Gene Kelly, Prince, J.Lo, Pavarotti & All the Presenters of Best Original Song at the Oscars: Full List

With the 97th Oscars coming up on Sunday March 2, we’re looking back at past Oscar ceremonies, and specifically, who presented the Oscar for best original song each year.

The late, great song and dance man Gene Kelly did the honors four times, more than anyone else in Oscar history. That’s fitting: Kelly starred in Singin’ in the Rain, which topped the American Film Institute’s 2006 list of AFI’s Greatest Movie Musicals. Kelly presented best original song in 1951, in 1975 (in tandem with Shirley MacLaine), in 1980 (with Olivia Newton-John, with whom he starred in the soon-to-be-released, ill-fated musical Xanadu) and in 1986 (with his Singin’ in the Rain costars Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor).

Six people are tied as runner-up, having presented best original song three times: They are Burt Bacharach, Angie Dickinson, Gregory Hines, Jennifer Lopez, Queen Latifah and John Travolta. J.Lo presented three times within four years (1999-2002), a record for most presenter assignments in the shortest time. (Not coincidentally, J.Lo landed three of her four No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in those years.)

Bacharach and Dickinson, Hollywood’s golden couple of the era, teamed to present the award in 1971 and 1976. Bacharach teamed with Ann-Margret to present the award in 1974. Dickinson teamed with Luciano Pavarotti to present it in 1981.

Six people who won Oscars for best original song also served as presenters in the category (obviously not in the same year they won). They are Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Barbra Streisand, Bacharach, and the team of Common and John Legend. The latter team presented in 2016, the year after their win for “Glory” from Selma. Prince, who presented in 2005, never won for best original song, but he did win for his song score to Purple Rain.

The reunion of the Singin’ in the Rain cast wasn’t the only cast reunion that Oscar show producers arranged in connection with this category. In 2013, 10 years after Chicago became the first musical in more than four decades to win best picture, that film’s stars, Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah and Catharine Zeta-Jones, presented best original song.

In 1988, seven years after they teamed in the box-office hit Arthur, Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli co-presented the award (which had gone, in 1982, to “Arthur’s Theme”). In 1993, a decade after their collaboration on the Broadway cast album Lena Horne: A Lady and Her Music, Quincy Jones and Lena Horne co-presented the award. In 1996, a few years after they co-starred in the Tina Turner biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It, Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne co-presented the award.

In some cases, Oscar producers had people co-present to plug an upcoming movie in which they were to co-star. Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda co-presented in 2018, months before the release of Mary Poppins Returns. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande co-presented in 2024, months ahead of their teaming in Wicked.

In 2015, Idina Menzel and John Travolta teamed to present the award – one year after Travolta inexplicably mangled Menzel’s name on the Oscar stage while attempting to introduce her performance of “Let It Go” from Frozen. (He called her Adele Dazeem.) In this presentation teaming, Menzel jokingly introduced him as Glom Gazingo – and they gracefully put it to rest.

Some presenter pairings held symbolic meaning. In 1989, singer/dancer/actor Gregory Hines co-presented with Sammy Davis Jr., the top song and dance man of a previous generation. Davis began to develop symptoms of cancer five months after this appearance. He died of complications from throat cancer in May 1990.

In 1944, Dinah Shore became the first woman to present in this category. In 1984, the biracial Jennifer Beals, star of the previous year’s smash Flashdance, became the first person of color to present in this category. The youngest presenter was Miley Cyrus, who was just 17 in 2010 when she co-presented with Amanda Seyfried.

Bacharach and Dickinson weren’t the only married couple to present in the category. Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows presented in 1961, followed by Sonny & Cher in 1973. One parent and child separately presented in this category: In 1997, Goldie Hawn co-presented with her The First Wives Club co-stars Bette Midler and Diane Keaton. In 2023, Hawn’s daughter, Kate Hudson, co-presented with Janelle Monáe.

Pavarotti was the second classical star to present in the category. The first was conductor Leopold Stokowski in 1937.

Here is the presenter of the Oscar for best original song from the first year it was presented, 1935, to the present. The years shown are the year of the ceremony. Brief identifications are shown in the early years to help our younger readers. After that, you’re on your own.

1935: Irvin S. Cobb (author)

1936: Frank Capra (director)

1937: Leopold Stokowski (conductor)

1938: Irving Berlin (songwriter)

1939: Jerome Kern (songwriter)

1940: Gene Buck (president of ASCAP)

1941: B.G. DeSylva (songwriter, film producer, co-founder of Capitol Records)

1942: B.G DeSylva

1943: Irving Berlin

1944: Dinah Shore (singer)

1945: Bob Hope (comedian)

1947: Van Johnson (actor)

1948: Dinah Shore

1949: Kathryn Grayson (actress)

1950: Cole Porter (songwriter)

1951: Gene Kelly (actor)

1952: Donald O’Connor (actor)

1953: Walt Disney (film producer and entertainment mogul)

1954: Arthur Freed (lyricist and film producer)

1955: Bing Crosby (singer)

1956: Maurice Chevalier (singer)

1957: Carroll Baker (actress)

1958: Maurice Chevalier

1959: Sophia Loren & Dean Martin

1960: Doris Day

1961: Steve Allen & Jayne Meadows

1962: Debbie Reynolds

1963: Frank Sinatra

1964: Shirley Jones

1965: Fred Astaire

1966: Natalie Wood

1967: Dean Martin

1968: Barbra Streisand

1969: Frank Sinatra

1970: Candice Bergen

1971: Burt Bacharach & Angie Dickinson

1972: Joel Grey

1973: Sonny & Cher

1974: Burt Bacharach & Ann-Margret

1975: Gene Kelly & Shirley MacLaine

1976: Burt Bacharach & Angie Dickinson

1977: Neil Diamond

1978: Fred Astaire

1979: Ruby Keeler & Kris Kristofferson

1980: Gene Kelly & Olivia Newton-John

1981: Angie Dickinson & Luciano Pavarotti

1982: Bette Midler

1983: Olivia Newton-John

1984: Jennifer Beals, Matthew Broderick

1985: Gregory Hines

1986: Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor & Debbie Reynolds

1987: Bernadette Peters

1988: Liza Minnelli & Dudley Moore

1989: Sammy Davis Jr. & Gregory Hines

1990: Paula Abdul & Dudley Moore

1991: Gregory Hines & Ann-Margret

1992: Shirley MacLaine & Liza Minnelli

1993: Lena Horne & Quincy Jones

1994: Whitney Houston

1995: Sylvester Stallone

1996: Angela Bassett & Laurence Fishburne

1997: Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton & Bette Midler

1998: Madonna

1999: Jennifer Lopez

2000: Cher

2001: Jennifer Lopez

2002: Jennifer Lopez

2003: Barbra Streisand

2004: Jack Black & Will Ferrell

2005: Prince

2006: Queen Latifah

2007: John Travolta & Queen Latifah

2008: John Travolta

2009: Zac Efron & Alicia Keys

2010: Miley Cyrus & Amanda Seyfried

2011: Jennifer Hudson

2012: Will Ferrell & Zach Galifianakis

2013: Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, Renée Zellweger & Catherine Zeta-Jones

2014: Jessica Beal & Jamie Foxx

2015: Idina Menzel & John Travolta

2016: Common & John Legend

2017: Scarlett Johansson

2018: Emily Blunt & Lin-Manuel Miranda

2019: Gal Gadot, Brie Larson & Sigourney Weaver

2021: Zendaya

2022: Jake Gyllenhaal & Zoë Kravitz

2023: Kate Hudson & Janelle Monáe

2024: Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande

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