51st Academy Awards

The ceremony, held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Downtown Los Angeles, was hosted by late-night talk host Johnny Carson for the first time.[8] Jack Elliott and Allyn Ferguson served as musical directors for the telecast.[9] Singers Sammy Davis Jr. and Steve Lawrence performed a medley called "Oscar's Only Human" which was composed of movie songs that were not nominated for Best Original Song.[10] Initially the academy's music branch protested the segment and urged that it be dropped from the ceremony, but it was kept after Haley threatened to leave his position as producer and pull Carson from emcee duties.[11]

It is also remembered for being the final public appearance of Oscar-winning actor John Wayne, where he was given a standing ovation before presenting the award for Best Picture.[12] On June 11, two months after the ceremony, he died from complications from stomach cancer at age 72.[12][13] This was also the final public appearance for Jack Haley, the father of producer Jack Haley Jr., who presented the Best Costume Design with his Wizard of Oz co-star Ray Bolger.[14]

The nominees for the 51st Academy Awards were announced on February 20, 1979, by Academy president Howard W. Koch and actress Susan Blakely.[15][16] The Deer Hunter and Heaven Can Wait tied for the most nominations with nine each.[17] The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on April 9.[18] Best Director nominees Warren Beatty and Buck Henry became the second pair of directors nominated in that category for the same film; Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise had won for co-directing 1961's West Side Story.[19] Furthermore, Beatty was the first person to earn acting, directing, producing, and screenwriting nominations for the same film. While Orson Welles had previously achieved the same feat for Citizen Kane, rules at the time determined that the studio releasing the film, as opposed to the individual producers, were the official nominees for Best Picture.[20][21] With Jon Voight and Jane Fonda's respective wins in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories, Coming Home was the fourth film to win both lead acting awards.[22] Best Supporting Actress winner Maggie Smith became the only person to win an Oscar for playing an Oscar loser in California Suite.[22]

Awards

Michael Cimino, Best Picture co-winner and Best Director winner

Jon Voight, Best Actor winner

Jane Fonda, Best Actress winner

Christopher Walken, Best Supporting Actor winner

Maggie Smith, Best Supporting Actress winner

Oliver Stone, Best Adapted Screenplay winner

Taylor Hackford, Best Live Action Short Film winner

Giorgio Moroder, Best Original Score winner

Paul Jabara, Best Original Song winner

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger ().[23]

Best Picture The Deer Hunter – Barry Spikings, Michael Deeley, Michael Cimino and John Peverall, producers Coming Home - Jerome Hellman, producer Heaven Can Wait – Warren Beatty, producer Midnight Express – Alan Marshall and David Puttnam, producers An Unmarried Woman - Paul Mazursky and Anthony Ray, producers	Best Director Michael Cimino – The Deer Hunter Hal Ashby – Coming Home Warren Beatty and Buck Henry – Heaven Can Wait Woody Allen – Interiors Alan Parker – Midnight Express
Best Actor Jon Voight – Coming Home as Luke Martin Warren Beatty – Heaven Can Wait as Joe Pendleton/Leo Farnsworth/Tom Jarrett Gary Busey – The Buddy Holly Story as Buddy Holly Robert De Niro – The Deer Hunter as Sergeant Michael "Mike" Vronsky Laurence Olivier – The Boys from Brazil as Ezra Lieberman	Best Actress Jane Fonda – Coming Home as Sally Hyde Ingrid Bergman – Autumn Sonata as Charlotte Andergast Ellen Burstyn – Same Time, Next Year as Doris Jill Clayburgh – An Unmarried Woman as Erica Benton Geraldine Page – Interiors as Eve
Best Supporting Actor Christopher Walken – The Deer Hunter as Corporal Nikanor "Nick" Chevotarevich Bruce Dern – Coming Home as Captain Bob Hyde Richard Farnsworth – Comes a Horseman as Dodger John Hurt – Midnight Express as Max Jack Warden – Heaven Can Wait as Max Corkle	Best Supporting Actress Maggie Smith – California Suite as Diana Barrie Dyan Cannon – Heaven Can Wait as Julia Farnsworth Penelope Milford – Coming Home as Vi Munson Maureen Stapleton – Interiors as Pearl Meryl Streep – The Deer Hunter as Linda
Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Coming Home – Story by Nancy Dowd; Screenplay by Waldo Salt and Robert C. Jones Autumn Sonata – Ingmar Bergman The Deer Hunter – Story by Michael Cimino, Deric Washburn, Louis Garfinkle and Quinn Redeker; Screenplay by Deric Washburn Interiors – Woody Allen An Unmarried Woman – Paul Mazursky	Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Midnight Express – Oliver Stone based on the book by Billy Hayes and William Hoffer Bloodbrothers – Walter Newman based on the novel by Richard Price California Suite – Neil Simon based on his play Heaven Can Wait – Elaine May and Warren Beatty based on the play by Harry Segall Same Time, Next Year – Bernard Slade based on his play
Best Foreign Language Film Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (France) in French – Directed by Bertrand Blier The Glass Cell (West Germany) in German – Directed by Hans W. Geißendörfer Hungarians (Hungary) in Hungarian – Directed by Zoltán Fábri Viva Italia! (Italy) in Italian – Directed by Dino Risi, Ettore Scola, and Mario Monicelli White Bim Black Ear (Soviet Union) in Russian – Directed by Stanislav Rostotsky	Best Documentary Feature Scared Straight! – Arnold Shapiro The Lovers' Wind (Le vent des amoureux) – Albert Lamorisse (posthumous nomination) Mysterious Castles of Clay – Joan Root and Alan Root Raoni – Jean-Pierre Dutilleux and Luiz Carlos Saldanha With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women's Emergency Brigade – Lorraine Gray
Best Documentary Short Subject The Flight of the Gossamer Condor – Jacqueline Phillips Shedd and Ben Shedd The Divided Trail: A Native American Odyssey – Jerry Aronson An Encounter with Faces – Vidhu Vinod Chopra and K. K. Kapil Goodnight Miss Ann – August Cinquegrana Squires of San Quentin – J. Gary Mitchell	Best Live Action Short Film Teenage Father – Taylor Hackford A Different Approach – Jim Belcher and Fern Field Mandy's Grandmother – Andrew Sugerman Strange Fruit – Seth Pinsker
Best Animated Short Film Special Delivery – Eunice Macauley and John Weldon Oh My Darling – Nico Crama Rip Van Winkle – Will Vinton	Best Original Score Midnight Express – Giorgio Moroder The Boys from Brazil – Jerry Goldsmith Days of Heaven – Ennio Morricone Heaven Can Wait – Dave Grusin Superman – John Williams
Best Adaptation Score The Buddy Holly Story – Joe Renzetti Pretty Baby – Jerry Wexler The Wiz – Quincy Jones	Best Original Song "Last Dance" from Thank God It's Friday – Music and lyrics by Paul Jabara "Hopelessly Devoted to You" from Grease – Music and lyrics by John Farrar "The Last Time I Felt Like This" from Same Time, Next Year – Music by Marvin Hamlisch; lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman "Ready to Take a Chance Again" from Foul Play – Music by Charles Fox; lyrics by Norman Gimbel "When You're Loved" from The Magic of Lassie – Music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
Best Sound The Deer Hunter – Richard Portman, William McCaughey, Aaron Rochin and Darin Knight The Buddy Holly Story – Tex Rudloff, Joel Fein, Curly Thirlwell and Willie D. Burton Days of Heaven – John Wilkinson, Robert W. Glass Jr., John T. Reitz and Barry Thomas Hooper – Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don MacDougall and Jack Solomon Superman – Gordon McCallum, Graham V. Hartstone, Nicolas Le Messurier and Roy Charman	Best Costume Design Death on the Nile – Anthony Powell Caravans – Renié Days of Heaven – Patricia Norris The Swarm – Paul Zastupnevich The Wiz – Tony Walton
Best Art Direction Heaven Can Wait – Art Direction: Paul Sylbert and Edwin O'Donovan; Set Decoration: George Gaines The Brink's Job – Art Direction: Dean Tavoularis and Angelo P. Graham; Set Decoration: George R. Nelson and Bruce Kay California Suite – Art Direction: Albert Brenner; Set Decoration: Marvin March Interiors – Art Direction: Mel Bourne; Set Decoration: Daniel Robert The Wiz – Art Direction: Tony Walton and Philip Rosenberg; Set Decoration: Edward Stewart and Robert Drumheller	Best Cinematography Days of Heaven – Néstor Almendros The Deer Hunter – Vilmos Zsigmond Heaven Can Wait – William A. Fraker Same Time, Next Year – Robert Surtees The Wiz – Oswald Morris
Best Film Editing The Deer Hunter – Peter Zinner The Boys from Brazil – Robert E. Swink Coming Home – Don Zimmerman Midnight Express – Gerry Hambling Superman – Stuart Baird

The following individuals (in order of appearance) presented awards or performed musical numbers:[31]

• List of submissions to the 51st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film

Official websites

• Academy Awards official website
• The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences official website
• Oscars channel at YouTube (run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)

Analysis

• 1978 Academy Awards Winners and History Filmsite
• Academy Awards, USA: 1979 Internet Movie Database

Other resources

• The 51st Annual Academy Awards at IMDb