Best Picture: Million Dollar Baby
Million Dollar Baby also won Academy Awards for Best Actress (Hilary Swank), Best Supporting Actor (Morgan Freeman), and Directing (Clint Eastwood).
At age 74, Clint Eastwood became the oldest winner to date in the Directing category.
Martin Scorsese was nominated for directing The Aviator. He became one of only five directors in history to have earned five nominations in the category without a win. The others were Robert Altman, Clarence Brown, Alfred Hitchcock, and King Vidor.
The Incredibles was named Best Animated Feature Film.
Chris Rock was the host.
In May 2004, Michael Moore’s documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It was the first nonfiction film to take the festival’s top award since The Silent World, co-directed by Jacques Cousteau and Louis Malle, in 1956.
Honorary Award
To Sidney Lumet in recognition of his brilliant services to screenwriters, performers and the art of the motion picture.
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
To Roger Mayer.