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.
| 50th Academy Awards | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date | April 3, 1978 |
| Site | Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Hosted by | Bob Hope |
| Produced by | Howard W. Koch |
| Directed by | Marty Pasetta |
| Highlights | |
| Best Picture | Annie Hall |
| Most awards | Star Wars (6) |
| 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] |
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 (11), 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 (after the 37th and before the 92nd Academy Awards).
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
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Nominations were announced on February 21, 1978. Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger (
).[2]
Academy Honorary Awards
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
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
Debby Boone'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.[3]
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,[4] 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— [continuation of booing until it quieted down] 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,[5] 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"[5] 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. [Loud applause] 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 and performers
The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.
Presenters
Performers
| Performer | Role | Performed |
|---|---|---|
| Nelson Riddle | Musical arranger and conductor | Orchestral |
| Debbie Reynolds | Performer | "Look How Far We've Come" |
| Debby Boone | Performer | "You Light Up My Life" from You Light Up My Life |
| Gloria Loring | Performer | "Candle on the Water" from Pete's Dragon and "Someone's Waiting for You" from The Rescuers |
| Sammy Davis Jr. Marvin Hamlisch | Performers | "Come Light the Candles" |
| Aretha Franklin | Performer | "Nobody Does It Better" from The Spy Who Loved Me |
| Jane Powell | Performer | "The Slipper and the Rose Waltz (He Danced with Me)" from The Slipper and the Rose |
| Academy Awards Chorus | Performers | "That's Entertainment" |
Multiple nominations and awards
|
These films had multiple nominations:
|
The following films received multiple awards.
|
Tribute
Sammy Davis Jr. and Marvin Hamlisch performed "Come Light the Candles" in tribute to:
See also
References
- Bialik, Carl (February 26, 2008). "And the Oscar Goes to... Fewer TV Viewers". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on April 4, 2008.
- "The 50th Academy Awards (1978) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
- Crouse, Richard (October 22, 2005). Reel Winners: Movie Award Trivia. Dundurn. pp. 138–139. ISBN 9781770701991. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
- King, Susan (February 6, 2016), "A brief history of Academy Awards controversies (no, #OscarsSoWhite is not the first)", Los Angeles Times
- John Bradey, "The craft of the screenwriter", 1981. Page 57
External links
- 75 Years of Oscar - 1978, E! Online
- Academy Awards, USA: 1978, IMDb
- filmsite.org: 1977 Academy Awards Winners and History
- Redgrave's 'Zionist Hoodlums' Speech Shocks Hollywood
