26th Academy Awards


The 26th Academy Awards ceremony was held on March 25, 1954. It took place at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, and the NBC Century Theatre in New York City.
The second national telecast of the Awards show drew an estimated 43 million viewers. Shirley Booth, appearing in a play in Philadelphia, presented the Best Actor award through a live broadcast cut-in, and privately received the winner's name over the telephone from co-host Donald O'Connor. Gary Cooper filmed his presentation of the Best Actress award in advance on a set in Mexico, with O'Connor announcing the winner's name.
All the major winners in this year were black-and-white films. The big winner was Fred Zinnemann's From Here to Eternity, with 13 nominations and eight awards including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Academy Award for Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Sound Recording, and Best Film Editing. All five of its major actors and actresses were nominated, with secondary players Donna Reed and Frank Sinatra taking home Oscars. The film was based on James Jones' controversial, best-selling novel about Army life on a Hawaiian military base just before the Pearl Harbor attack and World War II, illustrating the conflict between an individualistic private and rigid institutional authority. Its achievement of eight awards matched the then record held by Gone with the Wind. The record was tied again the following year by On the Waterfront. Walt Disney won four awards, which set the record for the most Oscars won in the same year.
William Holden's speech for Best Actor for his role in Stalag 17 was simply "Thank You", making it one of the shortest speeches ever; the TV broadcast had a strict cutoff time which forced Holden's quick remarks. The frustrated Holden personally paid for advertisements in the Hollywood trade publications to thank everyone he wanted to on Oscar night. He also remarked that he felt that either Burt Lancaster or Montgomery Clift should have won the Best Actor Oscar for From Here to Eternity instead of him.

Awards

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.
Best Motion PictureBest Director

  • Fred Zinnemann – From Here to Eternity
  • *Charles Walters – Lili
  • *William Wyler – Roman Holiday
  • *George Stevens – Shane
  • *Billy Wilder – Stalag 17
    • Best ActorBest Actress
  • William Holden – Stalag 17 as J. J. Sefton
  • *Marlon Brando – Julius Caesar as Mark Antony
  • *Richard Burton – The Robe as Marcellus Gallio
  • *Montgomery Clift – From Here to Eternity as Private Robert E. Lee "Prew" Prewitt
  • *Burt Lancaster – From Here to Eternity as First Sergeant Milton Warden
  • Audrey Hepburn – Roman Holiday as Princess Ann
  • *Leslie Caron – Lili as Lili Daurier
  • *Ava Gardner – Mogambo as Eloise Kelly
  • *Deborah Kerr – From Here to Eternity as Karen Holmes
  • *Maggie McNamara – The Moon Is Blue as Patty O'Neill
    • Best Supporting ActorBest Supporting Actress
  • Frank Sinatra – From Here to Eternity as Private Angelo Maggio
  • *Eddie Albert – Roman Holiday as Irving Radovich
  • *Brandon deWilde – Shane as Joey Starrett
  • *Jack Palance – Shane as Jack Wilson
  • *Robert Strauss – Stalag 17 as Stanislas "Animal" Kuzawa
  • Donna Reed – From Here to Eternity as Alma Burke/Lorene
  • *Grace Kelly – Mogambo as Linda Nordley
  • *Geraldine Page – Hondo as Angie Lowe
  • *Marjorie Rambeau – Torch Song as Mrs. Stewart
  • *Thelma Ritter – Pickup on South Street as Moe
    • Best ScreenplayBest Story and Screenplay
  • From Here to Eternity – Daniel Taradash from From Here to Eternity by James Jones
  • *The Cruel Sea – Eric Ambler from The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat
  • *Lili – Helen Deutsch from "Love of Seven Dolls" by Paul Gallico
  • *Roman Holiday – Ian McLellan Hunter and John Dighton from a story by Dalton Trumbo
  • *Shane – A.B. Guthrie Jr. from Shane by Jack Schaefer
  • Titanic – Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch and Richard L. Breen
  • *The Band Wagon – Betty Comden and Adolph Green
  • *The Desert Rats – Richard Murphy
  • *The Naked Spur – Sam Rolfe and Harold Jack Bloom
  • *Take the High Ground! – Millard Kaufman
    • Best StoryBest Short Subject - Cartoons
  • Roman Holiday – Dalton Trumbo
  • *Above and Beyond – Beirne Lay Jr.
  • *The Captain's Paradise – Alec Coppel
  • *Hondo – Louis L'Amour
  • *Little Fugitive – Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, and Ruth Orkin
  • Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom – Walt Disney
  • *Christopher Crumpet
  • *From A to Z-Z-Z-Z
  • *Rugged Bear
  • *The Tell Tale Heart
    • Best Documentary FeatureBest Documentary Short Subject
  • The Living Desert – Walt Disney
  • *The Conquest of Everest
  • *A Queen Is Crowned
  • The Alaskan Eskimo – Walt Disney
  • *The Living City
  • *Operation Blue Jay
  • *They Planted a Stone
  • *The Word
    • Best Live Action Short Subject, One-ReelBest Live Action Short Subject, Two-Reel
  • Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor – Johnny Green
  • *Christ Among the Primitives
  • *Herring Hunt
  • *Joy of Living
  • *Wee Water Wonders
  • Bear Country – Walt Disney
  • *Ben and Me
  • *Return to Glennascaul
  • *Vesuvius Express
  • *Winter Paradise
    • Best Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy PictureBest Scoring of a Musical Picture
  • Lili – Bronisław Kaper
  • *Above and Beyond – Hugo Friedhofer
  • *From Here to Eternity – Morris Stoloff and George Duning
  • *Julius Caesar – Miklós Rózsa
  • *This Is Cinerama – Louis Forbes
  • Call Me Madam – Alfred Newman
  • *The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. – Frederick Hollander and Morris Stoloff
  • *The Band Wagon – Adolph Deutsch
  • *Calamity Jane – Ray Heindorf
  • *Kiss Me Kate – André Previn and Saul Chaplin
    • Best SongBest Sound Recording
  • "Secret Love" from Calamity Jane – Music by Sammy Fain; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
  • *"The Moon Is Blue" from The Moon Is Blue – Music by Herschel Burke Gilbert; Lyrics by Sylvia Fine
  • *"My Flaming Heart" from Small Town Girl – Music by Nicholas Brodszky; Lyrics by Leo Robin
  • *"Sadie Thompson's Song" from Miss Sadie Thompson – Music by Lester Lee; Lyrics by Ned Washington
  • *"That's Amore" from The Caddy – Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Jack Brooks
  • From Here to Eternity – John P. Livadary
  • *Calamity Jane – William A. Mueller
  • *Knights of the Round Table – A. W. Watkins
  • *The Mississippi Gambler – Leslie I. Carey
  • *The War of the Worlds – Loren L. Ryder
    • Best Art Direction, Black-and-WhiteBest Art Direction, Color
  • Julius Caesar – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Edward Carfagno; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and Hugh Hunt
  • *Martin Luther – Art Direction and Set Decoration: Fritz Maurischat and Paul Markwitz
  • *The President's Lady – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and Leland Fuller; Set Decoration: Paul S. Fox
  • *Roman Holiday – Art Direction and Set Decoration: Hal Pereira and Walter Tyler
  • *Titanic – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and Maurice Ransford; Set Decoration: Stuart A. Reiss
  • The Robe – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and George Davis; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott and Paul S. Fox
  • *Knights of the Round Table – Art Direction: Alfred Junge and Hans Peters; Set Decoration: John Jarvis
  • *Lili – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Paul Groesse; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and Arthur Krams
  • *The Story of Three Loves – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, E. Preston Ames, Edward Carfagno and Gabriel Scognamillo; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis, F. Keogh Gleason, Arthur Krams and Jack D. Moore
  • *Young Bess – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Urie McCleary; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and Jack D. Moore
    • Best Cinematography, Black-and-WhiteBest Cinematography, Color
  • From Here to Eternity – Burnett Guffey
  • *The Four Poster – Hal Mohr
  • *Julius Caesar – Joseph Ruttenberg
  • *Martin Luther – Joseph C. Brun
  • *Roman Holiday – Franz Planer and Henri Alekan
  • Shane – Loyal Griggs
  • *All the Brothers Were Valiant – George Folsey
  • *Beneath the 12-Mile Reef – Edward Cronjager
  • *Lili – Robert Planck
  • *The Robe – Leon Shamroy
    • Best Costume Design, Black-and-WhiteBest Costume Design, Color
  • Roman Holiday – Edith Head
  • * The Actress – Walter Plunkett
  • * Dream Wife – Helen Rose and Herschel McCoy
  • * From Here to Eternity – Jean Louis
  • * The President's Lady – Charles LeMaire and Renié
  • The Robe – Charles LeMaire and Emile Santiago
  • * The Band Wagon – Mary Ann Nyberg
  • * Call Me Madam – Irene Sharaff
  • * How to Marry a Millionaire – Charles LeMaire and William Travilla
  • * Young Bess – Walter Plunkett
    • Best Film Editing-
  • From Here to Eternity – William Lyon
  • *Crazylegs – Irvine Warburton
  • *The Moon Is Blue – Otto Ludwig
  • *Roman Holiday – Robert Swink
  • *The War of the Worlds – Everett Douglas
    		• -

    Academy Honorary Awards

  • Pete Smith – "For his witty and pungent observations on the American scene in his series of 'Pete Smith Specialties.
  • Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation – "In recognition of their imagination, showmanship and foresight in introducing the revolutionary process known as CinemaScope".
  • Joseph I. Breen – "For his conscientious, open-minded and dignified management of the Motion Picture Production Code".
  • Bell and Howell Company – "For their pioneering and basic achievements in the advancement of the motion picture industry".
  • The War of the Worlds for Best Special Effects.

    Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

  • George Stevens

    Academy Award of Merit

  • Henri Chretien for Cinemascope contribution

    Presenters and performers

    • Presenters

    These films had multiple nominations:
    The following films received multiple awards.