42nd Academy Awards

42nd Academy Awards
42nd Academy Awards
Date	April 7, 1970
Site	Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles
Produced by	M. J. Frankovich
Directed by	Jack Haley Jr.
Highlights
Best Picture	Midnight Cowboy
Most awards	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (4)
Most nominations	Anne of the Thousand Days (10)
TV in the United States
Network	ABC
Duration	2 hours, 25 minutes
Ratings	43.4% (Nielsen ratings)
	← 41st; Academy Awards; 43rd →;

The 42nd Academy Awards were presented April 7, 1970, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. For the second year in a row, there was no official host. Awards were presented by seventeen "Friends of Oscar": Bob Hope, John Wayne, Barbra Streisand, Fred Astaire, Jon Voight, Myrna Loy, Clint Eastwood, Raquel Welch, Candice Bergen, James Earl Jones, Katharine Ross, Cliff Robertson, Ali MacGraw, Barbara McNair, Elliott Gould, Claudia Cardinale, and Elizabeth Taylor. This was the first Academy Awards ceremony to be broadcast via satellite to an international audience, but only outside North America. Mexico and Brazil were the sole countries to broadcast the event live.^[1]

This is currently the highest rated of the televised Academy Awards ceremonies, according to Nielsen ratings. Its ratings record remains unbroken as of 2020 thanks to the emergence of the Super Bowl as the biggest event of Awards Season.

Midnight Cowboy became the first – and so far, the only – X-rated film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Its rating has since been downgraded to R. The previous year had seen the only G-rated film to win Best Picture, Carol Reed's Oliver!.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? set an Oscar record by receiving nine nominations without one for Best Picture.

This was the last time until the 68th Academy Awards wherein none of the four winning performances came from Best Picture nominees, as well as the first time where every acting nomination, as well as every major nominated film, was in color.

The ceremony[]

This was the first Academy Award ceremony intended to be broadcast via satellite worldwide, but according to Klaus Lehmann, a foreign sales executive of the ABC television network, in addition to Canada and Mexico (broadcasting the event since 1953, but only live since 1964), only two South American countries, Chile and Brazil, roughly in the Oscars' time zone, were interested in the live coverage. The Chilean television rights to the Oscars were sold by ABC International to Televisión Nacional de Chile while the Brazilian rights were sold to TV Tupi. The latter country's rights to the TV broadcast of the Oscars were moved to a joint venture of TV Bandeirantes and TV Record. Starting in 1974, the Brazilian TV rights to the Oscars were sold by NBC (which had acquired the TV rights to the Awards from ABC to be broadcast for a five-year period until 1975, when they returned to ABC for the next year's Awards) to Rede Globo. An early attempt to change the Academy Awards presentation's start time to 1 p.m. to fit European television audiences was rejected by AMPAS executives. Since at the time television standards conversion was difficult, about 50 other countries did not broadcast the event live. In Europe, most TV broadcasters signed off at midnight, thus the Oscars were not broadcast live and were recorded on film and then shipped to broadcasters with a minimum 4-day delay from the awards' broadcast date.

Winners and nominees[]

John Wayne, Best Actor winner

Maggie Smith, Best Actress winner

Gig Young, Best Supporting Actor winner

Goldie Hawn, Best Supporting Actress winner

William Goldman, Best Original Screenplay winner

Burt Bacharach, Best Original Score (Not a Musical) winner & Best Original Song co-winner

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger ().^[2]^[3]

Best Picture	Best Director
Midnight Cowboy – Jerome Hellman, producer Anne of the Thousand Days – Hal B. Wallis, producer Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – John Foreman, producer Hello, Dolly! – Ernest Lehman, producer Z – Jacques Perrin and Ahmed Rachedi, producers	John Schlesinger – Midnight Cowboy Arthur Penn – Alice's Restaurant George Roy Hill – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Sydney Pollack – They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Costa-Gavras – Z
Best Actor	Best Actress
*John Wayne – True Grit* as Rooster Cogburn** Richard Burton – Anne of the Thousand Days as King Henry VIII of England Dustin Hoffman – Midnight Cowboy as Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo Peter O'Toole – Goodbye, Mr. Chips as Arthur Chipping Jon Voight – Midnight Cowboy as Joe Buck	*Maggie Smith – The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie* as Jean Brodie** Geneviève Bujold – Anne of the Thousand Days as Anne Boleyn Jane Fonda – They Shoot Horses, Don't They? as Gloria Beatty Liza Minnelli – The Sterile Cuckoo as Mary Ann "Pookie" Adams Jean Simmons – The Happy Ending as Mary Wilson
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
*Gig Young – They Shoot Horses, Don't They?* as Rocky** Rupert Crosse – The Reivers as Ned Elliott Gould – Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice as Ted Henderson Jack Nicholson – Easy Rider as George Hanson Anthony Quayle – Anne of the Thousand Days as Thomas Wolsey	*Goldie Hawn – Cactus Flower* as Toni Simmons** Catherine Burns – Last Summer as Rhoda Dyan Cannon – Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice as Alice Henderson Sylvia Miles – Midnight Cowboy as Cass Susannah York – They Shoot Horses, Don't They? as Alice LeBlanc
Best Story and Screenplay Based on Material Not Previously Published or Produced	Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – William Goldman Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice – Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker The Damned – Story by Nicola Badalucco; Screenplay by Nicola Badalucco, Enrico Medioli, and Luchino Visconti Easy Rider – Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Terry Southern The Wild Bunch – Story by Walon Green and Roy N. Sickner; Screenplay by Walon Green and Sam Peckinpah	Midnight Cowboy – Waldo Salt based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy Anne of the Thousand Days – Screenplay by John Hale and Bridget Boland; Adaptation by Richard Sokolove based on the play by Maxwell Anderson Goodbye, Columbus – Arnold Schulman based on the novel by Philip Roth They Shoot Horses, Don't They? – James Poe and Robert E. Thompson based on the novel by Horace McCoy Z – Jorge Semprún and Costa-Gavras based on the novel by Vassilis Vassilikos
Best Documentary Feature	Best Documentary Short Subject
Arthur Rubinstein – The Love of Life Before the Mountain Was Moved In the Year of the Pig Olimpiada en México The Wolf Men	Czechoslovakia 1968 – Denis Sanders and Robert M. Fresco An Impression of John Steinbeck: Writer Jenny Is a Good Thing Leo Beuerman The Magic Machines
Best Live Action Short Subject	Best Short Subject – Cartoons
The Magic Machines – Joan Keller Stern Blake – Doug Jackson People Soup – Marc Merson	It's Tough to Be a Bird – Ward Kimball Of Men and Demons – John Hubley and Faith Hubley Walking – Ryan Larkin
Best Original Score for a Motion Picture (Not a Musical)	Best Score of a Musical Picture - Original or Adaptation
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – Burt Bacharach Anne of the Thousand Days – Georges Delerue The Reivers – John Williams The Secret of Santa Vittoria – Ernest Gold The Wild Bunch – Jerry Fielding	Hello, Dolly! – Adaptation score by Lennie Hayton and Lionel Newman Goodbye, Mr. Chips – Music and Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse; Adaptation score by John Williams Paint Your Wagon – Adaptation score by Nelson Riddle Sweet Charity – Adaptation score by Cy Coleman They Shoot Horses, Don't They? – Adaptation score by Johnny Green and Albert Woodbury
Best Song Original for the Picture	Best Sound
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – Burt Bacharach and Hal David for "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" "Come Saturday Morning" — The Sterile Cuckoo • Music by Fred Karlin • Lyrics by Dory Previn "Jean" — The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie • Music and Lyrics by Rod McKuen "True Grit" — True Grit • Music by Elmer Bernstein • Lyrics by Don Black "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" — The Happy Ending • Music by Michel Legrand • Lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman	Hello, Dolly! – Jack Solomon and Murray Spivack Anne of the Thousand Days – John Aldred Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – William Edmondson and David Dockendorf Gaily, Gaily – Robert Martin and Clem Portman Marooned – Les Fresholtz and Arthur Piantadosi
Best Foreign Language Film	Best Costume Design
Z (Algeria) Ådalen 31 (Sweden) Battle of Neretva (Yugoslavia) The Brothers Karamazov (Soviet Union) My Night at Maud's (France)	Anne of the Thousand Days – Margaret Furse Gaily, Gaily – Ray Aghayan Hello, Dolly! – Irene Sharaff Sweet Charity – Edith Head They Shoot Horses, Don't They? – Donfeld
Best Art Direction	Best Cinematography
Hello, Dolly! – Art Direction: John DeCuir, Jack Martin Smith, and Herman A. Blumenthal; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott, George James Hopkins, and Raphaël Bretton Anne of the Thousand Days – Art Direction: Maurice Carter and Lionel Couch; Set Decoration: Patrick McLoughlin Gaily, Gaily – Art Direction: Robert F. Boyle and George B. Chan; Set Decoration: Edward G. Boyle and Carl Biddiscombe Sweet Charity – Art Direction: Alexander Golitzen and George C. Webb; Set Decoration: Jack D. Moore They Shoot Horses, Don't They? – Art Direction: Harry Horner; Set Decoration: Frank R. McKelvy	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – Conrad Hall Anne of the Thousand Days – Arthur Ibbetson Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice – Charles Lang Hello, Dolly! – Harry Stradling (posthumous nomination) Marooned – Daniel L. Fapp
Best Film Editing	Best Special Visual Effects
Z — Françoise Bonnot Hello, Dolly! — William H. Reynolds Midnight Cowboy — Hugh A. Robertson The Secret of Santa Vittoria — William Lyon and Earle Herdan They Shoot Horses, Don't They? — Fredric Steinkamp	Marooned – Robbie Robertson Krakatoa, East of Java – Eugène Lourié and Alex Weldon

Multiple nominations and awards[]

These films had multiple nominations:

10 nominations: Anne of the Thousand Days
9 nominations: They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
7 nominations: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Hello, Dolly! and Midnight Cowboy
5 nominations: Z
4 nominations: Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
3 nominations: Gaily, Gaily, Marooned and Sweet Charity
2 nominations: Easy Rider, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, The Happy Ending, The Magic Machines, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Reivers, The Secret of Santa Vittoria, The Sterile Cuckoo, True Grit and The Wild Bunch

The following films received multiple awards.

4 wins: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
3 wins: Hello, Dolly! and Midnight Cowboy
2 wins: Z

Presenters and performers[]

Fred Astaire (Presenter: Best Supporting Actress and Documentary Awards)
Candice Bergen (Presenter: Best Sound, Best Costume Design and Best Song Original for the Picture)
Claudia Cardinale (Presenter: Best Film Editing and Best Foreign Language Film)
Clint Eastwood (Presenter: Best Foreign Language Film)
Elliott Gould (Presenter: Best Sound)
Bob Hope (Presenter: Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and Documentary Awards)
James Earl Jones (Presenter: Best Film Editing and Best Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced)
Myrna Loy (Presenter: Best Short Subjects, Best Art Direction and Best Director)
Ali MacGraw (Presenter: Best Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced)
Barbara McNair (Presenter: Best Original Score for a Motion Picture (Non-Musical))
Cliff Robertson (Presenter: Best Actress, Best Original Score for a Motion Picture (Not a Musical) & Short Subjects Awards)
Katharine Ross (Presenter: Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium)
Frank Sinatra (Presenter: Honorary Award to Cary Grant)
Barbra Streisand (Presenter: Best Actor)
Elizabeth Taylor (Presenter: Best Picture)
Jon Voight (Presenter: Best Art Direction and Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium)
John Wayne (Presenter: Best Cinematography)
Raquel Welch (Presenter: Best Special Visual Effects)

Performers[]

Glen Campbell ("True Grit" from True Grit)
Michel Legrand ("What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" from The Happy Ending)
Lou Rawls ("Jean" from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie)
The Sandpipers ("Come Saturday Morning" from The Sterile Cuckoo)
B. J. Thomas ("Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)
Fred Astaire (untitled impromptu dance following presentation of the documentary awards)

References[]

^ The Opening of the Academy Awards in 1970 on YouTube At 5:30 mark. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
^ "The Official Academy Awards Database". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Select "1969" in the "Award Year(s)" drop-down menu and press "Search".
^ "The 42nd Academy Awards (1970) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 2014-12-28. Retrieved 2011-01-11.

[1] The Opening of the Academy Awards in 1970 on YouTube At 5:30 mark. Retrieved March 27, 2016.

[2] "The Official Academy Awards Database". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Select "1969" in the "Award Year(s)" drop-down menu and press "Search".

[Oscars1969-3] "The 42nd Academy Awards (1970) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 2014-12-28. Retrieved 2011-01-11.

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