Chandwick Boseman's widow Simone shares speech she prepared for his 2021 Oscars win
Chadwick Boseman's widow, Simone Ledward-Boseman, has shared the speech she would have given at the 2021 Oscars if the late actor had won the Best Actor award for his role in the film Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
ANI
Mar 14, 2026 10:32 IST
Washington [US], March 14 (ANI): Chadwick Boseman's widow, Simone Ledward-Boseman, has shared the speech she would have given at the 2021 Oscars if the late actor had won the Best Actor award for his role in the film Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
Boseman, who was married to Chadwick before his death at 43 in 2020, shared the speech in The Hollywood Reporter's oral history of the 2021 Oscars, published on Friday, March 13, five years later.
Chadwick Boseman passed away in 2020 at the age of 43 after battling cancer. Many people expected that he would win the Best Actor award at the 2021 Oscars for his performance in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. However, the award went to Anthony Hopkins.
The speech, according to The Hollywood Reporter, read: "I will never stop thanking God for you. Thank you to the most high God. Thank you, Carolyn and Leroy Boseman [Chadwick's parents], and your mothers, and your mothers' mothers. What purity. What honesty. What pain. What a role. What work."
Ledward-Boseman's speech, which she told the outlet she found on her computer, continued: "What beautiful, intricate humanity. What courage, bravery, fearlessness, honesty, commitment, humanity, strength. A spirit that refused to surrender to despair. What an actor. What an artist. What a cast. What a team. What a vision. Glory be to the most high God. Long live the King."
The 2021 Oscars ceremony took place during the pandemic and was produced by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh along with Jesse Collins and Stacey Sher.
Late Hollywood star Chadwick Boseman, who was born on November 29, 1976, was an actor whose iconic on-screen body of work will be remembered for years to come.
Boseman's impact is still deeply ingrained in popular culture. His breakthrough performance in Black Panther made the movie the first superhero film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. His other film credits include Get on Up, Marshall, 42, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, among others. (ANI)
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