Tony Video Flashback! Wit Nominee Cynthia Nixon Remembers a Touching Speech By Annie's Mean Old Miss Hannigan

In the weeks leading up to the 2012 Tony telecast, Broadway.com is posting videos of favorite Tony memories of this year’s nominees, with their own commentary. Cynthia Nixon, nominated for Best Actress in a Play for her spellbinding performance in Manhattan Theatre Club's revival of Wit, recalls Annie star Dorothy Loudon’s heartwarming acceptance speech at the 1977 Tony Awards. [Skip to 5:00 below to see Loudon’s winning performance as loudmouth orphanage dictator Miss Hannigan on the Tony Awards telecast.]

“I know exactly what [my favorite Tony moment] was. I was a kid and Dorothy Loudon won for Miss Hannigan in Annie. I had loved her performance, but I guess she didn’t think she was going to win. You could see how totally shocked she was when she got up there. And Miss Hannigan, not a very glamorous part—but she was wearing this very glamorous, glittery dress. She got up on the stage and she was so shocked and she said, ‘I’m so glad I bought this dress!’ Whether a winner becomes very eloquent, or she becomes very tongue-tied, or she laughs or cries or she falls down, you just want to see that it means a lot to her.”