23rd Academy Awards

The 23rd Academy Awards were held on March 29, 1951, honoring the films of 1950. All About Eve received a record 14 nominations, besting the previous record of 13 set by Gone with the Wind in 1939. It won six Oscars, including Best Picture, and earned writer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz his second consecutive Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay awards, the only time such a feat has been accomplished.

23rd Academy Awards
Date	March 29, 1951
Site	RKO Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, California
Hosted by	Fred Astaire
Highlights
Best Picture	All About Eve
Most awards	All About Eve (6)
Most nominations	All About Eve (14)
← 22nd Academy Awards 24th →

All About Eve was the second film, after Mrs. Miniver (1942), to receive five acting nominations. It was the first to receive multiple nominations in two acting categories, and the first (and, to date, only) film to receive four female acting nominations—two each for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. None was successful, losing to Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday and Josephine Hull in Harvey, respectively.

Jose Ferrer, then under investigation from the House Un-American Activities Committee over suspected Communist ties, won the Best Actor award despite being given very little chances to win.^[1] Marlene Dietrich nearly stole the show by wearing an apparently-painted-on dress that displayed her legs and figure.^[1]

Sunset Blvd. was the fifth film with nominations in every acting category, and the second not to win any of them (after My Man Godfrey in 1936).

Awards

 

Darryl F. Zanuck; Best Picture winner

 

Joseph L. Mankiewicz; Best Director and Best Screenplay winner

 

José Ferrer; Best Actor winner

 

Judy Holliday; Best Actress winner

 

George Sanders; Best Supporting Actor winner

 

Josephine Hull; Best Supporting Actress winner

 

Charles Brackett; Best Story and Screenplay co-winner

 

Billy Wilder; Best Story and Screenplay co-winner

 

Edith Head; Best Costume Design, Black-and-White and Best Costume Design, Color co-winner

 

Charles LeMaire; Best Costume Design, Black-and-White co-winner

 

Dorothy Jeakins; Best Costume Design, Color co-winner

 

Ralph E. Winters (left); Best Film Editing co-winner

Nominations announced on February 12, 1951. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.^[2]

Best Motion Picture	Best Director
All About Eve – Darryl F. Zanuck for 20th Century Fox‡ Born Yesterday – S. Sylvan Simon for Columbia Pictures Father of the Bride – Pandro S. Berman for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer King Solomon's Mines – Sam Zimbalist for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Sunset Blvd. – Charles Brackett for Paramount Pictures	Joseph L. Mankiewicz – All About Eve‡ John Huston – The Asphalt Jungle George Cukor – Born Yesterday Billy Wilder – Sunset Blvd. Carol Reed – The Third Man
Best Actor	Best Actress
José Ferrer – Cyrano de Bergerac as Cyrano de Bergerac‡ Louis Calhern – The Magnificent Yankee as Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. William Holden – Sunset Blvd. as Joe Gillis James Stewart – Harvey as Elwood P. Dowd Spencer Tracy – Father of the Bride as Stanley T. Banks	Judy Holliday – Born Yesterday as Emma "Billie" Dawn‡ Anne Baxter – All About Eve as Eve Harrington Bette Davis – All About Eve as Margo Channing Eleanor Parker – Caged as Marie Allen Gloria Swanson – Sunset Blvd. as Norma Desmond
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
George Sanders – All About Eve as Addison DeWitt‡ Jeff Chandler – Broken Arrow as Cochise Edmund Gwenn – Mister 880 as "Skipper" Miller Sam Jaffe – The Asphalt Jungle as "Doc" Erwin Riedenschneider Erich von Stroheim – Sunset Blvd. as Max von Mayerling	Josephine Hull – Harvey as Veta Louise Simmons‡ Hope Emerson – Caged as Evelyn Harper Celeste Holm – All About Eve as Karen Richards Nancy Olson – Sunset Blvd. as Betty Schaefer Thelma Ritter – All About Eve as Birdie
Best Screenplay	Best Story and Screenplay
All About Eve – Joseph L. Mankiewicz from "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr‡ The Asphalt Jungle – Ben Maddow and John Huston from The Asphalt Jungle by W. R. Burnett Born Yesterday – Albert Mannheimer from Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin Broken Arrow – Albert Maltz from Blood Brother by Elliott Arnold Father of the Bride – Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett from Father of the Bride by Edward Streeter	Sunset Blvd.– Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, and D. M. Marshman Jr.‡ Adam's Rib – Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin Caged – Virginia Kellogg and Bernard C. Schoenfeld The Men – Carl Foreman No Way Out – Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Lesser Samuels
Best Motion Picture Story	Best Documentary Feature
Panic in the Streets – Edna Anhalt and Edward Anhalt‡ Bitter Rice – Giuseppe De Santis and Carlo Lizzani The Gunfighter – William Bowers and André de Toth Mystery Street – Leonard Spigelgass When Willie Comes Marching Home – Sy Gomberg	The Titan: Story of Michelangelo‡ With These Hands
Best Documentary Short Subject	Best Live Action Short Subject, One-Reel
Why Korea?‡ The Fight: Science Against Cancer The Stairs	Grandad of Races – Gordon Hollingshead‡ Blaze Busters – Robert Youngson Wrong Way Butch – Pete Smith
Best Live Action Short Subject, Two-Reel	Best Short Subject – Cartoons
In Beaver Valley‡ Grandma Moses My Country 'Tis of Thee	Gerald McBoing-Boing‡ Jerry's Cousin Trouble Indemnity
Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture	Best Scoring of a Musical Picture
Sunset Blvd. – Franz Waxman‡ All About Eve – Alfred Newman The Flame and the Arrow – Max Steiner No Sad Songs for Me – George Duning Samson and Delilah – Victor Young	Annie Get Your Gun – Adolph Deutsch and Roger Edens‡ Cinderella – Oliver Wallace and Paul J. Smith I'll Get By – Lionel Newman Three Little Words – André Previn The West Point Story – Ray Heindorf
Best Original Song	Best Sound Recording
"Mona Lisa" from Captain Carey, U.S.A. – Music and Lyrics by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston‡ "Be My Love" from The Toast of New Orleans – Music by Nicholas Brodszky; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" from Cinderella – Music and Lyrics by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston "Mule Train" from Singing Guns – Music and Lyrics by Fred Glickman, Hy Heath, and Johnny Lange "Wilhelmina" from Wabash Avenue – Music by Josef Myrow; Lyrics by Mack Gordon	All About Eve – Thomas T. Moulton‡ Cinderella – C. O. Slyfield Louisa – Leslie I. Carey Our Very Own – Gordon E. Sawyer Trio – Cyril Crowhurst
Best Art Direction – Set Decoration, Black-and-White	Best Art Direction – Set Decoration, Color
Sunset Blvd. – Art Direction: Hans Dreier and John Meehan; Set Decoration: Samuel M. Comer and Ray Moyer‡ All About Eve – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and George Davis; Set Decoration: Thomas Little and Walter M. Scott The Red Danube – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Hans Peters; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and Hugh Hunt	Samson and Delilah – Art Direction: Hans Dreier and Walter Tyler; Set Decoration: Samuel M. Comer and Ray Moyer‡ Annie Get Your Gun – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Paul Groesse; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and Richard A. Pefferle Destination Moon – Art Direction: Ernst Fegté; Set Decoration: George Sawley
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White	Best Cinematography, Color
The Third Man – Robert Krasker‡ All About Eve – Milton Krasner The Asphalt Jungle – Harold Rosson The Furies – Victor Milner Sunset Blvd. – John F. Seitz	King Solomon's Mines – Robert Surtees‡ Annie Get Your Gun – Charles Rosher Broken Arrow – Ernest Palmer The Flame and the Arrow – Ernest Haller Samson and Delilah – George Barnes
Best Costume Design, Black-and-White	Best Costume Design, Color
All About Eve – Edith Head and Charles LeMaire‡ Born Yesterday – Jean Louis The Magnificent Yankee – Walter Plunkett	Samson and Delilah – Edith Head, Dorothy Jeakins, Elois Jenssen, Gile Steele, and Gwen Wakeling‡ The Black Rose – Michael Whittaker That Forsyte Woman – Walter Plunkett and Valles
Best Film Editing	Best Special Effects
King Solomon's Mines – Ralph E. Winters and Conrad A. Nervig‡ All About Eve – Barbara McLean Annie Get Your Gun – James E. Newcom Sunset Blvd. – Arthur P. Schmidt and Doane Harrison The Third Man – Oswald Hafenrichter	Destination Moon – George Pal Productions and Eagle Lion Classics‡ Samson and Delilah – Cecil B. DeMille Productions and Paramount

Academy Honorary Awards

• George Murphy "for his services in interpreting the film industry to the country at large".
• Louis B. Mayer "for distinguished service to the motion picture industry".

Best Foreign Language Film

• The Walls of Malapaga (France/Italy)

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

• Darryl F. Zanuck

Presenters

• Lex Barker and Arlene Dahl (Presenters: Best Art Direction)
• Charles Brackett (Presenter: Honorary Awards)
• Ralph Bunche (Presenter: Best Motion Picture)
• Ruth Chatterton (Presenter: Writing Awards)
• Broderick Crawford (Presenter: Best Actress)
• Marlene Dietrich (Presenter: Best Foreign Language Film)
• Coleen Gray (Presenter: Documentary Awards)
• Jane Greer (Presenter: Best Special Effects)
• Helen Hayes (Presenter: Best Actor)
• Dean Jagger (Presenter: Best Supporting Actress)
• Gene Kelly (Presenter: Music Awards)
• Phyllis Kirk (Presenter: Short Subject Awards)
• Mercedes McCambridge (Presenter: Best Supporting Actor)
• Leo McCarey (Presenter: Best Director)
• Marilyn Monroe (Presenter: Best Sound Recording)
• Debra Paget (Presenter: Best Film Editing)
• Debbie Reynolds (Presenter: Best Cinematography)
• Jan Sterling (Presenter: Best Costume Design)
• David Wayne (Presenter: Scientific & Technical Awards)

Performers

• Gloria DeHaven and Alan Young
• Frankie Laine ("Mule Train" from Singing Guns)
• Martin and Lewis ("Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" from Cinderella)
• Lucille Norman

Multiple nominations and awards

These films had multiple nominations: 14 nominations: All About Eve 11 nominations: Sunset Blvd. 5 nominations: Born Yesterday and Samson and Delilah 4 nominations: Annie Get Your Gun and The Asphalt Jungle 3 nominations: Broken Arrow, Caged, Cinderella, Father of the Bride, King Solomon's Mines, and The Third Man 2 nominations: Destination Moon, The Flame and the Arrow, Harvey, and The Magnificent Yankee

The following films received multiple awards. 6 wins: All About Eve 3 wins: Sunset Boulevard 2 wins: King Solomon's Mines and Samson and Delilah

See also

•  1950s portal

• 8th Golden Globe Awards
• 1950 in film
• 2nd Primetime Emmy Awards
• 3rd Primetime Emmy Awards
• 4th British Academy Film Awards
• 5th Tony Awards

References

1. Wallechinsky, David; Wallace, Irving (1975). The People's Almanac. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc. p. 838. ISBN 0-385-04060-1.
2. "The 23rd Academy Awards (1951) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2011.