44th Annual Academy Awards Coverage (1972)
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- Date of Ceremony: Monday, April 10, 1972
- For films released in: 1971
- Location: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles, California
- Host(s): Helen Hayes, Alan King, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jack Lemmon
The 44th Academy Awards planned to pay tribute to one of the most innovative figures in movie history, Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin had been awarded a Special Award at the 1st Academy Awards and had been nominated since then, but had been living in self-imposed exile since 1952 when J. Edgar Hoover worked to have him barred from the U.S. for the political views Hoover alleged Chaplin held.
The Academy decided that Chaplin, who was about to turn 83, should be given an Honorary Award “…for the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century.” Chaplin returned to the United States to accept the award.
Heading into the ceremony, the following film(s) had five or more nominations:
- The Last Picture Show: 8
- Fiddler on the Roof: 8
- The French Connection: 8
- Nicholas and Alexandra: 6
- Bedknobs and Broomsticks: 5
- Mary, Queen of Scots: 5