Skip to main content

1981

Experience over nine decades of the Oscars from 1927 to 2024

The 53rd Academy Awards | 1981
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Tuesday, March 31, 1981
Honoring movies released in 1980
Highlights
Best Actor
Raging Bull

Robert De Niro

Cinematography
Tess

Geoffrey Unsworth and Ghislain Cloquet

Original Score
Fame

Michael Gore, presented by the Nicholas Brothers

Memorable Moments
Thelma Schoonmaker
Image

Film Editing winner for Raging Bull, with presenters Richard Pryor and Jane Seymour

Timothy Hutton
Image

Supporting Actor winner for Ordinary People

The Empire Strikes Back
Image

A Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects to Brian Johnson, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren and Bruce Nicholson, with Jack Valenti

WINNERS & NOMINEES
Actor in a Leading Role
Winner
Robert De Niro
Raging Bull
Nominees
Robert Duvall
The Great Santini
John Hurt
The Elephant Man
Jack Lemmon
Tribute
Peter O'Toole
The Stunt Man
Actor in a Supporting Role
Winner
Timothy Hutton
Ordinary People
Nominees
Judd Hirsch
Ordinary People
Michael O'Keefe
The Great Santini
Joe Pesci
Raging Bull
Jason Robards
Melvin and Howard
Actress in a Leading Role
Winner
Sissy Spacek
Coal Miner's Daughter
Nominees
Ellen Burstyn
Resurrection
Goldie Hawn
Private Benjamin
Mary Tyler Moore
Ordinary People
Gena Rowlands
Gloria
Actress in a Supporting Role
Winner
Mary Steenburgen
Melvin and Howard
Nominees
Eileen Brennan
Private Benjamin
Eva Le Gallienne
Resurrection
Cathy Moriarty
Raging Bull
Diana Scarwid
Inside Moves
Art Direction
Winner
Tess
Art Direction: Pierre Guffroy, Jack Stephens
Nominees
Coal Miner's Daughter
Art Direction: John W. Corso; Set Decoration: John M. Dwyer
The Elephant Man
Art Direction: Stuart Craig, Bob Cartwright; Set Decoration: Hugh Scaife
The Empire Strikes Back
Art Direction: Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley, Harry Lange, Alan Tomkins; Set Decoration: Michael Ford
Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior)
Yoshiro Muraki
Cinematography
Winner
Tess
Geoffrey Unsworth, Ghislain Cloquet
Nominees
The Blue Lagoon
Nestor Almendros
Coal Miner's Daughter
Ralf D. Bode
The Formula
James Crabe
Raging Bull
Michael Chapman
Costume Design
Winner
Tess
Anthony Powell
Nominees
The Elephant Man
Patricia Norris
My Brilliant Career
Anna Senior
Somewhere in Time
Jean-Pierre Dorleac
When Time Ran Out
Paul Zastupnevich
Directing
Winner
Ordinary People
Robert Redford
Nominees
The Elephant Man
David Lynch
Raging Bull
Martin Scorsese
The Stunt Man
Richard Rush
Tess
Roman Polanski
Documentary (Feature)
Winner
From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China
Murray Lerner, Producer
Nominees
Agee
Ross Spears, Producer
The Day after Trinity
Jon Else, Producer
Front Line
David Bradbury, Producer
The Yellow Star - The Persecution of the Jews in Europe 1933-45
Bengt von zur Muehlen and Arthur Cohn, Producers
Documentary (Short Subject)
Winner
Karl Hess: Toward Liberty
Karl Hess: Toward Liberty
Nominees
Don't Mess with Bill
John Watson and Pen Densham, Producers
The Eruption of Mount St. Helens
George Casey, Producer
It's the Same World
Dick Young, Producer
Luther Metke at 94
Richard Hawkins and Jorge Preloran, Producers
Film Editing
Winner
Raging Bull
Thelma Schoonmaker
Nominees
Coal Miner's Daughter
Arthur Schmidt
The Competition
David Blewitt
The Elephant Man
Anne V. Coates
Fame
Gerry Hambling
Foreign Language Film
Winner
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Nominees
Confidence
Hungary
Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior)
Japan
The Last Metro
France
The Nest
Spain
Music (Original Score)
Winner
Fame
Michael Gore
Nominees
Altered States
John Corigliano
The Elephant Man
John Morris
The Empire Strikes Back
John Williams
Tess
Philippe Sarde
Music (Original Song)
Winner
Fame
Fame in "Fame" Music by Michael Gore; Lyric by Dean Pitchford
Nominees
Nine to Five
Nine To Five in "Nine to Five" Music and Lyric by Dolly Parton
Honeysuckle Rose
On The Road Again in "Honeysuckle Rose" Music and Lyric by Willie Nelson
Fame
Out Here On My Own in "Fame" Music by Michael Gore; Lyric by Lesley Gore
The Competition
People Alone in "The Competition" Music by Lalo Schifrin; Lyric by Wilbur Jennings
Best Picture
Winner
Ordinary People
Ronald L. Schwary, Producer
Nominees
Coal Miner's Daughter
Bernard Schwartz, Producer
The Elephant Man
Jonathan Sanger, Producer
Raging Bull
Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, Producers
Tess
Claude Berri, Producer; Timothy Burrill, Co-Producer
Short Film (Animated)
Winner
The Fly
Ferenc Rofusz, Producer
Nominees
All Nothing
Frédéric Back, Producer
History of the World in Three Minutes Flat
Michael Mills, Producer
Short Film (Dramatic Live Action)
Winner
The Dollar Bottom
Lloyd Phillips, Producer
Nominees
Fall Line
Bob Carmichael and Greg Lowe, Producers
A Jury of Her Peers
Sally Heckel, Producer
Sound
Winner
The Empire Strikes Back
Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, Gregg Landaker, Peter Sutton
Nominees
Altered States
Arthur Piantadosi, Les Fresholtz, Michael Minkler, Willie D. Burton
Coal Miner's Daughter
Richard Portman, Roger Heman, Jim Alexander
Fame
Michael J. Kohut, Aaron Rochin, Jay M. Harding, Chris Newman
Raging Bull
Donald O. Mitchell, Bill Nicholson, David J. Kimball, Les Lazarowitz
Special Achievement Award (Visual Effects)
Winner
The Empire Strikes Back
Brian Johnson, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Bruce Nicholson
Writing (Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium)
Winner
Ordinary People
Alvin Sargent
Nominees
Breaker Morant
Jonathan Hardy, David Stevens, Bruce Beresford
Coal Miner's Daughter
Tom Rickman
The Elephant Man
Christopher DeVore, Eric Bergren, David Lynch
The Stunt Man
Screenplay by Lawrence B. Marcus; Adaptation by Richard Rush
Writing (Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen)
Winner
Melvin and Howard
Bo Goldman
Nominees
Brubaker
Screenplay by W. D. Richter; Story by W. D. Richter, Arthur Ross
Fame
Christopher Gore
Mon Oncle D'Amerique
Jean Gruault
Private Benjamin
Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer, Harvey Miller

S

Somewhere in Time
1 NOMINATION
  • Costume Design - Jean-Pierre Dorleac
The Stunt Man
3 NOMINATIONS
  • Actor in a Leading Role - Peter O'Toole
  • Directing - Richard Rush
  • Writing (Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium) - Screenplay by Lawrence B. Marcus; Adaptation by Richard Rush