Looking at Film from Every Angle

54th Academy Awards (1981): The Ceremony

Nominations Announcement

Nominations Announcement Date: Thursday, February 11, 1982

Ceremony Details

Awards Ceremony Date/Time: Monday, March 29, 1982, 6:00pm
Location: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles
Televised On: ABC
Host: Johnny Carson
Length: 3 hours, 24 minutes

Presenters

President’s Welcoming Remarks: Fay Kanin
Supporting Actress: Timothy Hutton
Production Design: Howard E. Rollins Jr., Karen Allen
Makeup & Hairstyling: Kim Hunter, Vincent Price
Irving G. Thalberg Award: Albert R. Broccoli: Roger Moore
Music: Original Score: Kathleen Turner, Liberace, William Hurt
Costume Design: Morgan Fairchild, Robert Hays
Visual Effects: Dan Aykroyd
Documentary Short Subject: Richard Benjamin, Paula Prentiss
Documentary Feature: Richard Benjamin, Paula Prentiss
Animated Short Film: Debra Winger, Paul Williams
Live Action Short Film: Debra Winger, Paul Williams
Cinematography: Chevy Chase, Rachel Ward
Honorary Award: Barbara Stanwyck: John Travolta
Sound Mixing: Christopher Atkins, Kristy McNichol
Foreign Language Film: Jack Valenti, Ornella Muti
Film Editing: Harry Hamlin, Ursula Andress
Original Song: Bette Midler
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Danny Kaye: Gregory Peck
Supporting Actor: Carol Burnett, Joel Grey
Directing: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau
Writing: Adapted Screenplay: Jerzy Kosinski
Writing: Original Screenplay: Jerzy Kosinski
Actress: Jon Voight
Actor: Sissy Spacek
Picture: Loretta Young
:
Sound Editing: Lloyd Bridges (NOTE: Presented during the Sci/Tech Ceremony)
Scientific & Technical Awards; and Gordon E. Sawyer Award: Joseph B. Walker: (NOTE: No record of these awards being given out.)

Previous Acting & Directing Winners

The tradition of prior acting winners returning the subsequent year to present the opposite-gender category is a long one. Each year, we look to see whether the prior winners returned. There was an intermittent tradition where the prior directing winner returned as well, but this was a rare occurrence.

Actor – Robert De Niro: No
Actress – Sissy Spacek: Yes
Supporting Actor – Timothy Hutton: Yes
Supporting Actress – Mary Steenburgen: No
Directing – Robert Redford: No

Song Performances

Arthur’s Theme: Christopher Cross
Endless Love: Diana Ross, Lionel Richie
The First Time It Happens: Jim Henson (as Kermit the Frog), Frank Oz (as Miss Piggy)
For Your Eyes Only: Sheena Easton, Richard Kiel, Harold Sakata
One More Hour: John Schneider

Original Song Film Performers

Was the song performed at the Oscars by the same individuals who performed it in the film?

Arthur’s Theme: Yes (Performed in the Film by: Christopher Cross)
Endless Love: Yes (Performed in the Film by: Diana Ross, Lionel Richie)
The First Time It Happens: Yes (Performed in the Film by: Frank Oz, Jim Henson)
For Your Eyes Only: Partial (Sheena Easton only) (Performed in the Film by: Sheena Easton)
One More Hour: No (Performed in the Film by: Jennifer Warnes)

Other Performances

Lullaby of Broadway, The Gold Diggers’ Song (We’re in the Money), You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me, You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby, I Found a Million Dollar Baby (in a Five and Ten Cent Store), She’s a Latin from Manhattan, I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much), Chattanooga Choo Choo, On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, You’ll Never Know, I’ll String Along with You, Shuffle Off to Buffalo, Lulu’s Back in Town, Jeepers Creepers, Nagasaki, There Will Never Be Another You, and Forty-Second Street: Debbie Allen, Gregory Hines, Academy Awards Chorus
Medley of nominated songs: Liberace
That’s Entertainment: Academy Awards Chorus

Ceremony Production Staff

Announcer: Hank Simms
Conductor / Musical Arranger: Bill Conti
Director: Marty Pasetta
Producer: Howard W. Koch, Melvin Frank
Writer: Michael Barrie, Johnny Carson, Larry Gelbart, Hal Goodman, Hal Kanter, Larry Klein, Jim Mulholland, Jack Rose, Mel Shavelson, Leonard Spigelgass
Production Design: Ray Klausen
Costume Design: Bob Mackie
Choreography: Walter Painter

Emmys

Nominations: 3
Wins: 1
Directing for a Variety Series: Nominee
Art Direction for Variety or Nonfiction Programming: Winner
Choreography: Nominee