40th Academy Awards


The 40th Academy Awards honored film achievements of 1967. Originally scheduled for April 8, 1968, the awards were postponed to two days later, April 10, 1968, because of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Bob Hope was once again the host of the ceremony.
Due to the increasing rarity of black and white feature films, the awards for cinematography, art direction and costume design were combined into single categories rather than a distinction between color and monochrome. The Best Picture nominees were an eclectic group of films reflecting the chaos of their era. The event was the first one since the 1948 awards show to feature film clips from the Best Picture nominated films.
This year's nominations also marked the first time that three different films were nominated for the "Top Five" Academy Awards: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay. The three films were Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. However, the winner of Best Picture was producer Walter Mirisch and director Norman Jewison's thriller/mystery film, In the Heat of the Night.
The Graduate is, as of the 92nd Academy Awards, the last film to win Best Director and nothing else.
Due to an all-out push by Academy President Gregory Peck, 18 of the 20 acting nominees were present at the ceremony. Only Katharine Hepburn and the late Spencer Tracy, who was nominated posthumously, were missing.

Winners and nominees

Nominations were announced on February 19, 1968. Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger.
Best PictureBest Director

  • Mike Nichols – The Graduate
  • *Arthur Penn – Bonnie and Clyde
  • *Stanley Kramer – Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
  • *Richard Brooks – In Cold Blood
  • *Norman Jewison – In the Heat of the Night
    • Best ActorBest Actress
  • Rod Steiger – In the Heat of the Night as Police Chief Bill Gillespie
  • *Warren Beatty – Bonnie and Clyde as Clyde Barrow
  • *Dustin Hoffman – The Graduate as Benjamin Braddock
  • *Paul Newman – Cool Hand Luke as Lucas "Cool Hand Luke" Jackson
  • *Spencer Tracy – Guess Who's Coming to Dinner as Matt Drayton
  • Katharine Hepburn – Guess Who's Coming to Dinner as Christina Drayton
  • *Anne Bancroft – The Graduate as Mrs. Robinson
  • *Faye Dunaway – Bonnie and Clyde as Bonnie Parker
  • *Edith Evans – The Whisperers as Mrs. Ross
  • *Audrey Hepburn – Wait Until Dark as Susy Hendrix
    • Best Supporting ActorBest Supporting Actress
  • George Kennedy – Cool Hand Luke as Dragline
  • *John Cassavetes – The Dirty Dozen as V.R. Franko
  • *Gene Hackman – Bonnie and Clyde as Buck Barrow
  • *Cecil Kellaway – Guess Who's Coming to Dinner as Monsignor Ryan
  • *Michael J. Pollard – Bonnie and Clyde as C.W. Moss
  • Estelle Parsons – Bonnie and Clyde as Blanche Barrow
  • *Carol Channing – Thoroughly Modern Millie as Muzzy
  • *Mildred Natwick – Barefoot in the Park as Ethel Banks
  • *Beah Richards – Guess Who's Coming to Dinner as Mrs. Mary Prentice
  • *Katharine Ross – The Graduate as Elaine Robinson
    • Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the ScreenBest Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
  • Guess Who's Coming to Dinner – William Rose
  • *Bonnie and Clyde – David Newman and Robert Benton
  • *Divorce American Style – Screenplay by Norman Lear; Story by Robert Kaufman
  • *Two for the Road – Frederic Raphael
  • *The War Is Over – Jorge Semprún
  • In the Heat of the Night – Stirling Silliphant based on the novel by John Ball
  • *Cool Hand Luke – Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson based on the novel by Donn Pearce
  • *The Graduate – Buck Henry and Calder Willingham based on the novel by Charles Webb
  • *In Cold Blood – Richard Brooks based on the novel by Truman Capote
  • *Ulysses – Joseph Strick and Fred Haines based on the novel by James Joyce
    • Best Foreign Language FilmBest Documentary Feature
  • Closely Watched Trains
  • *El amor brujo
  • *I Even Met Happy Gypsies
  • *Live for Life
  • *Portrait of Chieko
  • The Anderson Platoon
  • * Festival
  • * Harvest
  • * A King's Story
  • * A Time for Burning
    • Best Documentary Short SubjectBest Live Action Short Subject
  • The Redwoods – Mark Harris and Trevor Greenwood
  • *Monument to the Dream
  • *A Place to Stand
  • *See You at the Pillar
  • *While I Run This Race
  • A Place to Stand – Christopher Chapman and Cam McWhirt
  • *Paddle to the Sea – Julian Biggs
  • *Sky over Holland – John Ferno
  • *Stop Look and Listen – Len Janson and Chuck Menville
    • Best Short Subject – CartoonsBest Original Music Score
  • The Box
  • *Hypothese Beta
  • *What on Earth!
  • Thoroughly Modern Millie – Elmer Bernstein
  • *Cool Hand Luke – Lalo Schifrin
  • *Doctor Dolittle – Leslie Bricusse
  • *Far from the Madding Crowd – Richard Rodney Bennett
  • *In Cold Blood – Quincy Jones
    • Best Original Song Score or Adaptation ScoreBest Song
  • Camelot – Alfred Newman and Ken Darby
  • *Doctor Dolittle – Lionel Newman and Alexander Courage
  • *Guess Who's Coming to Dinner – Frank De Vol
  • *Thoroughly Modern Millie – André Previn and Joseph Gershenson
  • *Valley of the Dolls – John Williams
  • "Talk to the Animals" from Doctor Dolittle — Music and Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse
  • *"The Bare Necessities" from The Jungle Book — Music and Lyrics by Terry Gilkyson
  • *"The Eyes of Love" from Banning — Music by Quincy Jones; Lyrics by Bob Russell
  • *"The Look of Love" from Casino Royale — Music by Burt Bacharach; Lyrics by Hal David
  • *"Thoroughly Modern Millie" from Thoroughly Modern Millie — Music by Jimmy Van Heusen; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
    • Best Costume DesignBest Art Direction
  • Camelot – John Truscott
  • *Bonnie and Clyde – Theadora Van Runkle
  • *The Happiest Millionaire – Bill Thomas
  • *The Taming of the Shrew – Danilo Donati and Irene Sharaff
  • *Thoroughly Modern Millie – Jean Louis
  • Camelot – Art Direction: John Truscott and Edward Carrere; Set Decoration: John W. Brown
  • *Doctor Dolittle – Art Direction: Mario Chiari, Jack Martin Smith and Ed Graves; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott and Stuart A. Reiss
  • *Guess Who's Coming to Dinner – Art Direction: Robert Clatworthy; Set Decoration: Frank Tuttle
  • *The Taming of the Shrew – Art Direction: Renzo Mongiardino, John DeCuir, Elven Webb and Giuseppe Mariani; Set Decoration: Dario Simoni and Luigi Gervasi
  • *Thoroughly Modern Millie – Art Direction: Alexander Golitzen and George C. Webb; Set Decoration: Howard Bristol
    • Best CinematographyBest Sound
  • Bonnie and Clyde – Burnett Guffey
  • *Camelot – Richard H. Kline
  • *Doctor Dolittle – Robert L. Surtees
  • *The Graduate – Robert L. Surtees
  • *In Cold Blood – Conrad L. Hall
  • In the Heat of the Night – Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department
  • * Camelot – Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Studio Sound Department
  • * The Dirty Dozen – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department
  • * Doctor Dolittle – 20th Century-Fox Studio Sound Department
  • * Thoroughly Modern Millie – Universal City Studio Sound Department
    • Best Sound EffectsBest Film Editing
  • The Dirty Dozen – John Poyner
  • * In the Heat of the Night – James Richard
  • In the Heat of the Night – Hal Ashby
  • * Beach Red – Frank P. Keller
  • * The Dirty Dozen – Michael Luciano
  • * Doctor Dolittle – Samuel E. Beetley and Marjorie Fowler
  • * Guess Who's Coming to Dinner – Robert C. Jones
    • Best Special Visual Effects-
  • Doctor Dolittle – L. B. Abbott
  • *Tobruk – Howard A. Anderson and Albert Whitlock
    		• -

    Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

    Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

    Honorary Oscar

    was presented for distinguished service to the Academy and the production of six top-rated Awards telecasts.

    Trivia

    These films had multiple nominations:
    The following films received multiple awards.
    The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.

    Presenters

    NameRole
    Announcer for the 40th Academy Awards
    Gave opening remarks welcoming guests to the awards ceremony
    Explained the eligibility and voting rules to the public
    Presenter of the award for Best Sound
    Presenter of the award for Best Supporting Actor

    Katharine Ross    		Presenters of the award for Best Cinematography

    Diahann Carroll    		Presenters of the Short Subjects Awards

    Barbara Rush    		Presenters of the Documentary Awards
    Presenter of the award for Best Costume Design
    Presenter of the Honorary Award to Arthur Freed
    Presenter of the award for Best Special Visual Effects

    Elke Sommer    		Presenters of the award for Best Sound Effects
    Presenter of the award for Best Supporting Actress
    Presenter of the award for Best Film Editing
    Presenter of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Gregory Peck
    Presenter of the award for Best Foreign Language Film

    Shirley Jones    		Presenters of the award for Best Art Direction
    Presenter of the Academy Awards' history montage

    Gene Kelly    		Presenters of the Music Awards
    Presenter of the award for Best Song
    Accepted Leslie Bricusse's award on his behalf
    Presenter of the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
    Presenter of the award for Best Director

    Rod Steiger    		Presenters of the Writing Awards
    Presenter of the award for Best Actor
    Presenter of the award for Best Actress
    Presenter of the award for Best Picture

    Performers