51st Academy Awards


The 51st Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, honored films released in 1978 and took place on April 9, 1979, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 7:00 p.m. PST / 10:00 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards in 22 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Jack Haley Jr. and directed by Marty Pasetta. Comedian and talk show host Johnny Carson hosted the show for the first time. Three days earlier in a ceremony held at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, on April 6, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by hosts Gregory Peck and Christopher Reeve.
The Deer Hunter won five awards including Best Picture. Other winners included Coming Home with three awards, Midnight Express with two awards, and The Buddy Holly Story, California Suite, Days of Heaven, Death on the Nile, The Flight of the Gossamer Condor, Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, Heaven Can Wait, Scared Straight!, Special Delivery, Superman, Teenage Father and Thank God It's Friday with one.

Ceremony

The ceremony, held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Downtown Los Angeles, California, was hosted by late night talk host Johnny Carson for the first time. Jack Elliott and Allyn Ferguson served as musical directors for the telecast. Singers Sammy Davis Jr. and Steve Lawrence performed a medley called "Oscar's Only Human" which was composed of movie songs that were not nominated for Best Original Song. Initially the Academy's music branch protested that the segment be dropped from the ceremony, but it was kept intact after Haley threatened to leave his position as producer and pull Carson from emcee duties.
It was also remembered for being the final public appearance of Oscar-winning actor John Wayne, where he was given a standing ovation before presenting the award for Best Picture. On June 11, two months after the ceremony, he died from complications from stomach cancer at age 72. This was also the final public appearance for Jack Haley, presenter of the Best Costume Design with his Wizard of Oz co-star Ray Bolger as well as the father of the producer, as he died on June 6 of that year.

Winners and nominees

The nominees for the 51st Academy Awards were announced on February 20, 1979 by Academy president Howard W. Koch an actress Susan Blakely. The Deer Hunter and Heaven Can Wait tied for the most nominations with nine each. The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on April 9. Best Director nominees Warren Beatty and Buck Henry became the second pair of directors nominated in that category for the same film; Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise had won for co-directing 1961's West Side Story. Furthermore, Beatty was the first person to earn acting, directing, producing, and screenwriting nominations for the same film. With Jon Voight and Jane Fonda's respective wins in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories, Coming Home was the fourth film to win both lead acting awards. Best Supporting Actress winner Maggie Smith became the only person to win an Oscar for playing an Oscar loser.

Awards

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

  • Michael Cimino – The Deer Hunter
  • *Hal Ashby – Coming Home
  • *Warren Beatty and Buck Henry – Heaven Can Wait
  • *Woody Allen – Interiors
  • *Alan Parker – Midnight Express
    • Best ActorBest Actress
  • Jon Voight – Coming Home as Luke Martin
  • *Warren Beatty – Heaven Can Wait as Joe Pendleton/Leo Farnsworth/Tom Jarrett
  • *Gary Busey – The Buddy Holly Story as Buddy Holly
  • *Robert De Niro – The Deer Hunter as Sergeant Michael "Mike" Vronsky
  • *Laurence Olivier – The Boys from Brazil as Ezra Lieberman
  • Jane Fonda – Coming Home as Sally Hyde
  • *Ingrid Bergman – Autumn Sonata as Charlotte Andergast
  • *Ellen Burstyn – Same Time, Next Year as Doris
  • *Jill Clayburgh – An Unmarried Woman as Erica Benton
  • *Geraldine Page – Interiors as Eve
    • Best Supporting ActorBest Supporting Actress
  • Christopher Walken – The Deer Hunter as Corporal Nikanor "Nick" Chevotarevich
  • *Bruce Dern – Coming Home as Captain Bob Hyde
  • *Richard Farnsworth – Comes a Horseman as Dodger
  • *John Hurt – Midnight Express as Max
  • *Jack Warden – Heaven Can Wait as Max Corkle
  • Maggie Smith – California Suite as Diana Barrie
  • *Dyan Cannon – Heaven Can Wait as Julia Farnsworth
  • *Penelope Milford – Coming Home as Vi Munson
  • *Maureen Stapleton – Interiors as Pearl
  • *Meryl Streep – The Deer Hunter as Linda
    • Best Screenplay Written Directly for the ScreenBest Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
  • Coming Home – Story by Nancy Dowd; Screenplay by Waldo Salt and Robert C. Jones
  • *Autumn Sonata – Ingmar Bergman
  • *The Deer Hunter – Story by Michael Cimino, Deric Washburn, Louis Garfinkle and Quinn Redeker; Screenplay by Deric Washburn
  • *Interiors – Woody Allen
  • *An Unmarried Woman – Paul Mazursky
  • Midnight Express – Oliver Stone based on the book by Billy Hayes and William Hoffer
  • *Bloodbrothers – Walter Newman based on the novel by Richard Price
  • *California Suite – Neil Simon based on his play
  • *Heaven Can Wait – Elaine May and Warren Beatty based on the play by Harry Segall
  • *Same Time, Next Year – Bernard Slade based on his play
    • Best Foreign Language FilmBest Documentary Feature
  • Get Out Your Handkerchiefs
  • *The Glass Cell
  • *Hungarians
  • *Viva Italia!
  • *White Bim Black Ear
  • Scared Straight! – Arnold Shapiro
  • *The Lovers' Wind – Albert Lamorisse
  • *Mysterious Castles of Clay – Joan Root and Alan Root
  • *Raoni – Jean-Pierre Dutilleux and Luiz Carlos Saldanha
  • *' – Lorraine Gray
    • Best Documentary Short SubjectBest Live Action Short Film
  • The Flight of the Gossamer Condor – Jacqueline Phillips Shedd and Ben Shedd
  • *'
  • *An Encounter with Faces – Vidhu Vinod Chopra and K. K. Kapil
  • *Goodnight Miss Ann
  • *Squires of San Quentin
  • Teenage Father – Taylor Hackford
  • *A Different Approach – Jim Belcher and Fern Field
  • *Mandy's Grandmother – Andrew Sugerman
  • *Strange Fruit – Seth Pinsker
    • Best Animated Short FilmBest Original Score
  • Special Delivery – Eunice Macauley and John Weldon
  • *Oh My Darling – Nico Crama
  • *Rip Van Winkle – Will Vinton
  • Midnight Express – Giorgio Moroder
  • *The Boys from Brazil – Jerry Goldsmith
  • *Days of Heaven – Ennio Morricone
  • *Heaven Can Wait – Dave Grusin
  • *Superman – John Williams
    • Best Adaptation ScoreBest Original Song
  • The Buddy Holly Story – Joe Renzetti
  • *Pretty Baby – Jerry Wexler
  • *The Wiz – Quincy Jones
  • "Last Dance" from Thank God It's Friday – Music and Lyrics by Paul Jabara
  • *"Hopelessly Devoted to You" from Grease – Music and Lyrics by John Farrar
  • *"The Last Time I Felt Like This" from Same Time, Next Year – Music by Marvin Hamlisch; Lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman
  • *"Ready to Take a Chance Again" from Foul Play – Music by Charles Fox; Lyrics by Norman Gimbel
  • *"When You're Loved" from The Magic of Lassie – Music and Lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
    • Best SoundBest Costume Design
  • The Deer Hunter – Richard Portman, William McCaughey, Aaron Rochin and Darin Knight
  • *The Buddy Holly Story – Tex Rudloff, Joel Fein, Curly Thirlwell and Willie D. Burton
  • *Days of Heaven – John Wilkinson, Robert W. Glass Jr., John T. Reitz and Barry Thomas
  • *Hooper – Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don MacDougall and Jack Solomon
  • *Superman – Gordon McCallum, Graham V. Hartstone, Nicolas Le Messurier and Roy Charman
  • Death on the Nile – Anthony Powell
  • *Caravans – Renié
  • *Days of Heaven – Patricia Norris
  • *The Swarm – Paul Zastupnevich
  • *The Wiz – Tony Walton
    • Best Art DirectionBest Cinematography
  • Heaven Can Wait – Art Direction: Paul Sylbert and Edwin O'Donovan; Set Decoration: George Gaines
  • *The Brink's Job – Art Direction: Dean Tavoularis and Angelo P. Graham; Set Decoration: George R. Nelson and Bruce Kay
  • *California Suite – Art Direction: Albert Brenner; Set Decoration: Marvin March
  • *Interiors – Art Direction: Mel Bourne; Set Decoration: Daniel Robert
  • *The Wiz – Art Direction: Tony Walton and Philip Rosenberg; Set Decoration: Edward Stewart and Robert Drumheller
  • Days of Heaven – Néstor Almendros
  • *The Deer Hunter – Vilmos Zsigmond
  • *Heaven Can Wait – William A. Fraker
  • *Same Time, Next Year – Robert Surtees
  • *The Wiz – Oswald Morris
    • Best Film Editing-
  • The Deer Hunter – Peter Zinner
  • *The Boys from Brazil – Robert E. Swink
  • *Coming Home – Don Zimmerman
  • *Midnight Express – Gerry Hambling
  • *Superman – Stuart Baird
    		• -

    Academy Honorary Awards

  • Laurence Olivier For the full body of his work, for the unique achievements of his entire career and his lifetime of contribution to the art of film."
  • Walter Lantz For fearlessly breaking boundaries in pursuit of his singular cinematic vision.
  • King Vidor For his incomparable achievements as a cinematic creator and innovator.
  • Museum of Modern Art Department of Film For the contribution it has made to the public's perception of movies as an art form.

    Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

  • Leo Jaffe

    Special Achievement Award

  • Les Bowie, Colin Chilvers, Denys Coop, Roy Field, Derek Meddings and Zoran Perisic for the visual effects of Superman.

    Multiple nominations and awards

    • The following 14 films had multiple nominations:
    NominationsFilm
    9The Deer Hunter
    9Heaven Can Wait
    8Coming Home
    6Midnight Express
    5Interiors
    4Days of Heaven
    4Same Time, Next Year
    4The Wiz
    3The Boys from Brazil
    3The Buddy Holly Story
    3California Suite
    3An Unmarried Woman
    3Superman
    2Autumn Sonata

    The following three films received multiple awards.
    AwardsFilm
    5The Deer Hunter
    3Coming Home
    2Midnight Express

    Presenters and performers

    The following individuals presented awards or performed musical numbers:

    Presenters

    Performers