Awards

1947 Oscars 19th Academy Awards

Posted by Joe Hummel IIIPosted 78 years ago March 13, 1947

1947 Oscars 19th Academy Awards

Winners Announced: March 13, 1947
Venue: Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California
Host: Jack Benny
Eligibility Year: Films released in 1946

Major Wins:

The Best Years of Our Lives scooped up the Best Picture award.
Fredric March garnered Best Actor for the same film, while Olivia de Havilland was named Best Actress for To Each His Own.

Directing & Screenplay:

William Wyler took home the Best Director trophy for The Best Years of Our Lives.
The Best Original Screenplay went to The Seventh Veil.

Additional Info:

Harold Russell, a non-professional actor, won Best Supporting Actor for The Best Years of Our Lives and also received an Honorary Oscar for bringing hope and courage to fellow veterans.
Anne Baxter clinched Best Supporting Actress for The Razor’s Edge.
This was the first time since the 2nd Academy Awards that every category had at most 5 nominations.
The “Academy Award of Merit” is what the Oscar statue is officially called.
Homer Parrish won a special award and Best Supporting actor, making him the first actor to win 2 Oscars for the same performance.

1947 Oscar Nominees and Winners

Best Motion Picture:
The Best Years of Our Lives – Samuel Goldwyn for RKO Radio Pictures (WINNER)
Henry V – Laurence Olivier for United Artists
It’s a Wonderful Life – Frank Capra for RKO Radio Pictures
The Razor’s Edge – Darryl F. Zanuck for 20th Century Fox
The Yearling – Sidney Franklin for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Best Director:
William Wyler – The Best Years of Our Lives (WINNER)
David Lean – Brief Encounter
Frank Capra – It’s a Wonderful Life
Robert Siodmak – The Killers
Clarence Brown – The Yearling

Best Actor:
Fredric March – The Best Years of Our Lives as Platoon Sergeant Al Stephenson (WINNER)
Laurence Olivier – Henry V as King Henry V of England
Larry Parks – The Jolson Story as Al Jolson
Gregory Peck – The Yearling as Ezra “Penny” Baxter
James Stewart – It’s a Wonderful Life as George Bailey

Best Actress:
Olivia de Havilland – To Each His Own as Miss Josephine “Jody” Norris (WINNER)
Celia Johnson – Brief Encounter as Laura Jesson
Jennifer Jones – Duel in the Sun as Pearl Chavez
Rosalind Russell – Sister Kenny as Elizabeth Kenny
Jane Wyman – The Yearling as Ora Baxter

Best Supporting Actor:
Harold Russell – The Best Years of Our Lives as Petty Officer 2nd Class Homer Parrish (WINNER)
Charles Coburn – The Green Years as Alexander Gow
William Demarest – The Jolson Story as Steve Martin
Claude Rains – Notorious as Alexander Sebastian
Clifton Webb – The Razor’s Edge as Elliott Templeton

Best Supporting Actress:
Anne Baxter – The Razor’s Edge as Sophie MacDonald (WINNER)
Ethel Barrymore – The Spiral Staircase as Mrs Warren
Lillian Gish – Duel in the Sun as Laura Belle McCanles
Flora Robson – Saratoga Trunk as Angelique Buiton
Gale Sondergaard – Anna and the King of Siam as Lady Thiang

Best Original Screenplay:
The Seventh Veil – Muriel Box and Sydney Box (WINNER)
The Blue Dahlia – Raymond Chandler
Children of Paradise – Jacques Prévert
Notorious – Ben Hecht
Road to Utopia – Norman Panama and Melvin Frank

Best Screenplay:
The Best Years of Our Lives – Robert E. Sherwood from Glory For Me by MacKinlay Kantor (WINNER)
Anna and the King of Siam – Sally Benson and Talbot Jennings from Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon
Brief Encounter – Anthony Havelock-Allan, David Lean and Ronald Neame from Still Life by Noël Coward
The Killers – Anthony Veiller from “The Killers” by Ernest Hemingway
Rome, Open City – Sergio Amidei and Federico Fellini[2] from a story by Sergio Amidei and Alberto Consiglio

Best Motion Picture Story:
Vacation From Marriage – Clemence Dane (WINNER)
The Dark Mirror – Vladimir Pozner
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers – Jack Patrick
The Stranger – Victor Trivas
To Each His Own – Charles Brackett

Best Documentary Short Subject:
Seeds of Destiny (WINNER)
Atomic Power
Life at the Zoo
Paramount News Issue #37
Traffic with the Devil

Best Short Subject – Cartoons:
The Cat Concerto – Fred Quimby (WINNER)
John Henry and the Inky Poo – George Pal
Musical Moments from Chopin – Walter Lantz
Squatter’s Rights – Walt Disney
Walky Talky Hawky – Edward Selzer

Best Live Action Short Subject, One-Reel:
Facing Your Danger – Gordon Hollingshead (WINNER)
Dive-Hi Champs – Jack Eaton
Golden Horses – Edmund Reek
Smart as a Fox – Gordon Hollingshead
Sure Cures – Pete Smith

Best Live Action Short Subject, Two-Reel:
A Boy and His Dog – Gordon Hollingshead (WINNER)
College Queen – George B. Templeton
Hiss and Yell – Jules White
The Luckiest Guy in the World – Jerry Bresler

Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture:
The Best Years of Our Lives – Hugo Friedhofer (WINNER)
Anna and the King of Siam – Bernard Herrmann
Henry V – William Walton
Humoresque – Franz Waxman
The Killers – Miklós Rózsa

Best Scoring of a Musical Picture:
The Jolson Story – Morris Stoloff (WINNER)
Blue Skies – Robert Emmett Dolan
Centennial Summer – Alfred Newman
The Harvey Girls – Lennie Hayton
Night and Day – Ray Heindorf and Max Steiner

Best Original Song:
“On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe” from The Harvey Girls – Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer (WINNER)
“All Through the Day” from Centennial Summer – Music by Jerome Kern (posthumous nomination); Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
“I Can’t Begin to Tell You” from The Dolly Sisters – Music by James V. Monaco (posthumous nomination); Lyrics by Mack Gordon
“Ole Buttermilk Sky” from Canyon Passage – Music by Hoagy Carmichael; Lyrics by Jack Brooks
“You Keep Coming Back Like a Song” from Blue Skies – Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin

Best Sound Recording:
The Jolson Story – John P. Livadary (WINNER)
The Best Years of Our Lives – Gordon E. Sawyer
It’s a Wonderful Life – John O. Aalberg

Best Art Direction – Interior Decoration, Black-and-White:
Anna and the King of Siam – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and William S. Darling; Interior Decoration: Thomas Little and Frank E. Hughes (WINNER)
Kitty – Art Direction: Hans Dreier and Walter Tyler; Interior Decoration: Samuel M. Comer and Ray Moyer
The Razor’s Edge – Art Direction: Richard Day and Nathan H. Juran; Interior Decoration: Thomas Little and Paul S. Fox

Best Art Direction – Interior Decoration, Color:
The Yearling – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Paul Groesse; Interior Decoration: Edwin B. Willis
Caesar and Cleopatra – Art Direction and Interior Decoration: John Bryan
Henry V – Art Direction and Interior Decoration: Paul Sheriff and Carmen Dillon

Best Cinematography, Black-and-White:
Anna and the King of Siam – Arthur Miller (WINNER)
The Green Years – George J. Folsey

Best Cinematography, Color:
The Yearling – Charles Rosher, Leonard Smith and Arthur Arling (WINNER)
The Jolson Story – Joseph Walker

Best Film Editing:
The Best Years of Our Lives – Daniel Mandell (WINNER)
It’s a Wonderful Life – William Hornbeck
The Jolson Story – William Lyon
The Killers – Arthur Hilton
The Yearling – Harold F. Kress

Best Special Effects:
Blithe Spirit – Tom Howard (WINNER)
A Stolen Life – William C. McGann; Special Audible Effects: Nathan Levinson

Academy Honorary Awards:
Laurence Olivier “for his outstanding achievement as actor, producer and director in bringing Henry V to the screen.”
Harold Russell “for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance in The Best Years of Our Lives”
Ernst Lubitsch “for his distinguished contributions to the art of the motion picture.”

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award:
Samuel Goldwyn

Academy Juvenile Award:
Claude Jarman Jr.

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