Jordan Strauss/AP
A man ran off with Best Actress winner Frances McDormand’s Oscar during an after-party Sunday night, according to New York Times reporter Cara Buckley. The man was stopped by a photographer and arrested on felony grand theft charges, TMZ reports.
“Best Actress winner Frances McDormand and her Oscar were happily reunited after a brief separation at last night’s Governors Ball,” an Academy spokesperson confirmed to The Wrap on Monday. “The alleged thief was quickly apprehended by a photographer and members of our fast-acting Academy and security teams. The Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri star resumed her celebrations.”
Security at the Governors Ball are looking for this guy, who grabbed Frances McDormand’s Oscar and ran out with it. Wolfgang Puck’s photographer stopped him, got the Oscar back, and the guy disappeared back into the ball. Apparently Frances has said to let him go. #Oscars #Drama pic.twitter.com/5tlsx4Ulwt
— Cara Buckley (@caraNYT) March 5, 2018
The theft is just one of many in the long and storied history of the awards. In 2000, for example, 55 Oscar statuettes were stolen off a Los Angeles loading dock and later found by a man digging through the trash in LA’s Korea-town.
In 1938, a “mystery man” reportedly accepted Best Supporting Actress winner Alice Brady’s award on stage and was never seen again. Decades later, the mystery was solved by Academy librarians. Mother Jones gives a detailed report of that legend here.
