1945 Oscars 17th Academy Awards

1945 Oscars 17th Academy Awards

  • The 17th Academy Awards unfolded on March 15, 1945
  • Venue: Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California
  • Hosts: John Cromwell and the return of Bob Hope
  • Eligibility Year: Films of 1944

Major Wins:

  • Going My Way dominated by winning Best Picture
  • Bing Crosby snagged Best Actor for the same film
  • Ingrid Bergman was honored as Best Actress for Gaslight

Directing & Screenplay:

  • Going My Way also won Leo McCarey the Best Director award
  • The film also scored Best Original Story for Frank Butler and Frank Cavett

Additional Info:

  • Going My Way received a total of 10 nominations and secured 7 wins
  • This was Ingrid Bergman’s first Oscar win; she would go on to win two more
  • Bob Hope served as one of the hosts, continuing his long association with the Academy Awards
  • This was the first and only time an individual was nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for playing the same role in the same film; Barry Fitzgerald for the character of Father Fitzgibbon in Going My Way. He won for Best Supporting Actor.
  • Wilson and Going My Way earned ten nominations each; Wilson won 5, and Going My Way won 7.
  • Gaslight had seven nominations and won 2 Oscars

1945 Oscar Nominees and Winners

Best Motion Picture:
Going My Way – Leo McCarey for Paramount (WINNER)
Double Indemnity – Joseph Sistrom for Paramount
Gaslight – Arthur Hornblow Jr. for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Since You Went Away – David O. Selznick for United Artists
Wilson – Darryl F. Zanuck for 20th Century Fox
Best Director:
Leo McCarey – Going My Way (WINNER)
Billy Wilder – Double Indemnity
Otto Preminger – Laura
Alfred Hitchcock – Lifeboat
Henry King – Wilson
Best Actor:
Bing Crosby – Going My Way as Father Chuck O’Malley (WINNER)
Charles Boyer – Gaslight as Gregory Anton/Sergius Bauer
Barry Fitzgerald – Going My Way as Father Fitzgibbon
Cary Grant – None but the Lonely Heart as Ernie Mott
Alexander Knox – Wilson as Woodrow Wilson
Best Actress:
Ingrid Bergman – Gaslight as Paula Alquist Anton (WINNER)
Claudette Colbert – Since You Went Away as Mrs Anne Hilton
Bette Davis – Mr. Skeffington as Frances Beatrice “Fanny” Trellis Skeffington
Greer Garson – Mrs. Parkington as Susie Parkington
Barbara Stanwyck – Double Indemnity as Phyllis Dietrichson
Best Supporting Actor:
Barry Fitzgerald – Going My Way as Father Fitzgibbon (WINNER)
Hume Cronyn – The Seventh Cross as Paul Roeder
Claude Rains – Mr. Skeffington as Job Skeffington
Clifton Webb – Laura as Waldo Lydecker
Monty Woolley – Since You Went Away as Colonel William G. Smollett
Best Supporting Actress:
Ethel Barrymore – None But the Lonely Heart as Ma Mott (WINNER)
Jennifer Jones – Since You Went Away as Jane Deborah Hilton
Angela Lansbury – Gaslight as Nancy Oliver
Aline MacMahon – Dragon Seed as Ling Tan’s Wife
Agnes Moorehead – Mrs. Parkington as Baroness Aspasia Conti
Best Original Screenplay:
Wilson – Lamar Trotti (WINNER)
Hail the Conquering Hero – Preston Sturges
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek – Preston Sturges
Two Girls and a Sailor – Richard Connell and Gladys Lehman
Wing and a Prayer – Jerome Cady
Best Screenplay:
Going My Way – Frank Butler and Frank Cavett, based on a story by Leo McCarey (WINNER)
Double Indemnity – Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder, based on Double Indemnity in Three of a Kind by James M. Cain
Gaslight – John L. Balderston, Walter Reisch, and John Van Druten, based on Angel Street by Patrick Hamilton
Laura – Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Elizabeth Reinhardt, based on the novel by Vera Caspary
Meet Me in St. Louis – Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe, based on the novel by Sally Benson
Best Original Motion Picture Story:
Going My Way – Leo McCarey (WINNER)
A Guy Named Joe – David Boehm and Chandler Sprague
Lifeboat – John Steinbeck
None Shall Escape – Alfred Neumann and Joseph Than
The Sullivans – Edward Doherty and Jules Schermer
Best Short Subjects – Cartoons:
Mouse Trouble – Fred Quimby (WINNER)
And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street – George Pal
Dog, Cat and Canary – Raymond Katz
Fish Fry – Walter Lantz
How to Play Football – Walt Disney
My Boy, Johnny – Paul Terry
Swooner Crooner – Edward Selzer
Best Documentary Feature:
The Fighting Lady – United States Navy (WINNER)
Resisting Enemy Interrogation – United States Army Air Force
Best Documentary Short Subject:
With the Marines at Tarawa – United States Marine Corps (WINNER)
Hymn of the Nations – United States Office of War Information, Overseas Motion Picture Bureau
New Americans – RKO Radio
Best Live Action Short Subject, One-Reel:
Who’s Who in Animal Land – Jerry Fairbanks (WINNER)
Blue Grass Gentlemen – Edmund Reek
Jammin’ the Blues – Gordon Hollingshead
Movie Pests – Pete Smith
Screen Snapshots’ 50th Anniversary of Motion Pictures – Ralph Staub
Best Live Action Short Subject, Two-Reel:
I Won’t Play – Gordon Hollingshead (WINNER)
Bombalera – Louis Harris
Main Street Today – Jerry Bresler
Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture:
Since You Went Away – Max Steiner (WINNER)
Address Unknown – Morris Stoloff and Ernst Toch
The Adventures of Mark Twain – Max Steiner
The Bridge of San Luis Rey – Dimitri Tiomkin
Casanova Brown – Arthur Lange
Christmas Holiday – H. J. Salter
Double Indemnity – Miklós Rózsa
The Fighting Seabees – Walter Scharf and Roy Webb
The Hairy Ape – Edward Paul and Michel Michelet
It Happened Tomorrow – Robert Stolz
Jack London – Frederic Efrem Rich
Kismet – Herbert Stothart
None but the Lonely Heart – Hanns Eisler and C. Bakaleinikoff
The Princess and the Pirate – David Rose
Summer Storm – Karl Hajos
Three Russian Girls – W. Franke Harling
Up in Mabel’s Room – Edward Paul
Voice in the Wind – Michel Michelet
Wilson – Alfred Newman
The Woman of the Town – Miklós Rózsa
Best Scoring of a Musical Picture:
Cover Girl – Morris Stoloff and Carmen Dragon (WINNER)
Brazil – Walter Scharf
Higher and Higher – C. Bakaleinikoff
Hollywood Canteen – Ray Heindorf
Irish Eyes Are Smiling – Alfred Newman
Knickerbocker Holiday – Werner R. Heymann and Kurt Weill
Lady in the Dark – Robert Emmett Dolan
Lady, Let’s Dance – Edward Kay
Meet Me in St. Louis – Georgie Stoll
The Merry Monahans – H. J. Salter
Minstrel Man – Ferde Grofé and Leo Erdody
Sensations of 1945 – Mahlon Merrick
Song of the Open Road – Charles Previn
Up in Arms – Ray Heindorf and Louis Forbes
Best Song:
“Swinging on a Star” from Going My Way – Music by James Van Heusen; Lyrics by Johnny Burke (WINNER)
“I Couldn’t Sleep a Wink Last Night” from Higher and Higher – Music by Jimmy McHugh; Lyrics by Harold Adamson
“I’ll Walk Alone” from Follow the Boys – Music by Jule Styne; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
“I’m Making Believe” from Sweet and Lowdown – Music by James V. Monaco; Lyrics by Mack Gordon
“Long Ago and Far Away” from Cover Girl – Music by Jerome Kern; Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
“Now I Know” from Up in Arms – Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by Ted Koehler
“Remember Me to Carolina” from Minstrel Man – Music by Harry Revel; Lyrics by Paul Webster
“Rio de Janeiro” from Brazil – Music by Ary Barroso; Lyrics by Ned Washington
“Silver Shadows and Golden Dreams” from Lady, Let’s Dance – Music by Lew Pollack; Lyrics by Charles Newman
“Sweet Dreams Sweetheart” from Hollywood Canteen – Music by Maurice K. Jerome; Lyrics by Ted Koehler
“Too Much in Love” from Song of the Open Road – Music by Walter Kent; Lyrics by Kim Gannon
“The Trolley Song” from Meet Me in St. Louis – Music and Lyrics by Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin
Best Sound Recording:
Wilson – Edmund H. Hansen (WINNER)
Brazil – Daniel J. Bloomberg
Casanova Brown – Thomas T. Moulton
Cover Girl – John P. Livadary
Double Indemnity – Loren L. Ryder
His Butler’s Sister – Bernard B. Brown
Hollywood Canteen – Nathan Levinson
It Happened Tomorrow – Jack Whitney
Kismet – Douglas Shearer
Music in Manhattan – Stephen Dunn
Voice in the Wind – W. M. Dalgleish
Best Art Direction, Black-and-White:
Gaslight – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and William Ferrari; Interior Decoration: Paul Huldschinsky and Edwin B. Willis (WINNER)
Address Unknown – Art Direction: Lionel Banks and Walter Holscher; Interior Decoration: Joseph Kish
The Adventures of Mark Twain – Art Direction: John Hughes; Interior Decoration: Fred M. MacLean
Casanova Brown – Art Direction: Perry Ferguson; Interior Decoration: Julia Heron
Laura – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and Leland Fuller; Interior Decoration: Thomas Little
No Time for Love – Art Direction: Hans Dreier and Robert Usher; Interior Decoration: Samuel M. Comer
Since You Went Away – Art Direction: Mark-Lee Kirk; Interior Decoration: Victor A. Gangelin
Step Lively – Art Direction: Albert S. D’Agostino and Carroll Clark; Interior Decoration: Darrell Silvera and Claude Carpenter
Song of the Open Road – N/A (nomination withdrawn)
Best Art Direction, Color:
Wilson – Art Direction: Wiard Ihnen; Interior Decoration: Thomas Little (WINNER)
The Climax – Art Direction: John B. Goodman and Alexander Golitzen; Interior Decoration: Russell A. Gausman and Ira S. Webb
Cover Girl – Art Direction: Lionel Banks and Cary Odell; Interior Decoration: Fay Babcock
The Desert Song – Art Direction: Charles Novi; Interior Decoration: Jack McConaghy
Kismet – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Daniel B. Cathcart; Interior Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and Richard Pefferle
Lady in the Dark – Art Direction: Hans Dreier and Raoul Pene Du Bois; Interior Decoration: Ray Moyer
The Princess and the Pirate – Art Direction: Ernst Fegté; Interior Decoration: Howard Bristol
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White:
Laura – Joseph LaShelle (WINNER)
Double Indemnity – John F. Seitz
Dragon Seed – Sidney Wagner
Gaslight – Joseph Ruttenberg
Going My Way – Lionel Lindon
Lifeboat – Glen MacWilliams
Since You Went Away – Stanley Cortez and Lee Garmes
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo – Robert L. Surtees and Harold Rosson
The Uninvited – Charles Lang
The White Cliffs of Dover – George J. Folsey
Best Cinematography, Color:
Wilson – Leon Shamroy (WINNER)
Cover Girl – Rudolph Maté and Allen M. Davey
Home in Indiana – Edward Cronjager
Kismet – Charles Rosher
Lady in the Dark – Ray Rennahan
Meet Me in St. Louis – George J. Folsey
Best Film Editing:
Wilson – Barbara McLean (WINNER)
Going My Way – Leroy Stone
Janie – Owen Marks
None but the Lonely Heart – Roland Gross
Since You Went Away – Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom
Best Special Effects:
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo – Photographic Effects A. Arnold Gillespie, Donald Jahraus and Warren Newcombe; Sound Effects: Douglas Shearer
The Adventures of Mark Twain – Photographic Effects: Paul Detlefsen and John Crouse; Sound Effects: Nathan Levinson
Days of Glory – Photographic Effects Vernon L. Walker; Sound Effects: James G. Stewart and Roy Granville
Secret Command – Photographic Effects: David Allen, Ray Cory and Robert Wright; Sound Effects: Russell Malmgren and Harry Kusnick
Since You Went Away – Photographic Effects: Jack Cosgrove; Sound Effects: Arthur Johns
The Story of Dr. Wassell – Photographic Effects: Farciot Edouart and Gordon Jennings; Sound Effects: George Dutton
Wilson – Photographic Effects: Fred Sersen; Sound Effects: Roger Heman Sr.
Academy Honorary Award:
Bob Hope “for his many services to the Academy.”
Academy Juvenile Award:
Margaret O’Brien
Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award:
Darryl F. Zanuck
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