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1960

Experience over nine decades of the Oscars from 1927 to 2025

The 32nd Academy Awards | 1960
RKO Pantages Theatre
Monday, April 4, 1960
Honoring movies released in 1959
Highlights
Foreign Language Film
Black Orpheus

Sacha Gordine and featuring Olivia DeHavilland

Short Film Winners
The Golden Fish / Moonbird

Jacques-Yves Cousteau and John Hubley

Honorary Award

Buster Keaton, presented by B. B. Kahane

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Memorable Moments
Shelley Winters

Supporting Actress winner for The Diary of Anne Frank, with presenter Edmond O'Brien

Simone Signoret and Charlton Heston

Best Actress: A Room at the Top / Best Actor: Ben-Hur

Miklos Rozsa

Original Score winner for Ben-Hur, presenter Gene Kelly

View More Memorable Moments
WINNERS & NOMINEES
Actor
Winner
Charlton Heston
Ben-Hur
Nominees
Laurence Harvey
Room at the Top
Nominees
Jack Lemmon
Some Like It Hot
Nominees
Paul Muni
The Last Angry Man
Nominees
James Stewart
Anatomy of a Murder
Actor in a Supporting Role
Winner
Hugh Griffith
Ben-Hur
Nominees
Arthur O'Connell
Anatomy of a Murder
Nominees
George C. Scott
Anatomy of a Murder
Nominees
Robert Vaughn
The Young Philadelphians
Nominees
Ed Wynn
The Diary of Anne Frank
Actress
Winner
Simone Signoret
Room at the Top
Nominees
Doris Day
Pillow Talk
Nominees
Audrey Hepburn
The Nun's Story
Nominees
Katharine Hepburn
Suddenly, Last Summer
Nominees
Elizabeth Taylor
Suddenly, Last Summer
Actress in a Supporting Role
Winner
Shelley Winters
The Diary of Anne Frank
Nominees
Hermione Baddeley
Room at the Top
Nominees
Susan Kohner
Imitation of Life
Nominees
Juanita Moore
Imitation of Life
Nominees
Thelma Ritter
Pillow Talk
Art Direction (Black-and-White)
Winner
The Diary of Anne Frank
Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler, George W. Davis; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott, Stuart A. Reiss
Nominees
Career
Art Direction: Hal Pereira, Walter Tyler; Set Decoration: Sam Comer, Arthur Krams
Nominees
The Last Angry Man
Art Direction: Carl Anderson; Set Decoration: William Kiernan
Nominees
Some Like It Hot
Art Direction: Ted Haworth; Set Decoration: Edward G. Boyle
Nominees
Suddenly, Last Summer
Art Direction: Oliver Messel, William Kellner; Set Decoration: Scot Slimon
Art Direction (Color)
Winner
Ben-Hur
Art Direction: William A. Horning, Edward Carfagno; Set Decoration: Hugh Hunt
Nominees
The Big Fisherman
Art Direction: John DeCuir; Set Decoration: Julia Heron
Nominees
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler, Franz Bachelin, Herman A. Blumenthal; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott, Joseph Kish
Nominees
North by Northwest
Art Direction: William A. Horning, Robert Boyle, Merrill Pye; Set Decoration: Henry Grace, Frank McKelvy
Nominees
Pillow Talk
Art Direction: Richard H. Riedel; Set Decoration: Russell A. Gausman, Ruby R. Levitt
Cinematography (Black-and-White)
Winner
The Diary of Anne Frank
William C. Mellor
Nominees
Anatomy of a Murder
Sam Leavitt
Nominees
Career
Joseph LaShelle
Nominees
Some Like It Hot
Charles Lang, Jr.
Nominees
The Young Philadelphians
Harry Stradling, Sr.
Cinematography (Color)
Winner
Ben-Hur
Robert L. Surtees
Nominees
The Big Fisherman
Lee Garmes
Nominees
The Five Pennies
Daniel L. Fapp
Nominees
The Nun's Story
Franz Planer
Nominees
Porgy and Bess
Leon Shamroy
Costume Design (Black-and-White)
Winner
Some Like It Hot
Orry-Kelly
Nominees
Career
Edith Head
Nominees
The Diary of Anne Frank
Charles LeMaire, Mary Wills
Nominees
The Gazebo
Helen Rose
Nominees
The Young Philadelphians
Howard Shoup
Costume Design (Color)
Winner
Ben-Hur
Elizabeth Haffenden
Nominees
The Best of Everything
Adele Palmer
Nominees
The Big Fisherman
Renie
Nominees
The Five Pennies
Edith Head
Nominees
Porgy and Bess
Irene Sharaff
Directing
Winner
Ben-Hur
William Wyler
Nominees
The Diary of Anne Frank
George Stevens
Nominees
The Nun's Story
Fred Zinnemann
Nominees
Room at the Top
Jack Clayton
Nominees
Some Like It Hot
Billy Wilder
Documentary (Feature)
Winner
Serengeti Shall Not Die
Bernhard Grzimek, Producer
Nominees
The Race for Space
David L. Wolper, Producer
Documentary (Short Subject)
Winner
Glass
Bert Haanstra, Producer
Nominees
Donald in Mathmagic Land
Walt Disney, Producer
Nominees
From Generation to Generation
Edward F. Cullen, Producer
Film Editing
Winner
Ben-Hur
Ralph E. Winters, John D. Dunning
Nominees
Anatomy of a Murder
Louis R. Loeffler
Nominees
North by Northwest
George Tomasini
Nominees
The Nun's Story
Walter Thompson
Nominees
On the Beach
Frederic Knudtson
Foreign Language Film
Winner
Black Orpheus
France
Nominees
The Bridge
West Germany
Nominees
The Great War
Italy
Nominees
Paw
Denmark
Nominees
The Village on the River
The Netherlands
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Winner
Bob Hope
Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture)
Winner
Ben-Hur
Miklos Rozsa
Nominees
The Diary of Anne Frank
Alfred Newman
Nominees
The Nun's Story
Franz Waxman
Nominees
On the Beach
Ernest Gold
Nominees
Pillow Talk
Frank DeVol
Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture)
Winner
Porgy and Bess
Andre Previn, Ken Darby
Nominees
The Five Pennies
Leith Stevens
Nominees
Li'l Abner
Nelson Riddle, Joseph J. Lilley
Nominees
Say One for Me
Lionel Newman
Nominees
Sleeping Beauty
George Bruns
Music (Song)
Winner
A Hole in the Head
High Hopes in "A Hole in the Head" Music by James Van Heusen; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
Nominees
The Best of Everything
The Best Of Everything in "The Best of Everything" Music by Alfred Newman; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
Nominees
The Five Pennies
The Five Pennies in "The Five Pennies" Music and Lyrics by Sylvia Fine
Nominees
The Hanging Tree
The Hanging Tree in "The Hanging Tree" Music by Jerry Livingston; Lyrics by Mack David
Nominees
The Young Land
Strange Are The Ways Of Love in "The Young Land" Music by Dimitri Tiomkin; Lyrics by Ned Washington
Best Motion Picture
Winner
Ben-Hur
Sam Zimbalist, Producer
Nominees
Anatomy of a Murder
Otto Preminger, Producer
Nominees
The Diary of Anne Frank
George Stevens, Producer
Nominees
The Nun's Story
Henry Blanke, Producer
Nominees
Room at the Top
John Woolf and James Woolf, Producers
Short Subject (Cartoon)
Winner
Moonbird
John Hubley, Producer
Nominees
Mexicali Shmoes
John W. Burton, Producer
Nominees
Noah's Ark
Walt Disney, Producer
Nominees
The Violinist
Ernest Pintoff, Producer
Short Subject (Live Action)
Winner
The Golden Fish
Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Producer
Nominees
Between the Tides
Ian Ferguson, Producer
Nominees
Mysteries of the Deep
Walt Disney, Producer
Nominees
The Running, Jumping and Standing-Still Film
Peter Sellers, Producer
Nominees
Skyscraper
Shirley Clarke, Willard Van Dyke and Irving Jacoby, Producers
Sound
Winner
Ben-Hur
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department, Franklin E. Milton, Sound Director
Nominees
Journey to the Center of the Earth
20th Century-Fox Studio Sound Department, Carl Faulkner, Sound Director
Nominees
Libel!
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer London Studio Sound Department, A. W. Watkins, Sound Director
Nominees
The Nun's Story
Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, George R. Groves, Sound Director
Nominees
Porgy and Bess
Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department, Gordon E. Sawyer, Sound Director; and Todd-AO Sound Department, Fred Hynes, Sound Director
Special Effects
Winner
Ben-Hur
Visual Effects by A. Arnold Gillespie, Robert MacDonald; Audible Effects by Milo Lory
Nominees
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Visual Effects by L. B. Abbott, James B. Gordon; Audible Effects by Carl Faulkner
Writing (Screenplay—based on material from another medium)
Winner
Room at the Top
Neil Paterson
Nominees
Anatomy of a Murder
Wendell Mayes
Nominees
Ben-Hur
Karl Tunberg
Nominees
The Nun's Story
Robert Anderson
Nominees
Some Like It Hot
Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond
Writing (Story and Screenplay—written directly for the screen)
Winner
Pillow Talk
Story by Russell Rouse, Clarence Greene; Screenplay by Stanley Shapiro, Maurice Richlin
Nominees
The 400 Blows
Francois Truffaut, Marcel Moussy
Nominees
North by Northwest
Ernest Lehman
Nominees
Operation Petticoat
Story by Paul King, Joseph Stone; Screenplay by Stanley Shapiro, Maurice Richlin
Nominees
Wild Strawberries
Ingmar Bergman
ALL 0-9 A A-E B C D E F F-J G H I J K K-O L M N O P P-T Q R S T U U-Z V W X Y Z

0-9

The 400 Blows
1 NOMINATION
  • Writing (Story and Screenplay--written directly for the screen) - Francois Truffaut, Marcel Moussy

A

Anatomy of a Murder
6 NOMINATIONS
  • Actor - James Stewart
  • Actor in a Supporting Role - Arthur O'Connell, George C. Scott
  • Cinematography (Black-and-White) - Sam Leavitt
  • Film Editing - Louis R. Loeffler
  • Best Motion Picture - Otto Preminger, Producer
  • Writing (Screenplay--based on material from another medium) - Wendell Mayes

B

Ben-Hur
12 NOMINATIONS, 11 WINS
  • * Actor - Charlton Heston
  • * Actor in a Supporting Role - Hugh Griffith
  • * Art Direction (Color) - Art Direction: William A. Horning, Edward Carfagno; Set Decoration: Hugh Hunt
  • * Cinematography (Color) - Robert L. Surtees
  • * Costume Design (Color) - Elizabeth Haffenden
  • * Directing - William Wyler
  • * Film Editing - Ralph E. Winters, John D. Dunning
  • * Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) - Miklos Rozsa
  • * Best Motion Picture - Sam Zimbalist, Producer
  • * Sound - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department, Franklin E. Milton, Sound Director
  • * Special Effects - Visual Effects by A. Arnold Gillespie, Robert MacDonald; Audible Effects by Milo Lory
  • Writing (Screenplay--based on material from another medium) - Karl Tunberg
The Best of Everything
2 NOMINATIONS
  • Costume Design (Color) - Adele Palmer
  • Music (Song) - The Best Of Everything in "The Best of Everything" Music by Alfred Newman; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
Between the Tides
1 NOMINATION
  • Short Subject (Live Action) - Ian Ferguson, Producer
The Big Fisherman
3 NOMINATIONS
  • Art Direction (Color) - Art Direction: John DeCuir; Set Decoration: Julia Heron
  • Cinematography (Color) - Lee Garmes
  • Costume Design (Color) - Renie
Black Orpheus
1 WIN, 1 NOMINATION
  • * Foreign Language Film - France
The Bridge
1 NOMINATION
  • Foreign Language Film - West Germany
On the Beach
2 NOMINATIONS
  • Film Editing - Frederic Knudtson
  • Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) - Ernest Gold

C

Career
3 NOMINATIONS
  • Art Direction (Black-and-White) - Art Direction: Hal Pereira, Walter Tyler; Set Decoration: Sam Comer, Arthur Krams
  • Cinematography (Black-and-White) - Joseph LaShelle
  • Costume Design (Black-and-White) - Edith Head

D

The Diary of Anne Frank
8 NOMINATIONS, 3 WINS
  • * Actress in a Supporting Role - Shelley Winters
  • * Art Direction (Black-and-White) - Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler, George W. Davis; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott, Stuart A. Reiss
  • * Cinematography (Black-and-White) - William C. Mellor
  • Actor in a Supporting Role - Ed Wynn
  • Costume Design (Black-and-White) - Charles LeMaire, Mary Wills
  • Directing - George Stevens
  • Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) - Alfred Newman
  • Best Motion Picture - George Stevens, Producer
Donald in Mathmagic Land
1 NOMINATION
  • Documentary (Short Subject) - Walt Disney, Producer

F

The Five Pennies
4 NOMINATIONS
  • Cinematography (Color) - Daniel L. Fapp
  • Costume Design (Color) - Edith Head
  • Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture) - Leith Stevens
  • Music (Song) - The Five Pennies in "The Five Pennies" Music and Lyrics by Sylvia Fine
From Generation to Generation
1 NOMINATION
  • Documentary (Short Subject) - Edward F. Cullen, Producer

G

The Gazebo
1 NOMINATION
  • Costume Design (Black-and-White) - Helen Rose
Glass
1 WIN, 1 NOMINATION
  • * Documentary (Short Subject) - Bert Haanstra, Producer
The Golden Fish
1 WIN, 1 NOMINATION
  • * Short Subject (Live Action) - Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Producer
The Great War
1 NOMINATION
  • Foreign Language Film - Italy

H

The Hanging Tree
1 NOMINATION
  • Music (Song) - The Hanging Tree in "The Hanging Tree" Music by Jerry Livingston; Lyrics by Mack David
A Hole in the Head
1 WIN, 1 NOMINATION
  • * Music (Song) - High Hopes in "A Hole in the Head" Music by James Van Heusen; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn

I

Imitation of Life
1 NOMINATION
  • Actress in a Supporting Role - Susan Kohner, Juanita Moore

J

Journey to the Center of the Earth
3 NOMINATIONS
  • Art Direction (Color) - Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler, Franz Bachelin, Herman A. Blumenthal; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott, Joseph Kish
  • Sound - 20th Century-Fox Studio Sound Department, Carl Faulkner, Sound Director
  • Special Effects - Visual Effects by L. B. Abbott, James B. Gordon; Audible Effects by Carl Faulkner

L

The Last Angry Man
2 NOMINATIONS
  • Actor - Paul Muni
  • Art Direction (Black-and-White) - Art Direction: Carl Anderson; Set Decoration: William Kiernan
Li'l Abner
1 NOMINATION
  • Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture) - Nelson Riddle, Joseph J. Lilley
Libel!
1 NOMINATION
  • Sound - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer London Studio Sound Department, A. W. Watkins, Sound Director

M

Mexicali Shmoes
1 NOMINATION
  • Short Subject (Cartoon) - John W. Burton, Producer
Moonbird
1 WIN, 1 NOMINATION
  • * Short Subject (Cartoon) - John Hubley, Producer
Mysteries of the Deep
1 NOMINATION
  • Short Subject (Live Action) - Walt Disney, Producer

N

Noah's Ark
1 NOMINATION
  • Short Subject (Cartoon) - Walt Disney, Producer
North by Northwest
3 NOMINATIONS
  • Art Direction (Color) - Art Direction: William A. Horning, Robert Boyle, Merrill Pye; Set Decoration: Henry Grace, Frank McKelvy
  • Film Editing - George Tomasini
  • Writing (Story and Screenplay--written directly for the screen) - Ernest Lehman
The Nun's Story
8 NOMINATIONS
  • Actress - Audrey Hepburn
  • Cinematography (Color) - Franz Planer
  • Directing - Fred Zinnemann
  • Film Editing - Walter Thompson
  • Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) - Franz Waxman
  • Best Motion Picture - Henry Blanke, Producer
  • Sound - Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, George R. Groves, Sound Director
  • Writing (Screenplay--based on material from another medium) - Robert Anderson

O

Operation Petticoat
1 NOMINATION
  • Writing (Story and Screenplay--written directly for the screen) - Story by Paul King, Joseph Stone; Screenplay by Stanley Shapiro, Maurice Richlin

P

Paw
1 NOMINATION
  • Foreign Language Film - Denmark
Pillow Talk
5 NOMINATIONS, 1 WIN
  • * Writing (Story and Screenplay--written directly for the screen) - Story by Russell Rouse, Clarence Greene; Screenplay by Stanley Shapiro, Maurice Richlin
  • Actress - Doris Day
  • Actress in a Supporting Role - Thelma Ritter
  • Art Direction (Color) - Art Direction: Richard H. Riedel; Set Decoration: Russell A. Gausman, Ruby R. Levitt
  • Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) - Frank DeVol
Porgy and Bess
4 NOMINATIONS, 1 WIN
  • * Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture) - Andre Previn, Ken Darby
  • Cinematography (Color) - Leon Shamroy
  • Costume Design (Color) - Irene Sharaff
  • Sound - Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department, Gordon E. Sawyer, Sound Director; and Todd-AO Sound Department, Fred Hynes, Sound Director

R

The Race for Space
1 NOMINATION
  • Documentary (Feature) - David L. Wolper, Producer
Room at the Top
6 NOMINATIONS, 2 WINS
  • * Actress - Simone Signoret
  • * Writing (Screenplay--based on material from another medium) - Neil Paterson
  • Actor - Laurence Harvey
  • Actress in a Supporting Role - Hermione Baddeley
  • Directing - Jack Clayton
  • Best Motion Picture - John Woolf and James Woolf, Producers
The Running, Jumping and Standing-Still Film
1 NOMINATION
  • Short Subject (Live Action) - Peter Sellers, Producer

S

Say One for Me
1 NOMINATION
  • Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture) - Lionel Newman
Serengeti Shall Not Die
1 WIN, 1 NOMINATION
  • * Documentary (Feature) - Bernhard Grzimek, Producer
Skyscraper
1 NOMINATION
  • Short Subject (Live Action) - Shirley Clarke, Willard Van Dyke and Irving Jacoby, Producers
Sleeping Beauty
1 NOMINATION
  • Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture) - George Bruns
Some Like It Hot
6 NOMINATIONS, 1 WIN
  • * Costume Design (Black-and-White) - Orry-Kelly
  • Actor - Jack Lemmon
  • Art Direction (Black-and-White) - Art Direction: Ted Haworth; Set Decoration: Edward G. Boyle
  • Cinematography (Black-and-White) - Charles Lang, Jr.
  • Directing - Billy Wilder
  • Writing (Screenplay--based on material from another medium) - Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond
Suddenly, Last Summer
2 NOMINATIONS
  • Actress - Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor
  • Art Direction (Black-and-White) - Art Direction: Oliver Messel, William Kellner; Set Decoration: Scot Slimon

V

The Village on the River
1 NOMINATION
  • Foreign Language Film - The Netherlands
The Violinist
1 NOMINATION
  • Short Subject (Cartoon) - Ernest Pintoff, Producer

W

Wild Strawberries
1 NOMINATION
  • Writing (Story and Screenplay--written directly for the screen) - Ingmar Bergman

Y

The Young Land
1 NOMINATION
  • Music (Song) - Strange Are The Ways Of Love in "The Young Land" Music by Dimitri Tiomkin; Lyrics by Ned Washington
The Young Philadelphians
3 NOMINATIONS
  • Actor in a Supporting Role - Robert Vaughn
  • Cinematography (Black-and-White) - Harry Stradling, Sr.
  • Costume Design (Black-and-White) - Howard Shoup
No Films Found