Academy Awards for 1976

By Patrick Mondout

The 49^th Annual Academy Awards were hosted by Richard Pryor, Jane Fonda, Ellen Burstyn, Warren Beatty on March 29, 1977 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion (Los Angeles) and broadcast live on ABC. The show was produced by notoriously difficult to work with director William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist), who was also known for not being too sentimental. It surprised no one when he insisted that if late actor Peter Finch were to win Best Actor for Network, screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky would accept the award rather than having Finch's "weeping widow" giving a tearful speech.

When Finch did win, Chayefsky came to the podium and said, "There's no reason for me to be here. There's only one person who should be up here." He then motioned Eletha Finch to the stage. She made a sentimental speech and got the biggest ovation of the night. Backstage, Friedkin was furious. "You guys lied to me. You didn't tell me what you had planned!", he reportedly said. Chayefsky initially said Ms. Finch "had no idea I was going to do it", but it was later revealed by Variety he'd written her speech and even rehearsed it with her. "I didn't want to get into a fight", he said, comparing the scene to last year's Best Actress speech, "...like when Louise Fletcher spoke to her parents when she won."  It made for a memorable Oscar moment in an otherwise boring show which not coincidentally had the lowest ratings ever.

BEST PICTURE
	All the President's Men, Walter Coblenz, producer
	Bound for Glory, Robert F. Blumofe and Harold Leventhal, producers
	Network, Howard Gottfried, producer
	Rocky, Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, producers
	Taxi Driver, Michael Phillips and Julia Phillips, producers

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
	Peter Finch, Network
	William Holden, Network
	Sylvester Stallone, Rocky
	Giancarlo Giannini, Seven Beauties
	Robert De Niro, Taxi Driver

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
	Sissy Spacek, Carrie
	Marie-Christine Barrault, Cousin, Cousine
	Liv Ullman, Face to Face
	Faye Dunaway, Network
	Talia Shire, Rocky

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
	Jason Robards, All the President's Men
	Laurence Olivier, Marathon Man
	Ned Beatty, Network
	Burgess Meredith, Rocky
	Burt Young, Rocky

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
	Jane Alexander, All the President's Men
	Piper Laurie, Carrie
	Beatrice Straight, Network
	Jodie Foster, Taxi Driver
	Lee Grant, Voyage of the Damned

BEST DIRECTOR
	Alan J. Pakula, All the President's Men
	Ingmar Bergman, Face to Face
	Sidney Lumet, Network
	John G. Avildsen, Rocky
	Lina Wertmuller, Seven Beauties

BEST WRITING (SCREENPLAY FACTUALLY BASED OR NEW MATERIAL)
	Jean-Charles Tacchella, story and screenplay; Daniele Thompson, adaptation, Cousin, Cousine
	Walter Bernstein, The Front
	Paddy Chayefsky, Network
	Sylvester Stallone, Rocky
	Lina Wertmuller, Seven Beauties

BEST WRITING (SCREENPLAY BASED ON MATERIAL FROM ANOTHER MEDIUM)
	William Goldman, All the President's Men
	Robert Getchell, Bound for Glory
	Federico Fellini and Bernadino Zapponi, Fellini's Casanova
	Nicholas Meyer, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
	Steve Shagan and David Butler, Voyage of the Damned

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
	Robert Surtees, A Star Is Born
	Haskell Wexler, Bound for Glory
	Richard H. Kline, King Kong
	Ernest Laszlo, Logan's Run
	Owen Roizman, Network

BEST FILM EDITING
	Robert L. Wolfe, All the President's Men
	Robert Jones and Pembroke J. Herring, Bound for Glory
	Alan Heim, Network
	Richard Halsey and Scott Conrad, Rocky
	Eve Newman and Walter Hannemann, Two-Minute Warning

BEST ART DIRECTION/SET DIRECTION
	George Jenkins, art direction; George Gaines, set decoration, All the President's Men
	Elliot Scott and Norman Reynolds, art direction; Peter Howitt, set decoration, The Incredible Sarah
	Gene Callahan and Jack Collis, art direction; Jerry Wunderlich, set decoration, The Last Tycoon
	Dale Hennesy, art direction; Robert de Vestel, set decoration, Logan's Run
	Robert F. Boyle, art direction; Arthur Jeph Parker, set decoration, The Shootist

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
	William Theiss, Bound for Glory
	Danilo Donati, Fellini's Casanova
	Anthony Mendleson, The Incredible Sarah
	Mary Wills, The Passover Plot
	Alan Barrett, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution

BEST SOUND
	Arthur Piantadosi, Les Fresholtz, Dick Alexander and Jim Webb, All the President's Men
	Robert Knudson, Dan Wallin, Robert Glass and Tom Overton, A Star Is Born
	Harry Warren Tetrick, William McCaughey, Aaron Rochin and Jack Solomon, King Kong
	Harry Warren Tetrick, William McCaughey, Lyle Burbridge and Bud Alper, Rocky
	Donald Mitchell, Douglas Williams, Richard Tyler and Hal Etherington, Silver Streak

BEST SOUND (SONG ORIGINAL TO THE PICTURE)
	“Evergreen” (Love Theme From A Star Is Born), A Star Is Born, Barbra Streisand, music; Paul Williams, lyrics
	“A World That Never Was,” Half a House, Sammy Fain, music; Paul Francis Webster, lyrics
	“Ave Satani,” The Omen, Jerry Goldsmith, music and lyrics
	“Come to Me,” The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Henry Mancini, music; Don Black, lyrics
	“Gonna Fly Now,” Rocky, Bill Conti, music; Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins, lyrics

BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
	Bernard Herrmann, Obsession
	Jerry Goldsmith, The Omen
	Jerry Fielding, The Outlaw Josey Wales
	Bernard Herrmann, Taxi Driver
	Lalo Schifrin, Voyage of the Damned

BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG SCORE)
	Roger Kellaway, A Star Is Born
	Leonard Rosenman, Bound for Glory
	Paul Williams, Bugsy Malone

BEST SHORT FILMS (ANIMATED)
	Dedalo (Manfredo Manfredi, producer; Cineteam Realizzazioni Production)
	Leisure (Suzanne Baker, producer; Film Australia Production)
	The Street (Caroline Leaf and Guy Glover, producers; National Film Board of Canada)

BEST SHORT FILMS (LIVE ACTION)
	In the Region of Ice (Andre Guttfreund and Peter Werner, producers; American Film Institute)
	Kudzu (Marjorie Ann Short, producer; Short Productions)
	The Morning Spider (Julian Chagrin and Claude Chagrin, producers; The Black and White Colour Film Company)
	Nightlife (Claire Wilbur and Robin Lehman, producers; Opus Films Ltd.)
	Number One (Dyan Cannon and Vince Cannon, producers; Number One Productions)

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECTS)
	American Shoeshine (Sparky Greene, producer; Titan Films)
	Blackwood (Tony Ianzelo and Andy Thompson, producers; National Film Board of Canada)
	The End of the Road (John Armstrong, producer; Pelican Films)
	Number Our Days (Lynne Littman, producer; Community Television of Southern California)
	Universe (Lester Novros, producer; Graphic Films Corporation for NASA)

BEST DOCUMENTARY (FEATURES)
	Harlan County, U.S.A. (Barbara Kopple, producer; Cabin Creek Films)
	Hollywood on Trial (James Gutman and David Helpern, Jr., producers; October Films/Cinema Associates)
	Off the Edge (Michael Firth, producer; Pentacle Films)
	People of the Wind (Anthony Howarth and David Koff, producers; Elizabeth E. Rogers Productions)
	Volcano: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry (Donald Brittain and Robert Duncan, producers; National Film Board of Canada)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
	Black and White in Color, Ivory Coast
	Cousin, Cousine, France
	Jacob, the Liar, German Democratic Republic (East)
	Nights and Days, Poland
	Seven Beauties, Italy

Other Awards

The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award was given to Pandro S. Berman. A pair of Special Achievement Awards for Visual Effects were presented to Carlo Rambaldi, Glen Robinson and Frank Van der Veer for King Kong, and to L.B. Abbott, Glen Robinson and Matthew Yuricich for Logan's Run.

Scientific Awards

Barnebey-Cheney Company (Laboratory)
Consolidated Film Industries (Laboratory)
William L. Graham (Laboratory)
Manfred G. Michelson (Laboratory)
Geoffrey F. Norman (Laboratory)
Siegfried Seibert (Laboratory)
Technicolor (Laboratory)
AMPTP Motion Picture and Television Research Center (Lenses and Filters)
Fred Bartscher (Lenses and Filters)
Glenn Berggren (Lenses and Filters)
Canon, Inc. (Lenses and Filters)
Wilton R. Holm (Lenses and Filters)
Kollmorgen Corporation (Lenses and Filters)
Kollmorgen Corporation Photo Research Division (Photography)
Panavision, Incorporated (Lenses and Filters)
Schneider Corporation (Lenses and Filters)
Hiroshi Suzukawa (Lenses and Filters)
Carl Zeiss Company (Lenses and Filters)