The 45th Academy Awards were presented Tuesday, March 27, 1973, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, honoring the best films of 1972. The ceremonies were presided over by Carol Burnett, Michael Caine, Charlton Heston, and Rock Hudson.

The ceremony was marked by Marlon Brando's boycott of the Oscars, and his sending of Sacheen Littlefeather to explain why he could not show up to collect his Best Actor award for The Godfather; and by Charlie Chaplin's only competitive Oscar win, for Best Original Dramatic Score for his 20-year-old film Limelight, which was eligible because it did not screen in Los Angeles until 1972.^[1][2] Prior to this ceremony, Chaplin had received 2 Academy Honorary Awards: in 1972 for his lifetime of work; and in 1929 (after having revoked his nominations for Best Director, Actor, and Writing (Original), thereby presenting him with a special award celebrating his multifaceted achievements).

Cabaret, Bob Fosse's adaptation of the Broadway stage musical, set a record for the most Oscars won without winning Best Picture winning 8. Best Picture winner The Godfather received only three Academy Awards.

This year was the first time that two African American women received nominations for Best Actress: Cicely Tyson and Diana Ross.^[3] Minnelli accepted her Oscar despite a slight scrape she had incurred while riding a motorcycle. Ross was criticized for running a promotional ad campaign demanding that she win the Best Actress Oscar.^[4] Meanwhile, Edward G. Robinson, who died two months before the ceremony, became the second actor to receive his honorary Oscar posthumously, after Douglas Fairbanks (d. 1939) in 1940.

This was also the first year when all the Oscar winners were brought out on stage at the end of the ceremony.^[5] The show drew a television audience of 85 million viewers.^[6][7]

It was initially announced, on February 12, 1973, that The Godfather received 11 nominations, more than any other film that year.^[10][11] This was reduced to 10 nominations (tied with Cabaret for the most) after a new vote by the academy's music branch, following a controversy over whether Nino Rota's score for The Godfather was eligible for the nomination it received.^[12][13] For the re-balloting, members of the music branch chose from six films: The Godfather and the five films that had been on the shortlist for best original dramatic score but did not get nominated. John Addison's score for Sleuth won this new vote, and thus replaced Rota's score on the official list of nominees.^[14] The controversy arose, according to Academy President Daniel Taradash, because the love theme in The Godfather had previously been used by Rota in Fortunella, an Italian movie from several years earlier.^[15]

The nominations in the category of Best Original Song were not announced in February with the rest of the nominations, reportedly because of "a mixup in balloting".^[16] It was later reported that the academy had been considering whether Curtis Mayfield's song "Freddie's Dead" from the film Super Fly should be eligible. The song was ruled ineligible for a nomination because its lyrics were not sung in the film. (The song was released as a single with lyrics, but the version in the film was an instrumental.) Academy governor John Green was quoted as saying: "Times have changed. In the old days, Hollywood made 30 or 40 musicals a year, and there were plenty of songs to choose from. Now there are hardly any, and most of the eligible songs are themes. Both the lyric and the music must be heard on the sound track to be eligible."^[17]

Sacheen Littlefeather was an American actress, model, and activist of Native American civil rights who Marlon Brando chose to represent him at the ceremony.^[18] Littlefeather took the stage and spoke on Brando's behalf as a form of protest, representing Native Americans.^[19] However, years later, it was discovered that Littlefeather had misrepresented her ancestry throughout her life, by saying she was Native American when in reality she was not. Instead, her family was of Mexican ancestry with no tribal ties.^[20][21][22]

The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers. Notably, Charlton Heston was late for his role presenting the voting rules, reportedly due to a flat tire. Clint Eastwood, who was slated to present for Best Picture, was asked to fill in. Heston's written dialogue leaned heavily on his role in the movie The Ten Commandments, leading Eastwood to quip "Come on, flip the card, man. This isn't my bag." Eastwood also famously said on filling in at the last minute, "...They pick the guy who hasn't said but three lines in 12 movies to substitute for him [Heston]". Heston arrived part of the way through the bit, allowing Eastwood to escape.^[23]

• Sacheen Littlefeather
• 30th Golden Globe Awards
• 1972 in film
• 15th Grammy Awards
• 24th Primetime Emmy Awards
• 25th Primetime Emmy Awards
• 26th British Academy Film Awards
• 27th Tony Awards