Awards

1977 Oscars 49th Academy Awards

Posted by Joe Hummel IIIPosted 48 years ago March 28, 1977

1977 Oscars 49th Academy Awards

Winners Announced: March 28, 1977
Held at: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles, California
Hosts: Richard Pryor, Jane Fonda, Ellen Burstyn, Warren Beatty
Eligibility Year: 1976

Trivia and Details

Table of Contents

This was the first year the Academy Awards had multiple hosts. Richard Pryor, Jane Fonda, Ellen Burstyn, and Warren Beatty each brought their own flair to the proceedings, which was a bit of an experimental move.
The film Rocky, starring Sylvester Stallone, knocked out the competition to win Best Picture. Stallone wrote the screenplay in just three days and had to sell his dog to stay financially afloat while seeking a studio willing to let him star in it.
Faye Dunaway won Best Actress for her role in Network, a film that also earned Peter Finch a posthumous Best Actor award. He’s the first actor to win an Oscar posthumously.
All the President’s Men won four Oscars, including Best Supporting Actor for Jason Robards, who portrayed Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee.
The Best Foreign Language Film was Black and White in Color, an Ivory Coast film that was actually a comedy about colonialism.
Jerry Goldsmith won Best Original Score for The Omen, making it the only horror film to win an Oscar that evening.
Peter Finch was the first posthumous winner of an Oscar for acting.
The “Academy Award of Merit” is what the Oscar statue is officially called.
Beatrice Straight became the actor with the shortest performance ever in a film to win an acting Oscar, with only five minutes and two seconds of screen-time in Network.

1977 Oscar Nominees and Winners

Best Picture:
Rocky – Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler, producers (WINNER)
All the President’s Men – Walter Coblenz, producer
Bound for Glory – Robert F. Blumofe and Harold Leventhal, producers
Network – Howard Gottfried, producer
Taxi Driver – Julia Phillips and Michael Phillips, producers

Best Director:
John G. Avildsen – Rocky (WINNER)
Alan J. Pakula – All the President’s Men
Ingmar Bergman – Face to Face
Sidney Lumet – Network
Lina Wertmüller – Seven Beauties

Best Actor:
Peter Finch – Network as Howard Beale (WINNER)
Robert De Niro – Taxi Driver as Travis Bickle
Giancarlo Giannini – Seven Beauties as Pasqualino
William Holden – Network as Max Schumacher
Sylvester Stallone – Rocky as Rocky Balboa

Best Actress:
Faye Dunaway – Network as Diana Christensen (WINNER)
Marie-Christine Barrault – Cousin Cousine as Marthe
Talia Shire – Rocky as Adrian Pennino
Sissy Spacek – Carrie as Carrie White
Liv Ullmann – Face to Face as Jenny Isaksson

Best Supporting Actor:
Jason Robards – All the President’s Men as Ben Bradlee (WINNER)
Ned Beatty – Network as Arthur Jensen
Burgess Meredith – Rocky as “Mickey” Goldmill
Laurence Olivier – Marathon Man as Dr. Christian Szell
Burt Young – Rocky as Paulie Pennino

Best Supporting Actress:
Beatrice Straight – Network as Louise Schumacher (WINNER)
Jane Alexander – All the President’s Men as Judy Graham Hoback
Jodie Foster – Taxi Driver as Iris Steensma
Lee Grant – Voyage of the Damned as Lillian Rosen
Piper Laurie – Carrie as Margaret White

Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Based on Factual Material or on Story Material Not Previously Published or Produced:
Network – Paddy Chayefsky (WINNER)
Cousin Cousine – Jean-Charles Tacchella and Danièle Thompson
The Front – Walter Bernstein
Rocky – Sylvester Stallone
Seven Beauties – Lina Wertmüller

Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium:
All the President’s Men – William Goldman based on the book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward (WINNER)
Bound for Glory – Robert Getchell based on the book by Woody Guthrie
Fellini’s Casanova – Federico Fellini and Bernardino Zapponi based on the autobiography Histoire de ma vie by Giacomo Casanova
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution – Nicholas Meyer based on his novel
Voyage of the Damned – David Butler and Steve Shagan based on the book by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts

Best Documentary Feature:
Harlan County, USA – Barbara Kopple (WINNER)
Hollywood on Trial – David Helpern
Off the Edge – Michael Firth
People of the Wind – Anthony Howarth and David Koff
Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry – Donald Brittain and John Kramer

Best Documentary Short Subject:
Number Our Days – Lynne Littman (WINNER)
American Shoeshine
Blackwood
The End of the Road
Universe

Best Live Action Short Film:
In the Region of Ice – Anne Guttfreund and Peter Werner (WINNER)
Kudzu – Marjorie Anne Short
The Morning Spider – Julian Chagrin and Claude Chagrin
Nightlife – Claire Wilbur and Robin Lehman
Number One – Dyan Cannon and Vince Cannon

Best Animated Short Film:
Leisure – Suzanne Baker (WINNER)
Dedalo – Manfredo Manfredi
The Street – Caroline Leaf and Guy Glover

Best Original Score:
The Omen – Jerry Goldsmith (WINNER)
Obsession – Bernard Herrmann (posthumous nomination)
The Outlaw Josey Wales – Jerry Fielding
Taxi Driver – Bernard Herrmann (posthumous nomination)
Voyage of the Damned – Lalo Schifrin

Best Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation Score:
Bound for Glory – Leonard Rosenman (WINNER)
Bugsy Malone – Paul Williams
A Star Is Born – Roger Kellaway

Best Original Song:
“Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)” from A Star Is Born – Music by Barbra Streisand; Lyrics by Paul Williams (WINNER)
“Ave Satani” from The Omen – Music and Lyrics by Jerry Goldsmith
“Come to Me” from The Pink Panther Strikes Again – Music by Henry Mancini; Lyrics by Don Black
“Gonna Fly Now” from Rocky – Music by Bill Conti; Lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins
“A World That Never Was” from Half a House – Music by Sammy Fain; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster

Best Sound:
All the President’s Men – Arthur Piantadosi, Les Fresholtz, Dick Alexander and Jim Webb (WINNER)
King Kong – Harry Warren Tetrick (posthumous nomination), William McCaughey, Aaron Rochin and Jack Solomon
Rocky – Harry Warren Tetrick (posthumous nomination), William McCaughey, Lyle Burbridge and Bud Alper
Silver Streak – Donald Mitchell, Douglas Williams, Richard Tyler and Hal Etherington
A Star Is Born – Robert Knudson, Dan Wallin, Robert Glass and Tom Overton

Best Foreign Language Film:
Black and White in Color (Côte d’Ivoire) (WINNER)
Cousin Cousine (France)
Jacob the Liar (East Germany)
Nights and Days (Poland)
Seven Beauties (Italy)

Best Costume Design:
Fellini’s Casanova – Danilo Donati (WINNER)
Bound for Glory – William Ware Theiss
The Incredible Sarah – Anthony Mendleson
The Passover Plot – Mary Wills
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution – Alan Barrett

Best Art Direction:
All the President’s Men – Art Direction: George Jenkins; Set Decoration: George Gaines (WINNER)
The Incredible Sarah – Art Direction: Elliot Scott and Norman Reynolds; Set Decoration: Peter Howitt
The Last Tycoon – Art Direction: Gene Callahan and Jack T. Collis; Set Decoration: Jerry Wunderlich
Logan’s Run – Art Direction: Dale Hennesy; Set Decoration: Robert De Vestel
The Shootist – Art Direction: Robert F. Boyle; Set Decoration: Arthur Jeph Parker

Best Cinematography:
Bound for Glory – Haskell Wexler (WINNER)
King Kong – Richard H. Kline
Logan’s Run – Ernest Laszlo
Network – Owen Roizman
A Star Is Born – Robert Surtees

Best Film Editing:
Rocky – Richard Halsey and Scott Conrad (WINNER)
All the President’s Men – Robert L. Wolfe
Bound for Glory – Robert C. Jones and Pembroke J. Herring
Network – Alan Heim
Two-Minute Warning – Eve Newman and Walter Hannemann

Special Achievement Awards:
Carlo Rambaldi, Glen Robinson, and Frank Van der Veer for the visual effects of King Kong
L. B. Abbott, Glen Robinson, and Matthew Yuricich for the visual effects of Logan’s Run

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award:
Pandro S. Berman

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