Academy Awards for 1977

By Patrick Mondout

The 50^th Annual Academy Awards were hosted by Bob Hope on April 3, 1978 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion (Los Angeles) and broadcast live on ABC. Woody Allen was a big winner, despite losing Best Actor to Richard Dreyfuss (who at 29 became the youngest winner of that award). Allen's Annie Hall won for Best Picture, and he won for Director and Writing (Orson Welles was nominated for the same four awards for Citizen Kane but only won for writing).

The big loser of the night was without a doubt The Turning Point. The movie set a record by winning zero awards out of 11 nominations! But for all the awards, the night will always be remember for Vanessa Redgrave's "Zionist Hoodlums" speech.

BEST PICTURE
	Annie Hall, Charles H. Joffe, producer
	The Goodbye Girl, Ray Stark, producer
	Julia, Richard Roth, producer
	Star Wars, Gary Kurtz, producer
	The Turning Point, Herbert Ross and Arthur Laurents, producers

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
	Woody Allen, Annie Hall
	Marcello Mastroianni, A Special Day
	Richard Burton, Equus
	Richard Dreyfuss, The Goodbye Girl
	John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
	Diane Keaton, Annie Hall
	Marsha Mason, The Goodbye Girl
	Jane Fonda, Julia
	Anne Bancroft, The Turning Point
	Shirley MacLaine, The Turning Point

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
	Peter Firth, Equus
	Jason Robards, Julia
	Maximilian Schell, Julia
	Mikhail Baryshnikov, The Turning Point
	Alec Guinness, Star Wars

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
	Melinda Dillon, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
	Quinn Cummings, The Goodbye Girl
	Vanessa Redgrave, Julia
	Tuesday Weld, Looking for Mr. Goodbar
	Leslie Browne, The Turning Point

BEST DIRECTOR
	Woody Allen, Annie Hall
	Steven Spielberg, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
	Fred Zinnemann, Julia
	George Lucas, Star Wars
	Herbert Ross, The Turning Point

BEST WRITING (SCREENPLAY FACTUALLY BASED OR NEW MATERIAL)
	Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman, Annie Hall
	Neil Simon, The Goodbye Girl
	Robert Benton, The Late Show
	George Lucas, Star Wars
	Arthur Laurents, The Turning Point

BEST WRITING (SCREENPLAY BASED ON MATERIAL FROM ANOTHER MEDIUM)
	Peter Shaffer, Equus
	Gavin Lambert and Lewis John Carlino, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
	Alvin Sargent, Julia
	Larry Gelbart, Oh, God!
	Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière, That Obscure Object of Desire

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
	Vilmos Zsigmond, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
	Fred J. Koenekamp, Islands in the Stream
	Douglas Slocombe, Julia
	William A. Fraker, Looking for Mr. Goodbar
	Robert Surtees, The Turning Point

BEST FILM EDITING
	Walter Murch, Julia
	Walter Hannemann and Angelo Ross, Smokey and the Bandit
	Paul Hirsch, Marcia Lucas and Richard Chew, Star Wars
	Michael Kahn, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
	William Reynolds, The Turning Point

BEST ART DIRECTION/SET DIRECTION
	George C. Webb, art direction; Mickey S. Michaels, set decoration, Airport '77
	Joe Alves and Dan Lomino, art direction; Phil Abramson, set decoration, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
	Ken Adam and Peter Lamont, art direction; Hugh Scaife, set decoration, The Spy Who Loved Me
	John Barry, Norman Reynolds and Leslie Dilley, art direction; Roger Christian, set decoration, Star Wars
	Albert Brenner, art direction; Marvin March, set decoration, The Turning Point

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
	Edith Head and Burton Miller, Airport '77
	Florence Klotz, A Little Night Music
	Anthea Sylbert, Julia
	Irene Sharaff, The Other Side of Midnight
	John Mollo, Star Wars

BEST SOUND
	Robert Knudson, Robert J. Glass, Don MacDougall and Gene S. Cantamessa, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
	Walter Goss, Dick Alexander, Tom Beckert and Robin Gregory, The Deep
	Robert Knudson, Robert J. Glass, Richard Tyler and Jean-Louis Ducarme, Sorcerer
	Don MacDougall, Ray West, Bob Minkler and Derek Ball, Star Wars
	Theodore Soderberg, Paul Wells, Douglas O. Williams and Jerry Jost, The Turning Point

BEST SOUND (SONG ORIGINAL TO THE PICTURE)
	“Candle on the Water,” Pete's Dragon, Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, music and lyrics
	“Someone's Waiting for You,” The Rescuers, Sammy Fain, music; Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins, lyrics
	“The Slipper and the Rose Waltz” (He Danced With Me/She Danced With Me), The Slipper and the Rose - The Story of Cinderella, Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, music and lyrics
	“Nobody Does It Better,” The Spy Who Loved Me, Marvin Hamlisch, music; Carole Bayer Sager, lyrics
	“You Light Up My Life,” You Light Up My Life, Joseph Brooks, music and lyrics

BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
	John Williams, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
	Georges Delerue, Julia
	Maurice Jarre, Mohammad - Messenger of God
	Marvin Hamlisch, The Spy Who Loved Me
	John Williams, Star Wars

BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG SCORE OR ADAPTATION SCORE)
	Jonathan Tunick, A Little Night Music
	Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, song; Irwin Kostal, adaptation, Pete's Dragon
	Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, song; Angela Morley, adaptation, The Slipper and the Rose - The Story of Cinderella

BEST SHORT FILMS (ANIMATED)
	The Bead Game (Ishu Patel, producer; National Film Board of Canada)
	The Doonesbury Special (John Hubley, Faith Hubley and Garry Trudeau, producers; Hubley Studios)
	Jimmy the C (James Picker, Robert Grossman and Craig Whitaker, producers; Motionpicker Production)
	The Sand Castle (Co Hoedeman, producer; National Film Board of Canada)

BEST SHORT FILMS (LIVE ACTION)
	The Absent-Minded Waiter (William E. McEuen, producer; Aspen Film Society)
	Floating Free (Jerry Butts, producer; Trans World International)
	I'll Find a Way (Beverly Shaffer and Yuki Yoshida, producers; National Film Board of Canada)
	Notes on the Popular Arts (Saul Bass, producer; Saul Bass Films)
	Spaceborne (Philip Dauber, producer; Lawrence Hall of Science Production for the Regents of the University of California with the cooperation of NASA)

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECTS)
	Agueda Martinez: Our People, Our Country (Moctesuma Esparza, producer; Moctesuma Esparza Production)
	First Edition (Helen Whitney and DeWitt L. Sage, Jr., producers; D.L. Sage Productions)
	Gravity Is My Enemy (John Joseph and Jan Stussy, producers; John Joseph Production)
	Of Time, Tombs and Treasure (James R. Messenger and Paul N. Raimondi, producers; Charlie/Papa Productions, Inc.)
	The Shetland Experience (Douglas Gordon, producer; Balfour Films)

BEST DOCUMENTARY (FEATURES)
	The Children of Theatre Street (Robert Dornhelm and Earle Mack, producers; Mack-Vaganova Company)
	High Grass Circus (Bill Brind, Torben Schioler and Tony lanzelo, producers; National Film Board of Canada)
	Homage to Chagall—The Colours of Love (Harry Rasky, producer; CBC Production)
	Union Maids (James Klein, Julia Reichert and Miles Mogulescu, producers; Klein, Reichert, Mogulescu Production)
	Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? (Korty Films and Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates in association with Sanrio Films)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
	The Children of Theatre Street (Robert Dornhelm and Earle Mack, producers; Mack-Vaganova Company)
	High Grass Circus (Bill Brind, Torben Schioler and Tony lanzelo, producers; National Film Board of Canada)
	Homage to Chagall - The Colours of Love (Harry Rasky, producer; CBC Production)
	Union Maids (James Klein, Julia Reichert and Miles Mogulescu, producers; Klein, Reichert, Mogulescu Production)
	Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? (Korty Films and Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates in association with Sanrio Films)

VISUAL SPECIAL EFFECTS
	Roy Arbogast, Douglas Trumbull, Matthew Yuricich, Gregory Jein and Richard Yuricich, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
	John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, Grant McCune and Robert Blalack, Star Wars

Other Awards

Walter Mirisch won the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award while future National Rifle Association chairman Charlton Heston was given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Honorary Awards were given to Margaret Booth "for her exceptional contribution to the art of film editing in the motion picture industry", to Gordon E. Sawyer "in appreciation for outstanding service and dedication in upholding the high standards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences", and to Sidney P. Solow "in appreciation for outstanding service and dedication in upholding the high standards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences."

Special Achievement Awards for Sound Effects Editing were present to Frank E. Warner for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and to Benjamin Burtt, Jr. for the creation of the alien, creature and robot voices in Star Wars.

Scientific Awards

Garrett Brown (Camera Cranes)
Cinema Products Corporation Engineering Staff (Camera Cranes)
John Jurgens (Camera Cranes)
John Agalsoff (Sound)
Emory M. Cohen (Sound)
John C. Dykstra (Systems)
Eastman Kodak Company (Film)
Glen Glenn Sound (Sound)
Barry K. Henley (Sound)
Hammond H. Holt (Sound)
Jerry Jeffress (Systems)
Joseph D. Kelly (Sound)
N. Paul Kenworthy Jr. (Camera)
Stefan Kudelski (Sound)
William R. Latady (Camera)
Alvah J. Miller (Systems)
Nagra Magnetic Recorders, Incorporated (Sound)
Panavision, Incorporated (Camera)
Werner Block (Lighting)
Continental Camera Systems, Incorporated, Astrovision Division (Camera)
EECO (Electronic Engineering Company of California) (Systems)
Dr. Bernhard Kuhl (Lighting)
Ernst Nettmann (Camera)
OSRAM GmbH (Lighting)
Panavision, Incorporated (Lighting)
Panavision, Incorporated (Stage Operations)
Piclear, Incorporated (Laboratory)