1978 Oscars 50th Academy Awards

Posted by Joe Hummel IIIPosted 47 years ago April 3, 1978

1978 Oscars 50th Academy Awards

Winners Announced: April 3, 1978
Held at: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles, California
Host: Bob Hope
Eligibility Year: 1977

Riveting Trivia and Tantalizing Tidbits

Table of Contents

Milestone Event: This ceremony marked the 50th anniversary of the Oscars, making it an especially significant year.
Woody Allen’s No-Show: Woody Allen won for Best Director for Annie Hall but didn’t attend the ceremony, famously choosing to play clarinet at his regular gig instead.
Breakthrough for Star Wars: The epic space opera Star Wars won six technical Oscars, but lost Best Picture to Annie Hall.
Diane Keaton Triumphs: Diane Keaton won Best Actress for her role in Annie Hall, a character reportedly based on her own personality.
Youngest Supporting Actress: Tatum O’Neal still holds the record as the youngest actor ever to win a competitive Academy Award. She won Best Supporting Actress at age 10 for her role in Paper Moon (1973), but this year her record wasn’t broken.
Pioneering Animation: The Rescuers, a film by Walt Disney Productions, received a nomination for its song “Someone’s Waiting for You,” signaling recognition for animated films in categories other than just Best Animated Feature.
Hope’s Hosting Legacy: Bob Hope served as host for a record 19th and final time, a record that still stands to this day.

1978 Oscar Nominees and Winners

Best Picture:
Annie Hall – Charles H. Joffe, producer (WINNER)
The Goodbye Girl – Ray Stark, producer
Julia – Richard Roth, producer
Star Wars – Gary Kurtz, producer
The Turning Point – Herbert Ross and Arthur Laurents, producers

Best Director:
Woody Allen – Annie Hall (WINNER)
Steven Spielberg – Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Fred Zinnemann – Julia
George Lucas – Star Wars
Herbert Ross – The Turning Point

Best Actor:
Richard Dreyfuss – The Goodbye Girl as Elliot Garfield (WINNER)
Woody Allen – Annie Hall as Alvy “Max” Singer
Richard Burton – Equus as Doctor Martin Dysart
Marcello Mastroianni – A Special Day as Gabriele
John Travolta – Saturday Night Fever as Anthony “Tony” Manero

Best Actress:
Diane Keaton – Annie Hall as Annie Hall (WINNER)
Anne Bancroft – The Turning Point as Emma Jacklin
Jane Fonda – Julia as Lillian Hellman
Shirley MacLaine – The Turning Point as DeeDee Rodgers
Marsha Mason – The Goodbye Girl as Paula McFadden

Best Supporting Actor:
Jason Robards – Julia as Dashiell Hammett (WINNER)
Mikhail Baryshnikov – The Turning Point as Yuri Kopeikine
Peter Firth – Equus as Alan Strang
Alec Guinness – Star Wars as Obi Wan Kenobi
Maximilian Schell – Julia as Johann

Best Supporting Actress:
Vanessa Redgrave – Julia as Julia (WINNER)
Leslie Browne – The Turning Point as Emilia Rodgers
Quinn Cummings – The Goodbye Girl as Lucy McFadden
Melinda Dillon – Close Encounters of the Third Kind as Jillian Guiler
Tuesday Weld – Looking for Mr. Goodbar as Katherine Dunn

Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Based on Factual Material or on Story Material Not Previously Published or Produced:
Annie Hall – Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman (WINNER)
The Goodbye Girl – Neil Simon
The Late Show – Robert Benton
Star Wars – George Lucas
The Turning Point – Arthur Laurents

Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium:
Julia – Alvin Sargent based on the novel Pentimento by Lillian Hellman (WINNER)
Equus – Peter Shaffer based on his play
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden – Gavin Lambert and Lewis John Carlino based on the novel by Hannah Greene
Oh, God! – Larry Gelbart based on the novel by Avery Corman
That Obscure Object of Desire – Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière based on the novel La Femme et le pantin by Pierre Louÿs

Best Foreign Language Film:
Madame Rosa (France) (WINNER)
Iphigenia (Greece)
Operation Thunderbolt (Israel)
A Special Day (Italy)
That Obscure Object of Desire (Spain)

Best Documentary Feature:
Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? – John Korty (WINNER)
The Children of Theatre Street – Robert Dornhelm and Earle Mack
High Grass Circus – Tony Ianzelo and Torben Schioler
Homage to Chagall: The Colours of Love – Harry Rasky
Union Maids – Jim Klein, Miles Mogulescu and Julia Reichert

Best Documentary Short Subject:
Gravity Is My Enemy – John C. Joseph and Jan Stussy (WINNER)
Agueda Martinez: Our People, Our Country
First Edition
Of Time, Tombs and Treasures
The Shetland Experience

Best Live Action Short Film:
I’ll Find a Way – Beverly Shaffer and Yuki Yoshida (WINNER)
The Absent-Minded Waiter – William E. McEuen
Floating Free – Jerry Butts
Notes on the Popular Arts – Saul Bass
Spaceborne – Philip Dauber

Best Animated Short Film:
The Sand Castle – Co Hoedeman (WINNER)
Bead Game – Ishu Patel
The Doonesbury Special – John Hubley (posthumous nomination), Faith Hubley and Garry Trudeau
Jimmy the C – James Picker, Robert Grossman and Craig Whitaker

Best Original Score:
Star Wars – John Williams (WINNER)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind – John Williams
Julia – Georges Delerue
Mohammad, Messenger of God – Maurice Jarre
The Spy Who Loved Me – Marvin Hamlisch

Best Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation Score:
A Little Night Music – Adapted by Jonathan Tunick (WINNER)
Pete’s Dragon – Song Score by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn; Adapted by Irwin Kostal
The Slipper and the Rose – Song Score by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman; Adapted by Angela Morley

Best Original Song:
“You Light Up My Life” from You Light Up My Life – Music and Lyrics by Joseph Brooks (WINNER)
“Candle on the Water” from Pete’s Dragon – Music and Lyrics by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn
“Nobody Does It Better” from The Spy Who Loved Me – Music by Marvin Hamlisch; Lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager
“The Slipper and the Rose Waltz (He Danced with Me/She Danced with Me)” from The Slipper and the Rose – Music and Lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
“Someone’s Waiting for You” from The Rescuers – Music by Sammy Fain; Lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins

Best Sound:
Star Wars – Don MacDougall, Ray West, Bob Minkler and Derek Ball (WINNER)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don MacDougall and Gene Cantamessa
The Deep – Walter Goss, Dick Alexander, Tom Beckert and Robin Gregory
Sorcerer – Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Richard Tyler and Jean-Louis Ducarme
The Turning Point – Theodore Soderberg, Paul Wells, Douglas Williams and Jerry Jost

Best Costume Design:
Star Wars – John Mollo (WINNER)
Airport ’77 – Edith Head and Burton Miller
Julia – Anthea Sylbert
A Little Night Music – Florence Klotz
The Other Side of Midnight – Irene Sharaff

Best Art Direction:
Star Wars – Art Direction: John Barry, Norman Reynolds and Leslie Dilley; Set Decoration: Roger Christian (WINNER)
Airport ’77 – Art Direction: George C. Webb; Set Decoration: Mickey S. Michaels
Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Art Direction: Joe Alves and Daniel A. Lomino; Set Decoration: Phil Abramson
The Spy Who Loved Me – Art Direction: Ken Adam and Peter Lamont; Set Decoration: Hugh Scaife
The Turning Point – Art Direction: Albert Brenner; Set Decoration: Marvin March

Best Cinematography:
Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Vilmos Zsigmond (WINNER)
Islands in the Stream – Fred J. Koenekamp
Julia – Douglas Slocombe
Looking for Mr. Goodbar – William A. Fraker
The Turning Point – Robert Surtees

Best Film Editing:
Star Wars – Paul Hirsch, Marcia Lucas and Richard Chew (WINNER)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Michael Kahn
Julia – Walter Murch
Smokey and the Bandit – Walter Hannemann and Angelo Ross
The Turning Point – William H. Reynolds

Best Visual Effects:
Star Wars – John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, Grant McCune and Robert Blalack (WINNER)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Gregory Jein, Roy Arbogast, Douglas Trumbull, Matthew Yuricich and Richard Yuricich

Academy Honorary Awards:
Margaret Booth

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award:
Charlton Heston

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award:
Walter Mirisch

Special Achievement Awards:
Ben Burtt for the creation of the alien, creature, and robot voices in Star Wars
Frank Warner for sound effects editing in Close Encounters of the Third Kind

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