12th Annual Academy Awards Coverage (1940)

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  • Date of Ceremony: Thursday, February 29, 1940
  • For films released in: 1939
  • Location: The Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, California
  • Host(s): Bob Hope
Other years:

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The 12th Annual Academy Awards headed to the Ambassador Hotel, bringing a new host, Bob Hope, with them.

Hope presided over a night that saw two films with double-digit nominations: Thirteen for Gone with the Wind and ten for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

The 12th year of the Oscars also marked the last time that the press would be told who the winners were before the ceremony and the first time that the ceremony was filmed.

Heading into the ceremony, the following film(s) had five or more nominations:

  • Gone with the Wind: 13
  • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: 11
  • Wuthering Heights: 8
  • Stagecoach: 7
  • Goodbye, Mr. Chips: 7
  • Love Affair: 6
  • The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex: 5
  • The Wizard of Oz: 5
  • The Rains Came: 5
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