27th Academy Awards

27th
Date	30 March 1955
Site	RKO Pantages Theatre (Hollywood) NBC Century Theater (New York City)
Hosted by	Bob Hope (Hollywood) Thelma Ritter (New York City)
Television coverage
Network	NBC

The 27th Academy Awards honored the best in films of 1954.

The Best Picture winner (of producer Sam Spiegel), director Elia Kazan's semi-documentary, expose, and thriller, On the Waterfront (with twelve nominations and eight wins) matched two other films with eight wins - but they each had thirteen nominations: Gone with the Wind (1939) and From Here to Eternity (1953).

The low-budget, black and white Best Picture was filmed entirely on location in Hoboken and told the gritty story of New York dock workers, brutality, corruption, and embroilment with a gangster union boss. It provided an expose of union racketeering while showcasing the murder of an innocent longshoreman. Kazan and screenwriter Budd Schulberg justified their own naming of names (blacklisting-testimony against alleged Communists) as friendly witnesses before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in the early 50s with the film's story of an heroic longshoreman informant Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) who stood alone and turned witness against the corrupt and intimidating union bosses and became a marked 'pigeon'. The film marked a comeback for Brando, who hadn't won a Best Actor Oscar - yet.

Winners

Category	Winner	Producers/Country
Best motion picture of the year	On the Waterfront	Sam Spiegel
Best documentary feature	The Vanishing Prairie	Walt Disney
Best Short Subject (Cartoon) of the year	When Magoo Flew	Stephen Bosustow
Best foreign language film	Gate of Hell	Japan

Note: The award for Best Foreign Language Film was presented as an honorary one rather than in a category.

Directing

Category	Winner	Movie
Achievement in directing	Elia Kazan	On the Waterfront

Acting

Category	Winner	Movie
Best actor in a leading role	Marlon Brando	On the Waterfront
Best actress in a leading role	Grace Kelly	The Country Girl
Best actor in a supporting role	Edmond O'Brien	The Barefoot Contessa
Best actress in a supporting role	Eva Marie Saint	On the Waterfront

Writing

Category	Winner	Movie
Original screenplay	Budd Schulberg	On the Waterfront
Adapted screenplay	George Seaton	Country Girl
Best Motion Picture Story	Philip Yordan	Broken Lance

Honorary Oscars

To compensate for the fact that screen legend Greta Garbo had never received a competitive Best Actress Oscar, she was belatedly presented with a special Honorary statue "for her unforgettable screen performances" - thirteen years after her retirement from her last film, Two-Faced Woman (1941). Garbo had four career nominations for exceptional definitive roles including Anna Christie (1929-30) and Romance (1929-30), Camille (1936) and Ninotchka (1939).

Another Honorary Award was presented to Danny Kaye, for "his unique talents, his service to the Academy, the motion picture industry, and the American people." He never even received a nomination throughout his entire film career, that was marked by such great films as Wonder Man (1945), The Kid From Brooklyn (1946), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), Hans Christian Andersen (1952), Knock on Wood (1954), and The Court Jester (1956).

Presenters

• Buddy Adler (Presenter: Best Picture)
• Lauren Bacall (Presenter: Scientific & Technical Awards)
• Humphrey Bogart (Presenter: Best Cinematography, Black-and-White)
• Charles Brackett (Presenter: Honorary Awards)
• Marlon Brando (Presenter: Best Director)
• Lee J. Cobb (Presenter: Best Special Effects)
• Bing Crosby (Presenter: Music Awards)
• Dorothy Dandridge (Presenter: Best Film Editing)
• Bette Davis (Presenter: Best Actor)
• Nina Foch & Jane Wyman (Presenters: Costume Design Awards)
• Audrey Hepburn, Karl Malden, & Claire Trevor (Presenters: Writing Awards)
• William Holden (Presenter: Best Actress)
• Jean Marie Ingels (Presenter: Best Foreign Language Film)
• Katy Jurado (Presenter: Best Cinematography)
• Grace Kelly (Presenter: Documentary Awards)
• Merle Oberon (Presenter: Honorary Awards - Juvenile Performances)
• Edmond O'Brien, Eva Marie Saint, & Rod Steiger (Presenters: Short Subject Awards)
• Dan O'Herlihy and Jan Sterling (Presenters: Art Direction-Set Decoration Awards)
• Donna Reed (Presenter: Best Supporting Actor)
• Frank Sinatra (Presenter: Best Supporting Actress)
• Tom Tully (Presenter: Best Sound)

Performers

• Rosemary Clooney ("The Man That Got Away" from A Star Is Born)
• Johnny Desmond & Muzzy Marcellino ("The High and the Mighty" from The High and the Mighty)
• Peggy King ("Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)" from White Christmas)
• Dean Martin ("Three Coins in the Fountain" from Three Coins in the Fountain)
• Tony Martin ("Hold My Hand" from Susan Slept Here)