1959 (32nd Annual Awards)
Nominations and Winners
Listed below are the Academy Award nominations and winners for the year 1959. The
symbol appears next to the winner in each category. Click on the name of a film, person or song in the list to display more information about that film, person or song. Or, click on a year in the column on the right to display the nominations and winners from that year.
Best Motion Picture
Room at the Top, Romulus Films, Ltd. Production; Continental Distributing, Inc. (UK) John Woolf and James Woolf, Producers.Best Actor
Laurence Harvey in Room at the Top, Romulus Films, Ltd. Production; Continental Distributing, Inc. (UK)Best Actress
Simone Signoret in Room at the Top, Romulus Films, Ltd. Production; Continental Distributing, Inc. (UK)Actor in a Supporting Role
Actress in a Supporting Role
Hermione Baddeley in Room at the Top, Romulus Films, Ltd. Production; Continental Distributing, Inc. (UK)Directing
Art Direction-Set Decoration
(Black-and-White)
Career, Hal Wallis Productions; Paramount. Art direction by Hal Pereira and Walter Tyler; set decoration by Sam Comer and Arthur Krams.The Diary of Anne Frank, 20th Century-Fox. Art direction by Lyle R. Wheeler and George W. Davis; set decoration by Walter M. Scott and Stuart A. Reiss.The Last Angry Man, Fred Kohlmar Productions; Columbia. Art direction by Carl Anderson; set decoration by William Kiernan.Some Like It Hot, Ashton Productions & The Mirisch Company; United Artists. Art direction by Ted Haworth; set decoration by Edward G. Boyle.Suddenly, Last Summer, Horizon Production; Columbia. (UK, USA) Art direction by Oliver Messel and William Kellner; set decoration by Scot Slimon.(Color)
Ben-Hur, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Art direction by William A. Horning and Edward Carfagno; set decoration by Hugh Hunt.The Big Fisherman, Rowland V. Lee Productions; Buena Vista. Art direction by John DeCuir; set decoration by Julia Heron.Journey to the Center of the Earth, Joseph M. Schenck Enterprises & Cooga Mooga Film Productions, Inc.; 20th Century-Fox. Art direction by Lyle R. Wheeler, Franz Bachelin and Herman A. Blumenthal; set decoration by Walter M. Scott and Joseph Kish.North by Northwest, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Art direction by William A. Horning, Robert Boyle and Merrill Pye; set decoration by Henry Grace and Frank McKelvy.Pillow Talk, Arwin Productions; Universal-International. Art direction by Richard H. Riedel; set decoration by Russell A. Gausman and Ruby R. Levitt.Cinematography
(Black-and-White)
(Color)
Costume Design
(Black-and-White)
(Color)
Documentary
(Feature)
Serengeti Shall Not Die, Okapia-Film GmbH Production; Transocean-Film. (West Germany) Bernhard Grzimek, Producer.(Short Subject)
From Generation to Generation, Cullen Associates; Maternity Center Association. Edward F. Cullen, Producer.Glass, The Netherlands Government; George K. Arthur-Go Pictures, Inc. (Netherlands) Bert Haanstra, Producer.Film Editing
Foreign Language Film
Black Orpheus, Dispatfilm & Gemma Cinematografica. (Brazil, France, Italy)The Bridge, Fono Film. (West Germany)The Great War, Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica. (Italy, France)Paw, Laterna Film. (Denmark)The Village on the River, N.V. Nationale Film Productie Maatschappij. (Netherlands)Music
(Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture)
(Scoring of a Musical Picture)
(Song)
The Best of Everything from The Best of Everything, Company of Artists, Inc.; 20th Century-Fox. Music by Alfred Newman; lyrics by Sammy Cahn.The Five Pennies from The Five Pennies, Dena Productions; Paramount. Music and lyrics by Sylvia Fine.The Hanging Tree from The Hanging Tree, Baroda Productions, Inc.; Warner Bros. Music by Jerry Livingston; lyrics by Mack David.High Hopes from A Hole in the Head, Sincap Productions; United Artists. Music by James Van Heusen; lyrics by Sammy Cahn.Strange Are the Ways of Love from The Young Land, C. V. Whitney Pictures, Inc.; Columbia. Music by Dimitri Tiomkin; lyrics by Ned Washington.Short Subjects
(Cartoons)
The Violinist, Pintoff Productions, Inc.; Kingsley International Pictures. Ernest Pintoff, Producer.(Live Action)
Between the Tides, British Transport Films; Lester A. Schoenfeld Films. (UK) Ian Ferguson, Producer.The Running, Jumping and Standing-Still Film, Lion International Films, Ltd.; Kingsley-Union Films. (UK) Peter Sellers, Producer.Skyscraper, Tishman Realty and Construction Company; Joseph Burstyn Film Enterprises, Inc. Shirley Clarke, Willard Van Dyke and Irving Jacoby, Producers.Sound
Ben-Hur, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department, Franklin E. Milton, Sound Director.Journey to the Center of the Earth, Joseph M. Schenck Enterprises & Cooga Mooga Film Productions, Inc.; 20th Century-Fox. 20th Century-Fox Studio Sound Department, Carl Faulkner, Sound Director.Libel!, Anatole De Grunwald; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. (UK, USA) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer London Sound Department, A. W. Watkins, Sound Director.The Nun’s Story, Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, George R. Groves, Sound Director.Porgy and Bess, Samuel Goldwyn Productions; Columbia. Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department, Gordon E. Sawyer, Sound Director; and Todd-AO Sound Department, Fred Hynes, Sound Director.Special Effects
Ben-Hur, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Visual effects by A. Arnold Gillespie and Robert MacDonald; audible effects by Milo Lory.Journey to the Center of the Earth, Joseph M. Schenck Enterprises & Cooga Mooga Film Productions, Inc.; 20th Century-Fox. Visual effects by L. B. Abbott and James B. Gordon; audible effects by Carl Faulkner.Writing
(Screenplay—based on material from another medium)
Some Like It Hot, Ashton Productions & The Mirisch Company; United Artists. Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond.(Story and Screenplay—written directly for the screen)
The 400 Blows, Les Films du Carrosse & SEDIF; Zenith International Film Corporation. (France) Francois Truffaut and Marcel Moussy.Operation Petticoat, Granart Company; Universal-International. Story by Paul King and Joseph Stone; screenplay by Stanley Shapiro and Maurice Richlin.Pillow Talk, Arwin Productions; Universal-International. Story by Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene; screenplay by Stanley Shapiro and Maurice Richlin.Honorary Award
To Lee De Forest for his pioneering inventions which brought sound to the motion picture. [ [Statuette]]To Buster Keaton for his unique talents which brought immortal comedies to the screen. [ [Statuette]]Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Scientific or Technical Award
(Class II)
To Douglas G. Shearer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., and Robert E. Gottschalk and John R. Moore of Panavision, Inc. for the development of a system of producing and exhibiting wide-film motion pictures known as Camera 65.To Wadsworth E. Pohl, William Evans, Werner Hopf, S. E. Howse, Thomas P. Dixon, Stanford Research Institute and Technicolor Corp., for the design and development of the Technicolor Electronic Printing Timer.To Wadsworth E. Pohl, Jack Alford, Henry Imus, Joseph Schmit, Paul Fassnacht, Al Lofquist and Technicolor Corp., for the development and practical application of equipment for wet printing.To Dr. Howard S. Coleman, Dr. A. Francis Turner, Harold H. Schroeder, James R. Benford and Harold E. Rosenberger of the Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. for the design and development of the Balcold Projection Mirror.To Robert P. Gutterman of General Kinetics, Inc. and Lipsner-Smith Corp. for the design and development of the CF-2 Ultra-sonic Film Cleaner.(Class III)
To Ub Iwerks of Walt Disney Prods. for the design of an improved optical printer for special effects and matte shots.To E. L. Stones, Glen Robinson, Winfield Hubbard and Luther Newman of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Construction Department for the design of a multiple cable remote controlled winch.