# 23rd Academy Awards

The 23rd Academy Awards were held on March 29, 1951, honoring the films of 1950. All About Eve received a record 14 nominations, besting the previous record of 13 set by Gone with the Wind in 1939. It won six Oscars, including Best Picture, and earned writer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz his second consecutive Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay awards, the only time such a feat has been accomplished.
All About Eve was the second film, after Mrs. Miniver (1942), to receive five acting nominations. It was the first to receive multiple nominations in two acting categories, and the first (and, to date, only) film to receive four female acting nominations—two each for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. None was successful, losing to Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday and Josephine Hull in Harvey, respectively.
Jose Ferrer, then under investigation from the House Un-American Activities Committee over suspected Communist ties, won the Best Actor award despite being given very little chances to win. Marlene Dietrich nearly stole the show by wearing an apparently-painted-on dress that displayed her legs and figure.
Sunset Boulevard was the fifth film with nominations in every acting category, and the second not to win any of them (after My Man Godfrey in 1936).

## Winners and nominees
### Awards

Nominations announced on February 12, 1951. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.
| Best Motion Picture | Best Directing |
| All About Eve – Darryl F. Zanuck for 20th Century Fox‡ Born Yesterday – S. Sylvan Simon for Columbia Pictures Father of the Bride – Pandro S. Berman for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer King Solomon's Mines – Sam Zimbalist for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Sunset Boulevard – Charles Brackett for Paramount Pictures | Joseph L. Mankiewicz – All About Eve‡ John Huston – The Asphalt Jungle George Cukor – Born Yesterday Billy Wilder – Sunset Boulevard Carol Reed – The Third Man |
| Best Actor | Best Actress |
| José Ferrer – Cyrano de Bergerac as Cyrano de Bergerac‡ Louis Calhern – The Magnificent Yankee as Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. William Holden – Sunset Boulevard as Joe Gillis James Stewart – Harvey as Elwood P. Dowd Spencer Tracy – Father of the Bride as Stanley T. Banks | Judy Holliday – Born Yesterday as Emma "Billie" Dawn‡ Anne Baxter – All About Eve as Eve Harrington Bette Davis – All About Eve as Margo Channing Eleanor Parker – Caged as Marie Allen Gloria Swanson – Sunset Boulevard as Norma Desmond |
| Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Best Actress in a Supporting Role |
| George Sanders – All About Eve as Addison DeWitt‡ Jeff Chandler – Broken Arrow as Cochise Edmund Gwenn – Mister 880 as "Skipper" Miller Sam Jaffe – The Asphalt Jungle as "Doc" Erwin Riedenschneider Erich von Stroheim – Sunset Boulevard as Max von Mayerling | Josephine Hull – Harvey as Veta Louise Simmons‡ Hope Emerson – Caged as Evelyn Harper Celeste Holm – All About Eve as Karen Richards Nancy Olson – Sunset Boulevard as Betty Schaefer Thelma Ritter – All About Eve as Birdie |
| Best Writing (Screenplay) | Best Writing (Story and Screenplay) |
| All About Eve – Joseph L. Mankiewicz from "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr‡ The Asphalt Jungle – Ben Maddow and John Huston from The Asphalt Jungle by W. R. Burnett Born Yesterday – Albert Mannheimer from Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin Broken Arrow – Albert Maltz from Blood Brother by Elliott Arnold Father of the Bride – Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett from Father of the Bride by Edward Streeter | Sunset Boulevard – Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, and D. M. Marshman Jr.‡ Adam's Rib – Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin Caged – Virginia Kellogg and Bernard C. Schoenfeld The Men – Carl Foreman No Way Out – Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Lesser Samuels |
| Best Writing (Motion Picture Story) | Best Documentary (Feature) |
| Panic in the Streets – Edna Anhalt and Edward Anhalt‡ Bitter Rice – Giuseppe De Santis and Carlo Lizzani The Gunfighter – William Bowers and André de Toth Mystery Street – Leonard Spigelgass When Willie Comes Marching Home – Sy Gomberg | The Titan: Story of Michelangelo – Robert Snyder‡ With These Hands – Jack Arnold and Lee Goldman |
| Best Documentary (Short Subject) | Best Short Subject (One-Reel) |
| Why Korea? – Edmund Reek‡ The Fight: Science Against Cancer – Guy Glover The Stairs – Film Documents, Inc. | Grandad of Races – Gordon Hollingshead‡ Blaze Busters – Robert Youngson Wrong Way Butch – Pete Smith |
| Best Short Subject (Two-Reel) | Best Short Subject (Cartoon) |
| In Beaver Valley – Walt Disney‡ Grandma Moses – Falcon Films, Inc. My Country 'Tis of Thee – Gordon Hollingshead | Gerald McBoing-Boing – Stephen Bosustow‡ Jerry's Cousin – Fred Quimby Trouble Indemnity – Stephen Bosustow |
| Best Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) | Best Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture) |
| Sunset Boulevard – Franz Waxman‡ All About Eve – Alfred Newman The Flame and the Arrow – Max Steiner No Sad Songs for Me – George Duning Samson and Delilah – Victor Young | Annie Get Your Gun – Adolph Deutsch and Roger Edens‡ Cinderella – Oliver Wallace and Paul J. Smith I'll Get By – Lionel Newman Three Little Words – André Previn The West Point Story – Ray Heindorf |
| Best Music (Song) | Best Sound Recording |
| "Mona Lisa" from Captain Carey, U.S.A. – Music and Lyrics by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston‡ "Be My Love" from The Toast of New Orleans – Music by Nicholas Brodszky; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" from Cinderella – Music and Lyrics by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston "Mule Train" from Singing Guns – Music and Lyrics by Fred Glickman, Hy Heath, and Johnny Lange "Wilhelmina" from Wabash Avenue – Music by Josef Myrow; Lyrics by Mack Gordon | All About Eve – Thomas T. Moulton‡ Cinderella – C. O. Slyfield Louisa – Leslie I. Carey Our Very Own – Gordon E. Sawyer Trio – Cyril Crowhurst |
| Best Art Direction (Black-and-White) | Best Art Direction (Color) |
| Sunset Boulevard – Art Direction: Hans Dreier and John Meehan; Set Decoration: Samuel M. Comer and Ray Moyer‡ All About Eve – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and George Davis; Set Decoration: Thomas Little and Walter M. Scott The Red Danube – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Hans Peters; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and Hugh Hunt | Samson and Delilah – Art Direction: Hans Dreier and Walter Tyler; Set Decoration: Samuel M. Comer and Ray Moyer‡ Annie Get Your Gun – Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Paul Groesse; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and Richard A. Pefferle Destination Moon – Art Direction: Ernst Fegté; Set Decoration: George Sawley |
| Best Cinematography (Black-and-White) | Best Cinematography (Color) |
| The Third Man – Robert Krasker‡ All About Eve – Milton Krasner The Asphalt Jungle – Harold Rosson The Furies – Victor Milner Sunset Boulevard – John F. Seitz | King Solomon's Mines – Robert Surtees‡ Annie Get Your Gun – Charles Rosher Broken Arrow – Ernest Palmer The Flame and the Arrow – Ernest Haller Samson and Delilah – George Barnes |
| Best Costume Design (Black-and-White) | Best Costume Design (Color) |
| All About Eve – Edith Head and Charles LeMaire‡ Born Yesterday – Jean Louis The Magnificent Yankee – Walter Plunkett | Samson and Delilah – Edith Head, Dorothy Jeakins, Elois Jenssen, Gile Steele, and Gwen Wakeling‡ The Black Rose – Michael Whittaker That Forsyte Woman – Walter Plunkett and Valles |
| Best Film Editing | Best Special Effects |
| King Solomon's Mines – Ralph E. Winters and Conrad A. Nervig‡ All About Eve – Barbara McLean Annie Get Your Gun – James E. Newcom Sunset Boulevard – Arthur P. Schmidt and Doane Harrison The Third Man – Oswald Hafenrichter | Destination Moon – George Pal Productions and Eagle Lion Classics‡ Samson and Delilah – Cecil B. DeMille Productions and Paramount |

### Honorary Foreign Language Film Award

* To The Walls of Malapaga (France/Italy) - voted by the Board of Governors as the most outstanding foreign language film released in the United States in 1950.

### Honorary Awards

* To George Murphy for his services in interpreting the film industry to the country at large.
* To Louis B. Mayer for distinguished service to the motion picture industry.

### Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

* Darryl F. Zanuck

## Presenters and performers
### Presenters

* Lex Barker and Arlene Dahl (Presenters: Best Art Direction)
* Charles Brackett (Presenter: Honorary Awards)
* Ralph Bunche (Presenter: Best Motion Picture)
* Ruth Chatterton (Presenter: Writing Awards)
* Broderick Crawford (Presenter: Best Actress)
* Marlene Dietrich (Presenter: Best Foreign Language Film)
* Coleen Gray (Presenter: Documentary Awards)
* Jane Greer (Presenter: Best Special Effects)
* Helen Hayes (Presenter: Best Actor)
* Dean Jagger (Presenter: Best Supporting Actress)
* Gene Kelly (Presenter: Music Awards)
* Phyllis Kirk (Presenter: Short Subject Awards)
* Mercedes McCambridge (Presenter: Best Supporting Actor)
* Leo McCarey (Presenter: Best Director)
* Marilyn Monroe (Presenter: Best Sound Recording)
* Debra Paget (Presenter: Best Film Editing)
* Debbie Reynolds (Presenter: Best Cinematography)
* Jan Sterling (Presenter: Best Costume Design)
* David Wayne (Presenter: Scientific & Technical Awards)

### Performers

* Gloria DeHaven and Alan Young
* Frankie Laine ("Mule Train" from Singing Guns)
* Martin and Lewis ("Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" from Cinderella)
* Lucille Norman

## Multiple nominations and awards

Films with multiple nominations :
| Nominations | Film |
| 14 | All About Eve |
| 11 | Sunset Boulevard |
| 5 | Born Yesterday |
| 5 | Samson and Delilah |
| 4 | Annie Get Your Gun |
| 4 | The Asphalt Jungle |
| 3 | Broken Arrow |
| 3 | Caged |
| 3 | Cinderella |
| 3 | Father of the Bride |
| 3 | King Solomon's Mines |
| 3 | The Third Man |
| 2 | Destination Moon |
| 2 | The Flame and the Arrow |
| 2 | Harvey |
| 2 | The Magnificent Yankee |
Films with multiple awards :
| Awards | Film |
| 6 | All About Eve |
| 3 | Sunset Boulevard |
| 2 | King Solomon's Mines |
| Samson and Delilah |