13th Annual Academy Awards Results and Commentary (1941)
©A.M.P.A.S.®
- Date of Ceremony: Thursday, February 27, 1941
- For films released in: 1940
- Host(s): Bob Hope
There was a lot more anticipation as stars headed into the Biltmore Hotel’s Biltmore Bowl on Thursday, February 27, 1941 for the 13th Annual Academy Awards.
Previous years had seen the Academy give the winners list to the media so they had it ready for deadline but sometimes the info would leak out as the celebrities head to the big night. Now the Academy had hired the accounting firm Price Waterhouse to tabulate the votes and keep the results secret in sealed ballots. “The envelope please” suddenly had a lot more anticipation than ever before.
War was waging overseas and though the U.S. was not yet fighting, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt started off the awards by making a six-minute speech that was piped into the ceremony. FDR thanked Hollywood for making films that portrayed “the American way of life” and “truths of our democracy.”
Though David O. Selznick’s Rebecca had eleven nominations, it only won two, Outstanding Production and Best Cinematography (Black-and-White).
Results
Outstanding Production
- Rebecca
Selznick International Pictures
Best Directing
- The Grapes of Wrath
John Ford
Best Actor
- The Philadelphia Story
James Stewart
Best Actress
- Kitty Foyle
Ginger Rogers
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
- The Westerner
Walter Brennan
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
- The Grapes of Wrath
Jane Darwell
Best Art Direction (Black-and-White)
- Pride and Prejudice
Cedric Gibbons and Paul Groesse
Best Art Direction (Color)
- The Thief of Bagdad
Vincent Korda
Best Cinematography (Black-and-White)
- Rebecca
George Barnes
Best Cinematography (Color)
- The Thief of Bagdad
Georges Périnal
Best Film Editing
- North West Mounted Police
Anne Bauchens
Best Music (Scoring)
- Tin Pan Alley
Alfred Newman
Best Music (Original Score)
- Pinocchio
Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith and Ned Washington
Best Music (Song)
- Pinocchio "When You Wish upon a Star"
Leigh Harline [Music by] and Ned Washington [Lyrics by]
Best Short Subject (Cartoon)
- The Milky Way
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Best Short Subject (One-reel)
- Quicker 'N a Wink
Pete Smith
Best Short Subject (Two-reel)
- Teddy, the Rough Rider
Warner Bros.
Best Sound Recording
- Strike Up the Band
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department and Douglas Shearer [Sound Director]
Best Special Effects
- The Thief of Bagdad
Lawrence Butler [Photographic Effects by] and Jack Whitney [Sound Effects by]
Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
- The Great McGinty
Preston Sturges
Best Writing (Screenplay)
- The Philadelphia Story
Donald Ogden Stewart
Best Writing (Original Story)
- Arise, My Love
Benjamin Glazer and John S. Toldy
Special Award
- Bob Hope
Note: …in recognition of his unselfish services to the Motion Picture Industry. - Col. Nathan Levinson
Note: …for his outstanding service to the industry and the Army during the past nine years, which has made possible the present efficient mobilization of the motion picture industry facilities for the production of Army Training Films.
Scientific or Technical Award (Class I)
- 20th Century-Fox Film Corp., Daniel Clark, Grover Laube, Charles Miller and Robert W. Stevens
Note: …for the design and construction of the 20th Century Silenced Camera, developed by Daniel Clark, Grover Laube, Charles Miller and Robert W. Stevens.
Scientific or Technical Award (Class III)
- Anton Grot and Warner Bros. Studio Art Department
Note: …for the design and perfection of the Warner Bros. water ripple and wave illusion machine.