44th Academy Awards

44th Academy Awards
44th Academy Awards
Date	April 10, 1972
Site	Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles
Hosted by	Helen Hayes, Alan King, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jack Lemmon
Produced by	Howard W. Koch
Directed by	Marty Pasetta
Highlights
Best Picture	The French Connection
Most awards	The French Connection (5)
Most nominations	Fiddler on the Roof , The French Connection, and The Last Picture Show (8)
TV in the United States
Network	NBC
	← 43rd ; Academy Awards ; 45th →;

Last updated October 02, 2024

The 44th Academy Awards were presented April 10, 1972, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. The ceremonies were presided over by Helen Hayes, Alan King, Sammy Davis Jr., and Jack Lemmon. One of the highlights of the evening was the appearance of Betty Grable who made one of her last public appearances. She appeared along with one of her leading men from the 1940s, singer Dick Haymes, to present the musical scoring awards. Grable died the following year. This was the first time in the history of the awards that the nominees were shown in superimposed pictures while being announced. There were around seven million people who watched the ceremony.^[1]

Winners and nominees

William Friedkin, Best Director winner

Gene Hackman, Best Actor winner

Jane Fonda, Best Actress winner

Ben Johnson, Best Supporting Actor winner

Cloris Leachman, Best Supporting Actress winner

Vittorio De Sica, Best Foreign Language Film winner

Yvonne Blake, Best Costume Design co-winner

Michel Legrand, Best Original Dramatic Score winner

John Williams, Best Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score winner

Isaac Hayes, Best Song Original for the Picture winner

Gil Parrondo, Best Art Direction co-winner

Awards

Nominations announced on February 22, 1972. Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger (‡).^[2]^[3]

Best Picture	Best Director
The French Connection – Philip D'Antoni, producer‡ A Clockwork Orange – Stanley Kubrick, producer Fiddler on the Roof – Norman Jewison, producer The Last Picture Show – Stephen J. Friedman, producer Nicholas and Alexandra – Sam Spiegel, producer	William Friedkin – The French Connection ‡ Stanley Kubrick – A Clockwork Orange Norman Jewison – Fiddler on the Roof Peter Bogdanovich – The Last Picture Show John Schlesinger – Sunday Bloody Sunday
Best Actor	Best Actress
*Gene Hackman – The French Connection* as Det. Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle** ‡ Peter Finch – Sunday Bloody Sunday as Dr. Daniel Hirsch Walter Matthau – Kotch as Joseph P. Kotcher George C. Scott – The Hospital as Dr. Herbert "Herb" Bock Chaim Topol – Fiddler on the Roof as Tevye	*Jane Fonda – Klute* as Bree Daniels*‡ Julie Christie – McCabe & Mrs. Miller* as Constance Miller Glenda Jackson – Sunday Bloody Sunday as Alex Greville Vanessa Redgrave – Mary, Queen of Scots as Mary, Queen of Scots Janet Suzman – Nicholas and Alexandra as Empress Alexandra
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
*Ben Johnson – The Last Picture Show* as Sam the Lion*‡ Jeff Bridges – The Last Picture Show* as Duane Jackson Leonard Frey – Fiddler on the Roof as Motel Kamzoil Richard Jaeckel – Sometimes a Great Notion as Joe Ben Stamper Roy Scheider – The French Connection as Det. Buddy 'Cloudy' Russo	*Cloris Leachman – The Last Picture Show* as Ruth Popper*‡ Ann-Margret – Carnal Knowledge* as Bobbie Ellen Burstyn – The Last Picture Show as Lois Farrow Barbara Harris – Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? as Allison Densmore Margaret Leighton – The Go-Between as Mrs. Maudsley
Best Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Produced or Published	Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
The Hospital – Paddy Chayefsky ‡ Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion – Elio Petri and Ugo Pirro Klute – Andy Lewis and Dave Lewis Summer of '42 – Herman Raucher Sunday Bloody Sunday – Penelope Gilliatt	The French Connection – Ernest Tidyman based on the book by Robin Moore ‡ A Clockwork Orange – Stanley Kubrick based on the novel by Anthony Burgess The Conformist – Bernardo Bertolucci based on the novel Il Conformista by Alberto Moravia The Garden of the Finzi-Continis – Vittorio Bonicelli and Ugo Pirro based on the novel by Giorgio Bassani The Last Picture Show – Peter Bogdanovich and Larry McMurtry based on the novel by Larry McMurtry
Best Foreign Language Film	Best Costume Design
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Italy) in Italian – Vittorio De Sica ‡ Dodes'ka-den (Japan) in Japanese – Akira Kurosawa The Emigrants (Sweden) in Swedish – Jan Troell The Policeman (Israel) in Hebrew – Ephraim Kishon Tchaikovsky (USSR) in Russian – Igor Talankin	Nicholas and Alexandra – Yvonne Blake and Antonio Castillo ‡ Bedknobs and Broomsticks – Bill Thomas Death in Venice – Piero Tosi Mary, Queen of Scots – Margaret Furse What's the Matter with Helen? – Morton Haack
Best Documentary Feature	Best Documentary Short Subject
The Hellstrom Chronicle – Walon Green ‡ Alaska Wilderness Lake – Alan Landsburg On Any Sunday – Bruce Brown Ra – Lennart Ehrenborg and Thor Heyerdahl The Sorrow and the Pity – Marcel Ophüls	Sentinels of Silence – Robert Amram and Manuel Arango‡ Adventures in Perception – Han van Gelder Art Is... – Julian Krainin and DeWitt L. Sage Jr. The Numbers Start with the River – Donald Wrye Somebody Waiting – Sherwood Omens, Hal Riney and Dick Snider
Best Live Action Short Subject	Best Animated Short Subject
Sentinels of Silence – Robert Amram and Manuel Arango‡ Good Morning – Denny Evans and Ken Greenwald The Rehearsal – Stephen F. Verona	The Crunch Bird – Ted Petok‡ Evolution – Michael Mills The Selfish Giant – Peter Sander and Murray Shostak
Best Original Dramatic Score	Best Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score
Summer of '42 – Michel Legrand ‡ Mary, Queen of Scots – John Barry Nicholas and Alexandra – Richard Rodney Bennett Shaft – Isaac Hayes Straw Dogs – Jerry Fielding	Fiddler on the Roof – Adapted by John Williams ‡ Bedknobs and Broomsticks – Adapted by Irwin Kostal; Song Score by The Sherman Brothers: Robert B. and Richard M. The Boy Friend – Adapted by Peter Maxwell Davies and Peter Greenwell Tchaikovsky – Adapted by Dimitri Tiomkin Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory – Adapted by Walter Scharf; Song Score by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley
Best Song Original for the Picture	Best Sound
*"Theme from Shaft" from Shaft* – Music and Lyrics by Isaac Hayes** ‡ "The Age of Not Believing" from Bedknobs and Broomsticks – Music and Lyrics by Robert Sherman and Richard Sherman "All His Children" from Sometimes a Great Notion – Music by Henry Mancini; Lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman "Bless the Beasts and Children" from Bless the Beasts and Children – Music and Lyrics by Perry Botkin Jr. and Barry De Vorzon "Life Is What You Make It" from Kotch – Music by Marvin Hamlisch; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer	Fiddler on the Roof – David Hildyard and Gordon K. McCallum ‡ Diamonds Are Forever – Gordon K. McCallum, John W. Mitchell and Alfred J. Overton The French Connection – Christopher Newman and Theodore Soderberg Kotch – Richard Portman and Jack Solomon Mary, Queen of Scots – John Aldred and Bob Jones
Best Art Direction	Best Cinematography
Nicholas and Alexandra – Art Direction: Ernest Archer, John Box, Jack Maxsted and Gil Parrondo; Set Decoration: Vernon Dixon ‡ The Andromeda Strain – Art Direction: Boris Leven and William H. Tuntke; Set Decoration: Ruby R. Levitt Bedknobs and Broomsticks – Art Direction: Peter Ellenshaw and John B. Mansbridge; Set Decoration: Hal Gausman and Emile Kuri Fiddler on the Roof – Art Direction: Robert F. Boyle and Michael Stringer; Set Decoration: Peter Lamont Mary, Queen of Scots – Art Direction: Terence Marsh and Robert Cartwright; Set Decoration: Peter Howitt	Fiddler on the Roof – Oswald Morris ‡ The French Connection – Owen Roizman The Last Picture Show – Robert Surtees Nicholas and Alexandra – Freddie Young Summer of '42 – Robert Surtees
Best Film Editing	Best Special Visual Effects
The French Connection – Gerald B. Greenberg ‡ The Andromeda Strain – Stuart Gilmore (posthumous nomination) and John W. Holmes A Clockwork Orange – Bill Butler Kotch – Ralph E. Winters Summer of '42 – Folmar Blangsted	Bedknobs and Broomsticks – Danny Lee, Eustace Lycett and Alan Maley ‡ When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth – Jim Danforth and Roger Dicken

Honorary Academy Awards

Charlie Chaplin received an honorary award at this ceremony, for "the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century". Chaplin, who had been living in self-imposed exile in Switzerland for twenty years, went back to the United States to re-market his older films and to receive this award. When introduced to the audience, Chaplin received a twelve-minute standing ovation, the longest in Academy Awards history.

Films with multiple wins and nominations

Films that received multiple nominations
Nominations	Film
8	Fiddler on the Roof
	The French Connection
	The Last Picture Show
6	Nicholas and Alexandra
5	Bedknobs and Broomsticks
5	Mary, Queen of Scots
4	A Clockwork Orange
	Kotch
	Summer of '42
	Sunday Bloody Sunday
2	The Andromeda Strain
	The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
	The Hospital
	Klute
	Sentinels of Silence
	Shaft
	Sometimes a Great Notion
	Tchaikovsky

Films that received multiple awards
Awards	Film
5	The French Connection
3	Fiddler on the Roof
2	The Last Picture Show
	Nicholas and Alexandra
	Sentinels of Silence

Presenters and performers

Presenters (in order of appearance)

Name(s)	Role
Hank Simms	Announcer for the 44th Academy Awards
Daniel Taradash (AMPAS President)	Gave opening remarks welcoming guests to the awards ceremony
Ann-Margret John Gavin	Presenters of the award for Best Cinematography
Karen Black Richard Chamberlain	Presenters of the award for Best Special Visual Effects
Timothy Bottoms Jennifer O'Neill	Presenters of the award for Best Art Direction
Red Buttons Jill St. John	Presenters of the award for Best Film Editing
James Caan Joey Heatherton	Presenters of the award for Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short Subject
Frank Capra Natalie Wood	Presenters of the award for Best Director
Leslie Caron Jack Valenti	Presenters of the award for Best Foreign Language Film
Sandy Duncan Michael York	Presenters of the award for Best Sound
Betty Grable Dick Haymes	Presenters of the award for Best Original Score (Dramatic) and Best Score (Adaptation and Original Song)
Joel Grey	Presenter of the award for Best Original Song
Tennessee Williams	Presenter of the awards for Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium and Best Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Produced or Published
Gene Hackman Raquel Welch	Presenters of the award for Best Supporting Actress
Richard Harris Sally Kellerman	Presenters of the award for Best Supporting Actor
Cloris Leachman Richard Roundtree	Presenters of the award for Best Animated Short Subject and Live Action Short Subject
Walter Matthau	Presenter of the award for Best Actress
Liza Minnelli	Presenter of the award for Best Actor
Joe Namath Cybill Shepherd	Presenters of the award for Best Costume Design
Jack Nicholson	Presenter of the award for Best Picture
Daniel Taradash	Presenter of the Academy Honorary Award to Charlie Chaplin

Performers (in order of appearance)

Name(s)	Role	Performed
Henry Mancini	Musical arranger	Orchestral
Joel Grey	Performer	"Lights, Camera, Action!"
The Carpenters	Performer	"Bless the Beasts and Children"
Isaac Hayes	Performer	"Theme from Shaft"
Johnny Mathis	Performer	"Life Is What You Make It"
Charley Pride	Performer	"All His Children"
Debbie Reynolds	Performer	"The Age of Not Believing"
Academy Awards Chorus	Performers	"Smile"

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References

↑ Wallechinsky, David; Wallace, Irving (1975). The People's Almanac. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc. p. 846. ISBN 0-385-04060-1.
↑ "The Official Academy Awards Database". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Select "1971" in the "Award Year(s)" drop-down menu and press "Search".
↑ "The 44th Academy Awards (1972) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2011.

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[Oscars_'71_Notes-1] Wallechinsky, David; Wallace, Irving (1975). The People's Almanac. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc. p. 846. ISBN 0-385-04060-1.

[2] "The Official Academy Awards Database". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Select "1971" in the "Award Year(s)" drop-down menu and press "Search".

[Oscars1972-3] "The 44th Academy Awards (1972) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2011.

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