47th Academy Awards


The 47th Academy Awards were presented Tuesday, April 8, 1975, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, honoring the best films of 1974. The ceremonies were presided over by Bob Hope, Shirley MacLaine, Sammy Davis Jr., and Frank Sinatra. This was the last year NBC aired the ceremonies before ABC secured broadcasting rights, which they still hold to this day.
The success of The Godfather Part II was notable; it received twice as many Oscars as its predecessor and duplicated its feat of three Best Supporting Actor nominations. Between the two of them, father and son Carmine and Francis Ford Coppola won four awards, with Carmine winning for Best Original Dramatic Score and Francis for Picture, Director, and Best Screenplay Adapted from Other Material.
This was the only Oscars where all nominees in one category were released by the same studio: all five Best Costume Design nominations were for films released by Paramount Pictures.

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger.
Best PictureBest Director

  • Francis Ford Coppola – The Godfather Part II
  • *Roman Polanski – Chinatown
  • *François Truffaut – Day for Night
  • *Bob Fosse – Lenny
  • *John Cassavetes – A Woman Under the Influence
    • Best ActorBest Actress
  • Art Carney – Harry and Tonto as Harry Coombes
  • *Albert Finney – Murder on the Orient Express as Hercule Poirot
  • *Dustin Hoffman – Lenny as Lenny Bruce
  • *Jack Nicholson – Chinatown as J.J. "Jake" Gittes
  • *Al Pacino – The Godfather Part II as Michael Corleone
  • Ellen Burstyn – Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore as Alice Hyatt
  • *Diahann Carroll – Claudine as Claudine Price
  • *Faye Dunaway – Chinatown as Evelyn Cross Mulwray
  • *Valerie Perrine – Lenny as Honey Bruce
  • *Gena Rowlands – A Woman Under the Influence as Mabel Longhetti
    • Best Supporting ActorBest Supporting Actress
  • Robert De Niro – The Godfather Part II as Vito Corleone
  • *Fred Astaire – The Towering Inferno as Harlee Claiborne
  • *Jeff Bridges – Thunderbolt and Lightfoot as Lightfoot
  • *Michael V. Gazzo – The Godfather Part II as Frank Pentangeli
  • *Lee Strasberg – The Godfather Part II as Hyman Roth
  • Ingrid Bergman – Murder on the Orient Express as Greta Ohlsson
  • *Valentina Cortese – Day for Night as Severine
  • *Madeline Kahn – Blazing Saddles as Lili von Shtupp
  • *Diane Ladd – Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore as Florence "Flo" Castleberry
  • *Talia Shire – The Godfather Part II as Connie Corleone
    • Best Original ScreenplayBest Screenplay Adapted from Other Material
  • Chinatown – Robert Towne
  • *Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore – Robert Getchell
  • *The Conversation – Francis Ford Coppola
  • *Day for Night – François Truffaut, Suzanne Schiffman and Jean-Louis Richard
  • *Harry and Tonto – Paul Mazursky and Josh Greenfeld
  • The Godfather Part II – Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo based on the novel The Godfather by Mario Puzo
  • *The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz – Mordecai Richler and Lionel Chetwynd based on the novel by Mordecai Richler
  • *Lenny – Julian Barry based on his play
  • *Murder on the Orient Express – Paul Dehn based on the novel by Agatha Christie
  • *Young Frankenstein – Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
    • Best Documentary FeatureBest Documentary Short Subject
  • Hearts and Minds – Peter Davis
  • *The 81st Blow – Haim Gouri
  • *' – Judy Collins and Jill Godmilow
  • *The Challenge... A Tribute to Modern Art – Herbert Kline
  • *The Wild and the Brave – Natalie R. Jones and Eugene S. Jones
  • Don't – Robin Lehman
  • *City Out of Wilderness
  • *Exploratorium
  • *John Muir's High Sierra
  • *Naked Yoga
    • Best Live Action Short FilmBest Animated Short Film
  • One-Eyed Men Are Kings – Paul Claudon and Edmond Sechan
  • *Climb – Dewitt Jones
  • *The Concert – Julian Chagrin and Claude Chagrin
  • *Planet Ocean – George V. Casey
  • *The Violin – Andrew Welsh and George Pastic
  • Closed Mondays – Will Vinton and Bob Gardiner
  • *The Family That Dwelt Apart – Yvon Mallette and Robert Verrall
  • *Hunger – Peter Foldes and René Jodoin
  • *Voyage to Next – John Hubley and Faith Hubley
  • *Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too – Wolfgang Reitherman
    • Best Original Dramatic ScoreBest Scoring: Original Song Score and Adaptation or Scoring: Adaptation
  • The Godfather Part II – Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola
  • * Chinatown – Jerry Goldsmith
  • * Murder on the Orient Express – Richard Rodney Bennett
  • * Shanks – Alex North
  • * The Towering Inferno – John Williams
  • The Great Gatsby – Adapted by Nelson Riddle
  • * The Little Prince – Song Score by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe; Adapted by Angela Morley and Douglas Gamley
  • * Phantom of the Paradise – Song Score by Paul Williams; Adapted by Paul Williams and George Aliceson Tipton
    • Best SongBest Sound
  • "We May Never Love Like This Again" — The Towering Inferno • Music and Lyrics by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn
  • * "Benji's Theme " — Benji • Music by Euel Box • Lyrics by Betty Box
  • * "Blazing Saddles" — Blazing Saddles • Music by John Morris • Lyrics by Mel Brooks
  • * "Little Prince" — The Little Prince • Music by Frederick Loewe • Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
  • * "Wherever Love Takes Me" — Gold • Music by Elmer Bernstein • Lyrics by Don Black
  • Earthquake – Ronald Pierce and Melvin Metcalfe Sr.
  • * Chinatown – Bud Grenzbach and Larry Jost
  • * The Conversation – Walter Murch and Arthur Rochester
  • * The Towering Inferno – Theodore Soderberg and Herman Lewis
  • * Young Frankenstein – Richard Portman and Gene Cantamessa
    • Best Foreign Language FilmBest Costume Design
  • Amarcord – Italy
  • * Cats' Play – Hungary
  • * The Deluge – Poland
  • * Lacombe, Lucien – France
  • * The Truce – Argentina
  • The Great Gatsby – Theoni V. Aldredge
  • * Chinatown – Anthea Sylbert
  • * Daisy Miller – John Furniss
  • * The Godfather Part II – Theadora Van Runkle
  • * Murder on the Orient Express – Tony Walton
    • Best Art DirectionBest Cinematography
  • The Godfather Part II – Art Direction: Dean Tavoularis and Angelo P. Graham: Set Decoration: George R. Nelson
  • *Chinatown – Art Direction: Richard Sylbert and W. Stewart Campbell; Set Decoration: Ruby R. Levitt
  • *Earthquake – Art Direction: Alexander Golitzen and E. Preston Ames; Set Decoration: Frank R. McKelvy
  • *The Island at the Top of the World – Art Direction: Peter Ellenshaw, John B. Mansbridge, Walter H. Tyler and Al Roelofs; Set Decoration: Hal Gausman
  • *The Towering Inferno – Art Direction: William J. Creber and Ward Preston; Set Decoration: Raphaël Bretton
  • The Towering Inferno – Joseph Biroc and Fred J. Koenekamp
  • *Chinatown – John A. Alonzo
  • *Earthquake – Philip H. Lathrop
  • *Lenny – Bruce Surtees
  • *Murder on the Orient Express – Geoffrey Unsworth
    • Best Film Editing
  • The Towering Inferno — Harold F. Kress and Carl Kress'
  • * Blazing Saddles — John C. Howard and Danford Greene
  • * Chinatown — Sam O'Steen
  • * Earthquake — Dorothy Spencer
  • * The Longest Yard'' — Michael Luciano

    • Special Achievement Award

  • Frank Brendel, Glen Robinson, and Albert Whitlock for the visual effects of Earthquake

    Academy Honorary Award

  • Jean Renoir
  • Howard Hawks

    Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

  • Arthur B. Krim

    Multiple nominations and awards

    • These films had multiple nominations:
    The following films received multiple awards.
    The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.

    Presenters

    Performers