Awards

1955 Oscars 27th Academy Awards

Posted by Joe Hummel IIIPosted 70 years ago March 30, 1955

1955 Oscars 27th Academy Awards

Winners Announced: March 30, 1955
Venues: RKO Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, California and NBC Century Theatre, New York City, New York
Hosts: Bob Hope (Hollywood) and Thelma Ritter (New York City)
Eligibility Year: 1954

Major Wins:

On the Waterfront clinched the Best Picture Award.
Marlon Brando won Best Actor for his unforgettable role in On the Waterfront.
Grace Kelly took home the Best Actress statuette for The Country Girl.

Directing & Screenplay:

Elia Kazan received the Best Director award for On the Waterfront.
On the Waterfront also won for Best Story and Screenplay.

Additional Info:

Edmond O’Brien received Best Supporting Actor for The Barefoot Contessa.
Eva Marie Saint got the Best Supporting Actress nod for On the Waterfront.
On The Waterfront had twelve Oscar nominations and eight wins.
“This is one night I wish I smoked and drank.” – Grace Kelly, Best Actress, The Country Girl
Dorothy Dandridge was the first African-American actress to receive a nomination for Best Actress.

Trivia:

This ceremony saw the first-ever awards for Best Animated Short Subject.
The category of Best Original Song had a major shakeup: Three songs from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers were nominated, but all lost to Three Coins in the Fountain.
The Best Documentary Feature was awarded to Walt Disney for The Vanishing Prairie.

1955 Oscar Nominees and Winners

Best Motion Picture:
On the Waterfront – Sam Spiegel for Columbia Pictures (WINNER)
The Caine Mutiny – Stanley Kramer for Columbia Pictures
The Country Girl – William Perlberg for Paramount Pictures
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers – Jack Cummings for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Three Coins in the Fountain – Sol C. Siegel for 20th Century Fox

Best Director:
Elia Kazan – On the Waterfront (WINNER)
George Seaton – The Country Girl
William A. Wellman – The High and the Mighty
Alfred Hitchcock – Rear Window
Billy Wilder – Sabrina

Best Actor:
Marlon Brando – On the Waterfront as Terry Malloy (WINNER)
Humphrey Bogart – The Caine Mutiny as Lieutenant Commander Philip Francis Queeg
Bing Crosby – The Country Girl as Frank Elgin
James Mason – A Star Is Born as Norman Maine
Dan O’Herlihy – Robinson Crusoe as Robinson Crusoe

Best Actress:
Grace Kelly – The Country Girl as Georgie Elgin (WINNER)
Dorothy Dandridge – Carmen Jones as Carmen Jones
Judy Garland – A Star Is Born as Esther Blodgett
Audrey Hepburn – Sabrina as Sabrina Fairchild
Jane Wyman – Magnificent Obsession as Helen Phillips

Best Supporting Actor:
Edmond O’Brien – The Barefoot Contessa as Oscar Muldoon (WINNER)
Lee J. Cobb – On the Waterfront as Michael J. Skelly aka “Johnny Friendly”
Karl Malden – On the Waterfront as Father Barry
Rod Steiger – On the Waterfront as Charley “the Gent” Malloy
Tom Tully – The Caine Mutiny as Lieutenant Commander William H. De Vriess

Best Supporting Actress:
Eva Marie Saint – On the Waterfront as Edie Doyle (WINNER)
Nina Foch – Executive Suite as Erica Martin
Katy Jurado – Broken Lance as Señora Devereaux
Jan Sterling – The High and the Mighty as Sally McKee
Claire Trevor – The High and the Mighty as May Holst

Best Screenplay:
The Country Girl – George Seaton based on the play by Clifford Odets (WINNER)
The Caine Mutiny – Stanley Roberts based on the novel by Herman Wouk
Rear Window – John Michael Hayes based on the story “It Had To Be Murder” by Cornell Woolrich
Sabrina – Billy Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor, and Ernest Lehman based on the novel by Samuel Taylor
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers – Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich, and Dorothy Kingsley based on the story “The Sobbin’ Women” by Stephen Vincent Benét

Best Story and Screenplay:
On the Waterfront – Budd Schulberg (WINNER)
The Barefoot Contessa – Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Genevieve – William Rose
The Glenn Miller Story – Valentine Davies and Oscar Brodney
Knock on Wood – Norman Panama and Melvin Frank

Best Story:
Broken Lance – Philip Yordan (WINNER)
Bread, Love and Dreams – Ettore Maria Margadonna
Forbidden Games – Francois Boyer
Night People – Jed Harris and Tom Reed
There’s No Business Like Show Business – Lamar Trotti (posthumous nomination)

Best Short Subject – Cartoons:
When Magoo Flew (WINNER)
Crazy Mixed Up Pup
Pigs Is Pigs
Sandy Claws
Touché, Pussy Cat!

Best Documentary Feature:
The Vanishing Prairie – Walt Disney (WINNER)
The Stratford Adventure – Guy Glover

Best Documentary Short Subject:
Thursday’s Children (WINNER)
Jet Carrier
Rembrandt: A Self-Portrait

Best Live Action Short Subject, One-Reel:
This Mechanical Age – Robert Youngson (WINNER)
The First Piano Quartette – Otto Lang
The Strauss Fantasy – Johnny Green

Best Live Action Short Subject, Two-Reel:
A Time Out of War – Denis Sanders and Terry Sanders (WINNER)
Beauty and the Bull – Cedric Francis
Jet Carrier – Otto Lang
Siam – Walt Disney Productions

Best Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture:
The High and the Mighty – Dimitri Tiomkin (WINNER)
The Caine Mutiny – Max Steiner
Genevieve – Larry Adler
On the Waterfront – Leonard Bernstein
The Silver Chalice – Franz Waxman

Best Scoring of a Musical Picture:
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers – Adolph Deutsch and Saul Chaplin (WINNER)
Carmen Jones – Herschel Burke Gilbert
The Glenn Miller Story – Joseph Gershenson and Henry Mancini
A Star Is Born – Ray Heindorf
There’s No Business Like Show Business – Alfred Newman and Lionel Newman

Best Song:
“Three Coins in the Fountain” from Three Coins in the Fountain – Music by Jule Styne; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn (WINNER)
“Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep” from White Christmas – Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
“The High and the Mighty” from The High and the Mighty – Music by Dimitri Tiomkin; Lyrics by Ned Washington
“Hold My Hand” from Susan Slept Here – Music and Lyrics by Jack Lawrence and Richard Myers
“The Man That Got Away” from A Star Is Born – Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

Best Sound Recording:
The Glenn Miller Story – Leslie I. Carey (WINNER)
Brigadoon – Wesley C. Miller
The Caine Mutiny – John P. Livadary
Rear Window – Loren L. Ryder
Susan Slept Here – John O. Aalberg

Best Art Direction, Black-and-White:
On the Waterfront – Art Direction and Set Decoration: Richard Day (WINNER)
The Country Girl – Art Direction: Hal Pereira and Roland Anderson; Set Decoration: Samuel M. Comer and Grace Gregory
Executive Suite – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Edward Carfagno; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and Emile Kuri
Le Plaisir – Art Direction and Set Decoration: Max Ophüls
Sabrina – Art Direction: Hal Pereira and Walter Tyler; Set Decoration: Samuel M. Comer and Ray Moyer

Best Art Direction, Color:
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – Art Direction: John Meehan; Set Decoration: Emile Kuri (WINNER)
A Star Is Born – Art Direction: Malcolm Bert, Gene Allen and Irene Sharaff; Set Decoration: George James Hopkins
Brigadoon – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and E. Preston Ames; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and Keogh Gleason
Désirée – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and Leland Fuller; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott and Paul S. Fox
Red Garters – Art Direction: Hal Pereira and Roland Anderson; Set Decoration: Samuel M. Comer and Ray Moyer

Best Cinematography, Black-and-White:
On the Waterfront – Boris Kaufman (WINNER)
The Country Girl – John F. Warren
Executive Suite – George Folsey
Rogue Cop – John Seitz
Sabrina – Charles Lang

Best Cinematography, Color:
Three Coins in the Fountain – Milton Krasner (WINNER)
The Egyptian – Leon Shamroy
Rear Window – Robert Burks
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers – George Folsey
The Silver Chalice – William V. Skall

Best Costume Design, Black-and-White:
Sabrina – Edith Head (WINNER)
The Earrings of Madame de… – Georges Annenkov and Rosine Delamare
Executive Suite – Helen Rose
Indiscretion of an American Wife – Christian Dior
It Should Happen to You – Jean Louis

Best Costume Design, Color:
Gate of Hell – Sanzo Wada (WINNER)
Brigadoon – Irene Sharaff
Désirée – Charles LeMaire and René Hubert
A Star Is Born – Jean Louis, Mary Ann Nyberg and Irene Sharaff
There’s No Business Like Show Business – Charles LeMaire, Travilla and Miles White

Best Film Editing:
On the Waterfront – Gene Milford (WINNER)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – Elmo Williams
The Caine Mutiny – William A. Lyon and Henry Batista
The High and the Mighty – Ralph Dawson
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers – Ralph E. Winters

Best Special Effects:
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (WINNER)
Hell and High Water
Them!

Academy Honorary Awards:
Bausch and Lomb Optical “for their contributions to the advancement of the motion picture industry.”

Kemp R. Niver “for the development of the Renovare Process which has made possible the restoration of the Library of Congress Paper Film Collection.”

Greta Garbo “for her unforgettable screen performances.”

Danny Kaye “for his unique talents, his service to the Academy, the motion picture industry, and the American people.”

Jon Whiteley “for his outstanding juvenile performance in The Little Kidnappers

Vincent Winter “for his outstanding juvenile performance in The Little Kidnappers

Best Foreign Language Film:
Jigokumon (Gate of Hell) (Japan)

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