Best Picture: The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Bridge on the River Kwai also won Academy Awards for Best Actor (Alec Guinness), Cinematography (Jack Hildyard), Directing (David Lean), Film Editing (Peter Taylor), Music – Scoring (Malcolm Arnold), and Writing – Screenplay based on material from another medium (Michael Wilson, Carl Foreman, and Pierre Boulle).
Beginning in 1957, the nominations and winners were voted upon only by Academy members. (In previous years, other individuals in the motion picture community had had varying levels of voting privileges.)
The number of competitive categories, which had swelled to 30 in the previous year, was downsized to 24.
James Stewart, David Niven, Jack Lemmon, Rosalind Russell, and Bob Hope shared the hosting duties.
Donald Duck hosted a seven-minute combined live-action and cartoon history of the movies.
The entire show was broadcast from Hollywood; there were no cut-ins from New York as in the previous five years.
In January 1957, the Wham-O company produced its first plastic Frisbees, which were known then as Pluto Platters.
In March 1957, Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat was published.
In March 1957, Elvis Presley purchased Graceland for $102,500.
On March 31, 1957, Rodgers and Hammerstein made their television debut with Cinderella, which was telecast live and in color on CBS. Julie Andrews starred in the title role.
On July 6, 1957, John Lennon and Paul McCartney met each other for the first time in Liverpool.
In September 1957, Jack Kerouac's On the Road went on sale.
On October 4, 1957, the sitcom Leave It to Beaver premiered on CBS.
In October 1957, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged was published.
In November 1957, the film Jailhouse Rock was released nationally.
On December 19, 1957, Meredith Willson's musical The Music Man debuted on Broadway.
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
To Samuel Goldwyn.
Honorary Award
To Charles Brackett for outstanding service to the Academy.
Honorary Award
To B.B. Kahane for distinguished service to the motion picture industry.
Honorary Award
To Gilbert M. (Broncho Billy) Anderson, motion picture pioneer, for his contributions to the development of motion pictures as entertainment.