Great Moments in Cher: 5 High Points You Won't Find on Her New DVD Set

As arbitrary here's-a-bunch-of-movies-this-studio-owns-on-DVD box sets go, The Cher Collection (Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment) at least provides something of a career retrospective of the star's film presence from kitschy hippie (Good Times, Chastity) to Serious Actress (Silkwood, Moonstruck) to marquee diva (Mermaids, Tea with Mussolini). But one box set can barely cover the extraordinary breadth of Cher's contributions to pop culture - hell, not even the medium of cinema can begin to do justice to the many corners of the zeitgeist where she's had an impact. So in honor of this new DVD set, here's a list of some our favorite, other Great Moments in Cher:

Doing a one-woman West Side Story on her variety show

In the annals of over-the-top variety-show moments from the 1970s, Cher's decision to do highlights from the Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim classic - playing all the parts, male and female - ranks as among the most audacious, insane, valiant and ridiculous moves ever made. And admittedly unforgettable.

Calling C-Span to talk about battlefield conditions

In October of 2003, C-Span received a call from a woman who had visited Walter Reed Hospital and was horrified that the troops fighting in Iraq didn't have adequate armor on their vehicles, leading to many soldiers losing limbs under fire. The caller didn't identify herself, but the C-Span host finally asked, "Is this Cher?" Without trying to turn the event into publicity for herself, she was one of very few famous people to speak out early on about how badly Bush and Cheney were running the war.

Wearing that insane Bob Mackie outfit to the Academy Awards

In 1986, a year before she won for Moonstruck, Cher arrived at the Oscars wearing an explosive black feather headdress over a belly-revealing beaded gown. "As you can see," she quipped to the audience, "I did receive my Academy booklet on how to dress like a serious actress."

Calling David Letterman an "a**hole"

1986 was a big year for Cher -- she also made her long-delayed debut appearance on NBC's Late Night with David Letterman, and when the host pressed her as to why it had taken her so long to come on the show, she finally told him the exact reason. (Not long after, during a testy Letterman interview with Shirley MacLaine, the actress fired off, "Cher's right -- you are an a**hole.")

Sonny Bono's eulogy

After the death of her ex-husband, who by that point had been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Cher read a moving and occasionally funny tribute to him at his memorial service. What had been up to that point just another stodgy political funeral became, for just a moment, a glimpse at genuine human sadness.