With the 95th Academy Awards upon us, let's go 40 years into the past and see how we celebrated cinema back in 1983. With huge nominees like E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, Sophie's Choice and Gandhi, the 55th Oscars were certainly a landmark year for this huge night in Hollywood. Hosting duties were split between Liza Minelli, Dudley Moore, Richard Pryor and Walter Matthau.

Drew Barrymore's second major film role was in the landmark sci-fi film E.T., catapulting her to superstardom as an eight-year-old. Here she is at the ceremony with her mother Jaid Barrymore (née Ildikó Jaid Makó). She also won a Young Artist Award for Best Supporting Actress in the role.

The huge singer Cher and the actor Val Kilmer had a romance through the early-eighties, which has continued as a friendship to this day. In a 2021 interview with People Cher said of Kilmer, "He is exasperating and hysterical. Thrilling and funny, and doesn't do what anyone else does." Cher would be nominated for an Oscar one year later at the 56th Oscars, and then win in 1988 for Moonstruck.

E.T. was a huge presence at the 1983 Oscars with nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay as well as many craft awards. It won four Oscars: Best Original Score to composer John Williams, Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Sound and Best Visual Effects.

The Oscars hasn't always had solo hosts, even experimenting with four huge stars in Matthau, Minelli, Moore and Pryor at the time sharing host responsibilities. There are six Oscar nominations and two wins total between these four hosts, and even more Emmys and Grammys.

Co-host Dudley Moore was best known as a comedic actor with films like Bedazzled and Arthur, and was also a very talented musician and composer.

Walter Matthau was a huge star in the mid-20th century best known for making 10 films with Jack Lemmon, as well as originating the role of Oscar Madison in Neil Simon's classic play The Odd Couple.

Richard Pryor is considered one of the greatest stand-up comedians of all time. He also has a very extensive film resume with credits like Superman II and the crime drama Blue Collar by Paul Schrader.

Liza Minelli had John Travolta on her arm for part of the night as well as the afterparty. Travolta was still hot from starring roles in Grease and Saturday Night Fever in the late '70s.

The 55th Oscars had a lot of incredible films nominated, but the historical epic Gandhi swept 8 oscars out of 11 total nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Richard Attenborough, and Best Actor for Ben Kingsley.

The late actor Mickey Rooney was a well-loved performer for MGM who got his start in vaudeville. For his many years of service to the screen, he won the honorary trophy in 1983 and had previously won a special Academy Juvenile Award for his work as a child actor in 1938.

Two comedy legends met here for this sweet embrace while Rooney was winning his Academy Honorary Award. The two entertainers shared a close offscreen friendship and only worked on one film together, the comedy Off Limits in 1953.

Mickey was accompanied by his second son Tim Rooney, who was also an actor that appeared mostly in TV shows like Maverick and The Donald O'Connor Show.

So many amazing films would have faded from our memories by now without the iconic musical accompaniment by John Williams, who won this night for the E.T. score. He has won 25 Grammy Awards, 5 Oscars, and he deserves even more.

One of the great Hollywood directors, Billy Wilder, has arrived at the red carpet. Wilder had recently released his final film as director, Buddy Buddy, which came out in 1981. His career spans drama, comedy, romance and noir with standouts in most genres, and his greatest films like Some Like it Hot, The Apartment and Sunset Boulevardstill hold up today.

Stephen Bishop, who was at the ceremony to perform the Oscar-nominated song "It Might Be You" from the Tootsie soundtrack, gives a goofy salute to the jumbo-sized Oscars statue backstage.

Curtis and Weathers pose for some photos backstage. Curtis was at the height of her scream queen fame with the recent release of Halloween II in 1981, while Weather wowed audiences with his third performance as Rocky's rival-turned-trainer Apollo Creed in Rocky III.

Stallone was still on a high in '83 with the release of Rocky III. His plus one here is his first wife, Sasha Czack, they were married from 1974 to 1985.

Flanked by Christopher Reeve and Susan Sarandon, Gossett Jr. poses backstage after winning his Oscar for his role in An Officer and a Gentleman.

Lange's performance in the comedy Tootsie won her an Oscar that night, and she also won the Best Actress award years later in 1995 for Blue Sky.

Kinski is best known for appearing in films like Paris, Texas and Tess and had an awesome look for the red carpet in 1983.

Hoffman, who was nominated for Tootsie, brought his wife Lisa to the ceremony. They had recently gotten married in 1980 and are still together.

The late actor Christopher Reeve, who delivered a definitive performance as Superman in four films from 1978 to 1987, cleaned up very well for the ceremony. He passed away in 2004 almost ten years after he was paralyzed from the shoulders down in a horse riding accident.

The prolific producer Walter Mirisch (L) was given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, presented by Charlton Heston (R). Some of the most famous films he produced directly or through The Mirisch Company include In The Heat of the Night, West Side Story, and The Magnificent Seven.

Actress Elizabeth McGovern and the comedian and actor Eddie Murphy are about to announce the winner of the Best Visual Effects Oscar, the tension is palpable!

The incredible technical artistry at work to create both the alien and its ship in E.T. still holds up in quality to this day, so it makes a lot of sense that Dennis Muren, Carlo Rambaldi and Kenneth Smith were honored with the Best Visual Effects Oscar that year.

George C. Scott, known for films like Patton and The Hustler, made his only appearance at the Oscars ever for this ceremony. He is photographed here with his wife, actress Trish Van Devere. Scott refused to attend prior Oscars shows, including ones he was nominated at, because he didn't believe that dramatic performances should be ranked and compared.

Here's a great shot of Genie Francis, best known for General Hospital, alongside Steve Guttenberg, who was in films like Diner by Barry Levinson and Cocoon.

Streep's second Oscar win of her stunning 21 total nominations came with her lead performance in the devastating drama Sophie's Choice. The film was also nominated for Best Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design and Original Score.

Kingsley won his first and only Oscar for Gandhi, and has also been nominated for his performances in Bugsy, Sexy Beast and House of Sand and Fog.

The late actress Raquel Welch and Tom Selleck have just presented the Best Film Editing Oscar.

The editor John Bloom won his first and only Oscar for Gandhi. He has also collaborated with Roger Spottiswoode on Under Fire and Mike Nichols on Wit and Charle Wilson's War.

For the song "Le Jazz Hot" from the musical comedy Victor/Victoria, composers Henry Mancini (L) and Leslie Bricusse (R) were honored with the Oscar for Best Original Song Score and its Adaptation or Adaptation Score.

Billy Williams, the cinematographer for Gandhi, won over other nominees including Das Boot, E.T. and Sophie's Choice. He is holding two statuettes because his co-cinematographer, Ronnie Taylor, could not make it to the ceremony.

Stop us if you heard this, but Gandhi won another award! Banu Athaiya became the first Indian woman to get an Oscar when she was given the Best Costume Design trophy.

Broadway legends Peter Allen and Bernadette Peters gave a rousing performance as a tribute to the composer and lyricist Irving Berlin, who is known for pop songs like "Puttin' On The Ritz" and scoring musicals like Annie Get Your Gun.

C0mplete with costume changes and being joined by a huge ensemble chorus, this intricate number knocks some recent Oscars concert performances out of the water with its sheer ambition. They performed a compilation of 14 Irving Berlin songs.

This Oscars performance was practically ready for Broadway already!

Some nut-jobs without a lot of time on their hands showed up to the Oscars protesting perceived immorality in films, with one poster saying to go "Back to Blacklisting." It's hilarious to see the "Tom Selleck, You're Gorgeous," poster in the back, though.

All presenters, honorees and performers took the stage for the end of a great night in Hollywood.

This shot was from an Oscars afterparty at Kate Mantalini restaurant in Beverly Hills, showing all eight awards given to Gandhi through the night.