50th Academy Awards

Infobox Academy Awards | name = 50th
date = Monday, April 3, 1978
site = Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles
host = Bob Hope
producer = Howard W. Koch
director = Marty Pasetta
duration = 3 hours, 30 minutes
network = ABC
ratings = 39.73 million
31.1% (Nielsen ratings) [ [http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/and-the-oscar-goes-to-fewer-tv-viewers-283/?mod=googlenews_wsj The Numbers Guy : And the Oscar Goes to... Fewer TV Viewers ] ]
last = 49th
next = 51st

The 50th Academy Awards were held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California on April 3 1978. The ceremonies were presided over by Bob Hope, who hosted the awards for the eighteenth and last time. Two of the year's biggest winners were "", which swept the Oscars by winning 6 out of 10 nominations, and "Annie Hall", winning 4 out of 5 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Director. This incarnation of the awards show was also notable for a very politically-charged acceptance speech by Vanessa Redgrave.

Redgrave speech

During the ceremony, Vanessa Redgrave won the Best Supporting Actress award for "Julia", and, aware of members of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) protesting outside, made the following comments:

Cquote|My dear colleagues, I thank you very much for this tribute to my work. I think that Jane Fonda, and I have done the best work of our lives and I think this is in part due to our director, Fred Zinnemann. " [Audience applause.] "

And I also think it's in part because we believed and we believe in what we were expressing--two out of millions who gave their lives and were prepared to sacrifice everything in the fight against fascist and racist Nazi Germany.

And I salute you, and I pay tribute to you, and I think you should be very proud that in the last few weeks you've stood firm, and you have refused to be intimidated by the threats of a small bunch of Zionist hoodlums [gasps from the audience, followed by a smattering of boos and clapping] whose behavior is an insult to the stature of Jews all over the world and their great and heroic record of struggle against fascism and oppression. " [General applause] "

And I salute that record and I salute all of you for having stood firm and dealt a final blow against that period when Nixon and McCarthy launched a worldwide witch-hunt against those who tried to express in their lives and their work the truth that they believe in" [some boos and hissing] ". I salute you and I thank you and I pledge to you that I will continue to fight against anti-Semitism and fascism.

Two hours later, [John Bradey, "The craft of the screenwriter", 1981. Page 57] when it came his turn to announce an award winner (for Best Writing), Paddy Chayefsky, perturbed by what he perceived as "cracks about Jews" [John Bradey, "The craft of the screenwriter", 1981. Page 57] at the Academy Awards, replied:

Cquote|Before I get on to the writing awards, there's a little matter I'd like to tidy up--at least if I expect to live with myself tomorrow morning. I would like to say, personal opinion, of course, that I'm sick and tired of people exploiting the Academy Awards [loud applause] for the propagation of their own personal propaganda.

I would like to suggest to Miss Redgrave that her winning an Academy Award is not a pivotal moment in history, does not require a proclamation and a simple 'thank you' would have sufficed. [Loud applause.]

tar Wars

Released in May 1977, ' was the year's highest-grossing motion picture. At the time, no other science-fiction film had been a contender for the Oscars, save Stanley Kubrick's ' which was nominated for its direction and won an Oscar for its visual effects. For the ceremony, Anthony Daniels was a presenter in character as C3PO. Out of 32 nominations the studio Twentieth Century Fox gained, the film was nominated for the ten categories as follows:

"Note: The winners below are those listed in strongly emphasized text."

*Best Picture - Gary Kurtz, George Lucas
*Best Director - George Lucas
*Best Supporting Actor - Alec Guinness
*Best Original Screenplay - George Lucas
*Best Music, Original Score - John Williams
*Best Editing - Marcia Lucas, Paul Hirsch
*Best Visual Effects - John Dykstra
*Best Costume Design- John Mollo
*Best Art Direction - John Barry
*Best Sound - Doug MacDougall

In addition, sound effect artist Ben Burtt was also awarded an Honorary Achievement Oscar for creating the sound effects of the creatures, robots, and resurrecting the now-common Wilhelm scream.

Winners & Nominees

Best Picture

"Annie Hall"
*"The Goodbye Girl"
*"Julia"
*"Star Wars"
*"The Turning Point"

Best Director

"Annie Hall - Woody Allen"
*"Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Steven Spielberg"
*"Julia - Fred Zinnemann"
*"Star Wars - George Lucas"
*"The Turning Point - Herbert Ross"

Best Actor in a Leading Role

"The Goodbye Girl - Richard Dreyfuss"
*"Annie Hall - Woody Allen"
*"Equus - Richard Burton"
*"Saturday Night Fever - John Travolta"
*"A Special Day - Marcello Mastroianni"

Best Actress in a Leading Role

"Annie Hall - Diane Keaton"
*"The Goodbye Girl - Marsha Mason"
*"Julia - Jane Fonda"
*"The Turning Point - Anne Bancroft"
*"The Turning Point - Shirley MacLaine"

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

"Julia - Jason Robards"
*"Equus - Peter Firth"
*"Julia - Maximilian Schell"
*"Star Wars - Alec Guiness"
*"The Turning Point - Mikhail Baryshnikov"

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

"Julia - Vanessa Redgrave"
*"Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Melinda Dillon"
*"The Goodbye Girl - Quinn Cummings"
*"Looking for Mr. Goodbar - Tuesday Weld"
*"The Turning Point - Leslie Browne"

Best Original Screenplay

"Annie Hall - Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman"
*"The Goodbye Girl - Neil Simon"
*"The Late Show - Robert Benton"
*"Star Wars - George Lucas"
*"The Turning Point - Arthur Laurents"

Best Adapted Screenplay

"Julia - Alvin Sargent"
*"Equus - Peter Shaffer"
*"I Never Promised You a Rose Garden - Gavin Lambert and Lewis John Carlino"
*"Oh, God! - Larry Gelbart"
*"That Obscure Object of Desire - Luis Bunuel and Jean-Claude Carriere"

Best Cinematography

"Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Vilmos Zsigmond"

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration

"Star Wars - John Barry , Norman Reynolds , Leslie Dilley and Roger Christian"

Best Costume Design

"Star Wars - John Mollo"

Best Sound

"Star Wars - Don MacDougall , Ray West , Bob Minkler and Derek Ball"

Best Film Editing

"Star Wars - Paul Hirsch , Marcia Lucas and Richard Chew"

Best Effects, Visual Effects

"Star Wars - John Stears , John Dykstra , Richard Edlund , Grant McCune and Robert Blalack"

Best Music, Original Song

"You Light Up My Life - Joseph Brooks for the song You Light Up My Life"

Best Music, Original Score

"Star Wars - John Williams"

Best Music, Original Song Score and it's Adaptation

"A Little Night Music - Jonathan Menick"

Best Short Film, Animated

"The Sand Castle"

Best Short Film, Live Action

"I'll Find a Way"

Best Documentary, Short Subjects

"Gravity Is My Enemy"

Best Documentary, Features

"Who Are the DeBolts?"

Best Foreign Language Film

"Madame Rosa - France"

pecial honors

The Academy gave the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to Walter Mirisch and The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Charlton Heston.

References

ee also

*Academy Awards
*List of Academy Awards ceremonies

External links

* [http://www.eonline.com/Features/Awards/Oscars2003/75Days/1978.html E! Online - 75 Years of Oscar - 1978]
* [http://us.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Academy_Awards_USA/1978 IMDb: Academy Awards, USA: 1978]
* [http://www.filmsite.org/aa77.html filmsite.org: 1977 Academy Awards Winners and History]
* [http://www.super70s.com/Super70s/Movies/1977/Redgrave_Zionism_Speech.asp Redgrave's 'Zionist Hoodlums' Speech Shocks Hollywood]