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1939

Experience over nine decades of the Oscars from 1927 to 2025

The 11th Academy Awards | 1939
Biltmore Bowl of the Biltmore Hotel
Thursday, February 23, 1939
Honoring movies released in 1938
Highlights
Special Award
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Mickey Rooney, Juvenile Player

Special Award
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Deanna Durbin, Juvenile Player, with presenter Edgar Bergen

Thalberg Award
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Hal B. Wallis

Memorable Moments
Walt Disney
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Receiving one statuette and seven miniature statuettes from Shirley Temple for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Miliza Korjus
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Singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Oscars

Bette Davis
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Best Actress winner for Jezebel

WINNERS & NOMINEES
Actor
Winner
Spencer Tracy
Boys Town
Nominees
Charles Boyer
Algiers
James Cagney
Angels with Dirty Faces
Robert Donat
The Citadel
Leslie Howard
Pygmalion
Actor in a Supporting Role
Winner
Walter Brennan
Kentucky
Nominees
John Garfield
Four Daughters
Gene Lockhart
Algiers
Robert Morley
Marie Antoinette
Basil Rathbone
If I Were King
Actress
Winner
Bette Davis
Jezebel
Nominees
Fay Bainter
White Banners
Wendy Hiller
Pygmalion
Norma Shearer
Marie Antoinette
Margaret Sullavan
Three Comrades
Actress in a Supporting Role
Winner
Fay Bainter
Jezebel
Nominees
Beulah Bondi
Of Human Hearts
Billie Burke
Merrily We Live
Spring Byington
You Can't Take It with You
Miliza Korjus
The Great Waltz
Art Direction
Winner
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Carl J. Weyl
Nominees
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Lyle Wheeler
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Bernard Herzbrun, Boris Leven
Algiers
Alexander Toluboff
Carefree
Van Nest Polglase
The Goldwyn Follies
Richard Day
Holiday
Stephen Goosson, Lionel Banks
If I Were King
Hans Dreier, John Goodman
Mad about Music
Jack Otterson
Marie Antoinette
Cedric Gibbons
Merrily We Live
Charles D. Hall
Cinematography
Winner
The Great Waltz
Joseph Ruttenberg
Nominees
Algiers
James Wong Howe
Army Girl
Ernest Miller, Harry Wild
The Buccaneer
Victor Milner
Jezebel
Ernest Haller
Mad about Music
Joseph Valentine
Merrily We Live
Norbert Brodine
Suez
Peverell Marley
Vivacious Lady
Robert de Grasse
You Can't Take It with You
Joseph Walker
The Young in Heart
Leon Shamroy
Directing
Winner
You Can't Take It with You
Frank Capra
Nominees
Angels with Dirty Faces
Michael Curtiz
Boys Town
Norman Taurog
The Citadel
King Vidor
Four Daughters
Michael Curtiz
Film Editing
Winner
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Ralph Dawson
Nominees
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Barbara McLean
The Great Waltz
Tom Held
Test Pilot
Tom Held
You Can't Take It with You
Gene Havlick
Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
Winner
Hal B. Wallis
Nominees
Samuel Goldwyn
Joe Pasternak
David O. Selznick
Hunt Stromberg
Walter Wanger
Darryl F. Zanuck
Music (Original Score)
Winner
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Nominees
Army Girl
Victor Young
Block-Heads
Marvin Hatley
Blockade
Werner Janssen
Breaking the Ice
Victor Young
The Cowboy and the Lady
Alfred Newman
If I Were King
Richard Hageman
Marie Antoinette
Herbert Stothart
Pacific Liner
Russell Bennett
Suez
Louis Silvers
The Young in Heart
Franz Waxman
Music (Scoring)
Winner
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Alfred Newman
Nominees
Carefree
Victor Baravalle
Girls' School
Morris Stoloff, Gregory Stone
The Goldwyn Follies
Alfred Newman
Jezebel
Max Steiner
Mad about Music
Charles Previn, Frank Skinner
Storm over Bengal
Cy Feuer
Sweethearts
Herbert Stothart
There Goes My Heart
Marvin Hatley
Tropic Holiday
Boris Morros
The Young in Heart
Franz Waxman
Music (Song)
Winner
The Big Broadcast of 1938
Thanks For The Memory in "The Big Broadcast of 1938" Music by Ralph Rainger; Lyrics by Leo Robin
Nominees
Mannequin
Always And Always in "Mannequin" Music by Edward Ward; Lyrics by Chet Forrest and Bob Wright
Carefree
Change Partners in "Carefree" Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
The Cowboy and the Lady
The Cowboy And The Lady in "The Cowboy and the Lady" Music by Lionel Newman; Lyrics by Arthur Quenzer
Under Western Stars
Dust in "Under Western Stars" Music and Lyrics by Johnny Marvin
Going Places
Jeepers Creepers in "Going Places" Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
Merrily We Live
Merrily We Live in "Merrily We Live" Music by Phil Charig; Lyrics by Arthur Quenzer
The Lady Objects
A Mist Over The Moon in "The Lady Objects" Music by Ben Oakland; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
That Certain Age
My Own in "That Certain Age" Music by Jimmy McHugh; Lyrics by Harold Adamson
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Now It Can Be Told in "Alexander's Ragtime Band" Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
Outstanding Production
Winner
You Can't Take It with You
Columbia
Nominees
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Warner Bros.-First National
Alexander's Ragtime Band
20th Century-Fox
Boys Town
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
The Citadel
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Four Daughters
Warner Bros.-First National
Grand Illusion
Realization D'Art Cinematographique
Jezebel
Warner Bros.
Pygmalion
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Test Pilot
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Short Subject (Cartoon)
Winner
Ferdinand the Bull
Walt Disney, Producer
Nominees
Brave Little Tailor
Walt Disney, Producer
Good Scouts
Walt Disney, Producer
Hunky and Spunky
Paramount
Mother Goose Goes Hollywood
Walt Disney, Producer
Short Subject (One-reel)
Winner
That Mothers Might Live
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Nominees
The Great Heart
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Timber Toppers
20th Century-Fox
Short Subject (Two-reel)
Winner
Declaration of Independence
Warner Bros.
Nominees
Swingtime in the Movies
Warner Bros.
They're Always Caught
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Sound Recording
Winner
The Cowboy and the Lady
United Artists Studio Sound Department, Thomas T. Moulton, Sound Director
Nominees
Army Girl
Republic Studio Sound Department, Charles L. Lootens, Sound Director
Four Daughters
Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, Nathan Levinson, Sound Director
If I Were King
Paramount Studio Sound Department, Loren L. Ryder, Sound Director
Merrily We Live
Hal Roach Studio Sound Department, Elmer A. Raguse, Sound Director
Suez
20th Century-Fox Studio Sound Department, Edmund H. Hansen, Sound Director
Sweethearts
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department, Douglas Shearer, Sound Director
That Certain Age
Universal Studio Sound Department, Bernard B. Brown, Sound Director
Vivacious Lady
RKO Radio Studio Sound Department, John Aalberg, Sound Director
You Can't Take It with You
Columbia Studio Sound Department, John Livadary, Sound Director
Special Award
Winner
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Special Award
Winner
Spawn of the North
Special Award
Winner
Sweethearts
Special Award
Writing (Original Story)
Winner
Boys Town
Dore Schary, Eleanore Griffin
Nominees
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Irving Berlin
Angels with Dirty Faces
Rowland Brown
Blockade
John Howard Lawson
Mad about Music
Marcella Burke, Frederick Kohner
Test Pilot
Frank Wead
Writing (Screenplay)
Winner
Pygmalion
Screenplay and Dialogue by George Bernard Shaw; Adaptation by W. P. Lipscomb, Cecil Lewis, Ian Dalrymple
Nominees
Boys Town
John Meehan, Dore Schary
The Citadel
Ian Dalrymple, Frank Wead, Elizabeth Hill
Four Daughters
Julius J. Epstein, Lenore Coffee
You Can't Take It with You
Robert Riskin

S

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
1 WIN, 1 NOMINATION
  • * Special Award - Special Award
Spawn of the North
1 WIN, 1 NOMINATION
  • * Special Award - Special Award
Storm over Bengal
1 NOMINATION
  • Music (Scoring) - Cy Feuer
Suez
3 NOMINATIONS
  • Cinematography - Peverell Marley
  • Music (Original Score) - Louis Silvers
  • Sound Recording - 20th Century-Fox Studio Sound Department, Edmund H. Hansen, Sound Director
Sweethearts
3 NOMINATIONS, 1 WIN
  • * Special Award - Special Award
  • Music (Scoring) - Herbert Stothart
  • Sound Recording - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department, Douglas Shearer, Sound Director
Swingtime in the Movies
1 NOMINATION
  • Short Subject (Two-reel) - Warner Bros.