29th Academy Awards

29th Academy Awards
Date 27 March 1957
Site RKO Pantages Theatre
Hollywood, California
NBC Century Theatre
New York City, New York
Host Jerry Lewis
Celeste Holm
Producer Valentine Davies
Director Bill Bennington
Max Miller
Highlights
Best Picture Around the World in 80 Days
Most awards Around the World in 80 Days and The King and I (5)
Most nominations Giant (10)
TV in the United States
Network NBC
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During the 29th Academy Awards, the regular competitive category of Best Foreign Language Film was introduced, instead of only being recognized as a Special Achievement Award or as a Best Picture nominee (as in 1938). The first winner in this new category was Federico Fellini's La strada with Anthony Quinn and a second nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Its win would help spur an interest in foreign-language films. Another Fellini film, Nights of Cabiria would win the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in the following year.

This was also the first year that all of the five Best Picture nominees were in color. It was also the first Oscar telecast to be videotaped for later broadcast, especially for those network affiliates that didn't want to broadcast the event live.

All of the major awards winners were large-scale epics - Mike Todd's Around the World in 80 Days, The King and I, Anastasia, Giant, Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (the highest grossing film of the year), King Vidor's War and Peace, and William Wyler's Friendly Persuasion. And the trend toward blockbusters and colorful spectaculars was established for years to come, with The Bridge on the River Kwai, Gigi, and Ben-Hur being subsequent Best Picture champions.

The Best Original Story category had two interesting quirks this year. First, the Oscar for Best Original Story went to Robert Rich (also known as Dalton Trumbo) for The Brave One. Trumbo was blacklisted at the time so he could not get screen credit under his own name. Second, Edward Bernds and Elwood Ullman withdrew their names from consideration in this category for their work on High Society. The nomination was apparently intended for the musical starring Grace Kelly, but Bernds and Ullman had instead worked on a Bowery Boys movie of the same title. Indeed, this nomination was a double mistake. High Society was based on the play and movie The Philadelphia Story and probably would not have qualified as an original story anyway.

It was here that James Dean became the only actor to receive a second posthumous – and consecutive – nomination for acting.

Director John Ford's classic western The Searchers, widely seen as one of the best American films of all time, failed to receive a single nomination.

This was the second time since the introduction of the Supporting Actor and Actress awards that Best Picture, Best Director, and all four acting Oscars were given to different films. This would not happen again until the 78th Academy Awards. Around the World in 80 Days became the sixth film to win Best Picture without any acting nominations.

Awards

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.[1]

Best Motion Picture Best Director
Best Actor Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor Best Supporting Actress
Best Original Screenplay Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Story Best Foreign Language Film
Best Documentary Feature Best Documentary Short
Best Live Action Short Film, One-Reel Best Live Action Short Film, Two-Reel
Best Animated Short Film
Best Dramatic or Comedy Score Best Musical Score
Best Original Song Best Sound Recording
Best Art Direction, Black and White Best Art Direction, Color
Best Cinematography, Black and White Best Cinematography, Color
Best Costume Design, Black and White Best Costume Design, Color
Best Film Editing Best Visual Effects

Academy Honorary Award

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

Presenters

Performers

Multiple nominations and awards

These films had multiple nominations:

  • 10 nominations: Giant
  • 9 nominations: The King and I
  • 8 nominations: Around the World in 80 Days
  • 7 nominations: The Ten Commandments
  • 6 nominations: Friendly Persuasion
  • 4 nominations: Baby Doll, The Bad Seed, The Eddy Duchin Story, Lust for Life
  • 3 nominations: The Brave One, High Society, Somebody Up There Likes Me, War and Peace, Written on the Wind
  • 2 nominations: Anastasia, The Bold and the Brave, The Dark Wave, Julie, La Strada, The Proud and Profane, The Rainmaker, The Seven Samurai, The Solid Gold Cadillac, Teenage Rebel

The following films received multiple awards.

  • 5 wins: Around the World in 80 Days, The King and I
  • 2 wins: Somebody Up There Likes Me

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The 29th Academy Awards (1957) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-21.