29th Academy Awards


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. 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, George Stevens' Giant, Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, 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 for The Brave One was awarded to Robert Rich, a pseudonym of Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted at the time and thus unable to receive 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, as the nomination had been intended for the musical starring Grace Kelly, while Bernds and Ullman had instead written a Bowery Boys film of the same name. In fact, the nomination was a double mistake, as High Society was based on the play and film The Philadelphia Story and probably would not have qualified as an original story anyway.
James Dean became the only actor to receive a second posthumous – and consecutive – nomination for acting.
Ingrid Bergman was not present to collect her award for Best Actress: Cary Grant accepted it on her behalf. She did, however, list the nominees for Best Director via a pre-recorded segment from a rooftop in Paris. The winner was announced by host Jerry Lewis.
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.
Best Motion PictureBest Director

  • George Stevens – Giant
  • *Michael Anderson – Around the World in 80 Days
  • *William Wyler – Friendly Persuasion
  • *Walter Lang – The King and I
  • *King Vidor – War and Peace
    • Best ActorBest Actress
  • Yul Brynner – The King and I as King Mongkut of Siam
  • *James Dean – Giant as Jett Rink
  • *Kirk Douglas – Lust for Life as Vincent van Gogh
  • *Rock Hudson – Giant as Jordan "Bick" Benedict Jr.
  • *Laurence Olivier – Richard III as Richard
  • Ingrid Bergman – Anastasia as Anna Koreff
  • *Carroll Baker – Baby Doll as Baby Doll Meighan
  • *Katharine Hepburn – The Rainmaker as Lizzie Curry
  • *Nancy Kelly – The Bad Seed as Christine Penmark
  • *Deborah Kerr – The King and I as Anna Leonowens
    • Best Supporting ActorBest Supporting Actress
  • Anthony Quinn – Lust for Life as Paul Gauguin
  • *Don Murray – Bus Stop as Beauregard Decker
  • *Anthony Perkins – Friendly Persuasion as Josh Birdwell
  • *Mickey Rooney – The Bold and the Brave as Dooley
  • *Robert Stack – Written on the Wind as Kyle Hadley
  • Dorothy Malone – Written on the Wind as Marylee Hadley
  • *Mildred Dunnock – Baby Doll as Aunt Rose Comfort
  • *Eileen Heckart – The Bad Seed as Hortense Daigle
  • *Mercedes McCambridge – Giant as Luz Benedict
  • *Patty McCormack – The Bad Seed as Rhoda Penmark
    • Best Screenplay - OriginalBest Screenplay - Adapted
  • The Red Balloon – Albert Lamorisse
  • *The Bold and the Brave – Robert Lewin
  • *Julie – Andrew L. Stone
  • *La Strada – Federico Fellini and Tullio Pinelli
  • *The Ladykillers – William Rose
  • Around the World in 80 Days – James Poe, John Farrow and S. J. Perelman based on the novel by Jules Verne
  • *Baby Doll – Tennessee Williams based on his short plays Twenty-seven Wagons Full of Cotton and The Unsatisfactory Supper
  • *Friendly Persuasion – Michael Wilson based on the novel by Jessamyn West
  • *Giant – Ivan Moffat and Fred Guiol based on the novel by Edna Ferber
  • *Lust for Life – Norman Corwin based on the novel by Irving Stone
    • Best StoryBest Foreign Language Film
  • The Brave One – Dalton Trumbo
  • *The Eddy Duchin Story – Leo Katcher
  • *High Society – Edward Bernds and Elwood Ullman
  • *The Proud and the Beautiful – Jean-Paul Sartre
  • *Umberto D. – Cesare Zavattini
  • La Strada
  • *The Burmese Harp
  • *The Captain from Köpenick
  • *Gervaise
  • *Qivitoq
    • Best Documentary FeatureBest Documentary Short Subject
  • The Silent World
  • *The Naked Eye
  • *Where Mountains Float
  • The True Story of the Civil War
  • *A City Decides
  • *The Dark Wave
  • *The House Without a Name
  • *Man in Space
    • Best Live Action Short Subject, One-ReelBest Live Action Short Subject, Two-Reel
  • Crashing the Water Barrier
  • *I Never Forget a Face
  • *Time Stood Still
  • The Bespoke Overcoat
  • *Cow Dog
  • *The Dark Wave
  • *Samoa
    • Best Short Subject – CartoonsBest Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
  • Magoo's Puddle Jumper
  • *Gerald McBoing-Boing on Planet Moo
  • *The Jay Walker
  • Around the World in 80 Days – Victor Young
  • *Anastasia – Alfred Newman
  • *Between Heaven and Hell – Hugo Friedhofer
  • *Giant – Dimitri Tiomkin
  • *The Rainmaker – Alex North
    • Best Scoring of a Musical PictureBest Song
  • The King and I – Alfred Newman and Ken Darby
  • *The Best Things in Life Are Free – Lionel Newman
  • *The Eddy Duchin Story – Morris Stoloff and George Duning
  • *High Society – Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin
  • *Meet Me in Las Vegas – Georgie Stoll and Johnny Green
  • "Que Sera, Sera " from The Man Who Knew Too Much – Music and Lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans
  • *"Friendly Persuasion " from Friendly Persuasion – Music by Dimitri Tiomkin; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
  • *"Julie" from Julie – Music by Leith Stevens; Lyrics by Tom Adair
  • *"True Love" from High Society – Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
  • *"Written on the Wind" from Written on the Wind – Music by Victor Young ; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
    • Best Sound RecordingBest Art Direction, Black-and-White
  • The King and I – Carlton W. Faulkner
  • *The Brave One – Buddy Myers
  • *The Eddy Duchin Story – John P. Livadary
  • *Friendly Persuasion – Gordon R. Glennan and Gordon E. Sawyer
  • *The Ten Commandments – Loren L. Ryder
  • Somebody Up There Likes Me – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Malcolm Brown; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason
  • *The Proud and Profane – Art Direction: Hal Pereira and A. Earl Hedrick; Set Decoration: Samuel M. Comer and Frank R. McKelvy
  • *Seven Samurai – Art Direction and Set Decoration: So Matsuyama
  • *The Solid Gold Cadillac – Art Direction: Ross Bellah; Set Decoration: William Kiernan and Louis Diage
  • *Teenage Rebel – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and Jack Martin Smith; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott and Stuart A. Reiss
    • Best Art Direction, ColorBest Cinematography, Black-and-White
  • The King and I – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and John DeCuir; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott and Paul S. Fox
  • *Around the World in 80 Days – Art Direction: James W. Sullivan and Ken Adam; Set Decoration: Ross Dowd
  • *Giant – Art Direction: Boris Leven; Set Decoration: Ralph S. Hurst
  • *Lust for Life – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters and E. Preston Ames; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason
  • *The Ten Commandments – Art Direction: Hal Pereira, Walter H. Tyler and Albert Nozaki; Set Decoration: Samuel M. Comer and Ray Moyer
  • Somebody Up There Likes Me – Joseph Ruttenberg
  • *Baby Doll – Boris Kaufman
  • *The Bad Seed – Harold Rosson
  • *The Harder They Fall – Burnett Guffey
  • *Stagecoach to Fury – Walter Strenge
    • Best Cinematography, ColorBest Costume Design, Black-and-White
  • Around the World in 80 Days – Lionel Lindon
  • *The Eddy Duchin Story – Harry Stradling
  • *The King and I – Leon Shamroy
  • *The Ten Commandments – Loyal Griggs
  • *War and Peace – Jack Cardiff
  • The Solid Gold Cadillac – Jean Louis
  • *The Power and the Prize – Helen Rose
  • *The Proud and Profane – Edith Head
  • *Seven Samurai – Kohei Ezaki
  • *Teenage Rebel – Charles LeMaire and Mary Wills
    • Best Costume Design, ColorBest Film Editing
  • The King and I – Irene Sharaff
  • *Around the World in 80 Days – Miles White
  • *Giant – Moss Mabry and Marjorie Best
  • *The Ten Commandments – Edith Head, Ralph Jester, John Jensen, Dorothy Jeakins and Arnold Friberg
  • *War and Peace – Maria De Matteis
  • Around the World in 80 Days – Gene Ruggiero and Paul Weatherwax
  • *The Brave One – Merrill G. White
  • *Giant – William Hornbeck, Philip W. Anderson and Fred Bohanan
  • *Somebody Up There Likes Me – Albert Akst
  • *The Ten Commandments – Anne Bauchens
    • Best Special Effects-
  • The Ten Commandments – John P. Fulton
  • *Forbidden Planet – A. Arnold Gillespie, Irving G. Ries and Wesley C. Miller
    		• -

    Academy Honorary Award

  • Eddie Cantor "for distinguished service to the film industry".

    Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

  • Buddy Adler

    Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

  • Y. Frank Freeman

    Presenters and performers

    • Presenters

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