49th Academy Awards
The 49th Academy Awards were presented Monday, March 28, 1977, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. The ceremonies were presided over by Richard Pryor, Ellen Burstyn, Jane Fonda, and Warren Beatty. This Academy Awards ceremony was notable for Peter Finch becoming the first posthumous winner of an Oscar for acting, a feat matched only by fellow Australian Heath Ledger 32 years later; Finch had suffered a fatal heart attack in mid-January. Beatrice Straight set another record by becoming the actor with the shortest performance ever in a film to win an acting Oscar , with only five minutes and two seconds of screen-time in "Network". "Network", along with "All the President's Men," were the two biggest winners of the ceremony with four Oscars each, but Best Picture and Best Director ultimately went to "Rocky". Piper Laurie was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for "Carrie" (1976), her first role since her Best Actress-nominated performance in "The Hustler" (1961), thus being nominated for two consecutive roles, fifteen years apart. "Network" became the second film (after "A Streetcar Named Desire") to win three acting Oscars, and the last, as of the 92nd Academy Awards , to receive five acting nominations. It was also the eleventh of fifteen films (to date) to receive nominations in all four acting categories. This year's Academy Awards is also notable for the nomination of Lina Wertmüller in the Best Director category; she was the first ever female directing nominee. Barbra Streisand received her second Academy Award, composing music for the love theme "Evergreen"; she was the first woman to be honored as a composer, and as of the 93rd Academy Awards, is the only person to have won an Academy Award for both acting and songwriting. No honorary awards  were given this year. ABC had the Oscars from 1960 to 1970 and had regained them for 1976. For the second straight year, the ceremony was scheduled directly opposite the NCAA championship basketball game on NBC, won by Marquette in Al McGuire's final game as head coach. Winners and nominees. Nominees were announced on February 10, 1977. Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger (). Multiple nominations and awards. These films had multiple nominations: The following films received multiple awards. Presenters and performers. The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or  performed musical numbers.