Kate Winslet Used Shampoo Bottle For Oscar Speech Prep

Kate Winslet

At the 2009 Academy Awards Titanic actress Kate Winslet won her first Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of a German woman with a secret Nazi past in the romantic drama "The Reader."

(Image of Kate Winslet - 2009 Academy Awards - 2009 - All Rights Reserved).

When her win was announced by former Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, Kate received a standing ovation and hugged her husband and several people around her.  She also reached out to touch Angelina who was competing in the same category.  She hugged all the actresses standing on the stage.

Kate's Oscar Acceptance Speech

Kate  seemed surprised and flustered as she held her brand spanking new Best Actress Oscar.  The British actress started by referencing something Penelope Cruz said when she received her Best Supporting Actress. 

Kate said "OK that fainting thing Penelope?"  She then breathlessly confessed "I'd be lying if I haven't made a version of this speech before I think I was 8 years old and staring into the mirror and this would have been a shampoo bottle."

Triumphantly she said "well its not a shampoo bottle now."

Whistling Dad

Continuing she said "I feel very fortunate to have made it all the way from there to here and I would like to thank some of the people along the way who had faith in me, my friends and family, especially my mom and my dad who are in this room somewhere...dad whistle or something cause then I'll know where you are."

Kate's dad whistled loudly from the back of the room and she squealed "yeah" and waved in his direction. She laughed.  "I love you, she said over the applause". The cameras panned onto her dad wearing a black hat, smiling and waving.

Kate had several people she wanted to thank including "I also want to thank Hilda Queelie, Dallas Smith and the late much loved much missed Robert Gurlock.  And from Peter Jackson and Emma Thomson to my very own Sam and Steven Audrey I'm very lucky to have been given Hanna Schmidt."  She provided additional names and said "working with you is an experience I will never forget."

She told the audience "there was no diversion between the cast and crew on this film (The Reader) and that's what made it so special.  To have been surrounded by a remarkable group of people who provided an unbroken chain of support from David Cross to Ray Fines and she named a long list of people, from hair and make-up to cinematography to the art department to the ADs....from New York to Berlin.

She gushed she was "so lucky to have a wonderful husband and two beautiful children who let me do what I love and you love me just the way that I am and Andy and Syndney (Pollock) this is for you.  This is for both of you."

She finished by saying "I want to acknowledge my fellow nominees these goddesses I think we all can't believe we were in a category with Meryl Streep at all. I'm sorry Meryl but you have to just suck that up. And just to the academy.  Thank you so much."