50th Academy Awards

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50th Academy Awards
Date Monday, April 3, 1978
Site Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles
Host Bob Hope
Producer Howard W. Koch
Director Marty Pasetta
Highlights
Best Picture Annie Hall
Most awards Star Wars (7)
Most nominations Julia and The Turning Point (11)
TV in the United States
Network ABC
Duration 3 hours, 30 minutes
Ratings 39.73 million
31.1% (Nielsen ratings)[1]
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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 eighteenth 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 with 11 nominations. It was previously held by Peyton Place and The Little Foxes which both had 9 noms with no wins. This record and, later tied with The Color Purple, still stands as of 2013.

Annie Hall marked the last Best Picture winner to be nominated for just 5 awards until The Departed 29 years later in 2006.

Jason Robards became the fourth actor to win back to back Oscars.

For the first and only time to date, both Best Actor and Best Actress winners won for roles in two different romantic comedies.

Awards

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.[2]

Best Picture Best Director
Best Actor Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor Best Supporting Actress
Best Original Screenplay Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Foreign Language Film
Best Documentary Feature Best Documentary Short
Best Live Action Short Best Animated Short
Best Original Score Best Original Song Score or Adaptation Score
Best Original Song Best Costume Design
Best Sound Mixing Best Sound Editing
Best Art Direction Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing Best Visual Effects

Academy Honorary Awards

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

Redgrave speech

During the ceremony, Vanessa Redgrave won the Best Supporting Actress award for Julia, and, aware of members of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) protesting outside, made the following comments:

My dear colleagues, I thank you very much for this tribute to my work. I think that Jane Fonda and I have done the best work of our lives, and I think this is in part due to our director, Fred Zinnemann. [Audience applause.]

And I also think it's in part because we believed and we believe in what we were expressing--two out of millions who gave their lives and were prepared to sacrifice everything in the fight against fascist and racist Nazi Germany.

And I salute you, and I pay tribute to you, and I think you should be very proud that in the last few weeks you've stood firm, and you have refused to be intimidated by the threats of a small bunch of Zionist hoodlums [gasps from the audience, followed by a smattering of boos and clapping] whose behavior is an insult to the stature of Jews all over the world and their great and heroic record of struggle against fascism and oppression. [General applause]

And I salute that record and I salute all of you for having stood firm and dealt a final blow against that period when Nixon and McCarthy launched a worldwide witch-hunt against those who tried to express in their lives and their work the truth that they believe in [some boos and hissing]. I salute you and I thank you and I pledge to you that I will continue to fight against anti-Semitism and fascism.

Two hours later,[3] when it came his turn to announce an award winner (for Best Writing), Paddy Chayefsky, perturbed by what he perceived as "cracks about Jews"[3] at the Academy Awards, replied:

Before I get on to the writing awards, there's a little matter I'd like to tidy up--at least if I expect to live with myself tomorrow morning. I would like to say, personal opinion, of course, that I'm sick and tired of people exploiting the occasion of the Academy Awards [loud applause] for the propagation of their own personal political propaganda.

I would like to suggest to Miss Redgrave that her winning an Academy Award is not a pivotal moment in history, does not require a proclamation and a simple 'thank you' would have sufficed. [Loud applause]

Presenters

Performers

Multiple nominations and awards

These films had multiple nominations:

  • 11 nominations: Julia, The Turning Point
  • 10 nominations: Star Wars
  • 8 nominations: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
  • 5 nominations: Annie Hall, The Goodbye Girl
  • 3 nominations: Equus, The Spy Who Loved Me
  • 2 nominations: Airport '77, A Little Night Music, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Pete's Dragon, The Slipper and the Rose, A Special Day, That Obscure Object of Desire

The following films received multiple awards.

See also

References

  1. Bialik, Carl (February 26, 2008). "And the Oscar Goes to… Fewer TV Viewers". The Wall Street Journal. 
  2. "The 50th Academy Awards (1978) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-10-05. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 John Bradey, "The craft of the screenwriter", 1981. Page 57

External links

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