49th Academy Awards
# 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. Network and All the President's Men were the two biggest winners of the ceremony with four Oscars each, but Best Picture and Best Director, as well as Best Editing, were won by Rocky.

Network became the second film (after A Streetcar Named Desire) to win three acting Oscars, the last to do so until Everything Everywhere All at Once, and the last, as of the 94th 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. Best Actor winner Peter Finch became the first posthumous acting winner, having suffered a fatal heart attack in mid-January. With only five minutes and two seconds of screentime, Beatrice Straight set a record for the shortest performance ever to win an acting Oscar (Best Supporting Actress).

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.

Lina Wertmüller became the first woman nominated for Best Director for Seven Beauties, which was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. With her win for Best Original Song as the composer for the love theme "Evergreen" from A Star Is Born, Barbra Streisand became the first woman to be honored in the category, and as of the 94th Academy Awards, the only person to have won Academy Awards for both acting and songwriting (following her Best Actress win for Funny Girl at the 40th Academy Awards).

No honorary awards were given this year.

ABC held the rights to the Oscars from 1960 to 1970, and 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 (‡).

| Best Picture | Best Director |
| - | - |
| Rocky – Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler, producers‡ All the President's Men – Walter Coblenz, producer Bound for Glory – Robert F. Blumofe and Harold Leventhal, producers Network – Howard Gottfried, producer Taxi Driver – Julia Phillips and Michael Phillips, producers | John G. Avildsen – Rocky‡ Alan J. Pakula – All the President's Men Ingmar Bergman – Face to Face Sidney Lumet – Network Lina Wertmüller – Seven Beauties |
| Best Actor | Best Actress |
| Peter Finch – Network as Howard Beale‡ Robert De Niro – Taxi Driver as Travis Bickle Giancarlo Giannini – Seven Beauties as Pasqualino William Holden – Network as Max Schumacher Sylvester Stallone – Rocky as Rocky Balboa | Faye Dunaway – Network as Diana Christensen‡ Marie-Christine Barrault – Cousin Cousine as Marthe Talia Shire – Rocky as Adrian Pennino Sissy Spacek – Carrie as Carrie White Liv Ullmann – Face to Face as Jenny Isaksson |
| Best Supporting Actor | Best Supporting Actress |
| Jason Robards – All the President's Men as Ben Bradlee‡ Ned Beatty – Network as Arthur Jensen Burgess Meredith – Rocky as "Mickey" Goldmill Laurence Olivier – Marathon Man as Dr. Christian Szell Burt Young – Rocky as Paulie Pennino | Beatrice Straight – Network as Louise Schumacher‡ Jane Alexander – All the President's Men as Judy Graham Hoback Jodie Foster – Taxi Driver as Iris Steensma Lee Grant – Voyage of the Damned as Lillian Rosen Piper Laurie – Carrie as Margaret White |
| Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Based on Factual Material or on Story Material Not Previously Published or Produced | Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium |
| Network – Paddy Chayefsky‡ Cousin Cousine – Jean-Charles Tacchella and Danièle Thompson The Front – Walter Bernstein Rocky – Sylvester Stallone Seven Beauties – Lina Wertmüller | All the President's Men – William Goldman based on the book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward ‡ Bound for Glory – Robert Getchell based on the book by Woody Guthrie Fellini's Casanova – Federico Fellini and Bernardino Zapponi based on the autobiography Histoire de ma vie by Giacomo Casanova The Seven-Per-Cent Solution – Nicholas Meyer based on his novel Voyage of the Damned – David Butler and Steve Shagan based on the book by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts |
| Best Foreign Language Film | Best Documentary Feature |
| Black and White in Color (Côte d'Ivoire)‡ Cousin Cousine (France) Jacob the Liar (East Germany) Nights and Days (Poland) Seven Beauties (Italy) | Harlan County, USA – Barbara Kopple‡ Hollywood on Trial – David Helpern Off the Edge – Michael Firth People of the Wind – Anthony Howarth and David Koff Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry – Donald Brittain and John Kramer |
| Best Documentary Short Subject | Best Live Action Short Film |
| Number Our Days – Lynne Littman and Barbara Myerhoff‡ American Shoeshine - Sparky Greene Blackwood - Tony Ianzelo and Andy Thomson The End of the Road - John Armstrong Universe - Lester Novros | In the Region of Ice – Andre R. Guttfreund and Peter Werner‡ Kudzu – Marjorie Anne Short The Morning Spider – Julian Chagrin and Claude Chagrin Nightlife – Claire Wilbur and Robin Lehman Number One – Dyan Cannon and Vince Cannon |
| Best Animated Short Film | Best Original Score |
| Leisure – Suzanne Baker‡ Dedalo – Manfredo Manfredi The Street – Caroline Leaf and Guy Glover | The Omen – Jerry Goldsmith‡ Obsession – Bernard Herrmann (posthumous nomination) The Outlaw Josey Wales – Jerry Fielding Taxi Driver – Bernard Herrmann (posthumous nomination) Voyage of the Damned – Lalo Schifrin |
| Best Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation Score | Best Original Song |
| Bound for Glory – Leonard Rosenman‡ Bugsy Malone – Paul Williams A Star Is Born – Roger Kellaway | "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" from A Star Is Born – Music by Barbra Streisand; Lyrics by Paul Williams‡ "Ave Satani" from The Omen – Music and Lyrics by Jerry Goldsmith "Come to Me" from The Pink Panther Strikes Again – Music by Henry Mancini; Lyrics by Don Black "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky – Music by Bill Conti; Lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins "A World That Never Was" from Half a House – Music by Sammy Fain; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster |
| Best Sound | Best Costume Design |
| All the President's Men – Arthur Piantadosi, Les Fresholtz, Dick Alexander and Jim Webb‡ King Kong – Harry Warren Tetrick (posthumous nomination), William McCaughey, Aaron Rochin and Jack Solomon Rocky – Harry Warren Tetrick (posthumous nomination), William McCaughey, Lyle Burbridge and Bud Alper Silver Streak – Donald Mitchell, Douglas Williams, Richard Tyler and Hal Etherington A Star Is Born – Robert Knudson, Dan Wallin, Robert Glass and Tom Overton | Fellini's Casanova – Danilo Donati‡ Bound for Glory – William Ware Theiss The Incredible Sarah – Anthony Mendleson The Passover Plot – Mary Wills The Seven-Per-Cent Solution – Alan Barrett |
| Best Art Direction | Best Cinematography |
| All the President's Men – Art Direction: George Jenkins; Set Decoration: George Gaines‡ The Incredible Sarah – Art Direction: Elliot Scott and Norman Reynolds; Set Decoration: Peter Howitt The Last Tycoon – Art Direction: Gene Callahan and Jack T. Collis; Set Decoration: Jerry Wunderlich Logan's Run – Art Direction: Dale Hennesy; Set Decoration: Robert De Vestel The Shootist – Art Direction: Robert F. Boyle; Set Decoration: Arthur Jeph Parker | Bound for Glory – Haskell Wexler‡ King Kong – Richard H. Kline Logan's Run – Ernest Laszlo Network – Owen Roizman A Star Is Born – Robert Surtees |
| Best Film Editing ||
| Rocky – Richard Halsey and Scott Conrad‡ All the President's Men – Robert L. Wolfe Bound for Glory – Robert C. Jones and Pembroke J. Herring Network – Alan Heim Two-Minute Warning – Eve Newman and Walter Hannemann ||

### Special Achievement Award

* Carlo Rambaldi, Glen Robinson, and Frank Van der Veer for the visual effects of King Kong
* L. B. Abbott, Glen Robinson, and Matthew Yuricich for the visual effects of Logan's Run

### Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

* Pandro S. Berman

## Presenters and performers

The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.

### Presenters

| Name | Role |
| - | - |
| Hank Simms | Announcer of the 49th annual Academy Awards |
| Walter Mirisch (AMPAS President) | Gave opening remarks welcoming guests to the awards ceremony |
| Chevy Chase | Explains the voting rules to the public |
| Tatum O'Neal | Presenter of the award for Best Supporting Actor |
| Marty Feldman | Presenter of the Short Films Awards |
| Roy Scheider | Presenter of the Special Achievement Award |
| Marthe Keller | Presenter of the award for Best Art Direction |
| Muhammad Ali Sylvester Stallone | Presenters of the award for Best Supporting Actress |
| William Holden | Presenter of the award for Best Film Editing |
| Red Skelton | Presenter of the award for Best Sound |
| Cicely Tyson | Presenter of the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to Pandro S. Berman |
| Donald Sutherland | Presenter of the award for Best Cinematography |
| Pearl Bailey | Presenter of the award for Best Foreign Language Film |
| Ann-Margret | Presenter of the Music Awards |
| Lillian Hellman | Presenter of the Documentary Awards |
| Neil Diamond | Presenter of the award for Best Original Song |
| Norman Mailer | Presenter of the Writing Awards |
| Jeanne Moreau | Presenter of the award for Best Director |
| Tamara Dobson | Presenter of the award for Best Costume Design |
| Liv Ullmann | Presenter of the award for Best Actor |
| Louise Fletcher | Presenter of the award for Best Actress |
| Jack Nicholson | Presenter of the award for Best Picture |

### Performers

| Name | Role | Performed |
| - | - | - |
| Bill Conti | Musical arranger and conductor | Orchestral |
| Ann-Margret | Performer | “Magic Circle (It All Started in Someone's Head)“ |
| Eddie Albert | Performer | "A World That Never Was" from Half a House |
| Ben Vereen | Performer | "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky |
| Tom Jones | Performer | "Come to Me" from The Pink Panther Strikes Again |
| Tony Vivante | Performer | "Ave Satani" from The Omen |
| Barbra Streisand | Performer | "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" from A Star Is Born |
| Ann-Margret | Performer | “Magic Circle (Reprise)” |
