It has long been speculated, but not really believed, that when Marisa Tomei won her Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for My Cousin Vinny in 1993 it was a mistake and she was in reality not the true winner. The story goes something like this.
Jack Palance, being old, senile, and a bit of a wildcard, either couldn't read the name on the card he pulled from the envelope or he was a bit too drunk from the evening's festivities and simply selected the last name from the teleprompter, which happened to be Tomei. She was a young actress who had starred in a comedy film from a year before and the other four nominees were more respected and had been a part of more Academy-friendly films (otherwise known as Oscar bait movies) that were fresh on the minds of voters.
While most in the film industry have accepted that Tomei was the true winner, many media outlets have continued the legend of her false victory. I think it is safe to say that after last night's debacle of an ending with La La Land being named Best Picture when Moonlight was the real winner, Tomei's Oscar is legitimate. The reason I believe this to be true is because the same accounting firm that was responsible for Tomei's award being given, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), was also behind the awkwardness of last night's Academy Awards finale. PwC has been the official accounting firm of the Academy Awards since the 1930s and they have representatives at the awards show to ensure that no mistakes are made, which was finally seen to be true during the broadcast last night.
When the wrong movie was awarded, the PwC reps stepped in during the acceptance speeches to correct the mistake. There is no reason to believe the same thing wouldn't have happened in 1993 with Tomei on stage holding a statue that belonged to another. Hopefully last night's events will put to sleep once and for all the Tomei myth.
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