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Billy Crystal's Top 5 Oscar moments

After being left in the lurch by Eddie Murphy, the Oscars organisers wasted no time in recruiting an eight-time Oscar host Billy Crystal to take the stage for the ninth time. After the rather disastrous pairing of Anne Hathaway and James Franco last year, we can't help but be VERY excited to see the return of an Oscar hero. Here we look back 5 of his classic Oscar moments over the years.


5. Opening montage - 2004 Oscars

A more recent addition to awards shows with the advent of more advanced CGI trickery, the opening montage sequence is now an Oscars staple. In 2004, the year which saw the final film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King, walk away with a record-equalling 11 Oscars, Billy Crystal was super-imposed into iconic scenes from that movie, and also "shared" the screen with Charlize Theron in Monster, Bill Murray in Lost in Translation, and crushing Michael Moore to death!

Watch the video below:



4. Opening monologue - 2000 Oscars

The Oscars are fond of medleys - in which the host usually sings a witty song about the nominated movies - and boy, are they corny! Though Billy singing to 11-year-old nominee Haley Joel Osment and leading a chant for Michael Caine provided some heart-warming moments.

Watch the performance here


3. Hannibal Lecter Skit - 1992 Oscars

Billy couldn't resist poking fun at the most terrifying cinematic portrayals of all time at the 64th Academy Awards, coming onstage wearing Hannibal Lecter's face mask. Even Anthony Hopkins himself, who won the Best Actor that night for his role in The Silence of the Lambs, had a good laugh and put on his spectacles for a better look!

Watch the video here


2. What the stars are thinking - 2001 Oscars

Judi Dench's thong is killing her! And Russell Crowe is dying for a cigarette! Hopefully he'll give it another shot this year.

This one is a must-watch...



1. Opening montage - 2000 Oscars

The video quality might not be that great (it happened 12 years ago, after all) but the writing and skits from Billy's opening montage from the 72nd annual Academy Awards was some of the smartest, funniest stuff the Oscars has ever seen. See Billy share the screen with Charlie Chaplin and seduce Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate as Mr Robinson.

A classic!



For this year's 84th Academy Awards, Billy has recruited some famous faces - including Megan Fox, Vinnie Jones, Josh Duhamel and old friend Robin Williams - in a dramatic new promo called "Off the Grid", in which the veteran host is pulled out of retirement.



* Do you think Billy Crystal is the best Oscar host of all time? If not, then let us know in the comments below....

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