61st Academy Awards

Infobox Academy Awards | name = 61st
poster =
caption = Rain Man
date = March 29, 1989
site = Shrine Auditorium
Los Angeles, California
host = None
producer = Allan Carr
director = Jeff Margolis
duration = 3 hours, 19 minutes
network = ABC
ratings = 42.77 million
last = 60th
next = 62ndThe 61st Academy Awards were presented March 29, 1989 at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles.

Production background

The producers of the ceremony attempted to change established Oscar traditions for this year's show. One noticeable difference was that instead of an award presenter saying, "and the winner is.." they'd say, "and the Oscar goes to...". Many however, continued announcing winners with the traditional line. In addition, there was no official host for the ceremony this year. The show's opening number consisted of an elaborate stage-show featuring Merv Griffin, Snow White (portrayed by actress Eileen Bowman), and Rob Lowe - the latter two singing an unpopular rendition of the song "Proud Mary". The Walt Disney Company considered suing for defamation of character for use of the likeness of Snow White, but later dropped the suit. This debacle, in addition to the changes made by the producers, led to the television broadcast receiving a disastrous reception. Consequently, producer Allan Carr would not return to produce the ceremony again, and future ceremonies would not open with a lavish "Broadway-style" opening number until the 74th Academy Awards.

Winners & Nominees

Best Picture

"Rain Man"
*"The Accidental Tourist"
*"Dangerous Liaisons"
*"Mississippi Burning"
*"Working Girl"

Best Actor in a Leading Role

"Rain Man - Dustin Hoffman"
*"Big - Tom Hanks"
*"Mississippi Burning - Gene Hackman"
*"Pelle the Conqueror - Max von Sydow"
*"Stand and Deliver - Edward James Olmos"

Best Actress in a Leading Role

"The Accused - Jodie Foster"
*"Dangerous Liaisons - Glenn Close"
*"Evil Angels - Meryl Streep"
*" - Sigourney Weaver"
*"Working Girl - Melanie Griffith"

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

"A Fish Called Wanda - Kevin Kline"
*"Little Dorrit - Alec Guiness"
*"Married to the Mob - Dean Stockwell"
*"Running on Empty - River Phoenix"
*" - Martin Landau"

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

"The Accidental Tourist - Geena Davis"
*"Dangerous Liaisons - Michelle Pfeiffer"
*"Mississippi Burning - Frances McDormand"
*"Working Girl - Joan Cusack"
*"Working Girl - Sigourney Weaver"

Best Director

"Rain Man - Barry Levinson"
*"A Fish Called Wanda - Charles Crichton"
*"The Last Temptation of Christ - Martin Scorsese"
*"Mississippi Burning - Alan Parker"
*"Working Girl - Mike Nichols"

Best Original Screenplay

"Rain Man - Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow"
*"Big - Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg"
*"Bull Durham - Ron Shelton"
*"A Fish Called Wanda - John Cleese and Charles Crichton"
*"Running on Empty - Naomi Foner"

Best Adapted Screenplay

"Dangerous Liaisons - Christopher Hampton"
*"The Accidental Tourist - Frank Galati and Lawrence Kasdan"
*" - Anna Hamilton Phelan and Tab Murphy"
*"Little Dorrit - Christine Edzard"
*"The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Jean-Claude Carriere and Philip Kaufman"

Best Cinematography

"Mississippi Burning - Peter Biziou"

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration

"Dangerous Liaisons - Stuart Craig and Gerard James"

Best Costume Design

"Dangerous Liaisons - James Acheson"

Best Sound

"Bird - Les Fresholtz , Rick Alexander , Vern Poore and Willie D. Burton"

Best Film Editing

"Who Framed Roger Rabbit - Arthur Schmidt"

Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing

"Who Framed Roger Rabbit - Charles L. Campbell and Louis L. Edemann"

Best Effects, Visual Effects

"Who Framed Roger Rabbit - Ken Ralston , Richard Williams , Ed Jones and George Gibbs"

Best Makeup

"Beetle Juice - Ve Neill , Steve LaPorte and Robert Short"

Best Music, Original Song

"Working Girl - Carly Simon for the song Let the River Run"

Best Music, Original Score

"The Milagro Beanfield War - Dave Grusin"

Best Short Film, Animated

"Tin Toy"

Best Short Film, Live Action

"The Appointments of Dennis Jennings"

Best Documentary, Short Subjects

"You Don't Have To Die"

Best Documentary, Features

"Hotel Terminus"

Best Foreign Language Film

"Pelle the Conqueror - Denmark"

Additional notes

This was the final public appearance of Lucille Ball, who died less than one month later. Ball presented an Oscar with long-time friend Bob Hope.

Right before Cher was to present the award for Best Picture, she had an anxiety attack. Jack Nicholson was brought backstage to help calm her down and almost had to present the award with her.

Winner Hoffman, upon realizing he'd forgotten to thank Tom Cruise and director Barry Levinson in his Best Actor acceptance speech, asked Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn (who were presenting next) to please thank them for him before presenting their award, which Russell did. Then, when Hoffman and Cruise took the stage later in the show to present the Best Actress award, Hoffman said "In my nervousness, I left out the director's name and I left out Tom's name. Tom, thank you very much. I love you very much."