17th Academy Awards (3-15-45)

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The 17th Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 1944 will be presented on Sunday, March 15, at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Nominations for the 17th Annual Academy Awards were announced on February 5.

The nominations are listed as below:

oscars1945

Best Motion Picture

  • “Double Indemnity”
  • “Gaslight”
  • “Going My Way”
  • “Since You Went Away”
  • “Wilson”

Best Director

  • Billy Wilder, “Double Indemnity”
  • Leo McCarey, “Going My Way”
  • Otto Preminger, “Laura”
  • Alfred Hitchcock, “Lifeboat”
  • Henry King, “Wilson”

Best Actor

  • Charles Boyer, “Gaslight”
  • Bing Crosby, “Going My Way”
  • Barry Fitzgerald, “Going My Way”
  • Cary Grant, “None but the Lonely Heart”
  • Alexander Knox, “Wilson”

Best Actress

  • Ingrid Bergman, “Gaslight”
  • Claudette Colbert, “Since You Went Away”
  • Bette Davis, “Mr. Skeffington”
  • Greer Garson, “Mrs. Parkington”
  • Barbara Stanwyck, “Double Indemnity”

Best Supporting Actor

  • Hume Cronyn, “The Seventh Cross”
  • Barry Fitzgerald, “Going My Way”
  • Claude Rains, “Mr. Skeffington”
  • Clifton Webb, “Laura”
  • Monty Woolley , “Since You Went Away”

Best Supporting Actress

  • Ethel Barrymore, “None But the Lonely Heart”
  • Jennifer Jones, “Since You Went Away”
  • Angela Lansbury, “Gaslight”
  • Aline MacMahon, “Dragon Seed”
  • Agnes Moorehead, “Mrs. Parkington”

Best Original Screenplay

  • “Hail the Conquering Hero”, Preston Sturges
  • “The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek”, Preston Sturges
  • “Two Girls and a Sailor”, Richard Connell & Gladys Lehman
  • “Wing and a Prayer, The Story of Carrier X”, Jerome Cady
  • “Wilson”, Lamar Trotti

Best Screenplay

  • “Going My Way”, Frank Butler & Frank Cavett, based on a story by Leo McCarey

  • “Double Indemnity”, Raymond Chandler & Billy Wilder, based on Double Indemnity in Three of a Kind by James M. Cain

  • “Gaslight”, John L. Balderston, Walter Reisch, and John Van Druten, based on Angel Street by Patrick Hamilton

  • “Laura”, Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Elizabeth Reinhardt, based on the novel by Vera Caspary

  • “Meet Me in St. Louis”, Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe, based on the novel by Sally Benson

Best Original Motion Picture Story

  • “A Guy Named Joe”, David Boehm & Chandler Sprague
  • “Going My Way”, Leo McCarey
  • “Lifeboat”, John Steinbeck
  • “None Shall Escape”, Alfred Neumann & Joseph Than
  • “The Sullivans”, Edward Doherty & Jules Schermer

Best Documentary Feature

  • “The Fighting Lady”, United States Navy
  • “Resisting Enemy Interrogation”, United States Army Air Force

Best Documentary Short Subject

  • “Hymn of the Nations”, United States Office of War Information, Overseas Motion Picture Bureau
  • “New Americans”, RKO Radio
  • “With the Marines at Tarawa”, United States Marine Corps

Best Live Action Short Subject, One-Reel

  • “Blue Grass Gentlemen”, Edmund Reek
  • “Jammin’ the Blues”, Gordon Hollingshead
  • “Movie Pests”, Pete Smith
  • “Screen Snapshots’ 50th Anniversary of Motion Pictures”, Ralph Staub
  • “Who’s Who in Animal Land”, Jerry Fairbanks

Best Live Action Short Subject, Two-Reel

  • “Bombalera”, Louis Harris
  • “I Won’t Play”, Gordon Hollingshead
  • “Main Street Today”, Jerry Bresler

Best Short Subjects – Cartoons

  • “And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street”, George Pal
  • “Dog, Cat and Canary”, Raymond Katz
  • “Fish Fry”, Walter Lantz
  • “How to Play Football”, Walt Disney
  • “Mouse Trouble”, Fred Quimby
  • “My Boy, Johnny”, Paul Terry
  • “Swooner Crooner”, Edward Selzer

Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture

  • “Address Unknown”, Morris Stoloff & Ernst Toch
  • “The Adventures of Mark Twain”, Max Steiner
  • “The Bridge of San Luis Rey”, Dimitri Tiomkin
  • “Casanova Brown”, Arthur Lange
  • “Christmas Holiday”, H. J. Salter
  • “Double Indemnity”, Miklós Rózsa
  • “The Fighting Seabees”, Walter Scharf & Roy Webb
  • “The Hairy Ape”, Edward Paul & Michel Michelet
  • “It Happened Tomorrow”, Robert Stolz
  • “Jack London”, Frederic Efrem Rich
  • “Kismet”, Herbert Stothart
  • “None but the Lonely Heart”, Hanns Eisler and C. Bakaleinikoff
  • “The Princess and the Pirate”, David Rose
  • “Since You Went Away”, Max Steiner
  • “Summer Storm”, Karl Hajos
  • “Three Russian Girls”, W. Franke Harling
  • “Up in Mabel’s Room”, Edward Paul
  • “Voice in the Wind”, Michel Michelet
  • “Wilson”, Alfred Newman
  • “The Woman of the Town”, Miklós Rózsa

Best Scoring of a Musical Picture

  • “Brazil”, Walter Scharf
  • “Cover Girl”, Morris Stoloff & Carmen Dragon
  • “Higher and Higher”, C. Bakaleinikoff
  • “Hollywood Canteen”, Ray Heindorf
  • “Irish Eyes Are Smiling”, Alfred Newman
  • “Knickerbocker Holiday”, Werner R. Heymann & Kurt Weill
  • “Lady in the Dark”, Robert Emmett Dolan
  • “Lady, Let’s Dance”, Edward Kay
  • “Meet Me in St. Louis”, Georgie Stoll
  • “The Merry Monahans”, H. J. Salter
  • “Minstrel Man”, Ferde Grofé and Leo Erdody
  • “Sensations of 1945”, Mahlon Merrick
  • “Song of the Open Road”, Charles Previn
  • “Up in Arms”, Ray Heindorf & Louis Forbes

Best Song

  • “I Couldn’t Sleep a Wink Last Night” from “Higher and Higher”, Music by Jimmy McHugh; Lyrics by Harold Adamson

  • “I’ll Walk Alone” from “Follow the Boys”, Music by Jule Styne; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn

  • “I’m Making Believe” from “Sweet and Lowdown”, Music by James V. Monaco; Lyrics by Mack Gordon

  • “Long Ago and Far Away” from “Cover Girl”, Music by Jerome Kern; Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

  • “Now I Know” from “Up in Arms”, Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by Ted Koehler

  • “Remember Me to Carolina” from “Minstrel Man”, Music by Harry Revel; Lyrics by Paul Webster

  • “Rio de Janeiro” from “Brazil”, Music by Ary Barroso; Lyrics by Ned Washington

  • “Silver Shadows and Golden Dreams” from “Lady, Let’s Dance”, Music by Lew Pollack; Lyrics by Charles Newman

  • “Sweet Dreams Sweetheart” from “Hollywood Canteen”, Music by Maurice K. Jerome; Lyrics by Ted Koehler

  • “Swinging on a Star” from “Going My Way”, Music by James Van Heusen; Lyrics by Johnny Burke

  • “Too Much in Love” from “Song of the Open Road”, Music by Walter Kent; Lyrics by Kim Gannon

  • “The Trolley Song” from “Meet Me in St. Louis”, Music and Lyrics by Ralph Blane & Hugh Martin

Best Sound Recording

  • “Brazil”, Daniel J. Bloomberg
  • “Casanova Brown”, Thomas T. Moulton
  • “Cover Girl”, John P. Livadary
  • “Double Indemnity”, Loren L. Ryder
  • “His Butler’s Sister”, Bernard B. Brown
  • “Hollywood Canteen”, Nathan Levinson
  • “It Happened Tomorrow”, Jack Whitney
  • “Kismet”, Douglas Shearer
  • “Music in Manhattan”, Stephen Dunn
  • “Voice in the Wind”, W. M. Dalgleish
  • “Wilson”, Edmund H. Hansen

Best Art Direction, Black-and-White

  • “Address Unknown”, Art Direction: Lionel Banks & Walter Holscher; Interior Decoration: Joseph Kish

  • “The Adventures of Mark Twain”, Art Direction: John Hughes; Interior Decoration: Fred M. MacLean

  • “Casanova Brown”, Art Direction: Perry Ferguson; Interior Decoration: Julia Heron

  • “Gaslight”, Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons & William Ferrari; Interior Decoration: Paul Huldschinsky & Edwin B. Willis

  • “Laura”, Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler & Leland Fuller; Interior Decoration: Thomas Little

  • “No Time for Love”, Art Direction: Hans Dreier & Robert Usher; Interior Decoration: Samuel M. Comer

  • “Since You Went Away”, Art Direction: Mark-Lee Kirk; Interior Decoration: Victor A. Gangelin

  • “Step Lively”, Art Direction: Albert S. D’Agostino & Carroll Clark; Interior Decoration: Darrell Silvera & Claude Carpenter

  • “Song of the Open Road”, N/A (nomination withdrawn)

Best Art Direction, Color

  • “The Climax”, Art Direction: John B. Goodman & Alexander Golitzen; Interior Decoration: Russell A. Gausman & Ira S. Webb

  • “Cover Girl,” Art Direction: Lionel Banks & Cary Odell; Interior Decoration: Fay Babcock

  • “The Desert Song”, Art Direction: Charles Novi; Interior Decoration: Jack McConaghy

  • “Kismet”, Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons & Daniel B. Cathcart; Interior Decoration: Edwin B. Willis & Richard Pefferle

  • “Lady in the Dark”, Art Direction: Hans Dreier & Raoul Pene Du Bois; Interior Decoration: Ray Moyer

  • “The Princess and the Pirate”, Art Direction: Ernst Fegté; Interior Decoration: Howard Bristol

  • “Wilson”, Art Direction: Wiard Ihnen; Interior Decoration: Thomas Little

Best Cinematography, Black-and-White

  • “Double Indemnity”, John F. Seitz
  • “Dragon Seed”, Sidney Wagner
  • “Gaslight”, Joseph Ruttenberg
  • “Going My Way”, Lionel Lindon
  • “Laura”, Joseph LaShelle
  • “Lifeboat”, Glen MacWilliams
  • “Since You Went Away”, Stanley Cortez and Lee Garmes
  • “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo”, Robert L. Surtees and Harold Rosson
  • “The Uninvited”, Charles Lang
  • “The White Cliffs of Dover”, George J. Folsey

Best Cinematography, Color

  • “Cover Girl”, Rudolph Maté and Allen M. Davey
  • “Home in Indiana”, Edward Cronjager
  • “Kismet”, Charles Rosher
  • “Lady in the Dark”, Ray Rennahan
  • “Meet Me in St. Louis”, George J. Folsey
  • “Wilson”, Leon Shamroy

Best Film Editing

  • “Going My Way”, Leroy Stone
  • “Janie”, Owen Marks
  • “None but the Lonely Heart”, Roland Gross
  • “Since You Went Away”, Hal C. Kern & James E. Newcom
  • “Wilson”, Barbara McLean

Best Special Effects

  • “The Adventures of Mark Twain”, Photographic Effects: Paul Detlefsen & John Crouse; Sound Effects: Nathan Levinson

  • “Days of Glory”, Photographic Effects Vernon L. Walker; Sound Effects: James G. Stewart & Roy Granville

  • “Secret Command”, Photographic Effects: David Allen, Ray Cory and Robert Wright; Sound Effects: Russell Malmgren & Harry Kusnick

  • “Since You Went Away”, Photographic Effects: Jack Cosgrove; Sound Effects: Arthur Johns

  • “The Story of Dr. Wassell”, Photographic Effects: Farciot Edouart & Gordon Jennings; Sound Effects: George Dutton

  • “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo”, Photographic Effects A. Arnold Gillespie, Donald Jahraus & Warren Newcombe; Sound Effects: Douglas Shearer

  • “Wilson”, Photographic Effects: Fred Sersen; Sound Effects: Roger Heman Sr.

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The Pittsburgh Press (February 5, 1945)

Going My Way nominated for seven coveted Oscars

Crosby, Fitzgerald named for top acting awards – other films proposed

HOLLYWOOD (UP) – The heartwarming motion picture, Going My Way, whose star, crooner Bing Crosby, pulled the highest box office returns of any actor in 1944, today won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ nominations for seven coveted Oscar awards.

For his performance in the picture, Barry Fitzgerald became the first actor in Academy history to be nominated for awards for both the best performance by an actor and the best performance by a supporting actor.

Fitzgerald and Crosby, who was also nominated for the Oscar for best actor, played the roles of two Catholic priests in Going My Way.

Cited for seven others

The picture was also nominated as best movie of the year, the best written screenplay and the best original motion picture story. Its director, Leo McCarey, was nominated for achievement in directing and the tune “Swinging on a Star” was nominated best original song.

Nine thousand members of the film industry will participate in final balloting February 10 to select the winners, to be announced March 15.

‘Gaslight’ honored

The psychological chiller Gaslight was also nominated as best picture of the year, and its stars, Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Angela Lansbury, were named as best actress, best actor and best supporting actress, respectively.

Swedish Miss Bergman was nudged out of the award last year by newcomer Jennifer Jones, who was mentioned this year as a candidate for supporting honors for her role in Since You Went Away, nominated as one of the best pictures of the year.

Claudette Colbert, one-time Oscar winner, was nominated for a second for her starring role in the same film. Monty Woolley was nominated for supporting honors.

Others nominated

Other contestants for picture of the year was Double Indemnity starring Barbara Stanwyck as a cold-blooded murderess, who was nominated for what would be her first award as top actress, and Wilson, whose star, Alexander Knox, was nominated as top actor.

Two-time Oscar winner Bette Davis was nominated for her starring role in Mr. Skeffington and Greer Garson, for her role in Mrs. Parkington.

Cary Grant, who has never won an Oscar, was cited for his work in None But the Lonely Heartand Ethel Barrymore was nominated for her supporting role in the same picture.

Also named for supporting honors were Hume Cronyn for The Seventh Cross, Clifton Webb in Laura, Aline MacMahon in Dragon Seed and Agnes Moorehead in Mrs. Parkington.

Nominations for directing achievement went to McCarey, Billy Wilder for Double Indemnity, Otto Preminger for Laura, Alfred Hitchcock for Lifeboat, Henry King for Wilson.

“The Trolley Song” from the film Meet Me in St. Louis and “Long Ago and Far Away” from Cover Girl were among 12 nominees for best original song of the year.

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The Pittsburgh Press (February 13, 1945)

Gracie Allen Reporting

By Gracie Allen

Well, this is about the time of year that everyone in Hollywood starts to get excited about the nominations for the Motion Picture Academy Awards.

Speaking of awards, I’d like to hand out a few Oscars myself, for the best dialogue writing of the year: the American General who said “Nuts” at Bastogne; for the best sound effects: the roar of B-29s over Tokyo; for the best story of the year: MacArthur’s reconquest of the Philippines; for the best screamplay: Joseph Goebbels; for the best comedy writing: almost any communiqué from the Japanese Propaganda Office; for the best travelogue: “My Trip Through Poland,” by Gen. Zhukov.

Oh yes, and as a grand booby prize, for the worst supporting performance of the year – Benito Mussolini.

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The Pittsburgh Press (February 19, 1945)

Erskine picks 1944 ‘bests’

His top film is Going My Way
By Erskine Johnson

HOLLYWOOD – Maybe we‘ll hate ourselves the morning after the Academy Award shindig March 15, but here are Johnson’s predictions in the 1944 Oscar race.

Best picture of the year: Going My Way.

Best performance by an actress: Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight.

Best performance by an actor: Bing Crosby in Going My Way.

Best supporting actor: Barry Fitzgerald in Going My Way.

Best supporting actress: Ethel Barrymore in None But the Lonely Heart.

Best direction of the year: Leo McCarey for Going My Way.

Best written screenplay: Frank Butler and Frank Cavett for Going My Way.

Best original screenplay: Lamar Trotti for Wilson.

Best original song: “Swinging on a Star,” by Johnny Burke and James Van Heusen, from Going My Way.

Best original story: Going My Way, by Leo McCarey.

Going my way?

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The Pittsburgh Press (March 4, 1945)

‘Oscar’ goes to war!

Plaster proxy takes his place
Saturday, March 3, 1945

HOLLYWOOD, California (special) – “Oscar” has gone to war!

“Oscar,” Hollywood’s coveted statuette which symbolizes honor for achievement in the motion picture world, will be presented to winners again for the seventeenth consecutive year on March 15 at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

The statuette will be there – but only by plaster proxy, for the gold “Oscar,” which has become the most sought-after honor in filmdom, is off to war and away from Hollywood for the duration. His Composition counterpart will be replaced by pre-war bronze and gold trophies when victory comes.

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The Pittsburgh Press (March 15, 1945)

Strike holds key to Oscar party

HOLLYWOOD (UP) – Three words – Going My Way – were the keynote today as the Motion Picture Academy prepared to hand out awards tonight, strike conditions permitting, for the top movie work of 1944.

Paramount’s famous movie, starring Bing Crosby, had four nominations and was certain to be on the receiving end of at least one of the Oscars.

Two of the Going My Wayers – Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald – have been nominated for Oscars for the year’s best performance by an actor. Fitzgerald was also in the running as the best supporting actor, while the picture’s director, Leo McCarey, was also in the lineup.

Bob Hope will be master of ceremonies. Previous winners will hand the guilded Oscars to the new selectees.

Also nominated for top picture honors were Paramount’s Double Indemnity, MGM’s Gaslight, Selznick International’s Since You Went Away and 20th Century-Fox’s Wilson.

Crosby and Fitzgerald were opposed by Charles Boyer of Gaslight, Cary Grant of None but the Lonely Heart and Alexander Knox of Wilson for the actor’s award.

Actresses nominated as best in their field were Ingrid Bergman of Gaslight, Claudette Colbert of Since You Went Away, Bette Davis of Mr. Skeffington, Greer Garson of Mrs. Parkington and Barbara Stanwyck of Double Indemnity.

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Winners of the 17th Academy Awards

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 1944 were presented on March 15, 1945 at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and was broadcast live by the Blue Network beginning at 9:30 p.m. PWT.

Broadcast audio:

Academy Honorary Award

image Bob Hope “life membership for his many services to the Academy.”

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Best Art Direction, Black-and-White

image “Gaslight”, Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons & William Ferrari; Interior Decoration: Paul Huldschinsky & Edwin B. Willis

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Best Art Direction, Color

image “Wilson”, Art Direction: Wiard Ihnen; Interior Decoration: Thomas Little

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Best Cinematography, Black-and-White

image “Laura”, Joseph LaShelle

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Best Cinematography, Color

image “Wilson”, Leon Shamroy

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Best Documentary Feature

image “The Fighting Lady”, United States Navy

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Best Documentary Short Subject

image “With the Marines at Tarawa”, United States Marine Corps

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Best Film Editing

image “Wilson”, Barbara McLean

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Best Live Action Short Subject, One-Reel

image “Who’s Who in Animal Land”, Jerry Fairbanks

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Best Scoring of a Musical Picture

image “Cover Girl”, Morris Stoloff & Carmen Dragon

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Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture

image “Since You Went Away”, Max Steiner

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Best Song

image “Swinging on a Star” from “Going My Way”, Music by James Van Heusen; Lyrics by Johnny Burke

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Best Sound Recording

image “Wilson”, Edmund H. Hansen

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Best Special Effects

image “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo”, Photographic Effects A. Arnold Gillespie, Donald Jahraus & Warren Newcombe; Sound Effects: Douglas Shearer

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