1960 ceremony · films of 1959

The 32nd Oscars

116 nominations in 25 categories.

Nominations and wins

The night's big films

Winners first

Every category

Best Picture

Announced as Best Motion Picture

Ben-Hur
Sam Zimbalist, Producer
Anatomy of a Murder
Otto Preminger, Producer
Room at the Top
John Woolf and James Woolf, Producers
The Diary of Anne Frank
George Stevens, Producer
The Nun's Story
Henry Blanke, Producer

Best Director

Best Actor

Announced as Actor

Charlton Heston · Judah Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur
James Stewart · Paul Biegler
Anatomy of a Murder
Laurence Harvey · Joe Lampton
Room at the Top
Jack Lemmon · Jerry/Daphne
Some Like It Hot
Paul Muni · Dr. Sam Abelman
The Last Angry Man

Best Actress

Announced as Actress

Simone Signoret · Alice Aisgill
Room at the Top
Doris Day · Jan Morrow
Pillow Talk
Katharine Hepburn · Mrs. Venable
Suddenly, Last Summer
Elizabeth Taylor · Catherine Holly
Suddenly, Last Summer
Audrey Hepburn · Sister Luke
The Nun's Story

Best Supporting Actor

Hugh Griffith · Sheik Ilderim
Ben-Hur
George C. Scott · Claude Dancer
Anatomy of a Murder
Arthur O'Connell · Parnell McCarthy
Anatomy of a Murder
Ed Wynn · Mr. Dussell
The Diary of Anne Frank
Robert Vaughn · Chester Gwynn
The Young Philadelphians

Best Supporting Actress

Shelley Winters · Mrs. Van Daan
The Diary of Anne Frank
Susan Kohner · Sarah Jane (age 18)
Imitation of Life
Juanita Moore · Annie Johnson
Imitation of Life
Thelma Ritter · Alma
Pillow Talk
Hermione Baddeley · Elspeth
Room at the Top

Best Original Screenplay

Announced as Writing (Story and Screenplay--Written Directly for the Screen)

Pillow Talk
Story by Russell Rouse, Clarence Greene; Screenplay by Stanley Shapiro, Maurice Richlin
North by Northwest
Ernest Lehman
Operation Petticoat
Story by Paul King, Joseph Stone; Screenplay by Stanley Shapiro, Maurice Richlin
The 400 Blows
Francois Truffaut, Marcel Moussy
François Truffaut
Wild Strawberries
Ingmar Bergman

Best Adapted Screenplay

Announced as Writing (Screenplay--Based On Material From Another Medium)

Room at the Top
Neil Paterson
Anatomy of a Murder
Wendell Mayes
Ben-Hur
Karl Tunberg
Some Like It Hot
Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond
I.A.L. Diamond
The Nun's Story
Robert Anderson

Best International Feature

Announced as Foreign Language Film

Black Orpheus
France
Boy of Two Worlds
Denmark
The Bridge
West Germany
The Great War
Italy
Village by the River
The Netherlands

Best Film Editing

Best Production Design (Black-and-White)

The Diary of Anne Frank
Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler, George W. Davis; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott, Stuart A. Reiss
Career
Art Direction: Hal Pereira, Walter Tyler; Set Decoration: Sam Comer, Arthur Krams
Walter H. Tyler
Some Like It Hot
Art Direction: Ted Haworth; Set Decoration: Edward G. Boyle
Suddenly, Last Summer
Art Direction: Oliver Messel, William Kellner; Set Decoration: Scot Slimon
Scott Slimon
The Last Angry Man
Art Direction: Carl Anderson; Set Decoration: William Kiernan

Best Production Design (Color)

Ben-Hur
Art Direction: William A. Horning, Edward Carfagno; Set Decoration: Hugh Hunt
Edward C. Carfagno
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler, Franz Bachelin, Herman A. Blumenthal; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott, Joseph Kish
North by Northwest
Art Direction: William A. Horning, Robert Boyle, Merrill Pye; Set Decoration: Henry Grace, Frank McKelvy
Robert F. Boyle Frank R. McKelvy
Pillow Talk
Art Direction: Richard H. Riedel; Set Decoration: Russell A. Gausman, Ruby R. Levitt
The Big Fisherman
Art Direction: John DeCuir; Set Decoration: Julia Heron

Best Costume Design (Black-and-White)

Some Like It Hot
Orry-Kelly
Career
Edith Head
The Diary of Anne Frank
Charles LeMaire, Mary Wills
Charles Le Maire
The Gazebo
Helen Rose
The Young Philadelphians
Howard Shoup

Best Costume Design (Color)

Best Original Score

Announced as Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture)

Best Song Score or Adaptation Score

Announced as Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture)

Best Original Song

Announced as Music (Song)

A Hole in the Head · High Hopes
Music by James Van Heusen; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
Jimmy Van Heusen
The Best of Everything · The Best Of Everything
Music by Alfred Newman; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
The Five Pennies · The Five Pennies
Music and Lyrics by Sylvia Fine
The Hanging Tree · The Hanging Tree
Music by Jerry Livingston; Lyrics by Mack David
The Young Land · Strange Are The Ways Of Love
Music by Dimitri Tiomkin; Lyrics by Ned Washington

Best Sound

Announced as Sound

Ben-Hur
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department, Franklin E. Milton, Sound Director
Franklin Milton
Journey to the Center of the Earth
20th Century-Fox Studio Sound Department, Carl Faulkner, Sound Director
Carlton W. Faulkner
Libel
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer London Studio Sound Department, A. W. Watkins, Sound Director
A.W. Watkins
Porgy and Bess
Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department, Gordon E. Sawyer, Sound Director; and Todd-AO Sound Department, Fred Hynes, Sound Director
Gordon Sawyer
The Nun's Story
Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, George R. Groves, Sound Director
George Groves

Best Visual Effects

Announced as Special Effects

Ben-Hur
Visual Effects by A. Arnold Gillespie, Robert MacDonald; Audible Effects by Milo Lory
R.A. MacDonald Milo B. Lory
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Visual Effects by L. B. Abbott, James B. Gordon; Audible Effects by Carl Faulkner
L.B. Abbott Carlton W. Faulkner

Best Documentary Short

Glass
Bert Haanstra, Producer
Donald in Mathmagic Land
Walt Disney, Producer
From Generation to Generation
Edward F. Cullen, Producer
Edward Cullen

Best Animated Short

Announced as Short Subject (Cartoon)

Moonbird
John Hubley, Producer
Mexicali Shmoes
John W. Burton, Producer
Noah's Ark
Walt Disney, Producer
The Violinist
Ernest Pintoff, Producer

Best Live Action Short

Announced as Short Subject (Live Action)

The Golden Fish
Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Producer
Between the Tides
Ian Ferguson, Producer
Mysteries of the Deep
Walt Disney, Producer
Skyscraper
Shirley Clarke, Willard Van Dyke and Irving Jacoby, Producers
The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film
Peter Sellers, Producer

Not competitive

Honorary and special awards

Honorary Award

Buster Keaton
To Buster Keaton for his unique talents which brought immortal comedies to the screen.
Lee De Forest
To Lee De Forest for his pioneering inventions which brought sound to the motion picture.

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

Bob Hope