Academy Awards for 1972

By Patrick Mondout

The 45^th Annual Academy Awards were hosted by Carol Burnett, Michael Caine, Charlton Heston and Rock Hudson on March 27, 1973 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion (Los Angeles) and broadcast live on NBC. The Godfather and Cabaret were the big winners. Godfather's Marlon Brando, obviously inspired by George C. Scott's stunt two years earlier, not only refused his Oscar for Best Actor, but had a Apache woman give an speech denouncing how Native Americans were treated in Hollywood in one of the most shocking Academy Awards moments ever.

Live award shows rarely go exactly as planned, as Howard Koch, the producer this night, learned. Charleton Heston was to be the first of four co-hosts but was not present. Instead, Koch headed into the star-studded audience and plucked a reluctant Clint Eastwood to sub for Heston. Eastwood told the audience one of the hosts had yet to arrive, "So, who did they get?" he asked rhetorically. "A guy who hasn't said three lines in 12 movies." An embarrassed but unapologetic (an unfortunate trait Heston would still posses nearly three decades later) Heston, who later claimed to have a flat tire, joined the show a few minutes later.

Charlie Chaplin, who had been given an honorary award the year before, won for Original Dramatic Score for Limelight - a movie from 1952! Why? Limelight did not appear on U.S. screens until 1972, finally making it Oscar-eligible.

BEST PICTURE
	Cabaret, Cy Feuer, producer
	Deliverance, John Boorman, producer
	The Emigrants, Bengt Forslund, producer
	The Godfather, Albert S. Ruddy, producer
	Sounder, Robert B. Radnitz, producer

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
	Marlon Brando, The Godfather (refused)
	Peter O'Toole, The Ruling Class
	Michael Caine, Sleuth
	Laurence Olivier, Sleuth
	Paul Winfield, Sounder

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
	Liza Minelli, Cabaret
	Liv Ullman, The Emigrants
	Diana Ross, Lady Sings the Blues
	Cicely Tyson, Sounder
	Maggie Smith, Travels With My Aunt

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
	Joel Grey, Cabaret
	James Caan, The Godfather
	Robert Duvall, The Godfather
	Al Pacino, The Godfather
	Eddie Albert, The Heartbreak Kid

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
	Eileen Heckart, Butterflies Are Free
	Susan Tyrrell, Fat City
	Jeannie Berlin, The Heartbreak Kid
	Geraldine Page, Pete 'n' Tillie
	Shelley Winters, The Poseidon Adventure

BEST DIRECTOR
	Bob Fosse, Cabaret
	John Boorman, Deliverance
	Jan Troell, The Emigrants
	Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather
	Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Sleuth

BEST WRITING (SCREENPLAY FACTUALLY BASED OR NEW MATERIAL)
	Jeremy Larner, The Candidate
	Luis Buñuel, story and screenplay in collaboration with Jean-Claude Carrière, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
	Terence McCloy, Chris Clark and Suzanne de Passe, Lady Sings the Blues
	Louis Malle, Murmur of the Heart
	Carl Foreman, Young Winston

BEST WRITING (SCREENPLAY BASED ON MATERIAL FROM ANOTHER MEDIUM)
	Jay Allen, Cabaret
	Jan Troell and Bengt Forslund, The Emigrants
	Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather
	Julius J. Epstein, Pete 'n' Tillie
	Lonne Elder, III, Sounder

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
	Charles B. Lang, Butterflies Are Free
	Geoffrey Unsworth, Cabaret
	Harry Stradling, Jr., 1776
	Harold E. Stine, The Poseidon Adventure
	Douglas Slocombe, Travels With My Aunt

BEST FILM EDITING
	David Bretherton, Cabaret
	Tom Priestley, Deliverance
	William Reynolds and Peter Zinner, The Godfather
	Frank P. Keller and Fred W. Berger, The Hot Rock
	Harold F. Kress, The Poseidon Adventure

BEST ART DIRECTION/SET DIRECTION
	Rolf Zehetbauer and Jurgen Kiebach, art direction; Herbert Strabel, set decoration, Cabaret
	Carl Anderson, art direction; Reg Allen, set decoration, Lady Sings the Blues
	William Creber, art direction; Raphael Bretton, set decoration, The Poseidon Adventure
	John Box, Gil Parrondo and Robert W. Laing, art direction and set decoration, Travels With My Aunt
	Don Ashton, Geoffrey Drake, John Graysmark and William Hutchinson, art direction; Peter James, set decoration, Young Winston

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
	Anna Hill Johnstone, The Godfather
	Bob Mackie, Ray Aghayan and Norma Koch, Lady Sings the Blues
	Paul Zastupnevich, The Poseidon Adventure
	Anthony Powell, Travels With My Aunt
	Anthony Mendleson, Young Winston

BEST SOUND
	Arthur Piantadosi and Charles Knight, Butterflies Are Free
	Robert Knudson and David Hildyard, Cabaret
	Richard Portman and Gene Cantamessa, The Candidate
	Bud Grenzbach, Richard Portman and Christopher Newman, The Godfather
	Theodore Soderberg and Herman Lewis, The Poseidon Adventure

BEST SOUND (SONG ORIGINAL TO THE PICTURE)
	“Ben,” Ben, Walter Scharf, music; Don Black, lyrics
	“Marmalade, Molasses & Honey,” The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, Maurice Jarre, music; Marilyn and Alan Bergman, lyrics
	“Come Follow, Follow Me,” The Little Ark, Fred Karlin, music; Marsha Karlin, lyrics
	“The Morning After,” The Poseidon Adventure, Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, music and lyrics
	“Strange Are the Ways of Love,” The Stepmother, Sammy Fain, music; Paul Francis Webster, lyrics

BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
	John Williams, Images
	Charles Chaplin, Raymond Rasch and Larry Russell, Limelight
	Buddy Baker, Napoleon and Samantha
	John Williams, The Poseidon Adventure
	John Addison, Sleuth

BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG SCORE)
	Ralph Burns, Cabaret
	Gil Askey, Lady Sings the Blues
	Laurence Rosenthal, Man of La Mancha

BEST SHORT FILMS (ANIMATED)
	A Christmas Carol (Richard Williams Production; American Broadcasting Company Film Services)
	Kama Sutra Rides Again (Bob Godfrey Films, Ltd.; Lion International Films)
	Tup Tup (Zagreb Film-Corona Cinematografica Production; Manson Distributing)

BEST SHORT FILMS (LIVE ACTION)
	Frog Story (Gidron Productions; Lester A. Schoenfeld Films)
	Norman Rockwell's World... An American Dream (Concepts Unlimited; Columbia)
	Solo (Pyramid Films; United Artists)

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECTS)
	Hundertwasser's Rainy Day (Argos Films-Peter Schamoni Film Production)
	K-Z (Giorgio Treves, producer; Nexus Film S.r.l. Production)
	Selling Out (Tadeusz Jaworski, producer; Unit Productions Film)
	This Tiny World (Charles Huguenot van der Linden and Martina Huguenot van der Linden, producers; Charles Huguenot van der Linden Production)
	The Tide of Traffic (Humphrey Swingler, producer; BP-Greenpark Production)

BEST DOCUMENTARY (FEATURES)
	Ape and Super-Ape (Bert Haanstra Film Production; Netherlands Ministry of Culture, Recreation and Social Welfare)
	Malcolm X (Marvin Worth Production; Warner Bros.)
	Manson (Robert Hendrickson and Laurence Merrick, producers; Merrick International Pictures)
	Marjoe (Cinema X Production; Cinema 5, Ltd.)
	The Silent Revolution (Eckehard Munck, producer; Leonaris Film Production)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
	The Dawns Here Are Quiet, U.S.S.R.
	The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, France
	I Love You Rosa, Israel
	My Dearest Señorita, Spain
	The New Land, Sweden

Other Awards

A Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects was bestowed upon L.B. Abbott and A.D. Flowers for their work on The Poseidon Adventure. The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award was given to Rosalind Russell.

Honorary awards were handed out to Charles S. Boren for "38 years of the industry's enlightened labor relations and architect of its policy of nondiscrimination" and posthumously to Edward G. Robinson "who achieved greatness as a player, a patron of the arts and a dedicated citizen . . .in sum, a Renaissance man."

Scientific Awards

Joseph E. Bluth (Laboratory)
Consolidated Film Industries (Laboratory)
Edward Efron (Laboratory)
IBM (Laboratory)
Howard T. LaZare (Laboratory)
Panavision, Incorporated (Camera)
Edward H. Reichard (Laboratory)
AMPTP Motion Picture and Television Research Center (Props)
AMPTP Motion Picture and Television Research Center (Lenses and Filters)
G. M. Berggren (Projection)
Canon, Inc. (Lenses and Filters)
Carter Equipment Company, Inc. (Laboratory)
Frank P. Clark (Props)
David Degenkolb (Laboratory)
DeLuxe General Incorporated (Laboratory)
E. H. Geissler (Projection)
Ryusho Hirose (Lenses and Filters)
Wilton R. Holm (Lenses and Filters)
Kollmorgen Corporation (Laboratory)
Kollmorgen Corporation Photo Research Division (Laboratory)
Harry Larson (Laboratory)
Manfred Michelson (Laboratory)
Jiro Mukai (Lenses and Filters)
Leonard L. Olson (Props)
PSC Technology Inc., Acme Products Division (Laboratory)
Philip V. Palmquist (Props)
RAMtronics (Laboratory)
Fred Scobey (Laboratory)
3M Company (Props)
Wil-Kin Inc. (Projection)