36th Academy Awards


The 36th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1963, were held on April 13, 1964, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. They were hosted by Jack Lemmon.
Best Picture winner Tom Jones became the only film in history to garner three Best Supporting Actress nominations; it also tied the Oscar record of five unsuccessful acting nominations, set by Peyton Place at the 30th Academy Awards.
This year's winner for Best Actress category was unique. Although playing a supporting role and having a relatively small amount on the screen, Patricia Neal won the Best Actress category for her role in Hud. The movie also won for Best Supporting Actor for Melvyn Douglas and Best Cinematography – Black and White. It was the second and, to date, last film to win two acting awards without being nominated for Best Picture.
At age 71, Margaret Rutherford set a then-record as the oldest winner for Best Supporting Actress, a year after Patty Duke set a then-record as the youngest ever winner. Rutherford was also only the second Oscar winner over the age of 70 at the time of her win, as well as becoming the last woman born in the 19th century to win.
This was the only time in Academy history that all Best Supporting Actress nominees were born outside the United States.
Sidney Poitier became the first Black actor to win Best Actor, and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge was the first Oscar-winning film to have aired on network television prior to the ceremony.
Best Sound Effects was introduced this year, with It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World winning the award.

Awards

Nominations announced on February 24, 1964. Winners are listed first and highlighted with boldface
Best PictureBest Director

  • Tony Richardson – Tom Jones
  • *Federico Fellini – 8½
  • *Elia Kazan – America America
  • *Otto Preminger – The Cardinal
  • *Martin Ritt – Hud
    • Best ActorBest Actress
  • Sidney Poitier – Lilies of the Field as Homer Smith
  • *Albert Finney – Tom Jones as Tom Jones
  • *Richard Harris – This Sporting Life as Frank Machin
  • *Rex Harrison – Cleopatra as Julius Caesar
  • *Paul Newman – Hud as Hud Bannon
  • Patricia Neal – Hud as Alma Brown
  • *Leslie Caron – The L-Shaped Room as Jane Fosset
  • *Shirley MacLaine – Irma la Douce as Irma la Douce
  • *Rachel Roberts – This Sporting Life as Margaret Hammond
  • *Natalie Wood – Love with the Proper Stranger as Angie Rossini
    • Best Supporting ActorBest Supporting Actress
  • Melvyn Douglas – Hud as Homer Bannon
  • *Nick Adams – Twilight of Honor as Ben Brown
  • *Bobby Darin – Captain Newman, M.D. as Corporal Jim Tompkins, USAAF
  • *Hugh Griffith – Tom Jones as Squire Western
  • *John Huston – The Cardinal as Cardinal Glennon
  • Margaret Rutherford – The V.I.P.s as the Duchess of Brighton
  • *Diane Cilento – Tom Jones as Molly Seagrim
  • *Edith Evans – Tom Jones as Miss Western
  • *Joyce Redman – Tom Jones as Mrs. Waters/Jenny Jones
  • *Lilia Skala – Lilies of the Field as Mother Maria
    • Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the ScreenBest Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
  • How the West Was Won – James R. Webb
  • *8½ – Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli and Brunello Rondi
  • *America America – Elia Kazan
  • *The Four Days of Naples – Screenplay by Carlo Bernari, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Massimo Franciosa and Nanni Loy; Story by Pasquale Festa Campanile, Massimo Franciosa, Nanni Loy and Vasco Pratolini
  • *Love with the Proper Stranger – Arnold Schulman
  • Tom Jones – John Osborne based on the novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
  • *Captain Newman, M.D. – Richard L. Breen, Phoebe Ephron and Henry Ephron based on the novel by Leo Rosten
  • *Hud – Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. based on the novel Horseman, Pass By by Larry McMurtry
  • *Lilies of the Field – James Poe based on the novel by William E. Barrett
  • *Sundays and Cybele – Antoine Tudal and Serge Bourguignon based on the novel Les Dimanches de Ville d'Avray by Bernard Eschassériaux
    • Best Foreign Language FilmBest Song
  • 8½
  • *Knife in the Water
  • *The Red Lanterns
  • *Los Tarantos
  • *Twin Sisters of Kyoto
  • "Call Me Irresponsible" from Papa's Delicate Condition – Music by Jimmy Van Heusen; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
  • *"Charade" from Charade – Music by Henry Mancini; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
  • *"It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World – Music by Ernest Gold; Lyrics by Mack David
  • *"More" from Mondo Cane – Music by Riz Ortolani and Nino Oliviero; Lyrics by Norman Newell
  • *"So Little Time" from 55 Days at Peking – Music by Dimitri Tiomkin; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
    • Best Documentary FeatureBest Documentary Short Subject
  • *Le Maillon et la Chaine
  • *The Yanks Are Coming
  • *Terminus '
  • Chagall
  • *The Five Cities of June
  • *The Spirit of America
  • *Thirty Million Letters
  • *To Live Again
    • Best Live Action Short SubjectBest Short Subject – Cartoons
  • An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
  • *The Concert
  • *Home-Made Car
  • *Six-Sided Triangle
  • *That's Me
  • The Critic
  • *Automania 2000
  • *The Game
  • *My Financial Career
  • *Pianissimo
    • Best Music Score – Substantially OriginalBest Scoring of Music — Adaptation or Treatment
  • Tom Jones – John Addison
  • *55 Days at Peking – Dimitri Tiomkin
  • *Cleopatra – Alex North
  • *How the West Was Won – Alfred Newman and Ken Darby
  • *It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World – Ernest Gold
  • Irma la Douce – André Previn
  • *Bye Bye Birdie – Johnny Green
  • *A New Kind of Love – Leith Stevens
  • *Sundays and Cybele – Maurice Jarre
  • *The Sword in the Stone – George Bruns
    • Best Sound EffectsBest Sound
  • It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World – Walter Elliott
  • *A Gathering of Eagles – Robert Bratton
  • How the West Was Won – Franklin Milton
  • *Bye Bye Birdie – Charles Rice
  • *Captain Newman, M.D. – Waldon O. Watson
  • *Cleopatra – James Corcoran and Fred Hynes
  • *It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World – Gordon E. Sawyer
    • Best Art Direction, Black-and-WhiteBest Art Direction, Color
  • America America – Art Direction and Set Decoration: Gene Callahan
  • *8½ – Art Direction and Set Decoration: Piero Gherardi
  • *Hud – Art Direction: Hal Pereira and Tambi Larsen; Set Decoration: Samuel M. Comer and Robert R. Benton
  • *Love with the Proper Stranger – Art Direction: Hal Pereira and Roland Anderson; Set Decoration: Samuel M. Comer and Grace Gregory
  • *Twilight of Honor – Art Direction: George Davis and Paul Groesse; Set Decoration: Henry Grace and Hugh Hunt
  • Cleopatra – Art Direction: John DeCuir, Jack Martin Smith, Hilyard M. Brown, Herman A. Blumenthal, Elven Webb, Maurice Pelling and Boris Juraga; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott, Paul S. Fox and Ray Moyer
  • *The Cardinal – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler; Set Decoration: Gene Callahan
  • *Come Blow Your Horn – Art Direction: Hal Pereira and Roland Anderson; Set Decoration: Samuel M. Comer and James W. Payne
  • *How the West Was Won – Art Direction: George Davis, William Ferrari and Addison Hehr; Set Decoration: Henry Grace, Don Greenwood Jr. and Jack Mills
  • *Tom Jones – Art Direction: Ralph W. Brinton, Ted Marshall and Jocelyn Herbert; Set Decoration: Josie MacAvin
    • Best Cinematography, Black-and-WhiteBest Cinematography, Color
  • Hud – James Wong Howe
  • *The Balcony – George J. Folsey
  • *The Caretakers – Lucien Ballard
  • *Lilies of the Field – Ernest Haller
  • *Love with the Proper Stranger – Milton Krasner
  • Cleopatra – Leon Shamroy
  • *The Cardinal – Leon Shamroy
  • *How the West Was Won – William Daniels, Milton Krasner, Charles Lang and Joseph LaShelle
  • *Irma la Douce – Joseph LaShelle
  • *It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World – Ernest Laszlo
    • Best Costume Design, Black-and-WhiteBest Costume Design, Color
  • 8½ – Piero Gherardi
  • *Love with the Proper Stranger – Edith Head
  • *The Stripper – Travilla
  • *Toys in the Attic – Bill Thomas
  • *Wives and Lovers – Edith Head
  • Cleopatra – Irene Sharaff, Vittorio Nino Novarese and Renié
  • *The Cardinal – Donald Brooks
  • *How the West Was Won – Walter Plunkett
  • *The Leopard – Piero Tosi
  • *A New Kind of Love – Edith Head
    • Best Film EditingBest Special Effects
  • How the West Was Won – Harold F. Kress
  • *Cleopatra – Dorothy Spencer
  • *The Cardinal – Louis R. Loeffler
  • *The Great Escape – Ferris Webster
  • *It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World – Frederic Knudtson, Robert C. Jones and Gene Fowler Jr.
  • Cleopatra – Emil Kosa Jr.'
  • *The Birds'' – Ub Iwerks

    • Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

  • Sam Spiegel

    Presenters and performers

    • Presenters

    These films had multiple nominations:
    The following films received multiple awards.
    Sidney Poitier's performance in Lilies of the Field as Homer Smith earned him an award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. This marked the first time a Black male won a competitive Oscar. This win came five years after his nomination for Best Actor in the 1958's The Defiant Ones.
    Another African-American male would not win Best Actor until 2001 when Denzel Washington won for his portrayal of Alonzo Harris in Training Day.

    Sammy Davis Jr. envelope error

    During the awards ceremony, Sammy Davis, Jr. was accidentally given the wrong winner's envelope, and when he was supposed to announce the award for Best Music Score for an Adaptation or Treatment, he announced that the winner was John Addison for Tom Jones, which was the winner for Best Music Score - Substantially Original. Davis acknowledged his mistake, was handed the correct envelope for the category a few seconds later, and read the correct winner's name.