Academy Awards 1981

Overview of all award-winning films
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The 1981 Academy Awards took place on March 31, 1981 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles . It was the 53rd Annual Academy Awards . In the year of the award, awards are always given to films from the previous year, in this case the films from 1980.

Movie	N	S.
Statistics (films with more than one nomination are listed) N = nomination; S = victory
Like a wild bull	8th	2
The elephant man	8th	0
Nashville Lady	7th	1
A perfectly normal family	6th	4th
Tess	6th	3
Fame - the way to fame	6th	2
Melvin and Howard	3	2
The Empire Strikes Back	3	1
The long death of stuntman Cameron	3	0
Protect Benjamin	3	0
The grand finale	2	0
The great Santini	2	0
The trip to hell	2	0
The strong will	2	0
Kagemusha - The warrior's shadow	2	0

Moderation

Johnny Carson hosted the Academy Awards for the third year in a row. The presenters of the candidates are listed below for the respective categories.

Winners and nominations

Best movie

presented by Lillian Gish

Ordinary People (Ordinary People) - Ronald L. Schwary

The Elephant Man (The Elephant Man) - Jonathan Sanger

Nashville Lady (Coal Miner's Daughter) - Bernard Schwartz

Tess - Claude Berri , Timothy Burrill

Like a Raging Bull - Robert Chartoff , Irwin Winkler

Best director

presented by George Cukor and King Vidor

Robert Redford - Ordinary People (Ordinary People)

David Lynch - The Elephant Man (The Elephant Man)

Roman Polanski - Tess

Richard Rush - The Long Death of Stuntman Cameron (The Stunt Man)

Martin Scorsese - Like a Wild Bull (Raging Bull)

Best Actor

presented by Sally Field

Robert De Niro - Like a Wild Bull (Raging Bull)

Robert Duvall - The Great Santini (The Great Santini)

John Hurt - The Elephant Man (The Elephant Man)

Jack Lemmon - A Summer in Manhattan (Tribute)

Peter O'Toole - The Long Death of Stuntman Cameron (The Stunt Man)

Best main actress

presented by Dustin Hoffman

Sissy Spacek - Nashville Lady (Coal Miner's Daughter)

Ellen Burstyn - The Strong Will (Resurrection)

Goldie Hawn - Sagittarius Benjamin (Private Benjamin)

Mary Tyler Moore - Ordinary People (Ordinary People)

Gena Rowlands - Gloria, the gangster bride (Gloria)

Best supporting actor

presented by Jack Lemmon and Mary Tyler Moore

Timothy Hutton - Ordinary People (Ordinary People)

Judd Hirsch - An Ordinary Family (Ordinary People)

Michael O'Keefe - The Great Santini (The Great Santini)

Joe Pesci - Like a Wild Bull (Raging Bull)

Jason Robards - Melvin and Howard (Melvin and Howard)

The best supporting actress

presented by Diana Ross and Donald Sutherland

Mary Steenburgen - Melvin and Howard (Melvin and Howard)

Eileen Brennan - Sagittarius Benjamin (Private Benjamin)

Eva Le Gallienne - The Strong Will (Resurrection)

Cathy Moriarty - Like a Wild Bull (Raging Bull)

Diana Scarwid - Max's Bar (Inside Moves)

Best adapted script

presented by Peter Ustinov

Alvin Sargent - Ordinary People (Ordinary People)

Bruce Beresford , Jonathan Hardy , David Stevens - The Fall of Lieutnant Morant (Breaker 'Morant)

Eric Bergren , Christopher De Vore , David Lynch - Der Elefantenmensch (The Elephant Man)

Lawrence B. Marcus , Richard Rush - The Long Death of Stuntman Cameron (The Stunt Man)

Thomas Rickman - Nashville Lady (Coal Miner's Daughter)

Best original script

presented by Peter Ustinov

Bo Goldman - Melvin and Howard (Melvin and Howard)

Christopher Gore - Fame - The Road to Fame (Fame)

Jean Gruault - My Uncle from America (Mon oncle d'Amérique)

Nancy Meyers , Harvey Miller , Charles Shyer - Sagittarius Benjamin (Private Benjamin)

WD Richter , Arthur A. Ross - Brubaker

Best camera

presented by Blythe Danner and Steve Martin

Ghislain Cloquet , Geoffrey Unsworth - Tess

Néstor Almendros - The Blue Lagoon (The Blue Lagoon)

Ralf D. Bode - Nashville Lady (Coal Miner's Daughter)

Michael Chapman - Like a Wild Bull (Raging Bull)

James Crabe - The formula (The Formula)

"People Alone" from The Grand Finale (The Competition) - Will Jennings , Lalo Schifrin

Best cut

presented by Richard Pryor and Jane Seymour

Thelma Schoonmaker - Like a Wild Bull (Raging Bull)

David E. Blewitt - The Grand Finale (The Competition)

Anne V. Coates - The Elephant Man (The Elephant Man)

Gerry Hambling - Fame - The Road to Fame (Fame)

Arthur Schmidt - Nashville Lady (Coal Miner's Daughter)

Best tone

presented by Bernadette Peters and Billy Dee Williams

Gregg Landaker , Steve Maslow , Peter Sutton , Bill Varney - The Empire Strikes Back (The Empire Strikes Back)

James R. Alexander , Roger Heman junior , Richard Portman - Nashville Lady (Coal Miner's Daughter)

Willie D. Burton , Les Fresholtz , Michael Minkler , Arthur Piantadosi - Der Höllentrip (Altered States)

Jay M. Harding , Michael J. Kohut , Christopher Newman , Aaron Rochin - Fame - The Road to Fame (Fame)

David J. Kimball , Les Lazarowitz , Donald O. Mitchell , Bill Nicholson - Raging Bull (Raging Bull)

Best animated short film

presented by Alan Arkin and Margot Kidder

The fly (A légy) - Ferenc Rófusz

Tout-rien - Frédéric Back

World history in exactly three minutes (History of the World in Three Minutes Flat) - Michael Mills

Best short film

presented by Alan Arkin and Margot Kidder

The Dollar Bottom - Lloyd Phillips

Fall Line - Robert Carmichael , Greg Lowe

A Jury of Her Peers - Sally Heckel

Best Documentary (Short Film)

presented by Lesley-Anne Down and Richard Chamberlain

Karl Hess: Toward Liberty - Roland Hallé , Peter W. Ladue

Don't Mess with Bill - Pen Densham , John Watson

It's the Same World - Dick Young

Luther Metke at 94 - Richard Hawkins , Jorge Preloran

The Eruption of Mount St. Helens! - George Casey

Best documentary

presented by Lesley-Anne Down and Richard Chamberlain

From Mao to Mozart - Isaac Stern in China (From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China) - Murray Lerner

Agee - Ross Spears

The yellow star - The persecution of the Jews 1933–1945 - Arthur Cohn , Bengt von zur Mühlen

Front Line - David Bradbury

The Day After Trinity - Jon Else

Best foreign language film

presented by Brooke Shields and Franco Zeffirelli

Moscow does not believe the tears (Moskva slezam ne verit) , Soviet Union - Vladimir Menshov

An Impossible Love (El Nido) , Spain - Jaime de Armiñán

The last metro (Le Dernier métro) , France - François Truffaut

Kagemusha - The Warrior's Shadow (Kagemusha) , Japan - Akira Kurosawa

Trust (Bizalom) , Hungary - István Szabó

Prizes of honor

Honorary Oscar

presented by Robert Redford

Henry Fonda

Special Achievement Award

presented by Jack Valenti

Brian Johnson , Richard Edlund , Dennis Muren , Bruce Nicholson visual effects in The Empire Strikes Back ( The Empire Strikes Back )

John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation

presented by Lily Tomlin

Fred Hynes

Academy Award of Merit

Linwood G. Dunn , Cecil Love

Scientific and Engineering Award

Jean-Marie Lavalou , Alain Masseron , David Samuelson

Edward B. Krause

Ross Taylor

Bernhard Kuhl , Werner Block

David Grafton

Technical Achievement Award

Carter Equipment Co., Inc.

Hollywood Film Co.

Andre DeBrie SA

Charles Vaughn , Eugene Nottingham

John W. Lang , Walter Hrastnik , Charles J. Watson

Worth Baird

Peter Regla , Dan Slater

literature

Norbert Stresau : The Oscar. All award-winning films, directors and actors since 1929 . 3rd, updated edition. Heyne-Filmbibliothek, No. 198. Heyne, Munich 1996, 607 pages, ISBN 3-453-07872-1
Hans-Jürgen Kubiak: The Oscar Films. The best films from 1927/28 to 2004. The best non-English language films from 1947 to 2004. The best animated films from 2001 to 2004 . Schüren, Marburg 2005, ISBN 3-89472-386-6

Web links

Academy Awards 1981 in theInternet Movie Database(English)