Oscar's Legendary Leading Ladies

When Holly went to the Oscars for the first time in 1987, she was surprised to realize it was all just a big television production. "It's a little out of body," she says. "It's flats and sets. That was kind of stunning to me, that it really didn't look like the thing was encrusted with real diamonds."

Richard Gere was Susan's date to her first Oscars. "We were late, so they wouldn't put us in our seats to begin with," she says.

Susan says she also struggled with what to wear. "I'm not somebody that's used to getting dressed up and no one at that time gave me a dress or anything," she says. "So a good friend of mine who was a costume guy gave me a little fur to put over my dress, which I barely could buy and it had to go back that night on a plane. So I didn't even get to keep it the whole evening."

Sissy says fashion wasn't as big a production as it is now. "We just went out to the store and bought a dress off the rack," she says. "It actually was less pressure."

Holly agrees. "And there was much less judgment," she says. "[But now] it's fun to have access to all these amazing gowns. There's pros and cons—but there's definitely pros."