Best Picture: Amadeus
Amadeus also won Academy Awards for Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham), Art Direction-Set Decoration (Patrizia Von Brandenstein and Karel Cerny), Costume Design (Theodor Pistek), Directing (Milos Forman), Makeup (Paul LeBlanc and Dick Smith), Sound (Mark Berger, Tom Scott, Todd Boekelheide, and Chris Newman), and Writing – Screenplay based on material from another medium (Peter Shaffer).
Amadeus won eight of the 11 awards for which it was nominated.
Jack Lemmon was the host.
Sally Field won her second Best Actress Oscar (for Places in the Heart) and delivered her now-famous acceptance speech that concluded, “The first time I didn’t feel it, but this time I feel it. And I can’t deny the fact you like me. Right now, you like me!”
Among the five Best Supporting Actor nominees, three were first-time movie performers: Adolph Caesar had made his film debut in A Soldier’s Story, John Malkovich debuted in Places in the Heart, and winner Haing S. Ngor took home the Oscar for his debut performance in The Killing Fields.
Prince was the winner of the Original Song Score award for Purple Rain.
In January 1984, the Apple Macintosh computer went on sale to the public.
In June 1984, Virgin Atlantic Airways made its inaugural flight from London to Newark.
In July 1984, 21-year-old Vanessa Williams gave up her Miss America title at the request of pageant officials, the first resignation in the pageant's history, after Penthouse magazine announced plans to publish nude photos of Williams in its September issue.
On October 31, 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her own security guards.
On November 6, 1984, President Reagan defeated Walter Mondale in the U.S. presidential election with 59% of the popular vote, the highest margin since Nixon’s victory in 1972. Reagan carried 49 states in the Electoral College.
On December 3, 1984, a broken storage tank valve at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, resulted in the leak of the toxic gas methyl isocyanate (MIC), which killed more than 3,500 people and hospitalized tens of thousands more.
Special Achievement Award
To Kay Rose for Sound Effects Editing, “The River.”
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
To David L. Wolper.
Honorary Award
To James Stewart, for his fifty years of memorable performances. For his high ideals both on and off the screen. With the respect and affection of his colleagues.
Honorary Award
To the National Endowment for the Arts, in recognition of its 20th anniversary and its dedicated commitment to fostering artistic and creative activity and excellence in every area of the arts