 This was the year in which the Academy Awards and Vanessa Redgrave  collided over her political activism. Over the previous year  Redgrave had been an outspoken supporter of the Palastinians and  their struggle to end their conflict with Israel. This made her a  target of several Israeli militants and on the evening of the  academy awards protests gathered outside the and burned the actress  in effigy. Redgrave had to be snuck in in the back of an ambulance  through a secret entrance to get her safely into the theater. The  fury didnt just happen outside, when Redgrave won Best Actress for  Julia (1977) she used her acceptance speech as a promotion for her  political beliefs calling attention to "a small bunch of Zionist  hoodlums". Most people in the industry derided her for her comments  and historians have cited it as one of the lowest moments in the  history of the academy awards. After the ceremony, Redgrave went to  dinner accompanied by her bodyguards and no one would speak to her.