31st Academy Awards

31st Academy Awards
	People lining the street under the marquee of the Pantages Theater at the 31st Academy Awards.
Date	April 6, 1959
Site	Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, California, USA
Hosted by	Jerry Lewis, Mort Sahl, Tony Randall, Bob Hope, David Niven, and Laurence Olivier
Produced by	Jerry Wald
Directed by	Alan Handley
Highlights
Best Picture	Gigi
Most awards	Gigi (9)
Most nominations	The Defiant Ones and Gigi (9)
TV in the United States
Network	NBC

The 31st Academy Awards ceremony was held on April 6, 1959, to honor the best films of 1958. The show's producer, Jerry Wald, started cutting numbers from the show to make sure it ran on time. He cut too much material and the ceremony ended 20 minutes early, leaving Jerry Lewis to attempt to fill in the time. Eventually, NBC cut to a re-run of a sports show.

The film Gigi won nine Oscars, breaking the previous record of eight (set by Gone with the Wind and tied by From Here to Eternity and On the Waterfront). It would be short-lived, however, as Ben-Hur broke the record with eleven Oscars the following year.

Gigi was the last film until The Last Emperor (1987) to win Best Picture without any acting nominations. It also had the biggest clean sweep at the time, winning all nine of its nominations, a record that would be tied by The Last Emperor. This record was broken in 2003 when The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won all 11 of its nominations.

The ceremony was hosted by an ensemble of actors: Jerry Lewis, Mort Sahl, Tony Randall, Bob Hope, David Niven, and Laurence Olivier. Niven won Best Actor that night, making him the only host in Oscar history to have won an award during the same ceremony.^[1]

Awards

Winners are listed first and highlighted with boldface^[2]

Best Motion Picture	Best Director
Gigi – Arthur Freed, producer Auntie Mame – Jack L. Warner, producer Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – Lawrence Weingarten, producer The Defiant Ones – Stanley Kramer, producer Separate Tables – Harold Hecht, producer	Vincente Minnelli – Gigi Richard Brooks – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Robert Wise – I Want to Live! Stanley Kramer – The Defiant Ones Mark Robson – The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
Best Actor	Best Actress
*David Niven – Separate Tables* as Major David Angus Pollock** Tony Curtis – The Defiant Ones as John "Joker" Jackson Paul Newman – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as Brick Pollitt Sidney Poitier – The Defiant Ones as Noah Cullen Spencer Tracy – The Old Man and the Sea as The Old Man	*Susan Hayward – I Want to Live!* as Barbara Graham** Deborah Kerr – Separate Tables as Sibyl Railton-Bell Shirley MacLaine – Some Came Running as Ginny Moorehead Rosalind Russell – Auntie Mame as Mame Dennis Elizabeth Taylor – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as Margaret "Maggie the Cat" Pollitt
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
*Burl Ives – The Big Country* as Rufus Hannassey** Theodore Bikel – The Defiant Ones as Sheriff Max Muller Lee J. Cobb – The Brothers Karamazov as Fyodor Karamazov Arthur Kennedy – Some Came Running as Frank Hirsh Gig Young – Teacher's Pet as Dr. Hugo Pine	*Wendy Hiller – Separate Tables* as Pat Cooper** Peggy Cass – Auntie Mame as Agnes Gooch Martha Hyer – Some Came Running as Gwen French Maureen Stapleton – Lonelyhearts as Fay Doyle Cara Williams – The Defiant Ones as Billy's mother
Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen	Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
The Defiant Ones – Nedrick Young and Harold Jacob Smith The Goddess – Paddy Chayefsky Houseboat – Melville Shavelson and Jack Rose The Sheepman – William Bowers and James Edward Grant Teacher's Pet – Fay Kanin and Michael Kanin	Gigi – Alan Jay Lerner from Gigi by Colette Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – Richard Brooks and James Poe from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams The Horse's Mouth – Alec Guinness from The Horse's Mouth by Joyce Cary I Want to Live! – Don Mankiewicz and Nelson Gidding from writings by Ed Montgomery and Barbara Graham Separate Tables – John Gay and Terence Rattigan from Separate Tables by Terence Rattigan
Best Foreign Language Film
My Uncle (France) Arms and the Man (Germany) Big Deal on Madonna Street (Italy) The Road a Year Long (Yugoslavia) La venganza (Spain)
Best Documentary Feature	Best Documentary Short Subject
White Wilderness – Ben Sharpsteen Antarctic Crossing The Hidden World Psychiatric Nursing	Ama Girls – Ben Sharpsteen Employees Only Journey into Spring The Living Stone Overture
Best Live Action Short Subject	Best Short Subject – Cartoons
Grand Canyon – Walt Disney Journey into Spring – Ian Ferguson The Kiss – John Hayes Snows of Aorangi – New Zealand Screen Board T Is for Tumbleweed – James A. Lebenthal	Knighty Knight Bugs – John W. Burton Paul Bunyan – Walt Disney Sidney's Family Tree – William M. Weiss
Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture	Best Scoring of a Musical Picture
The Old Man and the Sea – Dimitri Tiomkin The Big Country – Jerome Moross Separate Tables – David Raksin White Wilderness – Oliver Wallace The Young Lions – Hugo Friedhofer	Gigi – André Previn The Bolshoi Ballet – Yuri Faier and G. Rozhdestvensky Damn Yankees! – Ray Heindorf Mardi Gras – Lionel Newman South Pacific – Alfred Newman and Ken Darby
Best Song	Best Sound
*"Gigi" from Gigi* – Music by Frederick Loewe; Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner** "Almost In Your Arms (Love Song from Houseboat)" from Houseboat – Music and Lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans "A Certain Smile" from A Certain Smile – Music by Sammy Fain; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster "To Love and Be Loved" from Some Came Running – Music by Jimmy Van Heusen; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn "A Very Precious Love" from Marjorie Morningstar – Music by Sammy Fain; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster	South Pacific – Fred Hynes I Want to Live! – Gordon E. Sawyer A Time to Love and a Time to Die – Leslie I. Carey Vertigo – George Dutton The Young Lions – Carlton W. Faulkner
Best Art Direction	Best Costume Design
Gigi – Art Direction: William A. Horning (posthumous award) and E. Preston Ames; Set Decoration: Henry Grace and F. Keogh Gleason Auntie Mame – Art Direction: Malcolm Bert; Set Decoration: George James Hopkins Bell, Book and Candle – Art Direction: Cary Odell; Set Decoration: Louis Diage A Certain Smile – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and John DeCuir; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott and Paul S. Fox Vertigo – Art Direction: Hal Pereira and Henry Bumstead; Set Decoration: Samuel M. Comer and Frank R. McKelvy	Gigi – Cecil Beaton Bell, Book and Candle – Jean Louis The Buccaneer – Ralph Jester, Edith Head and John Jensen A Certain Smile – Charles LeMaire and Mary Wills Some Came Running – Walter Plunkett
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White	Best Cinematography, Color
The Defiant Ones – Sam Leavitt Desire Under the Elms – Daniel L. Fapp I Want to Live! – Lionel Lindon Separate Tables – Charles Lang The Young Lions – Joseph MacDonald	Gigi – Joseph Ruttenberg Auntie Mame – Harry Stradling, Sr. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – William Daniels The Old Man and the Sea – James Wong Howe South Pacific – Leon Shamroy
Best Film Editing	Best Special Effects
Gigi – Adrienne Fazan Auntie Mame – William Ziegler Cowboy – William Lyon and Al Clark The Defiant Ones – Frederic Knudtson I Want to Live! – William Hornbeck	tom thumb – Tom Howard Torpedo Run – Visual Effects: A. Arnold Gillespie; Audible Effects: Harold Humbrock

Academy Honorary Award

Maurice Chevalier “for his contributions to the world of entertainment for more than half a century.”

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

Jack L. Warner

Presenters and performers

Presenters

Buddy Adler (Presenter: Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award)
Eddie Albert and Vincent Price (Presenters: Art Direction Award)
June Allyson and Dick Powell (Presenters: Musical Scoring Awards)
Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant (Presenters: Best Motion Picture)
Dirk Bogarde, Van Heflin, and Elizabeth Taylor (Presenters: Writing Awards)
Red Buttons and Shelley Winters (Presenters: Best Supporting Actress)
James Cagney and Kim Novak (Presenters: Best Actress)
Cyd Charisse and Robert Stack (Presenters: Best Foreign Language Film)
Gary Cooper and Millie Perkins (Presenters: Best Director)
Wendell Corey and Ernie Kovacs (Presenters: Costume Design Award)
Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh (Presenters: Short Subjects Awards)
Bette Davis and Anthony Quinn (Presenters: Best Supporting Actor)
Doris Day and Rock Hudson (Presenters: Cinematography Awards)
Irene Dunne and John Wayne (Presenters: Best Actor)
Anthony Franciosa and Eva Marie Saint (Presenters: Music Awards)
Charlton Heston and Jane Wyman (Presenters: Best Sound Recording)
Steve Forrest and Jean Simmons (Presenters: Best Film Editing)
Sophia Loren and Dean Martin (Presenters: Best Original Song)
Shirley MacLaine and Peter Ustinov (Presenters: Best Visual Effects)
Rosalind Russell (Presenter: Honorary Award to Maurice Chevalier)
Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood (Presenters: Documentary Awards)

Performers

Nick Adams, Anna Maria Alberghetti, James Darren, Dean Jones, Connie Stevens, and Tuesday Weld ("Almost In Your Arms" from Houseboat)
Joan Collins, Angela Lansbury and Dana Wynter ("It's Great Not to Be Nominated")
Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster ("It's Alright With Us")
Eddie Fisher ("To Love and Be Loved" from Some Came Running)
Rhonda Fleming and Howard Keel ("A Very Precious Love" from Marjorie Morningstar)
Tony Martin ("Gigi" from Gigi)
John Raitt ("A Certain Smile" from A Certain Smile)

Multiple nominations and awards

These films had multiple nominations:

9 nominations: The Defiant Ones, Gigi
7 nominations: Separate Tables
6 nominations: Auntie Mame, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and I Want to Live!
5 nominations: Some Came Running
3 nominations: A Certain Smile, The Old Man and the Sea, South Pacific, and The Young Lions
2 nominations: Bell, Book and Candle, The Big Country, Houseboat, Journey Into Spring, Teacher's Pet, Vertigo, and White Wilderness

The following films received multiple awards.

9 wins: Gigi
2 wins: The Defiant Ones and Separate Tables

References

↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-02-21. Retrieved 2015-02-20.
↑ "The 31st Academy Awards (1959) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-21.

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[1] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-02-21. Retrieved 2015-02-20.

[Oscars1959-2] "The 31st Academy Awards (1959) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-21.