LOS ANGELES -- After a round of applause that included both standing ovations and icy silence, Elia Kazan accepted the Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award on Sunday without mentioning blacklisting or the McCarthy hearings.
In what was perhaps the most anticipated acceptance speech of the awards, the 89-year-old director just said thank you."I want to thank the academy for its courage, generosity," Kazan said. "Thank you all very much. I think I could just slip away."
Kazan's brief speech was preceded by a round of applause that put Hollywood's biggest stars on the spot as television cameras panned the auditorium to show who was standing, who was clapping -- and who was sitting quietly in protest.
Among those who were seated with arms folded or by their sides were actors Ed Harris, Amy Madigan and Nick Nolte.
Those offering a standing ovation included actor-director Warren Beatty and actors Kurt Russell, Helen Hunt and Kathy Bates.
Steven Spielberg and his actress wife, Kate Capshaw, applauded but did not stand.
The award was bestowed by actor Robert De Niro and director Martin Scorsese, who praised Kazan's contributions to film and introduced a montage of Kazan's work, including 1947's "Gentleman's Agreement" and 1954's "On the Waterfront" -- both of which earned him directing Oscars.
The 47 years since Kazan's testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee -- in which he named eight colleagues as members of the Communist Party -- have failed to quiet the controversy within Hollywood over the McCarthy hearings and blacklisting.
The hubbub within the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was all but confined to the few moments of his presentation. But comedian Chris Rock couldn't resist a joke: "Keep Kazan away from De Niro, 'cause De Niro hates rats."
Nor could host Whoopi Goldberg, who joked that she thought "the blacklist was Hattie McDaniel and me," a reference to the first African-American Oscar winner, a Best Supporting Actress nod for "Gone With the Wind."
On the sidewalks outside the hall, hundreds of demonstrators were as divided as those inside.
The demonstrations were mostly peaceful, with the exception of one scuffle between anti-Kazan demonstrators and the California Young Americans for Freedom, who came toting signs in support of the controversial director.
Los Angeles police officers arrested one man for beating YAF Director Darren Marks over the head with a placard.
His signs hailed Kazan as an American hero: "Kazan: Defender of Free Speech," "Hollywood Communists worked for Stalin" or more low-brow statements like "Kazan's the Man" and "Commies Drool, Capitalists Rule."
But there were even more signs calling Kazan and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences villains, including: "And the informer is . . . Elia Kazan."