4th Academy Awards

4th Academy Awards
4th Academy Awards
Date	November 10, 1931
Site	Biltmore Hotel; Los Angeles, California
Hosted by	Lawrence Grant
Highlights
Best Picture	Cimarron
Most awards	Cimarron (3)
Most nominations	Cimarron (7)
	← 3rd; Academy Awards; 5th →;

The 4th Academy Awards were held on November 10, 1931 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, awarding films released between August 1, 1930, and July 31, 1931. Cimarron was the first Western to win Best Picture, and would remain the only to do so until Dances with Wolves won in 1990. Cimarron received a then-record seven nominations, and was the first film to win more than two awards; it and A Free Soul were the first films to receive multiple acting nominations.

Nine-year-old Jackie Cooper was the first child actor to receive a nomination and was the youngest nominee until Tatum O'Neal received a nomination for her performance in 1973's Paper Moon. He remains the second-youngest Oscar nominee of all time, and the only Best Actor nominee under age 18. At the ceremony, he fell asleep^[1] on the shoulder of Best Actress nominee Marie Dressler; when Dressler was announced as the winner, Cooper had to be eased onto his mother's lap.

Vice President Charles Curtis came in from Washington to address the 1,800 guests, making the ceremony a national event.^[1]

Best Actor winner Lionel Barrymore became the first person to have received nominations in multiple categories, having been nominated for Best Director for Madame X at the 2nd Academy Awards, as well as the only Best Actor winner born in the 1870s.

Winners and nominees

William LeBaron; Best Picture winner

Lionel Barrymore; Best Actor winner

Marie Dressler; Best Actress winner

Howard Estabrook; Best Adaptation winner

Nominees were announced on October 5, 1931. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.^[2]

Outstanding Production Cimarron – William LeBaron for RKO Pictures‡ East Lynne – Winfield Sheehan for Fox Film Corporation The Front Page – Howard Hughes for United Artists Skippy – Adolph Zukor for Paramount Pictures Trader Horn – Irving Thalberg for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	Best Director Norman Taurog – Skippy‡ Wesley Ruggles – Cimarron Clarence Brown – A Free Soul Lewis Milestone – The Front Page Josef von Sternberg – Morocco
Best Actor *Lionel Barrymore – A Free Soul* as Stephen Ashe*‡ Jackie Cooper – Skippy* as Skippy Skinner Richard Dix – Cimarron as Yancey Cravat Fredric March – The Royal Family of Broadway as Tony Cavendish Adolphe Menjou – The Front Page as Walter Burns	Best Actress *Marie Dressler – Min and Bill* as Min Divot*‡ Marlene Dietrich – Morocco* as Amy Jolly Irene Dunne – Cimarron as Sabra Ann Harding – Holiday as Linda Seton Norma Shearer – A Free Soul as Jan Ashe
Best Original Story The Dawn Patrol – John Monk Saunders‡ The Doorway to Hell – Rowland Brown Laughter – Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast, Douglas Doty, and Donald Ogden Stewart The Public Enemy – John Bright and Kubec Glasmon Smart Money – Lucien Hubbard and Joseph Jackson	Best Adaptation Cimarron – Howard Estabrook, based on the novel by Edna Ferber‡ The Criminal Code – Seton I. Miller and Fred Niblo Jr., based on the play by Martin Flavin Holiday – Horace Jackson, based on the play by Philip Barry Little Caesar – Francis Edward Faragoh and Robert N. Lee, based on the novel by William R. Burnett Skippy – Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Sam Mintz, based on the comic strip by Percy Crosby
Best Sound Recording Paramount Publix Studio Sound Department‡ MGM Studio Sound Department RKO Radio Studio Sound Department Samuel Goldwyn-United Artists Studio Sound Department	Best Art Direction Cimarron – Max Rée‡ Just Imagine – Stephen Goosson and Ralph Hammeras Morocco – Hans Dreier Svengali – Anton Grot Whoopee! – Richard Day
Best Cinematography Tabu – Floyd Crosby‡ Cimarron – Edward Cronjager Morocco – Lee Garmes The Right to Love – Charles Lang Svengali – Barney McGill

Multiple nominations and awards

Films with multiple nominations
Nominations	Film
7	Cimarron
4	Skippy
4	Morocco
3	The Front Page
3	A Free Soul
2	Holiday
2	Svengali

Films with multiple wins
Wins	Film
3	Cimarron

References

^ ^a ^b Wallechinsky, David; Wallace, Irving (1975). The People's Almanac. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc. p. 833. ISBN 0-385-04060-1.
^ "The 4th Academy Awards (1931) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Archived from the original on October 10, 2014. Retrieved March 22, 2014.

[Oscars_'30-31_Notes-1] Wallechinsky, David; Wallace, Irving (1975). The People's Almanac. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc. p. 833. ISBN 0-385-04060-1.

[Oscars1931-2] "The 4th Academy Awards (1931) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Archived from the original on October 10, 2014. Retrieved March 22, 2014.

[1]

[2]

Winners and nominees

Multiple nominations and awards

See also

References