1979

The 51st Academy Awards | 1979
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Monday, April 9, 1979
Honoring movies released in 1978
Highlights
Memorable Moments
  • The Deer Hunter
    Best Picture winners Michael Deeley, Michael Cimino and Barry Spikings, with presenter John Wayne
  • Christopher Walken
    Supporting Actor winner for The Deer Hunter, with presenters Telly Savalas and Dyan Cannon
  • Jon Voight and Jane Fonda
    Best Actor and Best Actress winners for Coming Home

Nominees

Actor in a Leading Role

Winner

Jon Voight

Coming Home

Nominees

Warren Beatty

Heaven Can Wait

Gary Busey

The Buddy Holly Story

Robert De Niro

The Deer Hunter

Laurence Olivier

The Boys from Brazil

Actor in a Supporting Role

Winner

Christopher Walken

The Deer Hunter

Nominees

Bruce Dern

Coming Home

Richard Farnsworth

Comes a Horseman

John Hurt

Midnight Express

Jack Warden

Heaven Can Wait

Actress in a Leading Role

Winner

Jane Fonda

Coming Home

Nominees

Ingrid Bergman

Autumn Sonata

Ellen Burstyn

Same Time, Next Year

Jill Clayburgh

An Unmarried Woman

Geraldine Page

Interiors

Actress in a Supporting Role

Winner

Maggie Smith

California Suite

Nominees

Dyan Cannon

Heaven Can Wait

Penelope Milford

Coming Home

Maureen Stapleton

Interiors

Meryl Streep

The Deer Hunter

Art Direction

Winner

Heaven Can Wait

Art Direction: Paul Sylbert, Edwin O'Donovan; Set Decoration: George Gaines

Nominees

The Brink's Job

Art Direction: Dean Tavoularis, Angelo Graham; Set Decoration: George R. Nelson, Bruce Kay

California Suite

Art Direction: Albert Brenner; Set Decoration: Marvin March

Interiors

Art Direction: Mel Bourne; Set Decoration: Daniel Robert

The Wiz

Art Direction: Tony Walton, Philip Rosenberg; Set Decoration: Edward Stewart, Robert Drumheller

Cinematography

Winner

Days of Heaven

Nestor Almendros

Nominees

The Deer Hunter

Vilmos Zsigmond

Heaven Can Wait

William A. Fraker

Same Time, Next Year

Robert Surtees

The Wiz

Oswald Morris

Costume Design

Winner

Death on the Nile

Anthony Powell

Nominees

Caravans

Renie Conley

Days of Heaven

Patricia Norris

The Swarm

Paul Zastupnevich

The Wiz

Tony Walton

Directing

Winner

The Deer Hunter

Michael Cimino

Nominees

Coming Home

Hal Ashby

Heaven Can Wait

Warren Beatty, Buck Henry

Interiors

Woody Allen

Midnight Express

Alan Parker

Documentary (Feature)

Winner

Scared Straight!

Arnold Shapiro, Producer

Nominees

The Lovers' Wind

Albert Lamorisse, Producer

Mysterious Castles of Clay

Alan Root, Producer

Raoni

Jean-Pierre Dutilleux, Barry Williams and Michel Gast, Producers

With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women's Emergency Brigade

Anne Bohlen, Lyn Goldfarb and Lorraine Gray, Producers

Documentary (Short Subject)

Winner

The Flight of the Gossamer Condor

Jacqueline Phillips Shedd and Ben Shedd, Producers

Nominees

The Divided Trail: A Native American Odyssey

Jerry Aronson, Producer

An Encounter with Faces

K.K. Kapil, Producer

Goodnight Miss Ann

August Cinquegrana, Producer

Squires of San Quentin

J. Gary Mitchell, Producer

Film Editing

Winner

The Deer Hunter

Peter Zinner

Nominees

The Boys from Brazil

Robert E. Swink

Coming Home

Don Zimmerman

Midnight Express

Gerry Hambling

Superman

Stuart Baird

Foreign Language Film

Winner

Get Out Your Handkerchiefs

France

Nominees

The Glass Cell

German Federal Republic

Hungarians

Hungary

Viva Italia!

Italy

White Bim Black Ear

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

Winner

Leo Jaffe

Music (Adaptation Score)

Winner

The Buddy Holly Story

Joe Renzetti

Nominees

Pretty Baby

Jerry Wexler

The Wiz

Quincy Jones

Music (Original Score)

Winner

Midnight Express

Giorgio Moroder

Nominees

The Boys from Brazil

Jerry Goldsmith

Days of Heaven

Ennio Morricone

Heaven Can Wait

Dave Grusin

Superman

John Williams

Music (Original Song)

Winner

Thank God It's Friday

Last Dance in "Thank God It's Friday" Music and Lyrics by Paul Jabara

Nominees

Grease

Hopelessly Devoted To You in "Grease" Music and Lyrics by John Farrar

Same Time, Next Year

The Last Time I Felt Like This in "Same Time, Next Year" Music by Marvin Hamlisch; Lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman

Foul Play

Ready To Take A Chance Again in "Foul Play" Music by Charles Fox; Lyrics by Norman Gimbel

The Magic of Lassie

When You're Loved in "The Magic of Lassie" Music and Lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman

Best Picture

Winner

The Deer Hunter

Barry Spikings, Michael Deeley, Michael Cimino and John Peverall, Producers

Nominees

Coming Home

Jerome Hellman, Producer

Heaven Can Wait

Warren Beatty, Producer

Midnight Express

Alan Marshall and David Puttnam, Producers

An Unmarried Woman

Paul Mazursky and Tony Ray, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

Winner

Special Delivery

Eunice Macaulay and John Weldon, Producers

Nominees

Oh My Darling

Nico Crama, Producer

Rip Van Winkle

Will Vinton, Producer

Short Film (Live Action)

Winner

Teenage Father

Taylor Hackford, Producer

Nominees

A Different Approach

Jim Belcher and Fern Field, Producers

Mandy's Grandmother

Andrew Sugerman, Producer

Strange Fruit

Seth Pinsker, Producer

Sound

Winner

The Deer Hunter

Richard Portman, William McCaughey, Aaron Rochin, Darin Knight

Nominees

The Buddy Holly Story

Tex Rudloff, Joel Fein, Curly Thirlwell, Willie Burton

Days of Heaven

John K. Wilkinson, Robert W. Glass, Jr., John T. Reitz, Barry Thomas

Hooper

Robert Knudson, Robert J. Glass, Don MacDougall, Jack Solomon

Superman

Gordon K. McCallum, Graham Hartstone, Nicolas Le Messurier, Roy Charman

Special Achievement Award (Visual Effects)

Winner

Superman

Les Bowie, Colin Chilvers, Denys Coop, Roy Field, Derek Meddings, Zoran Perisic

Writing (Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium)

Winner

Midnight Express

Oliver Stone

Nominees

Bloodbrothers

Walter Newman

California Suite

Neil Simon

Heaven Can Wait

Elaine May, Warren Beatty

Same Time, Next Year

Bernard Slade

Writing (Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen)

Winner

Coming Home

Story by Nancy Dowd; Screenplay by Waldo Salt, Robert C. Jones

Nominees

Autumn Sonata

Ingmar Bergman

The Deer Hunter

Story by Michael Cimino, Deric Washburn, Louis Garfinkle, Quinn K. Redeker; Screenplay by Deric Washburn

Interiors

Woody Allen

An Unmarried Woman

Paul Mazursky
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An Encounter with Faces
1 Nomination
Documentary (Short Subject) - K.K. Kapil, Producer