WASHINGTON — With tears building up, Jamie Lee Curtis clutched her first Oscar award.
“My mother (Janet Leigh) and my father (Tony Curtis) were both nominated for Oscars in different categories,” Curtis said, beginning to cry as she accepted the award. “I just won an Oscar!”
The 64-year-old actor became the eighth oldest in the category’s history to win. Curtis made her acting debut at 19 in the 1978 horror film "Halloween."
As the best supporting actress winner entered the press room to take questions, she grabbed the mic from the moderator to announce her presence.
“Everyone,” she said in a deep mock announcer’s voice, “the apparent Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis is entering the room.”
When reporters held up the numbers they use to show they have a question for the winner, it looked an awful lot like an auction.
“What are they bidding on?” Curtis asked.
She was asked whether she thought her famous parents, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, were looking down on her.
“I’ll be honest. I don’t believe in a world where there are a bunch of people looking down on us,” she said. "But I believe we ARE them… and I know that they would be incredibly proud of me.”
Next, she was asked if she thought the Oscar acting categories should no longer be divided between men and women, she said she thought it wasn’t a bad idea, but she had mixed feelings.
“As the mother of a trans daughter, I understand that,” she said. “But if we de-gender the category, I’m concerned it will mean less opportunities for women.”
Who are Jamie Lee Curtis' parents?
Curtis' parents were Hollywood greats Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis.
Leigh, an actress with a 50-year career, is most known for her role as Marion Crane in the Alfred Hitchcock's psychological thriller "Psycho." Leigh was nominated for best actress in a supporting role, the very category that her daughter would win years later, for performance in the Hitchcock film.
Curtis, born Bernard Schwartz, was an American actor whose career spanned over 60 years and acted in more than 100 films. He was nominated for best Actor in 1958 for "The Defiant Ones."