27th Academy Awards
27th Academy Awards | |
---|---|
Date | 30 March 1955 |
Site |
RKO Pantages Theatre Hollywood, California NBC Century Theatre New York City, New York |
Hosted by |
Bob Hope (Hollywood) Thelma Ritter (New York City) |
Highlights | |
Best Picture | On the Waterfront |
Most awards | On the Waterfront (8) |
Most nominations | On the Waterfront (12) |
TV in the United States | |
Network | NBC |
The 27th Academy Awards honored the best films produced in 1954. The Best Picture winner, On the Waterfront, was produced by Sam Spiegel and directed by Elia Kazan. It had twelve nominations and eight wins, matching two other films, Gone with the Wind (1939) and From Here to Eternity (1953), even though those two each had thirteen nominations.
The low-budget, black and white On the Waterfront was filmed entirely on location in Hoboken and told the gritty story of New York dock workers, brutality, corruption, and embroilment with a gangster union boss. It provided an expose of union racketeering while showcasing the murder of an innocent longshoreman. Kazan and screenwriter Budd Schulberg justified their own naming of names (blacklisting-testimony against alleged Communists) as friendly witnesses before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in the early 1950s with the film's story of heroic longshoreman informant Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) who stood alone and turned witness against the corrupt and intimidating union bosses and became a marked 'pigeon'.
A "rematch" occurred in the category of Best Actor, where Marlon Brando and Humphrey Bogart were competing again for the first time since Bogart beat him three years earlier. In a surprise win (Bing Crosby was the favored nominee), Brando received his first Oscar for his performance in On the Waterfront, which is now seen as one of the most justified upsets in Oscar history.[1]
Grace Kelly won Best Actress for The Country Girl in another upset. Judy Garland, who was heavily tipped to win Best Actress for the movie A Star Is Born could not attend the ceremony as she had only recently given birth to her third child. Cameras were set up in her room so she could express her thanks in the likely case of her winning. Groucho Marx later sent her a telegram expressing that her loss was "the biggest robbery since Brink's."[2]
Dorothy Dandridge became the first African American actress to receive a nomination for Best Actress.
Awards
Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.[3]
Academy Honorary Awards
- Bausch and Lomb Optical
- Kemp R. Niver
- Greta Garbo
- Danny Kaye
- Jon Whiteley
- Vincent Winter
Best Foreign Language Film
Presenters and performers
Presenters
- Buddy Adler (Presenter: Best Picture)
- Lauren Bacall (Presenter: Scientific & Technical Awards)
- Humphrey Bogart (Presenter: Best Cinematography, Black-and-White)
- Charles Brackett (Presenter: Honorary Awards)
- Marlon Brando (Presenter: Best Director)
- Lee J. Cobb (Presenter: Best Special Effects)
- Bing Crosby (Presenter: Music Awards)
- Dorothy Dandridge (Presenter: Best Film Editing)
- Bette Davis (Presenter: Best Actor)
- Nina Foch & Jane Wyman (Presenters: Costume Design Awards)
- Audrey Hepburn, Karl Malden, & Claire Trevor (Presenters: Writing Awards)
- William Holden (Presenter: Best Actress)
- Jean Marie Ingels (Presenter: Best Foreign Language Film)
- Katy Jurado (Presenter: Best Cinematography)
- Grace Kelly (Presenter: Documentary Awards)
- Merle Oberon (Presenter: Honorary Awards — Juvenile Performances)
- Edmond O'Brien, Eva Marie Saint, & Rod Steiger (Presenters: Short Subject Awards)
- Dan O'Herlihy and Jan Sterling (Presenters: Art Direction-Set Decoration Awards)
- Donna Reed (Presenter: Best Supporting Actor)
- Frank Sinatra (Presenter: Best Supporting Actress)
- Tom Tully (Presenter: Best Sound)
Performers
- David Rose (musical director)
- Rosemary Clooney ("The Man That Got Away" from A Star Is Born)
- Johnny Desmond & Muzzy Marcellino ("The High and the Mighty" from The High and the Mighty)
- Peggy King ("Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep" from White Christmas)
- Dean Martin ("Three Coins in the Fountain" from Three Coins in the Fountain)
- Tony Martin ("Hold My Hand" from Susan Slept Here)
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
- 12th Golden Globe Awards
- 1954 in film
- 6th Primetime Emmy Awards
- 7th Primetime Emmy Awards
- 8th British Academy Film Awards
- 9th Tony Awards
References
- ↑ Premiere. "100 Greatest Performances of All Time: 24-1". Archived from the original on 31 January 2009. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
- ↑ The Biographicon. "Judy Garland – Biography". Retrieved 2009-09-06.
- ↑ "The 27th Academy Awards (1955) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-20.
External links
- 1954 Academy Awards Winners and History
- 1954 Academy Awards at the Internet Movie Database
- The 27th Academy Awards at the Internet Movie Database