21st Academy Awards


The 21st Academy Awards features numerous firsts. It was the first time a non-Hollywood production won Best Picture, Hamlet and the first time an individual directed himself in an Oscar-winning performance.
It was the first Academy Awards ceremony to be giving awards for Best Costume Design.
John Huston directed two films in this awards year for which his actors won Oscars: his father, Walter Huston, in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre; and Claire Trevor for Key Largo. The Huston family won three Oscars that evening.
The ceremony was moved from the Shrine Auditorium to the Academy's own theater, primarily because the major Hollywood studios had withdrawn their financial support in order to address rumors that they had been trying to influence voters.
Humphrey Bogart failed to receive a nomination for Best Actor in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, eventually considered one of the Academy’s greatest slights.
Joan of Arc set a record by receiving seven nominations without being nominated for Best Picture; this stood until They Shoot Horses, Don't They? received nine nominations at the 42nd Academy Awards without Best Picture.
Hamlet became the fifth film to win Best Picture without a screenwriting nomination; the next to do so would be The Sound of Music at the 38th Academy Awards. Jane Wyman became the first performer since the silent era to win an Oscar for a performance with no lines; Johnny Belinda became the fourth film to receive nominations in all four acting categories.
I Remember Mama received four acting nominations but not one for Best Picture, tying the record set by My Man Godfrey in 1936. Two more films would also tie this record: Othello and Doubt.

Awards

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.
Best PictureBest Director

  • John Huston – The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
  • * Laurence Olivier – Hamlet
  • * Jean Negulesco – Johnny Belinda
  • * Fred Zinnemann – The Search
  • * Anatole Litvak – The Snake Pit
    • Best ActorBest Actress
  • Laurence Olivier – Hamlet as Hamlet
  • * Lew Ayres – Johnny Belinda as Dr. Robert Richardson
  • * Montgomery Clift – The Search as Ralph "Steve" Stevenson
  • * Dan Dailey – When My Baby Smiles at Me as "Skid" Johnson
  • * Clifton Webb – Sitting Pretty as Lynn Belvedere
  • Jane Wyman – Johnny Belinda as Belinda MacDonald
  • * Ingrid Bergman – Joan of Arc as Jeanne d'Arc
  • * Olivia de Havilland – The Snake Pit as Virginia Stuart Cunningham
  • * Irene Dunne – I Remember Mama as Marta "Mama" Hanson
  • * Barbara Stanwyck – Sorry, Wrong Number as Leona Stevenson
    • Best Supporting ActorBest Supporting Actress
  • Walter Huston – The Treasure of the Sierra Madre as Howard
  • * Charles Bickford – Johnny Belinda as Black MacDonald
  • * José Ferrer – Joan of Arc as The Dauphin, later Charles VII of France
  • * Oscar Homolka – I Remember Mama as Uncle Chris Halvorsen
  • * Cecil Kellaway – The Luck of the Irish as Horace
  • Claire Trevor – Key Largo as Gaye Dawn
  • * Barbara Bel Geddes – I Remember Mama as Katrin Hanson
  • * Ellen Corby – I Remember Mama as Aunt Trina
  • * Agnes Moorehead – Johnny Belinda as Aggie MacDonald
  • * Jean Simmons – Hamlet as Ophelia
    • Best Motion Picture StoryBest Screenplay
  • The Search – Richard Schweizer and David Wechsler
  • * Louisiana Story – Robert Flaherty and Frances Flaherty
  • * The Naked City – Malvin Wald
  • * Red River – Borden Chase
  • * The Red Shoes – Emeric Pressburger
  • The Treasure of the Sierra Madre – John Huston from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre by B. Traven
  • * A Foreign Affair – Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, and Richard L. Breen from a story by David Shaw
  • * Johnny Belinda – Irma von Cube and Allen Vincent from Johnny Belinda by Elmer Blaney Harris
  • * The Search – Richard Schweizer and David Wechsler
  • * The Snake Pit – Frank Partos and Millen Brand from The Snake Pit by Mary Jane Ward
    • Best Documentary FeatureBest Documentary Short Subject
  • The Secret Land – Orville O. Dull
  • * The Quiet One – Janice Loeb
  • Toward Independence
  • * Heart to Heart
  • * Operation Vittles
    • Best Live Action Short Subject, One-ReelBest Live Action Short Subject, Two-Reel
  • Symphony of a City – Edmund H. Reek
  • * Annie Was a Wonder – Herbert Moulton
  • * Cinderella Horse – Gordon Hollingshead
  • * So You Want to Be on the Radio – Gordon Hollingshead
  • * You Can't Win – Pete Smith
  • Seal Island – Walt Disney
  • * Calgary Stampede – Gordon Hollingshead
  • * Going to Blazes – Herbert Morgan
  • * Samba-Mania – Harry Grey
  • * Snow Capers – Thomas Head
    • Best Short Subject – CartoonsBest Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
  • The Little Orphan – Fred Quimby
  • * Mickey and the Seal – Walt Disney
  • * Mouse Wreckers – Edward Selzer
  • * Robin Hoodlum – United Productions of America
  • * Tea for Two Hundred – Walt Disney
  • The Red Shoes – Brian Easdale
  • * Hamlet – William Walton
  • * Joan of Arc – Hugo Friedhofer
  • * Johnny Belinda – Max Steiner
  • * The Snake Pit – Alfred Newman
    • Best Scoring of a Musical PictureBest Original Song
  • Easter Parade – Johnny Green and Roger Edens
  • * The Emperor Waltz – Victor Young
  • * The Pirate – Lennie Hayton
  • * Romance on the High Seas – Ray Heindorf
  • * When My Baby Smiles at Me – Alfred Newman
  • "Buttons and Bows" from The Paleface – Music and Lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans
  • * "For Every Man There is a Woman" from Casbah – Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by Leo Robin
  • * "It's Magic" from Romance on the High Seas – Music by Jule Styne; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
  • * "This is the Moment" from That Lady in Ermine – Music by Frederick Hollander; Lyrics by Leo Robin
  • * "The Woody Woodpecker Song" from Wet Blanket Policy – Music and Lyrics by Ramey Idriss and George Tibbles
    • Best Sound RecordingBest Art Direction – Set Decoration, Black-and-White
  • The Snake Pit – Thomas T. Moulton
  • * Johnny Belinda – Nathan Levinson
  • * Moonrise – Daniel J. Bloomberg
  • Hamlet – Art Direction: Roger K. Furse; Set Decoration: Carmen Dillon
  • * Johnny Belinda – Art Direction: Robert M. Haas; Set Decoration: William O. Wallace
    • Best Art Direction – Set Decoration, ColorBest Cinematography, Black-and-White
  • The Red Shoes – Art Direction: Hein Heckroth; Set Decoration: Arthur Lawson
  • * Joan of Arc – Art Direction: Richard Day; Set Decoration: Casey Roberts and Joseph Kish
  • The Naked City – William Daniels
  • * A Foreign Affair – Charles Lang
  • * I Remember Mama – Nicholas Musuraca
  • * Johnny Belinda – Ted D. McCord
  • * Portrait of Jennie – Joseph August
    • Best Cinematography, ColorBest Costume Design, Black-and-White
  • Joan of Arc – Joseph Valentine, William V. Skall, and Winton C. Hoch
  • * Green Grass of Wyoming – Charles G. Clarke
  • * The Loves of Carmen – William Snyder
  • * The Three Musketeers – Robert Planck
  • Hamlet – Roger K. Furse
  • * B.F.'s Daughter – Irene Lentz
    • Best Costume Design, ColorBest Film Editing
  • Joan of Arc – Dorothy Jeakins and Barbara Karinska
  • * The Emperor Waltz – Edith Head and Gile Steele
  • The Naked City – Paul Weatherwax
  • * Joan of Arc – Frank Sullivan
  • * Johnny Belinda – David Weisbart
  • * Red River – Christian Nyby
  • * The Red Shoes – Reginald Mills
    • Best Special Effects-
  • Portrait of Jennie – Paul Eagler, Joseph McMillan Johnson, Russell Shearman and Clarence Slifer; Special Audible Effects: Charles L. Freeman and James G. Stewart
  • * Deep Waters – Ralph Hammeras, Fred Sersen and Edward Snyder; Special Audible Effects: Roger Heman Sr.
    		• -

    Academy Honorary Awards

  • Sid Grauman "master showman, who raised the standard of exhibition of motion pictures".
  • Adolph Zukor "a man who has been called the father of the feature film in America, for his services to the industry over a period of forty years".
  • Walter Wanger "for distinguished service to the industry in adding to its moral stature in the world community by his production of the picture Joan of Arc".

    Best Foreign Language Film

  • Monsieur Vincent

    Academy Juvenile Award

  • Ivan Jandl

    Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

  • Jerry Wald

    Scientific or Technical

    • Class II
    Class III
    The following fifteen films received multiple nominations:
    The following five films received multiple awards: