53rd Academy Awards
The 53rd Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1980, were presented March 31, 1981, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. The ceremonies, which were presided over by Johnny Carson, were originally scheduled for March 30 but were postponed due to the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.
53rd Academy Awards | |
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![]() Official poster with original date | |
Date | March 31, 1981 |
Site | Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles |
Hosted by | Johnny Carson |
Produced by | Norman Jewison |
Directed by | Marty Pasetta |
Highlights | |
Best Picture | Ordinary People |
Most awards | Ordinary People (4) |
Most nominations | The Elephant Man and Raging Bull (8) |
TV in the United States | |
Network | ABC |
Duration | 3 hours, 13 minutes |
David Lynch's The Elephant Man and Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull, with eight nominations each, had the most nominations of this year's films. Their nominations included Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director. Michael Apted's Coal Miner's Daughter received seven nominations while Ordinary People and Tess received six.
The year's winner of acting categories also marked as the closest span ever between the four winners, all of whom were under 40 when they won the award. Robert De Niro was 37 when awarded Best Actor, Sissy Spacek was 31 when awarded Best Actress, Timothy Hutton was 20 when awarded Best Supporting Actor, and Mary Steenburgen was 28 when awarded Best Supporting Actress. In addition, Hutton was the youngest ever Best Supporting Actor winner. His award was one of four that Ordinary People won, more than any other movie; the movie also won Best Picture, Best Director for Robert Redford and Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium for Alvin Sargent.
The lack of recognition for Christopher Tucker's make-up work on The Elephant Man prompted the creation of the Academy Award for Best Makeup the following year.
Henry Fonda was awarded an Academy Honorary Award during this ceremony. He received the Academy Award for Best Actor the following year. This feat would later be duplicated by Paul Newman who also was awarded the Honorary Award during the 58th Academy Awards in 1985, and subsequent would also win the Best Actor award the following year.
Best Supporting Actress nominee Eva Le Gallienne was born in 1899, which made her the last acting nominee to be born in the nineteenth century. As of 2019, this is the earliest Oscars for which all five directing nominees are still living.
Awards
Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger (
Academy Honorary Award
Special Achievement Award
- The Empire Strikes Back (Brian Johnson, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren and Bruce Nicholson) for Visual Effects
Presenters and performers
The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.
Presenters
Name | Role |
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Hank Simms | Announcer for the 53rd annual Academy Awards |
Ronald Reagan (pre-recorded) | Gave opening remarks welcoming guests to the awards ceremony |
Jack Lemmon Mary Tyler Moore | Presenters of the award for Best Supporting Actor |
Alan Arkin Margot Kidder | Presenters of the Short Films Awards |
Lily Tomlin | Presenter of the Medal of Commendation |
Richard Chamberlain Lesley-Anne Down | Presenters of the Documentary Awards |
Peter O'Toole Sissy Spacek | Presenters of the award for Best Art Direction |
Nastassja Kinski Sigourney Weaver | Presenters of the award for Best Costume Design |
Jack Valenti | Presenter of the award for Best Visual Effects |
Bernadette Peters Billy Dee Williams | Presenters of the award for Best Sound |
Brooke Shields Franco Zeffirelli | Presenters of the award for Best Foreign Language Film |
The Nicholas Brothers | Presenters of the award for Best Original Score |
Richard Pryor Jane Seymour | Presenters of the award for Best Film Editing |
Diana Ross Donald Sutherland | Presenters of the award for Best Supporting Actress |
Angie Dickinson Luciano Pavarotti | Presenters of the award for Best Original Song |
Peter Ustinov | Presenters of the Writing Awards |
Robert Redford | Presenter of the Honorary Award to Henry Fonda |
Blythe Danner Steve Martin | Presenters of the award for Best Cinematography |
George Cukor King Vidor | Presenters of the award for Best Director |
Sally Field | Presenter of the award for Best Actor |
Dustin Hoffman | Presenter of the award for Best Actress |
Lillian Gish | Presenter of the award for Best Picture |
Performers
Name | Role | Performed |
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Henry Mancini | Musical arranger and Conductor | Orchestral |
Lucie Arnaz | Performer | "Hooray for Hollywood" |
Willie Nelson | Performer | "On the Road Again" from Honeysuckle Rose |
Irene Cara | Performer | "Fame" and "Out Here On My Own" from Fame |
Dolly Parton | Performer | "9 to 5" from Nine to Five |
Dionne Warwick | Performer | "People Alone" from The Competition |
Academy Awards Orchestra | Performers | "Hooray for Hollywood (reprise)" (orchestral) during the closing credits |
Multiple nominations and awards
These films had multiple nominations:
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The following films received multiple awards.
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See also
References
- "The 53rd Academy Awards (1981) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 2014-11-10. Retrieved 2011-10-07.
- "The Official Academy Awards Database". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Select "1980" in the "Award Year(s)" drop-down menu and press "Search".