The 29th Academy Awards were held on March 27, 1957, to honor the films of 1956.

29th Academy Awards
DateMarch 27, 1957
SiteRKO Pantages Theatre
Hollywood, California
NBC Century Theatre
New York City, New York
Hosted byJerry Lewis (Hollywood)
Celeste Holm (New York City)
Produced byValentine Davies
Directed byBill Bennington
Max Miller
Highlights
Best PictureAround the World in 80 Days
Most awardsAround the World in 80 Days and The King and I (5)
Most nominationsGiant (10)
TV in the United States
NetworkNBC

In this year, Best International Feature Film became a competitive category, having been given as a Special Achievement Award since 1947. The first competitive winner was Italy, for Federico Fellini's La Strada, which received a further nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

This was the first year (and last until 1967) in which all Best Picture nominees were in color, and all were large-scale epics: The King and I, Giant, The Ten Commandments (the highest-grossing film of the year), Friendly Persuasion, and the winner, Around the World in 80 Days. This established a trend toward blockbusters and colorful spectaculars in the category, with The Bridge on the River Kwai, Gigi, and Ben-Hur following as Best Picture winners.

The Best Original Story category was noteworthy this year for several reasons. The winner, Robert Rich (for The Brave One) was in fact a pseudonym of Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted at the time and thus unable to receive credit under his own name. Edward Bernds and Elwood Ullman withdrew their names from consideration for their work on High Society, as the nomination had been intended for the musical starring Grace Kelly, while Bernds and Ullman had instead written a Bowery Boys film of the same name the year before. The nomination was a double mistake, as High Society (1956) was based on the play and film The Philadelphia Story and did not qualify as an original story.

James Dean became the only actor to receive a second posthumous nomination for acting. Ingrid Bergman was not present to collect her award for Best Actress: Cary Grant accepted on her behalf. Bergman, who was doing a play in Paris, praised her own victory, saying that the Oscar is "the most wished-for award by all movie artists because it comes from your co-workers".[1] She later listed the nominees for Best Director via the same pre-recorded segment, while the winner was announced by host Jerry Lewis.

Director John Ford's classic western The Searchers, widely seen as one of the best American films of all time, failed to receive a single nomination.

This was the second time since the introduction of the Supporting Actor and Actress awards that Best Picture, Best Director, and all four acting Oscars were given to different films. This would not happen again until the 78th Academy Awards. Around the World in 80 Days became the sixth film to win Best Picture without any acting nominations and the most recent to win Best Picture without winning Best Director or any acting nominations.[2]

Stephen Bosustow became the only producer in Academy history to receive every nomination in a category (Short Subjects-Cartoons).

Winners and nominees

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Mike Todd; Best Picture winner
George Stevens; Best Director winner
Yul Brynner; Best Actor winner
Ingrid Bergman; Best Actress winner
Anthony Quinn; Best Supporting Actor winner
Dorothy Malone; Best Supporting Actress winner
Dalton Trumbo; Best Story winner
Cedric Gibbons; Best Art Direction, Black-and-White co-winner

Awards

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Nominees were announced on February 18, 1957. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.[3]

Best Motion Picture Best Director
Best Actor Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor Best Supporting Actress
Best Screenplay - Original Best Screenplay - Adapted
Best Story Best Foreign Language Film
Best Documentary Feature Best Documentary Short Subject
Best Live Action Short Subject, One-Reel Best Live Action Short Subject, Two-Reel
Best Short Subject – Cartoons Best Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
Best Scoring of a Musical Picture Best Song
Best Sound Recording Best Art Direction, Black-and-White
Best Art Direction, Color Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
Best Cinematography, Color Best Costume Design, Black-and-White
Best Costume Design, Color Best Film Editing
Best Special Effects

Academy Honorary Award

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  • Eddie Cantor "for distinguished service to the film industry".

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

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Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

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Presenters and performers

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Presenters

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Performers

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Multiple nominations and awards

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Films with multiple awards
Awards Film
5 Around the World in 80 Days
The King and I
2 Somebody Up There Likes Me

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Wallechinsky, David; Wallace, Irving (1975). The People's Almanac. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc. p. 841. ISBN 0-385-04060-1.
  2. ^ Shaw, Gabbi. "'Parasite' is the 12th movie in history to win Best Picture with no acting nominations — here are the other 11". Insider. Insider Inc. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  3. ^ "The 29th Academy Awards (1957) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.