25th Academy Awards

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25th Academy Awards
DateMarch 19, 1953
SiteRKO Pantages Theatre
Hollywood, California
NBC International Theatre
New York City, New York
Hosted byBob Hope (Hollywood)
Conrad Nagel (emcee)
Fredric March (New York City)[1]
Highlights
Best PictureThe Greatest Show on Earth
Most awardsThe Bad and the Beautiful (5)
Most nominationsHigh Noon, Moulin Rouge, and The Quiet Man (7)
TV in the United States
NetworkNBC

The 25th Academy Awards ceremony was held on March 19, 1953. It took place at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, and the NBC International Theatre in New York City.

It was the first Academy Awards ceremony to be televised,[1] and the first ceremony to be held in Hollywood and New York City simultaneously. It was also the only year that the New York ceremonies were to be held in the NBC International Theatre on Columbus Circle, which was shortly thereafter demolished and replaced by the New York Coliseum convention center.[2][3]

A major upset occurred when the heavily favored High Noon lost to Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth, eventually considered among the worst films to have won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The American film magazine Premiere listed the film among the 10 worst Oscar winners[4] and the British film magazine Empire rated it #3 on their list of the 10 worst Oscar winners.[5] It has the lowest spot on Rotten Tomatoes' list of the 91 films to win Best Picture.[6] Of all the films nominated for the Oscar this year, only High Noon, and Singin' in the Rain would show up 46 years later on the American Film Institute list of the greatest American films of the 20th Century. Although it only received two nominations, Singin' in the Rain went on to be named as the greatest American musical film of all time and in the 2007 American Film Institute updated list as the fifth greatest American film of all time, while High Noon was ranked twenty-seventh on the same 2007 list, as well.

The Bad and the Beautiful won five awards, the most wins ever for a film not nominated for Best Picture. It was also the second Academy Awards in which a film not nominated for Best Picture received the most awards of the evening, excluding years where there were ties for the most wins. The only other film to do this was The Thief of Bagdad at the 13th Academy Awards; as of the 92nd Academy Awards, it has not happened since.

Until Spotlight won only Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the 88th Academy Awards, this was the last year in which the Best Picture winner won just two Oscars. It was also the second of three years to date in which two films not nominated for Best Picture received more nominations than the winner (The Bad and the Beautiful and Hans Christian Andersen, both with six). This occurred again at the 79th Academy Awards.

Shirley Booth was the last person born in the 19th century to win an Oscar in a Leading Role. She was also the first woman in her 50s to win the award, at the age of 54 (the second woman in her 50s to win, Julianne Moore, was 54 when awarded at the 87th Academy Awards).

John Ford's fourth win for Best Director set a record for the most wins in this category that remains unmatched to this day.

For the first time since the introduction of Supporting Actor and Actress awards in 1936, Best Picture, Best Director, and all four acting Oscars went to six different films. This has happened only three times since, at the 29th Academy Awards for 1956, the 78th for 2005, and the 85th for 2012.

Awards[]

Cecil B. DeMille; Best Picture winner
John Ford; Best Director winner
Gary Cooper; Best Actor winner
Shirley Booth; Best Actress winner
Anthony Quinn; Best Supporting Actor winner
Gloria Grahame; Best Supporting Actress winner
Cedric Gibbons; Best Art Direction, Black-and-White co-winner
Elmo Williams; Best Film Editing co-winner

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.[7]

Best Motion Picture Best Director
  • The Greatest Show on EarthCecil B. DeMille for Paramount Pictures double-dagger
    • High NoonStanley Kramer for United Artists 
    • IvanhoePandro S. Berman for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
    • Moulin RougeJohn Huston for United Artists 
    • The Quiet ManJohn Ford and Merian C. Cooper for Republic Pictures 
Best Actor Best Actress
  • Gary Cooper – High Noon as Marshall Will Kanedouble-dagger
    • Marlon Brando – Viva Zapata! as Emiliano Zapata
    • Kirk Douglas – The Bad and the Beautiful as Jonathan Shields
    • José Ferrer – Moulin Rouge as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec/Comte Alphonse de Toulouse-Lautrec
    • Alec Guinness – The Lavender Hill Mob as Henry "Dutch" Holland
Best Supporting Actor Best Supporting Actress
  • Anthony Quinn – Viva Zapata! as Eufemio Zapatadouble-dagger
    • Richard Burton – My Cousin Rachel as Philip Ashley
    • Arthur Hunnicutt – The Big Sky as Zeb Calloway
    • Victor McLaglen – The Quiet Man as Squire "Red" Will Danaher
    • Jack Palance – Sudden Fear as Lester Blaine
Best Screenplay Best Story and Screenplay
  • The Bad and the Beautiful – Charles Schneedouble-dagger from "Tribute to a Badman" by George Bradshaw
    • Five Fingers – Michael Wilson from Operation Cicero by Ludwig Carl Moyzisch
    • High Noon – Carl Foreman from "The Tin Star" by John W. Cunningham
    • The Man in the White Suit – Roger MacDougall, John Dighton and Alexander Mackendrick from The Man in the White Suit by Roger MacDougall
    • The Quiet Man – Frank S. Nugent from "Green Rushes" by Maurice Walsh
Best Story Best Documentary Feature
Best Documentary Short Subject Best Live Action Short Subject, One-Reel
Best Live Action Short Subject, Two-Reel Best Short Subject - Cartoons
Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture Best Scoring of a Musical Picture
Best Song Best Sound Recording
Best Art Direction, Black-and-White Best Art Direction, Color
  • The Bad and the Beautiful – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Edward Carfagno; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleasondouble-dagger
    • Carrie – Art Direction: Hal Pereira and Roland Anderson; Set Decoration: Emile Kuri
    • My Cousin Rachel – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and John DeCuir; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott
    • Rashomon – Art Direction: So Matsuyama; Set Decoration: H. Matsumoto
    • Viva Zapata! – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and Leland Fuller; Set Decoration: Thomas Little and Claude Carpenter
  • Moulin Rouge – Art Direction: Paul Sheriff; Set Decoration: Marcel Vertèsdouble-dagger
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Best Cinematography, Color
  • The Bad and the Beautiful – Robert Surteesdouble-dagger
Best Costume Design, Black-and-White Best Costume Design, Color
Best Film Editing

Academy Honorary Awards[]

  • George Alfred Mitchell "for the design and development of the camera which bears his name and for his continued and dominant presence in the field of cinematography".
  • Joseph M. Schenck "for long and distinguished service to the motion picture industry".
  • Merian C. Cooper "for his many innovations and contributions to the art of motion pictures".
  • Harold Lloyd "master comedian and good citizen".
  • Bob Hope "for his contribution to the laughter of the world, his service to the motion picture industry, and his devotion to the American premise".
  • Plymouth Adventure for Best Special Effects.

Best Foreign Language Film[]

  • Forbidden Games (France)

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award[]

  • Cecil B. DeMille

Films with multiple nominations and awards[]

Films that received multiple nominations
Nominations Film
7 High Noon
Moulin Rouge
The Quiet Man
6 The Bad and the Beautiful
Hans Christian Andersen
5 The Greatest Show on Earth
Viva Zapata!
With a Song in My Heart
4 My Cousin Rachel
Sudden Fear
3 Come Back, Little Sheba
Ivanhoe
2 The Big Sky
Breaking the Sound Barrier
Carrie
Devil Take Us
Five Fingers
The Lavender Hill Mob
The Merry Widow
Navajo
Neighbours
Singin' in the Rain
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Films that received multiple awards
Awards Film
5 The Bad and the Beautiful
4 High Noon
2 The Greatest Show on Earth
Moulin Rouge
The Quiet Man

Presenters and performers[]

Presenters[]

Name Role
Ronald Reagan Announcer for the 25th Academy Awards
Charles Brackett (AMPAS president) Gave opening remarks welcoming guests to the awards ceremony
Ginger Rogers Presenter of the award for Best Costume Design
Jean Hersholt Presenter of the Documentary Awards
Frank Capra Presenter of the award for Best Film Editing
Joan Fontaine
James Stewart
Presenters of the Art Direction Awards
Claire Trevor Presenter of the award for Best Sound Recording
Ray Milland
Jane Wyman
Presenters of the Short Subject Awards
Teresa Wright Presenter of the awards for Best Cinematography
Walt Disney Presenter of the Music Awards
Charles Brackett
Olivia de Havilland
Presenters of the award for Best Director
Dore Schary Presenter of the Writing Awards
Greer Garson Presenter of the award for Best Supporting Actor
Edmund Gwenn Presenter of the award for Best Supporting Actress
Janet Gaynor Presenter of the award for Best Actor
Fredric March Presenter of the award for Best Actress
Mary Pickford Presenter of the award for Best Motion Picture
Luise Rainer Presenter of the Honorary Foreign Language Film Award
Loretta Young Presenter of the award for Best Special Effects
Anne Baxter Presenter of the Scientific & Technical Awards

Performers[]

Name Role Performed
Adolph Deutsch Musical arranger and conductor Orchestral
Celeste Holm Performer “Thumbelina” from Hans Christian Andersen
Billy Daniels Performer “Because You’re Mine” from Because You're Mine
Peggy Lee
Johnny Mercer
Performers “Zing a Little Zong” from Just for You
Tex Ritter Performer “High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’)” from High Noon
Bob Hope
Marilyn Maxwell
Performers “Am I in Love?” from Son of Paleface
Academy Awards Orchestra Performers "There's No Business Like Show Business" (orchestral) during the closing credits

Broadcast[]

The 25th Academy Awards ceremony was the first to be broadcast on television:[1]

For the first time in history, a television audience estimated at 40,000,000 persons[8] will watch the movie industry's biggest show. It will mark the TV debut for scores of the biggest names in moviedom.

The telecast was prompted by the need to finance the bi-coastal ceremony. When three of the film studios refused to provide their customary financial support, the RCA Victor Division of the Radio Corporation of America agreed to pay AMPAS $100,000 (one source reported $250,000[9]) as a sponsorship fee. NBC telecast the bicoastal ceremony over its 64-station television network and on its 174-station radio system.[10] The Armed Forces Radio Service recorded the proceedings for later broadcast .[10] While in the United States the show was televised live on NBC, in Canada the live show was broadcast on CCTV installed at several movie theaters in Montreal and Toronto relaying NBC's feed. In Mexico City, XHGC-TV had to broadcast a 'Kinephoto' of the ceremony (sponsored there by Kraft Foods and RCA Victor) the following night because no TV network in that country had a station in the U.S.-Mexico border until 1955. In the United Kingdom (which used a different television standard as opposed to the US 525-line television system), the BBC Television Service had to broadcast a film recording of the televised ceremony on March 21. With videotape technology still in its infancy, U.K. television standards conversion different from the U.S. and satellite broadcasting still a decade away, a live broadcast to Europe was impossible.

The show was broadcast from 10:30 p.m. to 12:15 am,[citation needed] switching back and forth from host Bob Hope on the West Coast to Conrad Nagel on the East Coast. The late start was made to accommodate those nominees who were performing that night on the Broadway stage.[citation needed]

The technology used for television at the time meant that Bob Hope had to wear a blue dress shirt with his formal dinner jacket;[11] the traditional white shirt would have been too bright.

See also[]

References and footnotes[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Bacon, James (1953-03-19). "TV Will Carry Film Awards Show Tonight". The Fresno Bee. Associated Press.
  2. ^ International Theatre Archived 2009-08-17 at the Wayback Machine, from cinematreasures.org
  3. ^ The convention center was subsequently demolished when the Time Warner Center was built.
  4. ^ "'Chicago' and 'Oliver!' Among "Worst" Oscar Winners". Imdb.com. Archived from the original on 2013-06-10. Retrieved 2012-07-28.
  5. ^ "The worst Oscar winners!". Rediff.com movies. 2005-03-01. Archived from the original on 2012-02-14. Retrieved 2012-07-28.
  6. ^ "The Best of the Best Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. 2008-02-23. Archived from the original on 2012-11-02. Retrieved 2012-07-28.
  7. ^ "The 25th Academy Awards (1953) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-20.
  8. ^ The actual audience was 34 million, according to "The Oscars". Time. March 30, 1953. Archived from the original on 2008-12-22.
  9. ^ The sponsorship fee was $250,000, per "The Oscars". Time. March 30, 1953. Archived from the original on 2008-12-22.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Thomas M. Pryors (March 20, 1953). "Movie 'Oscar' Won by 'Greatest Show'". The New York Times.
  11. ^ "The Oscars". Time. March 30, 1953. Archived from the original on 2008-12-22.
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