25th Academy Awards


The 25th Academy Awards ceremony was held on March 19, 1953. It took place at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, and the NBC International Theatre in New York City.
It was the first Academy Awards ceremony to be televised, and the first ceremony to be held in Hollywood and New York City simultaneously. It was also the only year that the New York ceremonies were to be held in the NBC International Theatre on Columbus Circle, which was shortly thereafter demolished and replaced by the New York Coliseum convention center.
A major upset occurred when the heavily favored High Noon lost to Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth, eventually considered among the worst films to have won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The American film magazine Premiere listed the film among the 10 worst Oscar winners and the British film magazine Empire rated it #3 on their list of the 10 worst Oscar winners. It has the lowest spot on Rotten Tomatoes' list of the 91 films to win Best Picture. Of all the films nominated for the Oscar this year, only High Noon, and Singin' in the Rain would show up 46 years later on the American Film Institute list of the greatest American films of the 20th Century. For a film that only received two nominations, Singin' in the Rain went on to be named as the greatest American musical film of all time and in the 2007 American Film Institute updated list as the fifth greatest American film of all time, while High Noon was ranked twenty-seventh on the same 2007 list, as well.
The Bad and the Beautiful won five awards, the most wins ever for a film not nominated for Best Picture. It was also the second Academy Awards in which a film not nominated for Best Picture received the most awards of the evening, excluding years where there were ties for the most wins. The only other film to do this was The Thief of Bagdad at the 13th Academy Awards; as of the 91st Academy Awards, it has not happened since.
Until Spotlight won only Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the 88th Academy Awards, this was the last year in which the Best Picture winner won just two Oscars. It was also the second of three years to date in which two films not nominated for Best Picture received more nominations than the winner. This occurred again at the 79th Academy Awards.
Shirley Booth became the last person born in the 19th century to win an Oscar in a Leading Role. She is also the first woman in her 50s to win the award, at the age of 54.
John Ford's fourth win for Best Director set a record for the most wins in this category that remains unmatched to this day.
For the first time since the introduction of Supporting Actor and Actress awards in 1936, Best Picture, Best Director, and all four acting Oscars went to six different films. This has happened only three times since, at the 29th Academy Awards for 1956, the 78th for 2005, and the 85th for 2012.

Awards

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.
Best Motion PictureBest Director

  • John Ford – The Quiet Man
  • *Joseph L. Mankiewicz – Five Fingers
  • *Cecil B. DeMille – The Greatest Show on Earth
  • *Fred Zinnemann – High Noon
  • *John Huston – Moulin Rouge
    • Best ActorBest Actress
  • Gary Cooper – High Noon as Marshall Will Kane
  • *Marlon Brando – Viva Zapata! as Emiliano Zapata
  • *Kirk Douglas – The Bad and the Beautiful as Jonathan Shields
  • *José Ferrer – Moulin Rouge as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec/Comte Alphonse de Toulouse-Lautrec
  • *Alec Guinness – The Lavender Hill Mob as Henry "Dutch" Holland
  • Shirley Booth – Come Back, Little Sheba as Lola Delaney
  • *Joan Crawford – Sudden Fear as Myra Hudson
  • *Bette Davis – The Star as Margaret "Maggie" Elliot
  • *Julie Harris – The Member of the Wedding as Frankie Addams
  • *Susan Hayward – With a Song in My Heart as Jane Froman
    • Best Supporting ActorBest Supporting Actress
  • Anthony Quinn – Viva Zapata! as Eufemio Zapata
  • *Richard Burton – My Cousin Rachel as Philip Ashley
  • *Arthur Hunnicutt – The Big Sky as Zeb Calloway
  • *Victor McLaglen – The Quiet Man as Squire "Red" Will Danaher
  • *Jack Palance – Sudden Fear as Lester Blaine
  • Gloria Grahame – The Bad and the Beautiful as Rosemary Bartlow
  • *Jean Hagen – Singin' in the Rain as Lina Lamont
  • *Colette Marchand – Moulin Rouge as Marie Charlet
  • *Terry Moore – Come Back, Little Sheba as Marie Buckholder
  • *Thelma Ritter – With a Song in My Heart as Clancy
    • Best ScreenplayBest Story and Screenplay
  • The Bad and the Beautiful – Charles Schnee from "Tribute to a Badman" by George Bradshaw
  • *Five Fingers – Michael Wilson from Operation Cicero by Ludwig Carl Moyzisch
  • *High Noon – Carl Foreman from "The Tin Star" by John W. Cunningham
  • *The Man in the White Suit – Roger MacDougall, John Dighton and Alexander Mackendrick from The Man in the White Suit by Roger MacDougall
  • *The Quiet Man – Frank S. Nugent from "Green Rushes" by Maurice Walsh
  • The Lavender Hill Mob – T. E. B. Clarke
  • *The Atomic City – Sydney Boehm
  • *Breaking the Sound Barrier – Terence Rattigan
  • *Pat and Mike – Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin
  • *Viva Zapata! – John Steinbeck
    • Best StoryBest Short Subject - Cartoons
  • The Greatest Show on Earth – Fredric M. Frank, Theodore St. John and Frank Cavett
  • *My Son John – Leo McCarey
  • *The Narrow Margin – Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard
  • *The Pride of St. Louis – Guy Trosper
  • *The Sniper – Edna Anhalt and Edward Anhalt
  • Johann Mouse
  • *Little Johnny Jet
  • *Madeline
  • *Pink and Blue Blues
  • *The Romance of Transportation in Canada
    • Best Documentary FeatureBest Documentary Short Subject
  • The Sea Around Us
  • *The Hoaxters
  • *Navajo
  • Neighbours
  • *Devil Take Us
  • *The Garden Spider
  • *Man Alive!
    • Best Live Action Short Subject, One-ReelBest Live Action Short Subject, Two-Reel
  • Light in the Window
  • *Athletes of the Saddle
  • *Desert Killer
  • *Neighbours
  • *Royal Scotland
  • Water Birds
  • *Bridge of Time
  • *Devil Take Us
  • *Thar She Blows!
    • Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy PictureBest Scoring of a Musical Picture
  • High Noon – Dimitri Tiomkin
  • *Ivanhoe – Miklós Rózsa
  • *The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima – Max Steiner
  • *The Thief – Herschel Burke Gilbert
  • *Viva Zapata! – Alex North
  • With a Song in My Heart – Alfred Newman
  • *Hans Christian Andersen – Walter Scharf
  • *The Jazz Singer – Ray Heindorf and Max Steiner
  • *The Medium – Gian Carlo Menotti
  • *Singin' in the Rain – Lennie Hayton
    • Best SongBest Sound Recording
  • "The Ballad of High Noon " from High Noon – Music by Dimitri Tiomkin; Lyrics by Ned Washington
  • *"Am I in Love?" from Son of Paleface – Music and Lyrics by Jack Brooks
  • *"Because You're Mine" from Because You're Mine – Music by Nicholas Brodszky; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
  • *"Thumbelina" from Hans Christian Andersen – Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser
  • *"Zing a Little Zong" from Just for You – Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Leo Robin
  • Breaking the Sound Barrier – London Films Sound Department
  • *The Card – Pinewood Studios Sound Department
  • *Hans Christian Andersen – Gordon E. Sawyer
  • *The Quiet Man – Daniel J. Bloomberg
  • *With a Song in My Heart – Thomas T. Moulton
    • Best Art Direction, Black-and-WhiteBest Art Direction, Color
  • The Bad and the Beautiful – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Edward Carfagno; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason
  • *Carrie – Art Direction: Hal Pereira and Roland Anderson; Set Decoration: Emile Kuri
  • *My Cousin Rachel – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and John DeCuir; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott
  • *Rashomon – Art Direction: So Matsuyama; Set Decoration: H. Matsumoto
  • *Viva Zapata! – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and Leland Fuller; Set Decoration: Thomas Little and Claude Carpenter
  • Moulin Rouge – Art Direction: Paul Sheriff; Set Decoration: Marcel Vertès
  • *Hans Christian Andersen – Art Direction: Richard Day and Antoni Clavé; Set Decoration: Howard Bristol
  • *The Merry Widow – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Paul Groesse; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and Arthur Krams
  • *The Quiet Man – Art Direction: Frank Hotaling; Set Decoration: John McCarthy Jr. and Charles Thompson
  • *The Snows of Kilimanjaro – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and John DeCuir; Set Decoration: Thomas Little and Paul S. Fox
    • Best Cinematography, Black-and-WhiteBest Cinematography, Color
  • The Bad and the Beautiful – Robert Surtees
  • *The Big Sky – Russell Harlan
  • *My Cousin Rachel – Joseph LaShelle
  • *Navajo – Virgil Miller
  • *Sudden Fear – Charles Lang
  • The Quiet Man – Winton C. Hoch and Archie Stout
  • *Hans Christian Andersen – Harry Stradling
  • *Ivanhoe – F. A. Young
  • *Million Dollar Mermaid – George Folsey
  • *The Snows of Kilimanjaro – Leon Shamroy
    • Best Costume Design, Black-and-WhiteBest Costume Design, Color
  • The Bad and the Beautiful – Helen Rose
  • *Affair in Trinidad – Jean Louis
  • *Carrie – Edith Head
  • *My Cousin Rachel – Charles LeMaire and Dorothy Jeakins
  • *Sudden Fear – Sheila O'Brien
  • Moulin Rouge – Marcel Vertès
  • *The Greatest Show on Earth – Edith Head, Dorothy Jeakins and Miles White
  • *Hans Christian Andersen – Antoni Clavé, Mary Wills and Barbara Karinska
  • *The Merry Widow – Helen Rose and Gile Steele
  • *With a Song in My Heart – Charles LeMaire
    • Best Film Editing-
  • High Noon – Elmo Williams and Harry W. Gerstad
  • *Come Back, Little Sheba – Warren Low
  • *Flat Top – William Austin
  • *The Greatest Show on Earth – Anne Bauchens
  • *Moulin Rouge – Ralph Kemplen
    		• -

    Academy Honorary Awards

  • George Alfred Mitchell "for the design and development of the camera which bears his name and for his continued and dominant presence in the field of cinematography".
  • Joseph M. Schenck "for long and distinguished service to the motion picture industry".
  • Merian C. Cooper "for his many innovations and contributions to the art of motion pictures".
  • Harold Lloyd "master comedian and good citizen".
  • Bob Hope "for his contribution to the laughter of the world, his service to the motion picture industry, and his devotion to the American premise".
  • Plymouth Adventure for Best Special Effects.

    Best Foreign Language Film

  • Forbidden Games

    Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

  • Cecil B. DeMille

    Presenters and performers

    • Presenters

    Performers

    NameRolePerformed
    Musical arranger and conductorOrchestral
    Performer“Thumbelina” from Hans Christian Andersen
    Performer“Because You’re Mine” from Because You're Mine

    Johnny Mercer    		Performers“Zing a Little Zong” from Just for You
    Performer“High Noon ” from High Noon

    Marilyn Maxwell    		Performers“Am I in Love?” from Son of Paleface
    Academy Awards OrchestraPerformers"There's No Business Like Show Business" during the closing credits

    In attendance

    Among the 2,800 in attendance at the Pantages Theatre were:
    The 25th Academy Awards ceremony was the first to be broadcast on television:
    The telecast was prompted by the need to finance the bi-coastal ceremony. When three of the film studios refused to provide their customary financial support, the RCA Victor Division of the Radio Corporation of America agreed to pay AMPAS $100,000 as a sponsorship fee. NBC telecast the bicoastal ceremony over its 64-station television network and on its 174-station radio system. The Armed Forces Radio Service recorded the proceedings for later broadcast. While in the United States the show was televised live on NBC, in Canada the live show was broadcast on CCTV installed at several movie theaters in Montreal and Toronto relaying NBC's feed. In Mexico City, XHGC-TV had to broadcast a 'Kinephoto' of the ceremony the following night because no TV network in that country had a station in the U.S.-Mexico border until 1955. In the United Kingdom, the BBC Television Service had to broadcast a film recording of the televised ceremony on March 21. With videotape technology still in its infancy, U.K. television standards conversion different from the U.S. and satellite broadcasting still a decade away, a live broadcast to Europe was impossible.
    The technology used for television at the time meant that Bob Hope had to wear a blue dress shirt with his formal dinner jacket; the traditional white shirt would have been too bright.

    Trivia

    When Shirley Booth accepted the award for best actress in New York City, she was so excited that she tripped slightly on the way up to accept "one of the most unsurprising awards in Academy history". She thanked "old friends for faith, new friends for hope and everyone for their charity".
    The show was broadcast from 10:30 p.m. to 12:15 am, switching back and forth from host Bob Hope on the West Coast to Conrad Nagel on the East Coast. The late start was made to accommodate those nominees who were performing that night on the Broadway stage.

    Multiple nominations and awards

    These films had multiple nominations:
    The following films received multiple awards.