Oscars Time Capsule: The Infamous 1989 Academy Awards

Bruce Willis and Demi Moore

Married for a little under two years, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis presented the best cinematography Oscar with a pre-written bit in which they shared their home movies of baby Rumer, then just seven months old.

Drew Barrymore and Corey Feldman

Two child stars who faced their own struggles with addiction, Drew Barrymore, then 14, and Corey Feldman, then 17, dated for the brief period around the 1989 Oscars. When this photo was taken, Barrymore had been through two stints at a rehab facility and would attempt suicide two months later.

Dustin Hoffman

Dustin Hoffman was nominated that year for Rain Man, and won, beating out the likes of Tom Hanks for Big and Gene Hackman for Mississippi Burning. In his acceptance speech, Hoffman thanked his father, who recently had been placed in an assisted-living facility, saying, "To my father and his new friends, here's looking at you."

Geena Davis

Geena Davis clutches the best supporting actress Oscar she won that night for The Accidental Tourist.

Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell

The couple had been together for six years -- and are still together, happily unwed -- when they attended the Academy Awards. They presented the award for best director, which went to Barry Levinson for Rain Man.

Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda presented the clip for best picture nominee Rain Man, which went on to win.

Jodie Foster

A 26-year-old Jodie Foster flashes a peace sign after taking home the best actress Oscar for her astonishing performance as a rape victim in The Accused. She'd win again three years later for The Silence of the Lambs.

Phoebe Cates and Kevin Kline

Phoebe Cates and Kevin Kline met at an audition for The Big Chill and married the same year as the '89 Oscars. Kline won best supporting actor that night for his role in A Fish Called Wanda.

Lucille Ball

One of the last known photos of  the legendary Lucille Ball, who made her final public appearance at these Academy Awards. She died one month later, on April 26, 1989.

Mayim Bialik

Emmy-nominated star of The Big Bang Theory Mayim Bialik was not yet on Blossom, which premiered in 1990. But she managed to charm her way into the Governors Ball, anyway, with a charming turn in 1988's Beaches.

Melanie Griffith

Nominated for best actress for her role in Working Girl, Melanie Griffith also presented the best supporting actress Oscar with her then-husband, Don Johnson.

Meryl Streep

Kurt Russell cracks up Meryl Streep, nominated that year (of course!) for A Cry in the Dark, the film that spawned the catchprase, "A dingo ate my baby!"

Olivia Newton-John

Eileen Bowman, who played Snow White in the show's disastrous opening number, recalls, " I went to my dressing table and was taking my costume off, and there was Olivia Newton-John using my blush -- which I still have. She was my idol, and she turned to me and said: 'How did you ever do that? How did you ever get out there in front of that many people and do that?'"

Patrick Swayze

The Oscars fell between the back-to-back smashes for Patrick Swayze that where Dirty Dancing (1987) and Ghost (1990).  That year, at the peak of his popularity, he starred in Road House and Next of Kin.

Ricki Lake

Ricki Lake, who broke out with a starring role in 1988's Hairspray, appeared alongside Corey Feldman, Chad Lowe, Christian Slater and Blair Underwood in the bad (but not Snow White-Rob Lowe bad) musical salute to the stars of tomorrow, "I Wanna Be an Oscar Winner."

River Phoenix and Martha Plimpton

River Phoenix arrives with date Martha Plimpton. Phoenix was nominated for best supporting actor for his work in Running on Empty, which also starred Plimpton, but lost to Kevin Kline. He died four years later of drug-induced heart failure outside The Viper Room on the Sunset Strip. He was 23.

Rob Lowe

Rob Lowe, fresh off his performance in the disastrous opening number, poses next to the photographer, Alan Light, a fan from Iowa who was invited to attend the Oscars. 

Robin Williams

Robin Williams arrives with his second wife, Marsha Garces Williams. The two married that year and divorced in 2008. He had been nominated the year prior, for Good Morning, Vietnam, and the year following, for Dead Poets Society.

Sigourney Weaver

Twice nominated that year, for best actress for Gorillas in the Mist and best supporting actress for Working Girl, Sigourney Weaver came away empty handed.

Army Archerd and Snow White

Variety columnist Army Archerd interviews Snow White (Eileen Bowman) at the entrance to the Shrine Auditorium during rehearsal for what would go down as the worst Oscars performance of all time.

Stars of Tomorrow

Performers rehearse for "I Wanna Be an Oscar Winner," one of several musical flops.

Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers

A 26-year-old Tom Cruise arrives on the arm of then-wife Mimi Rogers. The couple divorced in 1990, the same year Cruise married Nicole Kidman. Cruise presented best actress alongside his Rain Man co-star Dustin Hoffman to Jodie Foster for The Accused.

Tom Cruise

Despite starring opposite Dustin Hoffman in the four-time Oscar winner Rain Man, Cruise wouldn't be nominated for an Oscar until the following year, for his work in Born on the Fourth of July. He has yet to win the award.

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson

Tom Hanks, nominated for Big, arrives alongside wife Rita Wilson.

Tom Hanks and Kevin Kline

Big was the first of Hanks' five best actor Oscar nominations. He'd go on to win back-to-back awards for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump in 1994 and 1995, respectively.

Tom Selleck

Tom Selleck had just wrapped up eight seasons on Magnum, P.I. and was trying to build on the big-screen success he'd had in 1987's 3 Men and a Baby when he appeared with slicked-back hair at the 1989 Oscars.

Richard Dreyfuss and Allan Carr

Oscars producer Allan Carr (right) stands with Richard Dreyfuss at the Governors Ball, the weight of the show's disastrous reception having not yet fully sunken in. The show was largely credited with destroying his career and contributing to his declining health. He died in 1999.