Oscar Night of a lifetime for a Fargo woman

"That's where she met Jeff."

Patricia Hansen can still remember the day in 1974.

PATRICIA HANSEN/JEFF BRIDGES MOTHER-IN-LAW: "She and I were sitting at the bar and she got a phone call from Los Angeles and the bartender came over and said, 'You've got a phone call Susan, I think it's from you know who.' And it was from Jeff."

Her daughter, Susan, was going to the University of Montana and had caught the eye of the charismatic, long-haired hippie Jeff Bridges, who was in the city doing a film.

PATRICIA: "And he asked her out three times and three times she said no! She didn't want to be another notch on his gun. She said, ‘Mom, what do you think?’ And I said, 'Oh Susan, for heaven's sake, give him a chance. It's only one night, it isn't like you have to spend the rest of your life with him!' "

Fast forward 36 years, three daughters and an ever-strengthening marriage later: Bridges was up for his fifth Oscar nomination.

"And the Oscar goes to: Jeff Bridges."

And this year, he nabbed it for the lead role in last year's "Crazy Heart".

PATRICIA: "I screamed! Break a leg, baby!"

Sitting next to her own honorary-Oscar from the Fargo Fine Arts Club, this proud parent anxiously watched from the second the awards started, to the dramatic finale, beaming through it all.

All to be part of a truly compassionate, caring man's memorable night halfway across the country.

"Thank you mom and dad for turning me on to such a groovy profession."

Tags: stephanie goetz, entertainment, family, fargo, bridges, national, oscars