56th Academy Awards
The 56th Academy Awards were presented April 9, 1984. Johnny Carson was once again the host.
The Best Supporting Actress winner this year was unique. 4′ 9″ Linda Hunt (Now on NCIS: Los Angeles) won the award for her role as Billy Kwan – a male Chinese-Australian photographer – in Peter Weir’s The Year of Living Dangerously, making her the first actor to win an Oscar for playing a character of the opposite sex.
Here are the nominees and winners of the acting categories, as well as Best Picture and Best Director:
Best PictureWinner: Terms of Endearment
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Best DirectorWinner: James L. Brooks – Terms of Endearment
Peter Yates – The Dresser |
Best ActorWinner: Robert Duvall – Tender Mercies
Michael Caine – Educating Rita |
Best ActressWinner: Shirley MacLaine – Terms of Endearment
Jane Alexander – Testament |
Best Supporting ActorWinner: Jack Nicholson – Terms of Endearment
Charles Durning – To Be or Not to Be |
Best Supporting ActressWinner: Linda Hunt – The Year of Living Dangerously
Cher – Silkwood |
57th Academy Awards
The 57th Academy Awards were presented March 25, 1985. Jack Lemmon was the host.
This ceremony is best-remembered for perhaps the most quoted and famous Academy Award acceptance speech ever. Upon winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Places in the Heart, Sally Field exclaimed, “The first time I didn’t feel it, but this time I feel it, and I can’t deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!” (often misquoted as “you really like me!”)
The winner of Best Supporting Actor was also significant. Haing S. Ngor, a Cambodian surgeon who survived the horrors of the Khmer Rouge, won the award for his performance as Dith Pran in Roland Joffé’s The Killing Fields, despite having no previous acting experience. Ngor and Harold Russell are the only two non-professional actors to win Academy Awards for acting.
77 year-old Peggy Ashcroft won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in A Passage to India, making her the oldest winner in that category.
Here are the nominees and winners of the acting categories, as well as Best Picture and Best Director:
Best PictureWinner: Amadeus
The Killing Fields |
Best DirectorWinner: Milos Forman – Amadeus
Woody Allen – Broadway Danny Rose |
Best ActorWinner: F. Murray Abraham – Amadeus
Jeff Bridges – Starman |
Best ActressWinner: Sally Field – Places in the Heart
Judy Davis – A Passage to India |
Best Supporting ActorWinner: Haing S. Ngor – The Killing Fields
Adolph Caesar – A Soldier’s Story |
Best Supporting ActressWinner: Peggy Ashcroft – A Passage to India
Glenn Close – The Natural |
58th Academy Awards
The 58th Academy Awards were held on March 24, 1986. They were hosted by Alan Alda, Jane Fonda, Robin Williams. The ceremony was watched by 38.93 million viewers, tying the 78th Academy Awards as the third-lowest rated telecast since 1966. The 80th Academy Awards still holds the distinction of the least watched ceremony of 31.76 million.
Here are the nominees and winners of the acting categories, as well as Best Picture and Best Director:
Best PictureWinner: Out of Africa
The Color Purple |
Best DirectorWinner: Sydney Pollack – Out of Africa
Hector Babenco – Kiss of the Spider Woman |
Best ActorWinner: William Hurt – Kiss of the Spider Woman
Harrison Ford – Witness |
Best ActressWinner: Geraldine Page – The Trip to Bountiful
Anne Bancroft – Agnes of God |
Best Supporting ActorWinner: Don Ameche – Cocoon
Klaus Maria Brandauer – Out of Africa |
Best Supporting ActressWinner: Anjelica Huston – Prizzi’s Honor
Margaret Avery – The Color Purple |
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