54th_Academy_Awards

54th Academy Awards

54th Academy Awards

Award ceremony for films of 1981

The 54th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1981 and took place on March 29, 1982, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 22 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Howard W. Koch and directed by Marty Pasetta.[3] Comedian and talk show host Johnny Carson hosted the show for the fourth consecutive time.

Quick Facts Date, Site ...

Chariots of Fire won four awards, including Best Picture.[4] Other winners included Raiders of the Lost Ark with five awards, On Golden Pond and Reds with three, Arthur with two, and An American Werewolf in London, Close Harmony, Crac, Genocide, Mephisto, and Violet with one. The telecast garnered 46.2 million viewers in the United States.

Winners and nominees

Photo of David Puttnam in 2020
David Puttnam, Best Picture winner
Photo of Warren Beatty in 2001
Warren Beatty, Best Director winner
Photo of Henry Fonda in 1959
Henry Fonda, Best Actor winner
Photo of Katharine Hepburn in 1941
Katharine Hepburn, Best Actress winner
Photo of John Gielgud in 1959
John Gielgud, Best Supporting Actor winner
Photo of Maureen Stapleton in 1975
Maureen Stapleton, Best Supporting Actress winner
Photo of Christopher Cross in 2022
Christopher Cross, Best Original Song co-winner
Photo of Rick Baker in 2015
Rick Baker, Best Makeup winner
Photo of Milena Canonero in 2017
Milena Canonero, Best Costume Design winner
Vittorio Storaro, Best Cinematography winner
Photo of Richard Edlund in 2008
Richard Edlund, Best Visual Effects co-winner

The nominees for the 54th Academy Awards were announced on February 11, 1982, by Academy president Fay Kanin and actor Lloyd Bridges.[5] Reds earned the most nominations with twelve; On Golden Pond came in second with ten.[6] The winners were announced at the awards ceremony on March 29.

Best Director winner Warren Beatty became the first person to earn acting, directing, producing, and screenwriting nominations for the same film for the second time. He previously earned nominations in the same categories for 1978's Heaven Can Wait.[7][8] On Golden Pond was the fifth film to win both lead acting awards.[9] Best Actress winner Katharine Hepburn became the first and only performer to win four competitive acting Oscars.[10] Furthermore, the 48-year span between her first win for 1933's Morning Glory and her last win for On Golden Pond set the record for the longest span between first and last career Oscar wins.[11]

Awards

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger (‡).[12]

Honorary Academy Award

  • Barbara Stanwyck – "For superlative creativity and unique contribution to the art of screen acting."[13]

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

The award recognizes individuals whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the motion picture industry.[14]

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

The award honors "creative producers whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production".[15]

Special Achievement Academy Award

Multiple nominations and awards

More information Nominations, Film ...

Presenters and performers

The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.[17]

Presenters

More information Name(s), Role ...

Performers

More information Name, Role ...

Ceremony information

Johnny Carson hosted the 54th Academy Awards.

In November 1981, the Academy hired film director, screenwriter, and producer Melvin Frank to produce the telecast for the first time. "The Academy is fortunate that Melvin Frank has agreed to make himself available for our show," said AMPAS President Fay Kanin in a press release announcing the selection. "He joins a distinguished list of producers who have consistently made the Academy Awards the entertainment highlight of the year."[20] Two months later, it was announced that comedian and The Tonight Show host Johnny Carson would preside over emceeing duties for the 1982 ceremony.[21] In February 1982, Howard W. Koch took over producing duties after Frank had been hospitalized for complications stemming from a virus.[1] Koch stated that all artistic contributions made by Frank would remain during the production of the festivities.[22]

Introduction of Best Makeup award

Beginning with this ceremony, AMPAS introduced a new competitive award that would honor achievement in makeup.[23] According to Academy executive administrator John Pavlik, the category would be presented if a special committee composed of makeup artists, hairstylists, cinematographers, and other related craftspeople determined that at least one film was deemed worthy of such awards. Members would be able to nominate up to five films, and the committee would review the seven films receiving the most votes to select up to three nominees.[24] Prior to the introduction of this category, 1964's 7 Faces of Dr. Lao and 1968's Planet of the Apes were given special honorary awards.[25]

Critical reviews

St. Petersburg Times film critic Thomas Sabulis wrote, "The Academy Awards show was a reasonably good television product. The acceptance speeches were thankfully brief and concise."[26] Columnist Janet Maslin of The New York Times remarked, "Thanks largely to the fancifulness of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' voters, Monday night's Oscar presentation was the most exciting in recent years. When the awards show itself is something less than swift or glamorous, which was certainly the case this year, it can still come to life if the voting takes a sufficiently strange turn."[19] The Atlanta Constitution critic Scott Cain commented, "The academy has steadily increased the amount of showpieces. These musical numbers worked splendidly this year and the program was relatively painless at 3.5 hours in length."[27]

Harold Schindler of The Salt Lake Tribune called the ceremony "a three-and-a-half-hour marathon which sparkled in spots, sputtered in others, and featured some of the most uneven casting in the program's history."[28] Austin American-Statesman film critic Patrick Taggart quipped, "Whether or not the awards will be taken more seriously in the future, the ceremony last Monday night certainly had the dreariness one associates with serious events."[29] The Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Desmond Ryan commented that due to many winners being absent from the festivities, "An already dull evening lapsed into long stretches of tedium."[30]

Ratings and reception

The American telecast on ABC drew in an average of 46.2 million people over the length of the entire ceremony.[31] Moreover, the show drew higher Nielsen ratings compared to the previous ceremony with 33.6% of households watching with a 53% share.[32]

In August 1982, the ceremony presentation received three nominations at the 34th Primetime Emmys.[33] The following month, it won an award for Ray Klausen's art direction of the program.[34]

See also

Notes

  1. Melvin Frank was initially selected as producer of the ceremony, but he withdrew from his position due to health problems and was replaced by Koch.[1]
  2. Including the Special Achievement Award

References

  1. [1]
    Pollock, Dale (February 17, 1982). "Fanfare on a Fast Track at Columbia". Los Angeles Times. p. 75.
  2. [2]
    Wiley & Bona 1996, p. 612
  3. [3]
    Osborne 2013, p. 413
  4. [4]
    Harmetz, Aljean (March 30, 1982). "Chariots of Fire, Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda win Top Oscars". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  5. [5]
    "On Golden Pond Top Oscar Contender". Boca Raton News. February 11, 1982.
  6. [6]
    Tuck, Lon (February 12, 1982). "And the Nominees Are..." The Washington Post. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  7. [7]
    Wiley & Bona 1996, p. 1138
  8. [8]
    Emerson, Jim (February 11, 2007). "Questions for the Academy". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on March 13, 2017. Retrieved March 21, 2016.
  9. [9]
    Osborne 2013, p. 423
  10. [10]
    Holden 1993, p. 608
  11. [11]
    Davis, Clayton (May 12, 2021). "In Celebration of Katharine Hepburn's Birthday, Here Are 12 Actors Who Should Also Have Four Oscar Wins". Variety. Archived from the original on August 20, 2022. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  12. [12]
    "The 54th Academy Awards (1982) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  13. [13]
    "Academy Awards Acceptance Speech Database". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  14. [14]
    "Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  15. [15]
    "Irvin G. Thalberg Memorial Award". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on January 1, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  16. [16]
    Franks 2005, p. 249
  17. [17]
    Wiley & Bona 1996, p. 608
  18. [18]
    Terrance 2013, p. 14
  19. [19]
    Maslin, Janet (March 31, 1982). "TV: Offbeat Votes Made Oscar Night a Winner". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  20. [20]
    "Melvin Frank to Produce 54th Oscar Show". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. November 16, 1981. Archived from the original on October 5, 2022. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  21. [21]
    Morgan, Don (January 12, 1982). "Johnny Carson to Serves As Master of Ceremonies for 54th Annual Academy Awards" (Press release). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on October 5, 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  22. [22]
    "Howard W. Koch to Take Over Production of Academy Awards Show". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. February 19, 1982. Archived from the original on October 5, 2022. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  23. [23]
    "New Makeup Category Set Up for Academy Awards". Los Angeles Times. December 24, 1981. p. 47.
  24. [24]
    Arar, Yardena (December 18, 1981). "Makeup Artists to Get Oscar Category". Oakland Tribune. p. C-4.
  25. [25]
    "Motion Picture Academy to Honnor Makeup Artists". Santa Cruz Sentinel. December 18, 1981. p. 29.
  26. [26]
    Sabulis, Thomas (March 31, 1982). "Oscar Strikes a Balance in Honoring 1981 Films". St. Petersburg Times. p. 2D.
  27. [27]
    Cain, Scott. "Oscar Strikes a Balance in Honoring 1981 Films". The Atlanta Constitution. p. 2-H.
  28. [28]
    Schindler, Harold (March 31, 1982). "Oscar Night Was a Drawn-Out Marathon". The Salt Lake Tribune. p. C5.
  29. [29]
    Taggart, Patrick (April 4, 1982). "New Credibility". Austin American-Statesman. p. 179.
  30. [30]
    Ryan, Desmond (March 31, 1982). "The Swift, The Old Shine with Oscar". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 5D.
  31. [31]
    "Top-10 Most Watched Academy Awards Broadcasts". Nielsen N.V. February 18, 2009. Archived from the original on January 27, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  32. [32]
    Holston, Noel (April 10, 1982). "ABC Takes Ratings Top Stop with Some Help From Oscar". Orlando Sentinel. p. B10.
  33. [33]
    Margulies, Lee (August 6, 1982). "Emmy Award Nominations: The Peacock Shows its Colors". Los Angeles Times. pp. 101, 104.
  34. [34]
    "The Fifty-Fourth Annual Academy Awards". Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on September 25, 2022. Retrieved September 12, 2022.

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