Meredith Wilson's musical comedy The Music Man, which debuted on Broadway in 1957, took home five Tony Awards at the 12th annual ceremony held April 13, 1958. It won:
Best Musical
Best Actor in a Musical for Robert Preston
Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for David Burns
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for Barbara Cook
Best Conductor and Musical Director for Herbert Green
It had been nominated for
Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for Iggie Wolfington
Best Director for Morton DaCosta
Best Choreography for Onna White
Best Stage Technician for Sammy Knapp
Helen Hayes won her second Best Actress in a Play Tony for her performance in Time Remembered.
Anne Bancroft won her first Tony for Best Supporting Actress in a Play for her performance in Two for the Seesaw.
Probably more drama backstage than on-stage, the 35th Academy Awards were held April 8, 1963.
Bette Davis was up for Best Actress for her performance as Jane Hudson in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, but her feud with Joan Crawford led to Crawford campaigning against her receiving the award. It would have been Davis's third Oscar win, which would have been made her the first actress to win three Oscars. But Crawford's smear campaign worked and Anne Bancroft won the Oscar for her performance in The Miracle Worker. I like Anne Bancroft, but I think Bette Davis should have won. To add insult to injury, Crawford had arranged ahead of time to accept the award for Bancroft who was unable to attend.
Patty Duke won Best Supporting Actor for her work as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker. However, I wonder if someone had initiated a campaign against Angela Lansbury, because she should have won the award for her performance as Eleanor Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate. I really think something fishy was going on there. Especially since The Manchurian Candidate was only nominated for two supporting acting awards, nothing else, not even Best Picture or Best Directing.
The Music Man won Best Music (Scoring of Music-Adaption or Treatment) for Ray Heindorf. Was there any real competition?
Henry Mancini won for Best Music (Song) for Days of Wine and Roses for the movie of the same name. Johnny Mercer wrote the lyrics. I'm not familiar with the other nominees so I agree with this award.
What Ever Happened to Baby? won for Best Costume Design (Black-and-White) for Norma Koch. Iconic Edith Head was nominated for the two costume design categories but didn't win either. Hmmm....
Lawrence of Arabia was the biggest winner of the night, winning seven out of ten nominations.
I wasn't surprised when I found only two short clips of the 25th annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony held February 12, 1968. According to wikipedia.com, NBC imposed a ban on the telecast because the public had been misled on how the winners were chosen. The advertisers of the broadcast determined the Golden Globe winners. Then the Hollywood Foreign Press Association would pressure nominees to attend the ceremony, and threatened to give the award "won by a non-attendee to a losing nominee who was at the ceremony".
The ban lasted until 1974. NBC began broadcasting the ceremonies again, but ended its contract with the HFPA in 1982.
Anywho, the biggest winner of the night was The Graduate which one five out of the seven Golden Globes it was nominated for. It won Best Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical, Best Actress for Anne Bancroft (yea!!), Best Director for Mike Nichols, New Star of the Year-Male for Dustin Hoffman, and New Star of the Year-Female for Katharine Ross.
Hoffman had been nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical but lost to Richard Harris in Camelot. The Graduate had been nominated for Best Screenplay.
Bonnie and Clyde was nominated for seven awards but walked away without any. Bummer.
Carol Burnett won her first Golden Globe for her work on The Carol Burnett Show.
I could only find two short clips of the ceremony, and both featured Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate who had been nominated for her performance in Valley of the Dolls.
With an all-star cast, The Hindenberg was released on December 25, 1975. It is a fictionalized version of the final days of the Hindenberg, a huge airship which blew up upon landing in New Jersey, May 6, 1937. It starred George C. Scott, Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning and Rene Aberjonois.
The Hindenberg won two Special Achievement Academy Awards for sound effects and visual effects. It was nominated for three more Oscars.
Although a box office success, it was not critically acclaimed.
1975 - The Hindenburg with George C. Scott and Anne Bancroft. Nominated for 3 Academy Awards and awarded an Oscar for Special Achievements.
1976 - Murder by Death starring everybody. I loved the snarky humor and the spoof of whodunits.
1977 - Star Wars. Duh. It is ranked by IMDB.com as the 20th most popular movie of all time. It won 6 Oscars: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Effects, Visual Effects and Best Music, Original Score (to John Williams).
1978 - Superman starring Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder. John Williams was nominated again for Best Music, Original Score but lost to Giorgio Moroder for Midnight Express.
