16th Academy Awards

The 16th Academy Awards were held on March 2, 1944, to honor the films of 1943. This was the first Oscar ceremony held at a large public venue, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and the first ceremony without a banquet as part of the festivities.[1][2] The ceremony was broadcast locally on KFWB, and internationally by CBS Radio via shortwave. Jack Benny hosted the event, which lasted one hour and 42 minutes.[3] This was the first ceremony to welcome admissions from the general public.[1]

16th Academy Awards
DateMarch 2, 1944
SiteGrauman's Chinese Theatre
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hosted byJack Benny
Highlights
Best PictureCasablanca
Most awardsThe Song of Bernadette (4)
Most nominationsThe Song of Bernadette (12)

For the first time, winners for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress were awarded full-size statuettes, instead of smaller-sized awards mounted on a plaque.[4] This was the last year until 2009 to have 10 nominations for Best Picture; The Ox-Bow Incident is, as of 2023, the last film to be nominated solely in that category.

For Whom the Bell Tolls was the third film to receive nominations in all four acting categories. This was the first year in which each acting category had at least one nominee from a color film.

The Tom and Jerry cartoon series won its first Oscar this year for The Yankee Doodle Mouse; it would go on to win another six Oscars, including three in a row over the next three years, from a total of 13 nominations.

Winners and nominees

Michael Curtiz, Best Director winner
Paul Lukas, Best Actor winner
Jennifer Jones, Best Actress winner
Charles Coburn, Best Supporting Actor winner
Julius J. Epstein, Best Screenplay co-winner
William Saroyan, Best Original Motion Picture Story winner
Hal Mohr, Best Cinematography, Color co-winner
George Pal, Honorary Academy Award recipient

Awards

Nominees were announced on February 6, 1944. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.[5]

  • Amphibious Fighters Grantland Rice
    • Cavalcade of Dance – Gordon Hollingshead
    • Champions Carry On – Edmund Reek
    • Hollywood in Uniform – Ralph Staub
    • Seeing Hands – Pete Smith
  • Heavenly Music – Jerry Bresler and Sam Coslow
    • Letter to a Hero – Frederic Ullman Jr.
    • Mardi Gras – Walter MacEwen
    • Women at War – Gordon Hollingshead
  • Phantom of the Opera – Art Direction: Alexander Golitzen and John B. Goodman; Interior Decoration: Russell A. Gausman and Ira S. Webb
    • For Whom the Bell Tolls – Art Direction: Hans Dreier and Haldane Douglas; Interior Decoration: Bertram Granger
    • The Gang's All Here – Art Direction: James Basevi and Joseph C. Wright; Interior Decoration: Thomas Little
    • This Is the Army – Art Direction: John Hughes and Lt. John Koenig; Interior Decoration: George James Hopkins
    • Thousands Cheer – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Daniel B. Cathcart; Interior Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and Jacques Mersereau
  • Crash Dive – Photographic Effects: Fred Sersen; Sound Effects: Roger Heman
    • Air Force – Photographic Effects: Hans F. Koenekamp and Rex Wimpy; Sound Effects: Nathan Levinson
    • Bombardier – Photographic Effects: Vernon L. Walker; Sound Effects James G. Stewart and Roy Granville
    • The North Star – Photographic Effects: Clarence Slifer and Ray Binger; Sound Effects: Thomas T. Moulton
    • So Proudly We Hail! – Photographic Effects: Farciot Edouart and Gordon Jennings; Sound Effects: George Dutton
    • Stand By for Action – Photographic Effects: A. Arnold Gillespie and Donald Jahraus; Sound Effects: Michael Steinore

Academy Honorary Award

  • George Pal "for the development of novel methods and techniques in the production of short subjects known as Puppetoons".

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

Presenters and performers

Presenters

  • Donald Crisp (Presenter: Best Supporting Actor)
  • Howard Estabrook (Presenter: Documentary Awards)
  • Sidney Franklin (Presenter: Outstanding Motion Picture)
  • Y. Frank Freeman (Presenter: Best Film Editing, Best Sound Recording, Best Special Effects and the Scientific & Technical Awards)
  • Greer Garson (Presenter: Best Actress)
  • James Hilton (Presenter: Writing Awards)
  • Carole Landis (Presenter: Best Art Direction)
  • George Murphy (Presenter: Best Actor)
  • Rosalind Russell (Presenter: Best Cinematography)
  • Mark Sandrich (Presenter: Best Director)
  • Dinah Shore (Presenter: Music Awards)
  • Walter Wanger (Presenter: Short Subject Awards and the Honorary Award)
  • Teresa Wright (Presenter: Best Supporting Actress)
  • Darryl F. Zanuck (Presenter: Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award)

Performers

Multiple nominations and awards

Films with multiple nominations
Nominations Film
12 The Song of Bernadette
9 For Whom the Bell Tolls
8 Casablanca
7 Madame Curie
6 The More the Merrier
The North Star
5 The Human Comedy
4 Air Force
Phantom of the Opera
So Proudly We Hail!
Watch on the Rhine
3 Five Graves to Cairo
Heaven Can Wait
Sahara
Saludos Amigos
This Is the Army
Thousands Cheer
2 Hangmen Also Die!
Hello, Frisco, Hello
Hit Parade of 1943
In Old Oklahoma
In Which We Serve
The Sky's the Limit
Something to Shout About
Stage Door Canteen
Star Spangled Rhythm
Films with multiple awards
Awards Film
4 The Song of Bernadette
3 Casablanca
2 Phantom of the Opera

See also

References

  1. Wallechinsky, David; Wallace, Irving (1975). The People's Almanac. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc. p. 836. ISBN 0-385-04060-1.
  2. "History of the Oscars Presentation" (PDF). Oscars.org. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  3. "16th Academy Awards (1943): The Ceremony" (Revised ed.). April 22, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  4. "Strange tales of the vanished Oscars".
  5. "The 16th Academy Awards (1944) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Archived from the original on October 14, 2013. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
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