44<sup>th Annual Academy Awards in 1972 when he returned to the US after a 20-year exile following his communist opinions, to accept his honorary award.

3) Marlon Brando declines Oscar win: In 1973 Marlon Brando won the best actor award for The Godfather. However, the actor decided to give the ceremony a miss and instead sent Native American actress Sacheen Littlefeather to attend the awards and read a letter on his behalf in which he declined the award as part of his protest on the way Hollywood portrayed Native Americans.

4) The Oscar Streaker is born: Photographer and art gallery owner Robert Opal not only crashed the Oscars in 1974 but also managed to streak across the stage while David Niven was introducing Elizabeth Taylor to the stage. Since then, Opal has been forever known as the Oscar Streaker.

5) Christopher Reeve's Speech: By 1996 Superman actor Christopher Reeve had spent close to a year as a paraplegic following a horse riding accident that left him paralysed. He, however, appeared on stage at the Oscars and gave a moving speech about the social responsibility of films.

6) Martin Scorsese finally wins an Oscar: Leonardo DiCaprio is not the only deserving nominee to have to wait a long while for a win. Martin Scorsese won his first Oscar only in 2007 for best director for the film The Departed.

7) Quentin Tarantino spits at a reporter: Upset over an article about his long-lost father that was featured in Premier, a magazine edited by Chris Connelly, on spotting him on the Oscar red carpet in 1997, Quentin Tarantino spat at the reporter. He missed but Connelly got the point. He later asked for an apology which Tarantino refused to give.

8) Roberto Benigni's acceptance speech: Not many Oscar winners can match the absolute joy actor Roberto Benigni expressed on winning the best actor award for Life Is Beautiful in 1999. He climbed over the seats to get to the stage and then told the audience in a heavy Italian accent, "I would like to be Jupiter and kidnap everybody and lie down in the firmament making love to everybody!"

9) South Park writers attend Oscars on acid: Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park decided to make a loud statement at the Oscars in 2000 when they attended the event tripping on acid and wearing bad copies of dresses previously worn by Jennifer Lopez and Gwyneth Paltrow. Parker's song Blame Canada from the film South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut was nominated in the category for best song in a film.

10) Halle Berry makes history: In 2002, Halle Berry became the first African-American woman to win the best actress award at the Oscars.

11) Woody Allen's only Oscar appearance: The filmmaker had decided early on that he would never attend the Oscars, no matter how often he was nominated or won. But in 2002, he made a special appearance to express his love for New York, which was still reeling from the aftermath of the 9/11 attack. During his appearance on stage he introduced the film Love Letter To New York, which was made in honour of the city.

12) Heath Ledger's posthumous win: One of the most emotional moments in recent Oscar history is bound to be the award for best supporting actor, which went to the late Heath Ledger in 2009 for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight. Ledger had died in 2008 at the age of 28 from a drug induced cardiac arrest.

13) Kathryn Bigelow wins best director: The Hurt Locker director made history in 2010 by becoming the first woman to win an Oscar in the best director category.

The Oscars 2016 will be held on 28 February at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood and will be aired live on ABC Television Network at 7pm ET (1am BST).