20th Academy Awards

20th Academy Awards
20th Academy Awards
Date	March 20, 1948
Site	Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, USA
Hosted by	Agnes Moorehead and Dick Powell
Highlights
Best Picture	Gentleman's Agreement
Most awards	Gentleman's Agreement and Miracle on 34th Street (3)
Most nominations	Gentleman's Agreement (8)
	← 19th; Academy Awards; 21st →;

No film received more than three awards at the 20th Academy Awards. This would not recur until the 78th Academy Awards.

Rosalind Russell was highly favored to win Best Actress her performance in Mourning Becomes Electra,^[1] but Loretta Young won instead for The Farmer's Daughter.

James Baskett received a special Oscar for his portrayal of Uncle Remus in Song of the South, which made him the first African-American man and the first Walt Disney star to win an Academy Award for acting.^[1] Nonetheless, civil rights organizations were unhappy at what was believed to be an unflattering portrait of African-Americans.^{[citation needed]}

At age 71, Edmund Gwenn was the oldest Oscar-winner to that time.^{[citation needed]} The previous oldest was Charles Coburn, who was 66 at the time of his win.^{[citation needed]} In 1976, George Burns would become the oldest Oscar-winner, at age 80.

As of 2016, this is the most recent Oscars that all of 20 acting nominees are deceased.

Awards

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.^[2]

Best Motion Picture	Best Director
Darryl F. Zanuck for 20th Century Fox – Gentleman's Agreement‡ Samuel Goldwyn for RKO Radio Pictures – The Bishop's Wife Adrian Scott for RKO Radio Pictures – Crossfire Ronald Neame for Universal Studios and General Film Distributors, Ltd. – Great Expectations William Perlberg for 20th Century Fox – Miracle on 34th Street	Elia Kazan – Gentleman's Agreement‡ George Cukor – A Double Life Edward Dmytryk – Crossfire Henry Koster – The Bishop's Wife David Lean – Great Expectations
Best Actor	Best Actress
Ronald Colman – A Double Life‡ John Garfield – Body and Soul Gregory Peck – Gentleman's Agreement William Powell – Life With Father Michael Redgrave – Mourning Becomes Electra	Loretta Young – The Farmer's Daughter‡ Joan Crawford – Possessed Susan Hayward – Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman Dorothy McGuire – Gentleman's Agreement Rosalind Russell – Mourning Becomes Electra
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
Edmund Gwenn – Miracle on 34th Street‡ Charles Bickford – The Farmer's Daughter Thomas Gomez – Ride the Pink Horse Robert Ryan – Crossfire Richard Widmark – Kiss of Death	Celeste Holm – Gentleman's Agreement‡ Ethel Barrymore – The Paradine Case Gloria Grahame – Crossfire Marjorie Main – The Egg and I Anne Revere – Gentleman's Agreement
Best Original Screenplay	Best Adapted Screenplay
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer – Sidney Sheldon‡ Shoeshine – Sergio Amidei, Adolfo Franci, C. G. Viola and Cesare Zavattini Monsieur Verdoux – Charlie Chaplin A Double Life – Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin Body and Soul – Abraham Polonsky	Miracle on 34th Street – George Seaton‡ Great Expectations – David Lean, Ronald Neame and Anthony Havelock-Allan Boomerang! – Richard Murphy Crossfire – John Paxton Gentleman's Agreement – Moss Hart
Best Story	Best Animated Short Film
Miracle on 34th Street – Valentine Davies‡ A Cage of Nightingales – Georges Chaperot and René Wheeler It Happened on Fifth Avenue – Herbert Clyde Lewis and Frederick Stephani Kiss of Death – Eleazar Lipsky Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman – Dorothy Parker and Frank Cavett	Tweetie Pie – Edward Selzer‡ Chip an' Dale – Walt Disney Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse – Fred Quimby Pluto's Blue Note – Walt Disney Tubby the Tuba – George Pal
Best Documentary Feature	Best Documentary Short Subject
Design for Death‡ Journey Into Medicine The World Is Rich	First Steps‡ Passport to Nowhere School in the Mailbox
Best Live Action Short Film, One-Reel	Best Live Action Short Film, Two-Reel
Goodbye Miss Turlock – Herbert Moulton‡ Brooklyn, U.S.A. – Thomas Mead Moon Rockets – Jerry Fairbanks Now You See It – Pete Smith So You Want to Be in Pictures – Gordon Hollingshead	Climbing the Matterhorn – Irving Allen‡ Champagne for Two – Harry Grey Fight of the Wild Stallions – Thomas Mead Give Us the Earth – Herbert Morgan A Voice Is Born: The Story of Niklos Gafni – Ben Blake
Best Dramatic or Comedy Score	Best Musical Score
A Double Life – Miklos Rozsa‡ The Bishop's Wife – Hugo Friedhofer Captain from Castile – Alfred Newman Forever Amber – David Raksin Life With Father – Max Steiner	Mother Wore Tights – Alfred Newman‡ Song of the South – Daniele Amfitheatrof, Paul J. Smith and Charles Wolcott Road to Rio – Robert Emmett Dolan Fiesta – Johnny Green My Wild Irish Rose – Ray Heindorf and Max Steiner
Best Original Song	Best Sound Recording
*"Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" from Song of the South* – Music by Allie Wrubel; Lyrics by Ray Gilbert*‡ "A Gal in Calico" from The Time, the Place and the Girl* – Music by Arthur Schwartz; Lyrics by Leo Robin "I Wish I Didn't Love You So" from The Perils of Pauline – Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser "Pass That Peace Pipe" from Good News – Music and Lyrics by Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin and Roger Edens "You Do" from Mother Wore Tights – Music by Josef Myrow; Lyrics by Mack Gordon	The Bishop's Wife – Gordon E. Sawyer‡ Green Dolphin Street – Douglas Shearer T-Men – Jack R. Whitney
Best Art Direction, Black and White	Best Art Direction, Color
Great Expectations – Art Direction: John Bryan; Set Decoration: Wilfred Shingleton‡ The Foxes of Harrow – Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler and Maurice Ransford; Set Decoration: Thomas Little and Paul S. Fox	Black Narcissus – Art Direction and Set Decoration: Alfred Junge‡ Life With Father – Art Direction: Robert M. Haas; Set Decoration: George James Hopkins
Best Cinematography, Black and White	Best Cinematography, Color
Great Expectations – Guy Green‡ Green Dolphin Street – George J. Folsey The Ghost and Mrs. Muir – Charles Lang, Jr.	Black Narcissus – Jack Cardiff‡ Mother Wore Tights – Harry Jackson Life With Father – Peverell Marley and William V. Skall
Best Film Editing	Best Special Effects
Body and Soul – Francis Lyon and Robert Parrish‡ The Bishop's Wife – Monica Collingwood Gentleman's Agreement – Harmon Jones Odd Man Out – Fergus McDonnell Green Dolphin Street – George White	Green Dolphin Street – A. Arnold Gillespie, Warren Newcombe, Douglas Shearer and Michael Steinore‡ Unconquered – Farciot Edouart, Devereux Jennings, Gordon Jennings, Wallace Kelley, Paul Lerpae and George Dutton

Academy Honorary Awards

James Baskett
Bill and Coo
Colonel William N. Selig, Albert E. Smith, Thomas Armat and George K. Spoor

Best Foreign Language Film

Shoeshine (Italy)

Presenters

Anne Baxter (Presenter: Best Cinematography, Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay)
Ingrid Bergman (Presenter: Honorary Award to James Baskett)
Donald Crisp (Presenter: Best Supporting Actress and Best Director)
Olivia de Havilland (Presenter: Best Actor)
Jean Hersholt (Presenter: Honorary Awards)
Fredric March (Presenter: Best Actress and Best Picture)
Robert Montgomery (Presenter: Scientific & Technical Awards)
Agnes Moorehead (Presenter: Best Cinematography)
George Murphy (Presenter: Writing Awards)
Larry Parks (Presenter: Best Special Effects, Best Musical Score and Best Sound Recording)
Dick Powell (Presenter: Best Art Direction)
Dinah Shore (Presenter: Best Original Song)
Shirley Temple (Presenter: Documentary Awards and Short Subject Awards)

Performers

Multiple nominations and awards

These films had multiple nominations:

8 nominations: Gentleman's Agreement
5 nominations: The Bishop's Wife, Crossfire and Great Expectations
4 nominations: A Double Life, Green Dolphin Street, Life with Father and Miracle on 34th Street
3 nominations: Body and Soul and Mother Wore Tights
2 nominations: Black Narcissus The Farmer's Daughter, Kiss of Death, Mourning Becomes Electra, Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman and Song of the South

The following films received multiple awards.

3 wins: Gentleman's Agreement and Miracle on 34th Street
2 wins: Black Narcissus, A Double Life and Great Expectations

References

^ ^a ^b Dirks, Tim. "1947 Academy Awards Winners and History". FilmSite.org (American Movie Classics). Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ "The 20th Academy Awards (1948) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-18. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[dirks-1] Dirks, Tim. "1947 Academy Awards Winners and History". FilmSite.org (American Movie Classics). Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[Oscars1948-2] "The 20th Academy Awards (1948) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-18. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

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