By Jeanne Sager
HOLLYWOOD, CA — March 7, 2006 – She did it.
The girl who left Eldred Central School vowing she’d one day make it to Hollywood was on television screens around the world Sunday evening.
Corinne Marrinan accepted her first Academy Award, along with partner Eric Simonson, for producing this year’s Best Short Subject Documentary, “A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin.”
Wearing a green gown, the daughter of Kevin and Cathy Marrinan of Eldred ascended the stage in the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood with Simonson to accept the statuette.
She gave thanks to her family, including sister Amy who flew out to Los Angeles to walk the red carpet with her.
“We’re so proud of her,” Kevin Marrinan said. “It’s unbelievable.
“When I was watching the fella open the envelope, it’s almost like it was in slow motion,” he recalled.
He remembers hearing “A Note. . .” and being so overcome with emotion he missed the rest of the announcement.
His wife, Cathy, was running around the house in excitement while they watched a calm Corinne ascend the stage.
“A billion people were watching last night,” Kevin said. “And to see her walking up there so briskly . . .”
The Marrinans are still in rapture, proud of their Hollywood daughter.
And they got to see Amy too – cameras panned to her crying tears of joy while Corinne continued her thank yous.
After admitting to the Democrat that she never practiced her “I’d like to thank the Academy” speech in the bathroom mirror as a kid, Corinne thanked the Academy after all – “for seating me next to George Clooney at the nominees’ luncheon.”
The cameras immediately shot to Clooney, who got a mention from a few other winners as well as several jabs from host Jon Stewart.
This year’s best supporting actor raised his eyebrows, and the audience laughed at Marrinan’s joke.
A clip of her tribute was replayed by several media outlets and quoted in national newspapers the next day as Clooney continued to celebrate his first win.
A Netflix vote for most memorable Oscar moments of 2006 earned Marrinan 16 percent of the votes for best ad-libbed line – only Stewart earned more.
Marrinan has also earned acclaim as an associate producer on CBS television’s “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and its offshoot shows, “CSI: Miami” and “CSI: New York.”