18th Annual Academy Awards Results and Commentary (1946)

©A.M.P.A.S.®

• Date of Ceremony: Thursday, March 7, 1946
• For films released in: 1945
• Host(s): James Stewart and Bob Hope

• Nominations List

Other years:

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The war was over and Hollywood was ready to party when the 18th Academy Awards were presented at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Jimmy Stewart and Bob Hope presided over the ceremony on Thursday, March 7, 1946. Searchlight scanned the skies and tuxedos and evening gowns hit the red carpet.

The Lost Weekend took home four Oscars that night: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Writing (Screenplay).

Joan Crawford, whose Mildred Pierce role was a comeback for her after some insignificant roles, won Best Actress. Crawford was confined to her bed and unable to attend the ceremony. Crawford said it was an illness, while many others firmly believed that she just didn’t want to face the possibility of losing.

Results

Best Motion Picture

• The Lost Weekend
  Paramount

Best Directing

• The Lost Weekend
  Billy Wilder

Best Actor

• The Lost Weekend
  Ray Milland

Best Actress

• Mildred Pierce
  Joan Crawford

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
  James Dunn

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

• National Velvet
  Anne Revere

Best Art Direction (Black-and-White)

• Blood on the Sun
  Wiard Ihnen [Art Direction] and A. Roland Fields [Interior Decoration]

Best Art Direction (Color)

• Frenchman's Creek
  Hans Dreier [Art Direction], Ernst Fegte [Art Direction] and Sam Comer [Interior Decoration]

Best Cinematography (Black-and-White)

• The Picture of Dorian Gray
  Harry Stradling Sr.

Best Cinematography (Color)

• Leave Her to Heaven
  Leon Shamroy

Best Documentary (Feature)

• The True Glory
  The Governments of Great Britain and the United States of America

Best Documentary (Short Subject)

• Hitler Lives?
  Gordon Hollingshead

Best Film Editing

• National Velvet
  Robert J. Kern

Best Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture)

• Spellbound
  Miklos Rozsa

Best Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture)

• Anchors Aweigh
  George Stoll

Best Music (Song)

• State Fair "It Might As Well Be Spring"
  Richard Rodgers [Music by] and Oscar Hammerstein II [Lyrics by]

Best Short Subject (Cartoon)

• Quiet Please!
  Frederick Quimby

Best Short Subject (One-reel)

• Stairway to Light
  Herbert Moulton and Jerry Bresler [Executive Producer]

Best Short Subject (Two-reel)

• Star in the Night
  Gordon Hollingshead

Best Sound Recording

• The Bells of St. Mary's
  RKO Radio Studio Sound Department and Stephen Dunn [Sound Director]

Best Special Effects

• Wonder Man
  John Fulton [Photographic Effects by] and Arthur W. Johns [Sound Director]

Best Writing (Original Screenplay)

• Marie-Louise
  Richard Schweizer

Best Writing (Screenplay)

• The Lost Weekend
  Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder

Best Writing (Original Motion Picture Story)

• The House on 92nd Street
  Charles G. Booth

Special Award

• Walter Wanger
  Note: …for his six years service as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
• Peggy Ann Garner
  Note: …outstanding child actress of 1945.
• Republic Studio, Daniel J. Bloomberg and Republic Studio Sound Department
  Note: …for the building of an outstanding musical scoring auditorium which provides optimum recording conditions and combines all elements of acoustic and engineering design.
• The House I Live In "The House I Live In"
  Frank Ross [Producer], Mervyn LeRoy [Producer], Albert Maltz [Screenplay by], Earl Robinson [Music by], Lewis Allan [Lyrics by] and Frank Sinatra [Starring]
  Note: …a tolerance short subject released by RKO Radio.

Scientific or Technical Award (Class III)

• Loren L. Ryder, Charles R. Daily and Paramount Studio Sound Department
  Note: …for the design, construction and use of the first dial controlled step-by-step sound channel line-up and test circuit.
• Michael S. Leshing [of 20th Century-Fox Studio], Benjamin C. Robinson [of 20th Century-Fox Studio], Arthur B. Chatelain [of 20th Century-Fox Studio], Robert C. Stevens [of 20th Century-Fox Studio] and John G. Capstaff [of Eastman Kodak Company]
  Note: …for the 20th Century-Fox film processing machine.