Amy Madigan won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Guns at the 98th Academy Awards.
Madigan beat out a strong field to take the award, including Elle Fanning for Sentimental Value, Wunmi Mosaku for Sinners and Teyana Taylor for One Battle After Another. In doing so, he set a new record for the longest gap between nominations before winning; She was already nominated in the same category 40 years ago, in 1986, for Twice in a Lifetime.
In an emotional and good-humoured speech, the actress said she had been asked about the difference between the two nominations and said: “The difference is that I have this little golden man.”
In Weapons, a supernatural horror film written and directed by Zach Cregger, Madigan plays the evil Aunt Gladys, whose heavy makeup and big glasses became a popular Internet meme, referenced by Oscar host Conan O’Brien in his opening sketch.
Madigan has had a strong awards season, earning nominations for best supporting actress at the Golden Globes and Baftas, and winning the actor award earlier this month, but her victory was far from certain as Mosaku was perceived to present especially strong competition.
“This is great,” he said. “Last night I was in the shower trying to think of something to say while shaving my legs. I have pants on, I don’t need to worry about that.”
The actor went on to thank his fellow nominees for bringing her into their group, since, unlike them, she was the only figure representing Weapons on the press circuit.
“Most of all, I want to thank my beautiful daughter Lily,” she concluded, “her husband, Sean. And, of course, all the dogs. But the most important is my beloved Ed. You’ve been with me forever. And that’s a long time, and none of this would mean anything if he wasn’t by my side.”
Madigan and her husband, Ed Harris, went down in the annals of Academy Awards history in 1999 when they conspicuously failed to applaud the awarding of an honorary Oscar to On the Waterfront’s Elia Kazan, who testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952.
