50th Academy Awards


The 50th Academy Awards were held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California on April 3, 1978. The ceremonies were presided over by Bob Hope, who hosted the awards for the nineteenth and last time.
Two of the year's biggest winners were Star Wars, which swept the technical categories by winning 6 out of its 10 nominations and a Special Achievement for Sound Effects Editing, and Annie Hall, winning 4 out of 5 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Director. The awards show was also notable for a very politically charged acceptance speech by Vanessa Redgrave.
The Turning Point set the record for the most nominations without a win, previously held by Peyton Place and The Little Foxes, which each had 9 nominations with no wins. This record, later tied by The Color Purple, still stands as of 2018.
Annie Hall was the last Best Picture winner to be nominated for just five awards until The Departed 29 years later in 2006.
Jason Robards became the fourth actor to win back-to-back Oscars, following Luise Rainer, Spencer Tracy, and Katharine Hepburn.
For the only time to date, both Best Actor and Best Actress winners won for roles in two different romantic comedies.
This event marked the second of three times that more than two films had received ten or more nominations.
The animated opening sequence, as well as promos for the Awards show, were designed by British graphic designer Harry Marks, who outsourced the animated sequences to Robert Abel and Associates. Marks also designed animated sequences for the top nominated categories, which weren't used for the final telecast.

Awards

Nominations were announced on February 21, 1978. Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger.
Best PictureBest Director

  • Woody Allen – Annie Hall
  • *Steven Spielberg – Close Encounters of the Third Kind
  • *Fred Zinnemann – Julia
  • *George Lucas – Star Wars
  • *Herbert Ross – The Turning Point
    • Best ActorBest Actress
  • Richard Dreyfuss – The Goodbye Girl as Elliot Garfield
  • *Woody Allen – Annie Hall as Alvy "Max" Singer
  • *Richard Burton – Equus as Doctor Martin Dysart
  • *Marcello Mastroianni – A Special Day as Gabriele
  • *John Travolta – Saturday Night Fever as Anthony "Tony" Manero
  • Diane Keaton – Annie Hall as Annie Hall
  • *Anne Bancroft – The Turning Point as Emma Jacklin
  • *Jane Fonda – Julia as Lillian Hellman
  • *Shirley MacLaine – The Turning Point as DeeDee Rodgers
  • *Marsha Mason – The Goodbye Girl as Paula McFadden
    • Best Supporting ActorBest Supporting Actress
  • Jason Robards – Julia as Dashiell Hammett
  • *Mikhail Baryshnikov – The Turning Point as Yuri Kopeikine
  • *Peter Firth – Equus as Alan Strang
  • *Alec Guinness – Star Wars as Obi Wan Kenobi
  • *Maximilian Schell – Julia as Johann
  • Vanessa Redgrave – Julia as Julia
  • *Leslie Browne – The Turning Point as Emilia Rodgers
  • *Quinn Cummings – The Goodbye Girl as Lucy McFadden
  • *Melinda Dillon – Close Encounters of the Third Kind as Jillian Guiler
  • *Tuesday Weld – Looking for Mr. Goodbar as Katherine Dunn
    • Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Based on Factual Material or on Story Material Not Previously Published or ProducedBest Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
  • Annie Hall – Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman
  • *The Goodbye Girl – Neil Simon
  • *The Late Show – Robert Benton
  • *Star Wars – George Lucas
  • *The Turning Point – Arthur Laurents
  • Julia – Alvin Sargent based on the novel Pentimento by Lillian Hellman
  • *Equus – Peter Shaffer based on his play
  • *I Never Promised You a Rose Garden – Gavin Lambert and Lewis John Carlino based on the novel by Hannah Greene
  • *Oh, God! – Larry Gelbart based on the novel by Avery Corman
  • *That Obscure Object of Desire – Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière based on the novel La Femme et le pantin by Pierre Louÿs
    • Best Foreign Language FilmBest Documentary Feature

    • Madame Rosa
    • *Iphigenia
    • *Operation Thunderbolt
    • *A Special Day
    • *That Obscure Object of Desire
  • Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? – John Korty
  • *The Children of Theatre Street – Robert Dornhelm and Earle Mack
  • *High Grass Circus – Tony Ianzelo and Torben Schioler
  • *' – Harry Rasky
  • *Union Maids – Jim Klein, Miles Mogulescu and Julia Reichert
    • Best Documentary Short SubjectBest Live Action Short Film
  • Gravity Is My Enemy – John C. Joseph and Jan Stussy
  • *'
  • *First Edition
  • *Of Time, Tombs and Treasures
  • *The Shetland Experience
  • I'll Find a Way – Beverly Shaffer and Yuki Yoshida
  • *The Absent-Minded Waiter – William E. McEuen
  • *Floating Free – Jerry Butts
  • *Notes on the Popular Arts – Saul Bass
  • *Spaceborne – Philip Dauber
    • Best Animated Short FilmBest Original Score
  • The Sand Castle – Co Hoedeman
  • *Bead Game – Ishu Patel
  • *The Doonesbury Special – John Hubley, Faith Hubley and Garry Trudeau
  • *Jimmy the C – James Picker, Robert Grossman and Craig Whitaker
  • Star Wars – John Williams
  • *Close Encounters of the Third Kind – John Williams
  • *Julia – Georges Delerue
  • *Mohammad, Messenger of God – Maurice Jarre
  • *The Spy Who Loved Me – Marvin Hamlisch
    • Best Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation ScoreBest Original Song
  • A Little Night Music – Adapted by Jonathan Tunick
  • *Pete's Dragon – Song Score by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn; Adapted by Irwin Kostal
  • *The Slipper and the Rose – Song Score by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman; Adapted by Angela Morley
  • "You Light Up My Life" from You Light Up My Life – Music and Lyrics by Joseph Brooks
  • *"Candle on the Water" from Pete's Dragon – Music and Lyrics by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn
  • *"Nobody Does It Better" from The Spy Who Loved Me – Music by Marvin Hamlisch; Lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager
  • *"The Slipper and the Rose Waltz " from The Slipper and the Rose – Music and Lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
  • *"Someone's Waiting for You" from The Rescuers – Music by Sammy Fain; Lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins
    • Best SoundBest Costume Design
  • Star Wars – Don MacDougall, Ray West, Bob Minkler and Derek Ball
  • *Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don MacDougall and Gene Cantamessa
  • *The Deep – Walter Goss, Dick Alexander, Tom Beckert and Robin Gregory
  • *Sorcerer – Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Richard Tyler and Jean-Louis Ducarme
  • *The Turning Point – Theodore Soderberg, Paul Wells, Douglas Williams and Jerry Jost
  • Star Wars – John Mollo
  • * Airport '77 – Edith Head and Burton Miller
  • * Julia – Anthea Sylbert
  • * A Little Night Music – Florence Klotz
  • * The Other Side of Midnight – Irene Sharaff
    • Best Art DirectionBest Cinematography
  • Star Wars – Art Direction: John Barry, Norman Reynolds and Leslie Dilley; Set Decoration: Roger Christian
  • *Airport '77 – Art Direction: George C. Webb; Set Decoration: Mickey S. Michaels
  • *Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Art Direction: Joe Alves and Daniel A. Lomino; Set Decoration: Phil Abramson
  • *The Spy Who Loved Me – Art Direction: Ken Adam and Peter Lamont; Set Decoration: Hugh Scaife
  • *The Turning Point – Art Direction: Albert Brenner; Set Decoration: Marvin March
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Vilmos Zsigmond
  • *Islands in the Stream – Fred J. Koenekamp
  • *Julia – Douglas Slocombe
  • *Looking for Mr. Goodbar – William A. Fraker
  • *The Turning Point – Robert Surtees
    • Best Film EditingBest Visual Effects
  • Star Wars – Paul Hirsch, Marcia Lucas and Richard Chew
  • *Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Michael Kahn
  • *Julia – Walter Murch
  • *Smokey and the Bandit – Walter Hannemann and Angelo Ross
  • *The Turning Point – William H. Reynolds
  • Star Wars – John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, Grant McCune and Robert Blalack
  • *Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Gregory Jein, Roy Arbogast, Douglas Trumbull, Matthew Yuricich and Richard Yuricich

    • Academy Honorary Awards

  • Margaret Booth

    Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

  • Charlton Heston

    Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

  • Walter Mirisch

    Special Achievement Awards

  • Ben Burtt for the creation of the alien, creature, and robot voices in Star Wars
  • Frank Warner for sound effects editing in Close Encounters of the Third Kind

    Ceremony

    • 's performance of You Light Up My Life was accompanied by schoolgirls described as "affiliated with the John Tracy Clinic for the Deaf" interpreting the lyrics in sign language. After complaints that their signing was incomprehensible, it was revealed the girls were not deaf and had been taught rudimentary signing specifically for the performance. This prompted protests from the Alliance for Deaf Artists.

    Redgrave speech

    During the ceremony, Vanessa Redgrave won the Best Supporting Actress award for Julia, and, aware of members of the Jewish Defense League protesting outside, made the following comments:
    Two hours later, when it came his turn to announce the winners for the two Best Screenplay awards, Paddy Chayefsky, perturbed by what he perceived as "cracks about Jews" at the Academy Awards, replied:

    Presenters and performers

    The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.

    Presenters

    Performers

    Multiple nominations and awards

    These films had multiple nominations:
    The following films received multiple awards.
    , and Marvin Hamlisch performed "Come Light the Candles" in tribute to: