21st Academy Awards

The 21st Academy Awards features numerous firsts. It was the first time a non-Hollywood production won Best Picture, Hamlet. It was the first time an individual (Laurence Olivier) directed himself in an Oscar-winning performance.

Contents

• Awards
• Academy Honorary Awards
• Best Foreign Language Film
• Academy Juvenile Award
• Irving G Thalberg Memorial Award
• Scientific or Technical
• Presenters
• Performers
• References

John Huston directed two films in this awards year for which his actors won Oscars: his father, Walter Huston, in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre; and Claire Trevor for Key Largo. The Huston family won three Oscars that evening.

The ceremony was moved from the Shrine Auditorium to the Academy's own theater, primarily because the major Hollywood studios had withdrawn their financial support in order to address rumors that they had been trying to influence voters.

Humphrey Bogart failed to receive a nomination for Best Actor in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, eventually considered one of the Academy’s greatest slights.

Joan of Arc became the first film to receive as many as seven nominations without being nominated for Best Picture. Hamlet became the fifth film to win Best Picture without a screenwriting nomination; the next to do so would be The Sound of Music at the 38th Academy Awards. Jane Wyman became the first performer since the silent era to win an Oscar for a performance with no lines; Johnny Belinda became the fourth film to receive nominations in all four acting categories.