03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004

Much More Oscar Trivia -- From 1960 to the Revolution (1977):

1960 was the year "Ben-Hur" took almost everything. It won 11 Oscars, more than any film up to that time ("Titanic" and "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" have tied it since). Oddly, the film did not win best adapted screenplay.

"Some Like It Hot" dominated the black-and-white categories.

1961 was the year of the obscure film. "The Apartment", largely forgotten today, won Best Picture.

Burt Lancaster won Best Actor for "Elmer Gantry", a film rarely seen or remembered today. (Spencer Tracy is far more memorable in "Inherit the Wind" anyway.) Elizabeth Taylor won for Best Actress in "BUtterfield 8.

" Incredibly, "Spartacus" was nominated for only a single major award (Peter Ustinov for Best Supporting Actor, which he won), although today the film towers above its competiton. "Psycho," also released this year (Janet Leigh was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, but lost to Shirley Jones in "Elmer Gantry"), also was snubbed. Billy Wilder took home the Best Director Oscar, beating Hitchcock (Stanley Kubrick was not nominated).

"Spartacus" did win best color cinematography, and three other minor awards.

In 1962, "West Side Story" took home most of the Oscars, but not for either Best Actor or Best Actress. Best Actor went to Maximillian Schell for "Judgment at Nuremburg" -- a role he had originally created on television.

Sophia Loren took Best Actress for "Two Women" (beating Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and Natalie Wood in "Splendor in the Grass"). Amazingly, three of the Best Original Screenplay nominees were foreign (all Italian, too).

In 1963, Frank Sinatra was host of the awards show.

But he forgot his parking sticker, and the security guards would not let him park his car in the allotted area. He had to park more than a mile away and run to the auditorium -- barely arriving in time. 1962 pitted "To Kill a Mockingbird" against "Lawrence of Arabia" ("Lawrence" won).

Gregory Peck picked up the Oscar for Best Actor, while Anne Bancroft took Best Actress for "The Miracle Worker" (Patty Duke won Best Supporting Actress for the same film). Ed Begley ("Sweet Bird of Youth") robbed Omar Sharif ("Lawrence of Arabia") for Best Supporting Actor. For the second year in a row, three of the five Best Original Screenplay nominees were foreign (two were Italian, one Swedish).

This was a year for awesome movies: "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?", "The Manchurian Candidate," "The Longest Day," "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," "The Music Man," "Mutiny on the Bounty," "Birdman of Alcatraz," "Days of Wine and Roses," "The Miracle Worker," "Long Day's Journey Into Night," "Billy Budd," "Tender Is the Night," "Lolita." My god.

What a year to see films.

In 1964, Sammy Davis, Jr., was to read the nominees and winner for Best Adapted Musical Score.

As he read the nominees and winner, it became apparent he had been given the WRONG ENVELOPE. But he read the winner of the Best Original Score category by the time anyone could stop him. Davis was handed the correct envelope.

The suspense was gone for the other category, however. 1964 was a year for forgettable films. Who remembers that "Tom Jones" took home the Best Picture Oscar?

Or that Sidney Poitier won the first Oscar ever for a black actor for "Lilies of the Field"? His Oscar win is remembered; the film is not. Oddly, films that weren't nominated are considered greats today: "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and "The Birds" (nominated for only special effects, and not a winner!

) and "8 1/2" and "Charade" and "How the West Was Won" (although the latter is rarely seen these days).

In 1965, the award for best makeup is first presented. "My Fair Lady" dominates the awards, beating "Mary Poppins," "Dr.

Strangelove," "Beckett" and "Hush...

.Hush, Sweet Charlotte." "Goldfinger" is nominated for best sound.

"The Pink Panther" -- with its amazing soundtrack -- loses to "Mary Poppins" (also with an amazing soundtrack). Oddly, "Chim-Chim-Eree" is the song that wins Best Song -- not "Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious" or "Just A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down."

In 1966, the Oscars are first televised in color.

"The Sound of Music" wins for best picture, netting Robert Wise his second Oscar (after "West Side Story", four years earlier). Although it beat the inimitable "Doctor Zhivago," the other three nominees are completely ignored today. (They were: "Darling," "Ship of Fools" and "A Thousand Clowns.

") The major acting awards make no sense: Lee Marvin ("Cat Ballou") beats Rod Steiger ("Doctor Zhivago"; Omar Sharif is not nominated!!) for Best Actor.

Julie Christie ("Darling") beats Julie Andrews ("The Sound of Music") for Best Actress. NOTHING from "The Sound of Music" is nominated for Best Song (the obscure "The Shadow of Your Smile" from the film "The Sandpiper" wins).

The 1967 Oscars were nearly canceled due to a technician's strike.

The strike was settled three hours before the show was to begin. It was a weird year for films. Relatively minor works like "The Sand Pebbles," "Alfie," "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

" and "A Man for All Seasons" are the major nominees. Only the last two are remembered today, but rarely seen all the same.

In 1968, the Oscars were postponed by two days because of the assassination of Dr.

Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 8, 1968. This was also the year that black-and-white categories were merged in with the color categories.

Four great films competed for Best Picture: "In the Heat of the Night" (winner, and starring Sidney Poitier), "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" (and starring Sidney Poitier), "Bonnie and Clyde" and "The Graduate." Arguably, the best film of the bunch is "The Graduate" -- it won the Best Director nod for Mike Nichols.

"Camelot," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Dirty Dozen" were also released the same year. But instead, "Doctor Doolittle," a rather shoddy film, was nominated for a number of awards instead. "2001: A Space Odyssey" was barely noticed.

Incredible.

In 1969, film again took an odd turn. "Oliver!

" won Best Picture. "Funny Girl," "The Lion in Winter" and "Romeo and Juliet" were in competition. Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand tied for Best Actress.

"Planet of the Apes," "The Producers" and "Rosemary's Baby" also came out this year. But "The Wild Bunch" -- a violent film which Quentin Tarantino shamelessly steals from in all his films -- was ignored. "Easy Rider," at least, got a few mentions by Academy voters -- but no wins.

In 1970, for the first time, there was no host. 17 actors, actresses, directors and others presented the show. "Midnight Cowboy" became the only X-rated picture to win Best Picture.

It beat "Hello Dolly!" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." John Wayne finally won an Oscar, for "True Grit.

"

In 1971, there was again no host. "Patton" won for Best Picture, often going head-to-head with "Airport," "Love Story," "M*A*S*H," "The Great White Hope" and "Five Easy Pieces." George C.

Scott won Best Actor for "Patton," but believed his performance to be so inferior to that of the other actors that he refused to accept his award. Frank McCarthy, the film's producer, accepted the award on his behalf. But McCarthy returned the Oscar to the Academy the next day, in accordance with Scott's wishes.

Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund North won best adapted screenplay for "Patton."

In 1972, "The French Connection" took home Best Picture honors, competing against "A Clockwork Orange," "Fiddler on the Roof" and "The Last Picture Show." "The Theme From 'Shaft'" won the Best Song nod.

In 1973, Charlton Heston, the show's host, had a flat tire on the way to the Oscars. Clint Eastwood filled in for him during the show's first few minutes. "The Godfather" won for Best Picture against "Cabaret," "Deliverance" and "Sounder.

" Marlon Brando won Best Actor, but refused his award because he claimed that America was still discriminating against Native Americans. He sent "Sacheen Littlefeather" to accept on his behalf. Only, she was really Maria Cruz, a Latino actress from Southern California.

Liza Minelli and Joel Grey won for "Cabaret" -- Grey's win coming at the expense of James Caan, Robert Duvall and Al Pacino (all in "The Godfather").

In 1974, a streaker ran across the stage on live television just as David Niven was about to announce the Best Picture winner. "The Sting" won Best Picture; for the first time ever, a woman (Julia Phillips) is given an Oscar for producing.

"The Sting" beat "American Graffiti" and "The Excorcist." Jack Lemmon beat out Robert Redford for Best Actor; the film was "Save the Tiger," which is forgotten today. Glenda Jackson, who had been nominated three years in a row, finally won for Best Actress for "A Touch of Class.

" John Houseman, the legendary theatrical and film producer and actor who had helped Orson Welles make "Citizen Kane," won Best Supporting Actor for his incomparable performance in "The Paper Chase." And Tatum O'Neal won Best Supporting Actress at the age of 10 for "Paper Moon" -- the youngest person ever to win a competitive Oscar.

In 1975, Bert Schneider and Peter Davis won Best Documentary, Feature Length, for their scathing film about Vietnam, "Hearts and Minds.

" Schneider read a telegram from North Vietnam during his acceptance speech. Later, Frank Sinatra read an on-air a disclaimer from the Academy, disavowing Schneider's speech. "The Godfather, Part 2" became the first sequel to ever win Best Picture (it beat out "Chinatown").

Al Pacino ("The Godfather, Part 2"), Jack Nicholson ("Chinatown") and Albert Finney ("Murder on the Orient Express") were beaten out for Best Actor by Art Carney ("Harry and Tonto"). Even Carney had no explanation for that appalling development. Francis Ford Coppola's other film of the year, "The Conversation," was also nominated for several major awards.

But it won none, and is forgotten today. Two disaster flicks, "The Towering Inferno" and "Earthquake," were released this year. So were two Mel Brooks films: "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein.

"

In 1976, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" beat "Jaws" for best film of the year. Both are great films, but "Jaws" is arguably the better picture and more lasting. "Barry Lyndon" (forgotten), "Dog Day Afternoon" (almost forgotten) and "Nashville" (forgotten) were the other nominees.

Jack Nicholson won Best Actor and Louise Fletcher won Best Actress for "Cuckoo's Nest." "Jaws" won John Williams his first Oscar for Best Original Musical Score. Oddly, "Jaws" would not be nominated for a special effects award; there was no category that year.

Instead, the now-forgotten "The Hindenburg" won TWO special Oscars for visual effects.

In 1977, the last year of the "old Hollywood" (before "Star Wars" changed everything), "Rocky" won Best Picture against "Taxi Driver," "Network" and "All the President's Men." It's stunning, but there it is.

"Rocky" has not held up well, while "Taxi Driver" and "Network" are considered some of the greatest films of all time. Sylvester Stallone became only the third person nominated for both acting and writing in the same year (following Charlie Chaplin for "The Great Dictator" [1940] and Orson Welles for "Citizen Kane" [1941]). "Network" became only the second film to win three awards for acting (following "A Streetcar Named Desire" in 1951: Marlon Brando for best actor, Vivian Leigh for best actress and Kim Hunter for best supporting actress).

Peter Finch won Best Actor (the first posthumous winner in history), Faye Dunaway won for Best Actress and Beatrice Straight won for Best Supporting Actress (she had all of 8 minutes of screen time). Lina Wertmuller became the first woman nominated for Best Director (the Italian film "Seven Beauties"). Grotesquely, "King Kong" and "Logan's Run" both won special Oscars for visual effects.

Everything changed in 1978 with "Star Wars." Not that Hollywood noticed. But everything did change.