53rd Academy Awards

53rd Academy Awards
Date	March 31, 1981
Site	Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles
Hosted by	Johnny Carson
Produced by	Norman Jewison
Directed by	Marty Pasetta
Highlights
Best Picture	Ordinary People
Most awards	Ordinary People (4)
Most nominations	The Elephant Man and Raging Bull (8)
TV in the United States
Network	ABC
Duration	3 hours, 13 minutes

The 53rd Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1980, were presented March 31, 1981, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The ceremonies, which were presided over by Johnny Carson, were originally scheduled for the previous day but were postponed due to the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

David Lynch's The Elephant Man and Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull, with 8 nominations each, had the most nominations of this year's films. Their nominations included Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director. Michael Apted's Coal Miner's Daughter received 7 nominations while Ordinary People and The Stunt Man were also nominated.

The year's winner of acting categories also marked as the closest span ever between the four winners, all of whom were under 40 when they won the award. Robert De Niro was 37 when awarded Best Actor, Sissy Spacek was 31 when awarded Best Actress, Timothy Hutton was 20 when awarded Best Supporting Actor, and Mary Steenburgen was 28 when awarded Best Supporting Actress. In addition, Hutton was the youngest ever Best Supporting Actor winner. His award was one of four that Ordinary People won, more than any other movie; the movie also won Best Picture, Best Director for Robert Redford, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Alvin Sargent.

The lack of recognition for Christopher Tucker's make-up work on The Elephant Man prompted the creation of the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling the following year.

Best Supporting Actress nominee Eva Le Gallienne was born in 1899, which made her the last acting nominee to be born in the nineteenth century. As of 2017, this is the earliest Oscars for which all five directing nominees are still living.

Awards

Robert Redford, Best Director winner

Robert De Niro, Best Actor winner

Sissy Spacek, Best Actress winner

Timothy Hutton, Best Supporting Actor winner

Mary Steenburgen, Best Supporting Actress winner

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

Best Picture	Best Director
Ordinary People – Ronald L. Schwary‡ Coal Miner's Daughter – Bernard Schwartz The Elephant Man – Jonathan Sanger Raging Bull – Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler Tess – Claude Berri	Robert Redford – Ordinary People‡ David Lynch – The Elephant Man Martin Scorsese – Raging Bull Richard Rush – The Stunt Man Roman Polanski – Tess
Best Actor	Best Actress
Robert De Niro – Raging Bull as Jake LaMotta‡ Robert Duvall – The Great Santini as Lt. Col. Wilbur "Bull" Meechum John Hurt – The Elephant Man as Joseph Merrick Jack Lemmon – Tribute as Scottie Templeton Peter O'Toole – The Stunt Man as Eli Cross	Sissy Spacek – Coal Miner's Daughter as Loretta Lynn‡ Ellen Burstyn – Resurrection as Edna Mae McCauley Goldie Hawn – Private Benjamin as Judy Benjamin Mary Tyler Moore – Ordinary People as Beth Jarrett Gena Rowlands – Gloria as Gloria Swenson
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
Timothy Hutton – Ordinary People as Conrad Jarrett‡ Judd Hirsch – Ordinary People as Dr. Tyrone C. Berger Michael O'Keefe – The Great Santini as Ben Joe Pesci – Raging Bull as Joey LaMotta Jason Robards – Melvin and Howard as Howard Hughes	Mary Steenburgen – Melvin and Howard as Lynda West Dummar‡ Eileen Brennan – Private Benjamin as Doreen Lewis Eva Le Gallienne – Resurrection as Pearl Cathy Moriarty – Raging Bull as Vikki Thailer Lamotta Diana Scarwid – Inside Moves as Louise
Best Original Screenplay	Best Adapted Screenplay
Melvin and Howard – Bo Goldman‡ Brubaker – Screenplay by W. D. Richter; Story by W. D. Richter and Arthur Ross Fame – Christopher Gore Mon Oncle D'Amerique – Jean Gruault Private Benjamin – Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer and Harvey Miller	Ordinary People – Alvin Sargent from Ordinary People by Judith Guest‡ Breaker Morant – Jonathan Hardy, David Stevens and Bruce Beresford from Breaker Morant by Kenneth G Ross Coal Miner's Daughter – Tom Rickman from Coal Miner's Daughter by Loretta Lynn and George Vecsey The Elephant Man – Christopher De Vore, Eric Bergren and David Lynch from The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences by Sir Frederick Treves, and The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity by Ashley Montagu The Stunt Man – Screenplay by Lawrence B. Marcus; Adaptation by Richard Rush from The Stunt Man by Paul Brodeur
Best Foreign Language Film	Best Film Editing
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)‡ Confidence (Hungary) Kagemusha (Japan) The Last Metro (France) The Nest (Spain)	Raging Bull – Thelma Schoonmaker‡ Coal Miner's Daughter – Arthur Schmidt The Competition – David Blewitt The Elephant Man – Anne V. Coates Fame – Gerry Hambling
Best Documentary Feature	Best Documentary Short
From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China – Murray Lerner‡ Agee – Ross Spears The Day After Trinity – Jon H. Else Front Line – David Bradbury The Yellow Star – The Persecution of the Jews in Europe 1933-45 – Bengt von zur Muehlen and Arthur Cohn	Karl Hess: Toward Liberty – Roland Hallé and Peter W. Ladue‡ Don't Mess with Bill – John Watson and Pen Densham The Eruption of Mount St. Helens – George Casey It's the Same World – Dick Young Luther Metke at 94 – Richard Hawkins and Jorge Preloran
Best Live Action Short	Best Animated Short
The Dollar Bottom – Lloyd Phillips‡ Fall Line – Bob Carmichael and Greg Lowe A Jury of Her Peers – Sally Heckel	The Fly – Ferenc Rofusz‡ All Nothing – Frédéric Back History of the World in Three Minutes Flat – Michael Mills
Best Original Score	Best Original Song
Fame – Michael Gore‡ Altered States – John Corigliano The Elephant Man – John Morris The Empire Strikes Back – John Williams Tess – Philippe Sarde	"Fame" from Fame – Music by Michael Gore, Lyric by Dean Pitchford‡ "9 to 5" from 9 to 5 – Music and Lyric by Dolly Parton "On the Road Again" from Honeysuckle Rose – Music and Lyric by Willie Nelson "Out Here on My Own" from Fame – Music by Michael Gore; Lyric by Lesley Gore "People Alone" from The Competition – Music by Lalo Schifrin; Lyric by Wilbur Jennings
Best Art Direction	Best Cinematography
Tess – Art Direction and Set Decoration: Pierre Guffroy and Jack Stephens‡ Coal Miner's Daughter – Art Direction: John W. Corso; Set Decoration: John M. Dwyer The Elephant Man – Art Direction: Stuart Craig and Bob Cartwright; Set Decoration: Hugh Scaife The Empire Strikes Back – Art Direction: Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley, Harry Lange and Alan Tomkins; Set Decoration: Michael Ford Kagemusha – Art Direction and Set Decoration: Yoshirō Muraki	Tess – Geoffrey Unsworth and Ghislain Cloquet‡ The Blue Lagoon – Nestor Almendros Coal Miner's Daughter – Ralf D. Bode The Formula – James Crabe Raging Bull – Michael Chapman
Best Costume Design	Best Sound
Tess – Anthony Powell‡ The Elephant Man – Patricia Norris My Brilliant Career – Anna Senior Somewhere in Time – Jean-Pierre Dorleac When Time Ran Out – Paul Zastupnevich	The Empire Strikes Back – Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, Gregg Landaker and Peter Sutton‡ Altered States – Arthur Piantadosi, Les Fresholtz, Michael Minkler and Willie D. Burton Coal Miner's Daughter – Richard Portman, Roger Heman and James R. Alexander Fame – Michael J. Kohut, Aaron Rochin, Jay M. Harding and Christopher Newman Raging Bull – Donald O. Mitchell, Bill Nicholson, David J. Kimball and Les Lazarowitz

Academy Honorary Award

• Henry Fonda

Special Achievement Award

• The Empire Strikes Back (Brian Johnson, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren and Bruce Nicholson)

Presenters and performers

The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.

Presenters

Name	Role
Hank Simms	Announcer for the 53rd annual Academy Awards
Ronald Reagan (pre-recorded)	Gave opening remarks welcoming guests to the awards ceremony
Jack Lemmon	Presenters of the award for Best Supporting Actor
Mary Tyler Moore
Alan Arkin	Presenters of the Short Subjects Awards
Margot Kidder
Lily Tomlin	Presenter of the Medal of Commendation
Lesley-Anne Down	Presenters of the Documentary Awards
Richard Chamberlain
Peter O'Toole	Presenters of the award for Best Art Direction
Sissy Spacek
Nastassja Kinski	Presenters of the award for Best Costume Design
Sigourney Weaver
Jack Valenti	Presenter of the award for Best Visual Effects
Bernadette Peters	Presenters of the award for Best Sound
Billy Dee Williams
Brooke Shields	Presenters of the award for Best Foreign Language Film
Franco Zeffirelli
The Nicholas Brothers	Presenters of the award for Best Original Score
Richard Pryor	Presenters of the award for Best Film Editing
Jane Seymour
Diana Ross	Presenters of the award for Best Supporting Actress
Donald Sutherland
Angie Dickinson	Presenters of the award for Best Original Song
Luciano Pavarotti
Peter Ustinov	Presenters of the Writing Awards
Robert Redford	Presenter of the Honorary Award to Henry Fonda
Blythe Danner	Presenters of the award for Best Cinematography
Steve Martin
George Cukor	Presenters of the award for Best Director
King Vidor
Sally Field	Presenter of the award for Best Actor
Dustin Hoffman	Presenter of the award for Best Actress
Lillian Gish	Presenter of the award for Best Picture

Performers

Name	Role	Performed
Henry Mancini	Musical arranger Conductor	Orchestral
Lucie Arnaz	Performer	"Hooray for Hollywood"
Willie Nelson	Performer	"On the Road Again" from Honeysuckle Rose
Irene Cara	Performer	"Fame" and "Out Here On My Own" from Fame
Dolly Parton	Performer	"9 to 5" from Nine to Five
Dionne Warwick	Performer	"People Alone" from The Competition
Academy Awards Orchestra	Performers	"Hooray for Hollywood (reprise)" (orchestral) during the closing credits

Multiple nominations and awards

These films had multiple nominations:

• 8 nominations: The Elephant Man, Raging Bull
• 7 nominations: Coal Miner's Daughter
• 6 nominations: Fame, Ordinary People, Tess
• 3 nominations: The Empire Strikes Back, Melvin and Howard, Private Benjamin, The Stunt Man
• 2 nominations: Altered States, The Competition, The Great Santini, Kagemusha, Resurrection

The following films received multiple awards.

• 4 wins: Ordinary People
• 3 wins: Tess
• 2 wins: Fame, Melvin and Howard, Raging Bull

See also

• 38th Golden Globe Awards
• 1st Golden Raspberry Awards
• 1980 in film
• 23rd Grammy Awards
• 32nd Primetime Emmy Awards
• 33rd Primetime Emmy Awards
• 34th British Academy Film Awards
• 35th Tony Awards

References

• "The Official Academy Awards Database". awardsdatabase.oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on February 8, 2009. Retrieved September 9, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)