14 DAY TRIAL // At the 2012 Academy Awards, Meryl Streep won the Oscar for Best Actress for her spectacular role in “The Iron Lady,” the biopic of the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Below is a video of her acceptance speech.
It would appear that the legendary actress, now on her third win for the prestigious category, tried to play it cool about winning, opening her speech with a joke about how she thought audiences would be sick of her by now.
“When they called my name I had this feeling I could hear half of America going 'oh no, oh come on why her again?' You know? But whatever!” Meryl said, smiling from ear to ear.
She then moved on to thanking the people who have helped her become the wonderful actress she is today but, unlike other stars, she didn't mention too many names.
She began with her husband, without whom she said none of that would have been possible.
“First I’m going to thank Don, because when you thank your husband at the end of the speech they play 'em out with the music and I want him to know that everything I value most in our lives you’ve given me,” Meryl said.
This is also the point where she started to get choked up – and so did her husband.
Composing herself, the actress then thanked her personal stylist, Roy Helland, with whom she'd been working for the past 37 years or so.
Then, instead of taking out a list of names and reading it out, Meryl thanked everybody in the industry: her old friends, her new friends, her friends who have died.
It was, clearly, one of the most beautiful acceptance speeches ever – and everybody in the audience felt the same, as the camera zooming in on them revealed they all had tears in their eyes.
“Because I really understand I’ll never be up here again. I really want to thank all my colleagues, all my friends. I look out here and I see my life before my eyes,” Meryl said.
“My old friends, my new friends and really this is such a great honor, but the thing that counts the most with me are the friendships and the love and the sheer joy we have making movies together. My friends, thank you all of you departed and here for this inexplicably wonderful career. Thank you so much,” she added.
Below is the video: truly, the award could not have gone to a better actress and more wonderful human being.