40th Academy Awards

The 40th Academy Awards honored film achievements of 1967. Originally scheduled for April 8, 1968, the awards were postponed to two days later, April 10, 1968, because of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Bob Hope was once again the host of the ceremony.

40th Academy Awards
Official poster with original date
DateApril 10, 1968
SiteSanta Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, California
Hosted byBob Hope
Produced byArthur Freed
Directed byRichard Dunlap
Highlights
Best PictureIn the Heat of the Night
Most awardsIn the Heat of the Night (5)
Most nominationsBonnie and Clyde and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (10)
TV in the United States
NetworkABC

Due to the increasing rarity of black and white feature films, the awards for cinematography, art direction and costume design were combined into single categories rather than a distinction between color and monochrome. The Best Picture nominees were an eclectic group of films reflecting the chaos of their era. The event was the first one since the 1948 awards show to feature film clips from the Best Picture nominated films.

This year's nominations also marked the first time that three different films were nominated for the "Top Five" Academy Awards: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay. The three films were Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. However, the winner of Best Picture was producer Walter Mirisch and director Norman Jewison's thriller/mystery film, In the Heat of the Night (with seven nominations and five wins – Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Film Editing and Best Sound).

The Graduate is, as of the 92nd Academy Awards, the last film to win Best Director and nothing else.

Due to an all-out push by Academy President Gregory Peck, 18 of the 20 acting nominees were present at the ceremony. Only Katharine Hepburn and the late Spencer Tracy, who was nominated posthumously, were missing.

Winners and nominees

Mike Nichols, Best Director winner
Rod Steiger, Best Actor winner
Katharine Hepburn, Best Actress winner
George Kennedy, Best Supporting Actor winner
Estelle Parsons, Best Supporting Actress winner
Elmer Bernstein, Best Original Score winner

Nominations were announced on February 19, 1968. Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger ().[1]

Best Picture Best Director
Best Actor Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor Best Supporting Actress
Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
Best Foreign Language Film Best Documentary Feature
Best Documentary Short Subject Best Live Action Short Subject
Best Short Subject – Cartoons Best Original Music Score
Best Original Song Score or Adaptation Score Best Song
Best Costume Design Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography Best Sound
Best Sound Effects Best Film Editing
Best Special Visual Effects

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

Gregory Peck

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

Alfred Hitchcock

Honorary Oscar

Arthur Freed was presented for distinguished service to the Academy and the production of six top-rated Awards telecasts.

Trivia

  • This was the last Oscars broadcast by network radio in the US. The ABC radio network (which had just split into four separate services) carried the ceremony over the ABC Entertainment network.
  • Of the 20 performers nominated in the acting categories only two didn't attend: Katharine Hepburn, whose award for Best Actress was accepted by George Cukor, was in France filming The Lion in Winter, and Spencer Tracy, whose nomination was posthumous.
  • There was no Governor's Ball.
  • Prior to the two-day postponement, four African-American stars who were scheduled to take part in the ceremony: Sidney Poitier, Sammy Davis Jr., Louis Armstrong, and Diahann Carroll, announced they were withdrawing in mourning for Dr. King. Prior to the postponement, Jack Lemmon was announced as a replacement for Poitier, and Shirley Jones for Davis, but once the event was delayed, the original quartet returned.
  • Alfred Hitchcock's acceptance speech is on record as one of the shortest in Academy Awards history: "Thank you very much indeed". This is one word longer than William Holden´s acceptance speech for Stalag 17 at the 26th Academy Awards, which was simply "Thank you ... thank you."
  • This was the only year in which two films (Bonnie and Clyde and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner) received nominations in all four acting categories.
  • Legendary film composer John Williams received his first nomination for scoring Valley of the Dolls. He would go on to receive 50 more nominations, winning 5.

Multiple nominations and awards

Presenters and performers

The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.

Presenters

NameRole
Hank SimmsAnnouncer for the 40th Academy Awards
Gregory Peck (AMPAS President)Gave opening remarks welcoming guests to the awards ceremony
Bill MillerExplained the eligibility and voting rules to the public
Carol ChanningPresenter of the award for Best Sound
Patty DukePresenter of the award for Best Supporting Actor
Dustin Hoffman
Katharine Ross
Presenters of the award for Best Cinematography
Macdonald Carey
Diahann Carroll
Presenters of the Short Subjects Awards
Robert Morse
Barbara Rush
Presenters of the Documentary Awards
Eva Marie SaintPresenter of the award for Best Costume Design
Bob Hope (host)Presenter of the Honorary Award to Arthur Freed
Natalie WoodPresenter of the award for Best Special Visual Effects
Richard Crenna
Elke Sommer
Presenters of the award for Best Sound Effects
Walter MatthauPresenter of the award for Best Supporting Actress
Edith EvansPresenter of the award for Best Film Editing
Rosalind RussellPresenter of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Gregory Peck
Danny KayePresenter of the award for Best Foreign Language Film
Rock Hudson
Shirley Jones
Presenters of the award for Best Art Direction
Bob HopePresenter of the Academy Awards' history montage
Angie Dickinson
Gene Kelly
Presenters of the Music Awards
Barbra StreisandPresenter of the award for Best Song
Sammy Davis Jr.Accepted Leslie Bricusse's award on his behalf
Robert WisePresenter of the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
Leslie CaronPresenter of the award for Best Director
Claire Bloom
Rod Steiger
Presenters of the Writing Awards
Audrey HepburnPresenter of the award for Best Actor
Sidney PoitierPresenter of the award for Best Actress
Julie AndrewsPresenter of the award for Best Picture

Performers

NameRolePerformed
Elmer BernsteinMusical arranger and conductorOrchestral
Louis ArmstrongPerformer"The Bare Necessities" from The Jungle Book
Lainie KazanPerformer"The Eyes of Love" from Banning
Sérgio Mendes
Brasil '66
Performer"The Look of Love" from Casino Royale
Sammy Davis Jr.Performer"Talk to the Animals" from Doctor Dolittle
Angela LansburyPerformer"Thoroughly Modern Millie" from Thoroughly Modern Millie[2]
Academy Awards OrchestraPerformers"Hooray for Hollywood/There's No Business like Show Business" (orchestral) during the closing credits
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See also

References

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