32nd Academy Awards
32nd Academy Awards | ||||
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Date | April 4, 1960 | |||
Site | RKO Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, California | |||
Host | Bob Hope | |||
Producer | Arthur Freed | |||
Director | Alan Handley | |||
Highlights | ||||
Best Picture | Ben-Hur | |||
Most awards | Ben-Hur (11) | |||
Most nominations | Ben-Hur (12) | |||
TV in the United States | ||||
Network | NBC | |||
Duration | 1 hour, 40 minutes | |||
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The 32nd Academy Awards honored film achievements of 1959 on 4 April 1960.
MGM's (producer Sam Zimbalist) and director William Wyler's three and a half-hour long epic drama Ben-Hur (with a spectacular sea battle and eleven-minute chariot race choreographed by Yakima Canutt) won 11 Oscars in 1959, breaking the previous year's all-time record of nine (Gigi (1958)). With its record-breaking eleven Oscar wins out of twelve nominations, it was the most honored motion picture in Academy Award history until Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King both equaled the feat in 1997 and 2003, respectively.
Ben-Hur was a re-make of MGM's own 1926 silent film of the same name, and it was the most expensive film of its time, budgeted at $15 million. Both films were based on or inspired by General Lew Wallace's novel (first published in 1880) about the rise of Christianity.
Ben-Hur was also the third film to win both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, a feat not repeated until Mystic River in 2004. Wyler became the third and, to date, last person to win more than two Best Director awards (following Frank Capra and John Ford).
Awards
Winners are listed first and highlighted with boldface[1]
Academy Honorary Awards
- Buster Keaton "for his unique talents which brought immortal comedies to the screen." (Statuette)
- Lee De Forest "for his pioneering inventions which brought sound to the motion picture.” (Statuette)
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Presenters
- Richard Conte and Angie Dickinson (Presenters: Art Direction – Set Decoration Awards)
- Gary Cooper (Presenter: Best Picture)
- Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh (Presenters: Writing Awards)
- Edward Curtiss (Presenter: Cinematography Awards)
- Arlene Dahl and Fernando Lamas (Presenters: Costume Design Awards)
- Doris Day (Presenter: Best Original Song)
- Olivia de Havilland and Edmond O'Brien (Presenters: Best Supporting Actor)
- Mitzi Gaynor (Presenter: Documentary Awards)
- Haya Harareet (Presenter: Best Visual Effects)
- Susan Hayward (Presenter: Best Actor)
- Rock Hudson (Presenter: Best Actress)
- Eric Johnston (Presenter: Best Foreign Language Film)
- B.B. Kahane (Presenter: Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award)
- Gene Kelly (Presenter: Music Awards)
- Hope Lange and Carl Reiner (Presenters: Short Subjects Awards)
- Barbara Rush (Presenter: Best Film Editing)
- Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood (Presenters: Best Sound Recording)
- John Wayne (Presenter: Best Director)
Performers
- Sammy Davis Jr. ("High Hopes" from A Hole in the Head)
- Gogi Grant ("Strange Are the Ways of Love" from The Young Land)
- Joni James ("The Five Pennies" from The Five Pennies)
- Frankie Laine ("The Hanging Tree" from The Hanging Tree)
- Frankie Vaughan ("The Best of Everything" from The Best of Everything)
Multiple nominations and awards
These films had multiple nominations:
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The following films received multiple awards.
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See also
- 17th Golden Globe Awards
- 1959 in film
- 2nd Grammy Awards
- 11th Primetime Emmy Awards
- 12th Primetime Emmy Awards
- 13th British Academy Film Awards
- 14th Tony Awards
References
- ↑ "The 32nd Academy Awards (1960) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-21.