The 16th Academy Awards were held on March 2, 1944, to honor the films of 1943. This was the first Oscar ceremony held at a large public venue, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and the first ceremony without a banquet as part of the festivities.[1][2] The ceremony was broadcast locally on KFWB, and internationally by CBS Radio via shortwave. Jack Benny hosted the event, which lasted one hour and 42 minutes.[3] This was the first ceremony to welcome admissions from the general public.[1]

16th Academy Awards
DateMarch 2, 1944
SiteGrauman's Chinese Theatre
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hosted byJack Benny
Highlights
Best PictureCasablanca
Most awardsThe Song of Bernadette (4)
Most nominationsThe Song of Bernadette (12)

For the first time, winners for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress were awarded full-size statuettes, instead of smaller-sized awards mounted on a plaque.[4] This was the last year until 2009 to have 10 nominations for Best Picture; The Ox-Bow Incident is, as of 2023, the last film to be nominated solely in that category.

For Whom the Bell Tolls was the third film to receive nominations in all four acting categories. This was the first year in which each acting category had at least one nominee from a color film.

The Tom and Jerry cartoon series won its first Oscar this year for The Yankee Doodle Mouse; it would go on to win another six Oscars, including three in a row over the next three years, from a total of 13 nominations.

Winners and nominees

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Michael Curtiz, Best Director winner
Paul Lukas, Best Actor winner
Jennifer Jones, Best Actress winner
Charles Coburn, Best Supporting Actor winner
Julius J. Epstein, Best Screenplay co-winner
William Saroyan, Best Original Motion Picture Story winner
Hal Mohr, Best Cinematography, Color co-winner
George Pal, Honorary Academy Award recipient

Awards

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Nominees were announced on February 6, 1944. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.[5]

Academy Honorary Award

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  • George Pal "for the development of novel methods and techniques in the production of short subjects known as Puppetoons".

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

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Presenters and performers

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Presenters

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Performers

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Multiple nominations and awards

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Films with multiple awards
Awards Film
4 The Song of Bernadette
3 Casablanca
2 Phantom of the Opera

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Wallechinsky, David; Wallace, Irving (1975). The People's Almanac. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc. p. 836. ISBN 0-385-04060-1.
  2. ^ "History of the Oscars Presentation" (PDF). Oscars.org. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  3. ^ "16th Academy Awards (1943): The Ceremony" (Revised ed.). April 22, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  4. ^ "Strange tales of the vanished Oscars".
  5. ^ "The 16th Academy Awards (1944) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Archived from the original on October 14, 2013. Retrieved October 13, 2013.