26th Academy Awards

26th Academy Awards
Date	March 25, 1954
Site	RKO Pantages Theatre Hollywood, Los Angeles, California NBC Century Theatre New York, New York
Host	Donald O'Connor (Los Angeles) Fredric March (New York City)
Highlights
Best Picture	From Here to Eternity
Most awards	From Here to Eternity (8)
Most nominations	From Here to Eternity (13)
TV in the United States
Network	NBC
< 25th Academy Awards 27th >

The 26th Academy Awards honored the best in films of 1953.

The second national telecast of the Awards show draws an estimated 43,000,000 viewers. Shirley Booth, appearing in a play in Philadelphia, presents the Best Actor award through a live broadcast cut-in, and privately receives the winner's name over the telephone from co-host Donald O'Connor. (Actor Fredric March co-hosted from New York City.) Gary Cooper filmed his presentation of the Best Actress award in advance on a set in Mexico, with O'Connor announcing the winner's name.

All of the big winners in this year of 1953 were black-and-white films. The big winner was Fred Zinnemann's eight-Oscar winning From Here to Eternity (with thirteen nominations and eight awards including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor and Actress, Best Director, Best Screenplay (Daniel Taradash), Best Cinematography (Burnett Guffey), Best Sound, and Best Film Editing). All five of its major actors and actresses were nominated, with secondary players Donna Reed and Frank Sinatra taking home the Oscars.

The candid film was based on James Jones' controversial, best-selling novel about Army life on a Hawaiian (Oahu) military base just prior to the Pearl Harbor attack and World War II, to illustrate the conflict between an individualistic private (Montgomery Clift) and rigid institutional authority (exemplified by the Army). Its achievement of eight awards matched the all-time record held by Gone with the Wind (1939). The record would be tied again the following year by On the Waterfront (1954).

Awards

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.

Best Picture	Best Director
From Here to Eternity Julius Caesar The Robe Roman Holiday Shane	Fred Zinnemann – From Here to Eternity George Stevens – Shane Charles Walters – Lili Billy Wilder – Stalag 17 William Wyler – Roman Holiday
Best Actor	Best Actress
William Holden – Stalag 17 Marlon Brando – Julius Caesar Richard Burton – The Robe Montgomery Clift – From Here to Eternity Burt Lancaster – From Here to Eternity	Audrey Hepburn – Roman Holiday Leslie Caron – Lili Ava Gardner – Mogambo Deborah Kerr – From Here to Eternity Maggie McNamara – The Moon Is Blue
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
Frank Sinatra – From Here to Eternity Eddie Albert – Roman Holiday Brandon de Wilde – Shane Jack Palance – Shane Robert Strauss – Stalag 17	Donna Reed – From Here to Eternity Grace Kelly – Mogambo Geraldine Page – Hondo Marjorie Rambeau – Torch Song Thelma Ritter – Pickup on South Street
Best Screenplay	Best Story and Screenplay
From Here to Eternity – Daniel Taradash The Cruel Sea – Eric Ambler Lili – Helen Deutsch Shane – A. B. Guthrie, Jr. Roman Holiday – Ian McLellan Hunter and John Dighton	Titanic – Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch and Richard Breen The Band Wagon – Betty Comden and Adolph Green Take the High Ground – Millard Kaufman The Desert Rats – Richard Murphy The Naked Spur – Sam Rolfe and Harold Jack Bloom
Best Story	Best Animated Short Film
Roman Holiday – Dalton Trumbo Little Fugitive – Ray Ashley, Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin The Captain's Paradise – Alec Coppel Above and Beyond – Beirne Lay, Jr.	Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom – Walt Disney Christopher Crumpet From A to Z-Z-Z-Z Rugged Bear The Tell Tale Heart
Best Documentary Feature	Best Documentary Short
The Living Desert – Walt Disney The Conquest of Everest A Queen Is Crowned	The Alaskan Eskimo – Walt Disney The Living City Operation Blue Jay They Planted a Stone The Word
Best Live Action Short Film, One-Reel	Best Live Action Short Film, Two-Reel
The Merry Wives of Windsor Overture Christ Among the Primitives Herring Hunt Joy of Living Wee Water Wonders	Bear Country – Walt Disney Ben and Me Return to Glennascaul Vesuvius Express Winter Paradise
Best Dramatic or Comedy Score	Best Musical Score
Lili – Bronislau Kaper This Is Cinerama – Louis Forbes Above and Beyond – Hugo Friedhofer Julius Caesar – Miklos Rozsa From Here to Eternity – Morris Stoloff and George Duning	Call Me Madam – Alfred Newman The Band Wagon – Adolph Deutsch Calamity Jane' – 'Ray Heindorf The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T – Frederick Hollander and Morris Stoloff Kiss Me Kate – André Previn and Saul Chaplin
Best Original Song	Best Sound Recording
"Secret Love" from Calamity Jane – Music by Sammy Fain; Lyric by Paul Francis Webster "The Moon Is Blue" from The Moon Is Blue – Music by Herschel Burke Gilbert; Lyric by Sylvia Fine "My Flaming Heart" from Small Town Girl – Music by Nicholas Brodszky; Lyric by Leo Robin "Sadie Thompson's Song" from Miss Sadie Thompson – Music by Lester Lee; Lyric by Ned Washington "That's Amore" from The Caddy – Music by Harry Warren; Lyric by Jack Brooks	From Here to Eternity – John P. Livadary, Columbia Studio Sound Department Knights of the Round Table – A. W. Watkins, MGM Studio Sound Department The War of the Worlds – Loren L. Ryder, Paramount Studio Sound Department The Mississippi Gambler – Leslie I. Carey, Universal-International Studio Sound Department Calamity Jane – William A. Mueller, Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department
Best Art Direction, Black and White	Best Art Direction, Color
Julius Caesar – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Edward Carfagno; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and Hugh Hunt Martin Luther – Art Direction and Set Decoration: Fritz Maurischat and Paul Markwitz Roman Holiday – Art Direction and Set Decoration: Hal Pereira and Walter Tyler The President's Lady – Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler and Leland Fuller; Set Decoration: Paul S. Fox Titanic – Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler and Maurice Ransford; Set Decoration: Stuart Reiss	The Robe – Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler and George Davis; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott and Paul S. Fox The Story of Three Loves – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Preston Ames, Edward Carfagno and Gabriel Scognamillo; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis, Keogh Gleason, Arthur Krams and Jack D. Moore Lili – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Paul Groesse; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and Arthur Krams Young Bess – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Urie McCleary; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and Jack D. Moore Knights of the Round Table – Art Direction: Alfred Junge and Hans Peters; Set Decoration: John Jarvis
Best Cinematography, Black and White	Best Cinematography, Color
From Here to Eternity – Burnett Guffey Martin Luther – Joseph C. Brun The Four Poster – Hal Mohr Roman Holiday – Frank Planer and Henry Alekan Julius Caesar – Joseph Ruttenberg	Shane – Loyal Griggs Beneath the 12-Mile Reef – Edward Cronjager All the Brothers Were Valiant – George Folsey Lili – Robert Planck The Robe – Leon Shamroy
Best Costume Design, Black and White	Best Costume Design, Color
''Roman Holiday – Edith Head The Actress – Walter Plunkett Dream Wife – Helen Rose and Herschel McCoy From Here to Eternity – Jean Louis The President's Lady Charles LeMaire and Renie Conley	The Robe –Charles LeMaire and Emile Santiago The Band Wagon – Mary Ann Nyberg Call Me Madam – Irene Sharaff How to Marry a Millionaire – Charles LeMaire and William Travilla Young Bess – Walter Plunkett
Best Film Editing	Best Visual Effects
From Here to Eternity – William Lyon The War of the Worlds – Everett Douglas The Moon Is Blue – Otto Ludwig Roman Holiday – Robert Swink Crazylegs – Irvine (Cotton) Warburton	The War of the Worlds

Academy Honorary Awards

• Pete Smith
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
• Joseph I. Breen
• Bell and Howell Company

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

• George Stevens

Presenters

• Lex Barker (Co-Presenter: Cinematography Awards)
• Shirley Booth (Presenter: Best Actor)
• Charles Brackett (Presenter: Honorary Awards)
• Keefe Brasselle (Co-Presenter: Short Subject Awards)
• Walter Brennan (Presenter: Best Supporting Actress)
• Gower Champion (Co-Presenter: Art Direction-Set Decoration Awards)
• Marge Champion (Co-Presenter: Art Direction-Set Decoration Awards)
• Gary Cooper (Presenter: Best Actress)
• Cecil B. DeMille (Presenter: Best Picture)
• Kirk Douglas (Presenter: Writing Awards)
• Irene Dunne (Presenter: Best Director)
• Marilyn Erskine (Co-Presenter: Short Subject Awards)
• Arthur Freed (Presenter: Music Awards)
• Mercedes McCambridge (Presenter: Best Supporting Actor)
• Merle Oberon (Presenter: Best Special Effects)
• Tyrone Power (Presenter: Scientific & Technical Awards)
• David O. Selznick (Presenter: Irving G. Thalberg Award)
• Elizabeth Taylor (Co-Presenter: Documentary Awards)
• Gene Tierney (Presenter: Costume Design Awards)
• Lana Turner (Co-Presenter: Cinematography Awards)
• Jack Webb (Presenter: Best Sound)
• Michael Wilding (Co-Presenter: Documentary Awards)
• Esther Williams (Presenter: Best Film Editing)

Performers

• Ann Blyth ("Secret Love" from Calamity Jane)
• Mitzi Gaynor, Margaret Whiting, and Donald O'Connor ("The Moon Is Blue" from The Moon Is Blue)
• Dean Martin ("That's Amore" from The Caddy)
• Connie Russell ("Sadie Thompson's Song (Blue Pacific Blues)" from Miss Sadie Thompson)

Multiple nominations and awards

These films had multiple nominations:

• 13 nominations: From Here to Eternity
• 10 nominations: Roman Holiday
• 6 nominations: Lili, Shane
• 5 nominations: Julius Caesar, The Robe
• 3 nominations: The Band Wagon, The Moon is Blue, Stalag 17
• 2 nominations: Above and Beyond, Calamity Jane, Call Me Madam, Knights of the Round Table, Martin Luther, Mogambo, The President's Lady, Titanic, The War of the Worlds, Young Bess

The following films received multiple awards.

• 8 wins: From Here to Eternity
• 3 wins: Roman Holiday
• 2 wins: The Robe