1953

The 25th Academy Awards | 1953
RKO Pantages Theatre
Thursday, March 19, 1953
Honoring movies released in 1952
Highlights
Memorable Moments
  • Harold Lloyd.
    Honorary Award recipient
  • Backstage at the Oscars
    Katherine DeMille Quinn (acceptor, Supporting Actor for Anthony Quinn), Cecil B. DeMille (winner, Best Picture, The Greatest Show on Earth and recipient, Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award), and Gloria Grahame (Supporting Actress winner, The Bad and the Beautiful)
  • Walt Disney and Music Winners
    Alfred Newman (winner for Scoring of a Musical Picture for With a Song in My Heart), Ned Washington (Original Song winner for High Noon), Walt Disney, and Dimitri Tiomkin (winner of Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture and Original Song for High Noon)

Nominees

Actor

Winner

Gary Cooper

High Noon

Nominees

Marlon Brando

Viva Zapata!

Kirk Douglas

The Bad and the Beautiful

José Ferrer

Moulin Rouge

Alec Guinness

The Lavender Hill Mob

Actor in a Supporting Role

Winner

Anthony Quinn

Viva Zapata!

Nominees

Richard Burton

My Cousin Rachel

Arthur Hunnicutt

The Big Sky

Victor McLaglen

The Quiet Man

Jack Palance

Sudden Fear

Actress

Winner

Shirley Booth

Come Back, Little Sheba

Nominees

Joan Crawford

Sudden Fear

Bette Davis

The Star

Julie Harris

The Member of the Wedding

Susan Hayward

With a Song in My Heart

Actress in a Supporting Role

Winner

Gloria Grahame

The Bad and the Beautiful

Nominees

Jean Hagen

Singin' in the Rain

Colette Marchand

Moulin Rouge

Terry Moore

Come Back, Little Sheba

Thelma Ritter

With a Song in My Heart

Art Direction (Black-and-White)

Winner

The Bad and the Beautiful

Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Edward Carfagno; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis, Keogh Gleason

Nominees

Carrie

Art Direction: Hal Pereira, Roland Anderson; Set Decoration: Emile Kuri

My Cousin Rachel

Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler, John DeCuir; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott

Rashomon

Art Direction: Matsuyama; Set Decoration: H. Motsumoto

Viva Zapata!

Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler, Leland Fuller; Set Decoration: Thomas Little, Claude Carpenter

Art Direction (Color)

Winner

Moulin Rouge

Art Direction: Paul Sheriff; Set Decoration: Marcel Vertes

Nominees

Hans Christian Andersen

Art Direction: Richard Day, Clave; Set Decoration: Howard Bristol

The Merry Widow

Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis, Arthur Krams

The Quiet Man

Art Direction: Frank Hotaling; Set Decoration: John McCarthy, Jr., Charles Thompson

The Snows of Kilimanjaro

Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler, John DeCuir; Set Decoration: Thomas Little, Paul S. Fox

Cinematography (Black-and-White)

Winner

The Bad and the Beautiful

Robert Surtees

Nominees

The Big Sky

Russell Harlan

My Cousin Rachel

Joseph LaShelle

Navajo

Virgil E. Miller

Sudden Fear

Charles B. Lang, Jr.

Cinematography (Color)

Winner

The Quiet Man

Winton C. Hoch, Archie Stout

Nominees

Hans Christian Andersen

Harry Stradling

Ivanhoe

F. A. Young

Million Dollar Mermaid

George J. Folsey

The Snows of Kilimanjaro

Leon Shamroy

Costume Design (Black-and-White)

Winner

The Bad and the Beautiful

Helen Rose

Nominees

Affair in Trinidad

Jean Louis

Carrie

Edith Head

My Cousin Rachel

Charles LeMaire, Dorothy Jeakins

Sudden Fear

Sheila O'Brien

Costume Design (Color)

Winner

Moulin Rouge

Marcel Vertes

Nominees

The Greatest Show on Earth

Edith Head, Dorothy Jeakins, Miles White

Hans Christian Andersen

Clave, Mary Wills, Madame Karinska

The Merry Widow

Helen Rose, Gile Steele

With a Song in My Heart

Charles LeMaire

Directing

Winner

The Quiet Man

John Ford

Nominees

Five Fingers

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

The Greatest Show on Earth

Cecil B. DeMille

High Noon

Fred Zinnemann

Moulin Rouge

John Huston

Documentary (Feature)

Winner

The Sea around Us

Irwin Allen, Producer

Nominees

The Hoaxters

Dore Schary, Producer

Navajo

Hall Bartlett, Producer

Documentary (Short Subject)

Winner

Neighbours

Norman McLaren, Producer

Nominees

Devil Take Us

Herbert Morgan, Producer

The Garden Spider (Epeira Diadema)

Alberto Ancilotto, Producer

Man Alive!

Stephen Bosustow, Executive Producer

Film Editing

Winner

High Noon

Elmo Williams, Harry Gerstad

Nominees

Come Back, Little Sheba

Warren Low

Flat Top

William Austin

The Greatest Show on Earth

Anne Bauchens

Moulin Rouge

Ralph Kemplen

Honorary Foreign Language Film Award

Winner

Forbidden Games

Special Award

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

Winner

Cecil B. DeMille

Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture)

Winner

High Noon

Dimitri Tiomkin

Nominees

Ivanhoe

Miklos Rozsa

Miracle of Fatima

Max Steiner

The Thief

Herschel Burke Gilbert

Viva Zapata!

Alex North

Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture)

Winner

With a Song in My Heart

Alfred Newman

Nominees

Hans Christian Andersen

Walter Scharf

The Jazz Singer

Ray Heindorf, Max Steiner

The Medium

Gian-Carlo Menotti

Singin' in the Rain

Lennie Hayton

Music (Song)

Winner

High Noon

High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin') in "High Noon" Music by Dimitri Tiomkin; Lyrics by Ned Washington

Nominees

Son of Paleface

Am I In Love in "Son of Paleface" Music and Lyrics by Jack Brooks

Because You're Mine

Because You're Mine in "Because You're Mine" Music by Nicholas Brodszky; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn

Hans Christian Andersen

Thumbelina in "Hans Christian Andersen" Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser

Just for You

Zing A Little Zong in "Just for You" Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Leo Robin

Best Motion Picture

Winner

The Greatest Show on Earth

Cecil B. DeMille, Producer

Nominees

High Noon

Stanley Kramer, Producer

Ivanhoe

Pandro S. Berman, Producer

Moulin Rouge

Romulus Films

The Quiet Man

John Ford and Merian C. Cooper, Producers

Short Subject (Cartoon)

Winner

Johann Mouse

Fred Quimby, Producer

Nominees

Little Johnny Jet

Fred Quimby, Producer

Madeline

Stephen Bosustow, Executive Producer

Pink and Blue Blues

Stephen Bosustow, Executive Producer

Romance of Transportation

Tom Daly, Producer

Short Subject (One-reel)

Winner

Light in the Window: The Art of Vermeer

Boris Vermont, Producer

Nominees

Athletes of the Saddle

Jack Eaton, Producer

Desert Killer

Gordon Hollingshead, Producer

Neighbours

Norman McLaren, Producer

Royal Scotland

Crown Film Unit

Short Subject (Two-reel)

Winner

Water Birds

Walt Disney, Producer

Nominees

Bridge of Time

London Film Production

Devil Take Us

Herbert Morgan, Producer

Thar She Blows!

Gordon Hollingshead, Producer

Sound Recording

Winner

Breaking the Sound Barrier

London Film Sound Department

Nominees

Hans Christian Andersen

Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department, Gordon Sawyer, Sound Director

The Promoter

Pinewood Studios Sound Department

The Quiet Man

Republic Studio Sound Department, Daniel J. Bloomberg, Sound Director

With a Song in My Heart

20th Century-Fox Studio Sound Department, Thomas T. Moulton, Sound Director

Special Effects

Winner

Plymouth Adventure

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Writing (Motion Picture Story)

Winner

The Greatest Show on Earth

Fredric M. Frank, Theodore St. John, Frank Cavett

Nominees

My Son John

Leo McCarey

The Narrow Margin

Martin Goldsmith, Jack Leonard

The Pride of St. Louis

Guy Trosper

The Sniper

Edna Anhalt, Edward Anhalt

Writing (Screenplay)

Winner

The Bad and the Beautiful

Charles Schnee

Nominees

Five Fingers

Michael Wilson

High Noon

Carl Foreman

The Man in the White Suit

Roger MacDougall, John Dighton, Alexander Mackendrick

The Quiet Man

Frank S. Nugent

Writing (Story and Screenplay)

Winner

The Lavender Hill Mob

T. E. B. Clarke

Nominees

The Atomic City

Sydney Boehm

Breaking the Sound Barrier

Terence Rattigan

Pat and Mike

Ruth Gordon, Garson Kanin

Viva Zapata!

John Steinbeck
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The Lavender Hill Mob
2 Nominations, 1 Win
Actor - Alec Guinness in "The Lavender Hill Mob"
* Writing (Story and Screenplay) - T. E. B. Clarke
Light in the Window: The Art of Vermeer
1 Win, 1 Nomination
* Short Subject (One-reel) - Boris Vermont, Producer
Little Johnny Jet
1 Nomination
Short Subject (Cartoon) - Fred Quimby, Producer