31st Academy Awards
People lining the street under the marquee of the Pantages Theater at the 31st Academy Awards.
Date	April 6, 1959
Site	Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, California, USA
Hosted by	Jerry Lewis, Mort Sahl, Tony Randall, Bob Hope, David Niven, and Laurence Olivier
Produced by	Jerry Wald
Directed by	Alan Handley
Highlights
Best Picture	Gigi
Most awards	Gigi (9)
Most nominations	The Defiant Ones and Gigi (9)
TV in the United States
Network	NBC
← 30th Academy Awards 32nd →

The 31st Academy Awards ceremony was held on April 6, 1959, to honor the best films of 1958. The night was dominated by Gigi, which won nine Oscars, breaking the previous record of eight set by Gone with the Wind and tied by From Here to Eternity and On the Waterfront.

Gigi set a new record for biggest Oscars sweep, winning all nine of its nominations, which would later be tied by The Last Emperor in 1987 and broken, in 2003, when The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won all 11 of its nominations. Finally, Gigi was the last film until The Last Emperor to win Best Picture without any acting nominations.

The ceremony was hosted by an ensemble of actors: Jerry Lewis, Mort Sahl, Tony Randall, Bob Hope, David Niven, and Laurence Olivier. Niven won Best Actor that night, making him the only host in Oscar history to have win an award while hosting.^[1] The show's producer, Jerry Wald, started cutting numbers from the show to make sure it ran on time, but cut too much material, and the ceremony ended 20 minutes early. Eventually, NBC cut to a re-run of a sports show.

Awards

Vincente Minnelli; Best Director winner

David Niven; Best Actor winner

Susan Hayward; Best Actress winner

Burl Ives; Best Supporting Actor winner

Wendy Hiller; Best Supporting Actress winner

Walt Disney; Best Live Action Short Film winner

André Previn; Best Scoring of a Musical Picture winner

Cecil Beaton; Best Costume Design winner

Nominations announced on February 23, 1959. Winners are listed first and highlighted with boldface.^[2]

Best Motion Picture	Best Director
Gigi – Arthur Freed, producer Auntie Mame – Jack L. Warner, producer Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – Lawrence Weingarten, producer The Defiant Ones – Stanley Kramer, producer Separate Tables – Harold Hecht, producer	Vincente Minnelli – Gigi Richard Brooks – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Stanley Kramer – The Defiant Ones Robert Wise – I Want to Live! Mark Robson – The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
Best Actor	Best Actress
*David Niven – Separate Tables* as Major David Angus Pollock** Tony Curtis – The Defiant Ones as John "Joker" Jackson Paul Newman – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as Brick Pollitt Sidney Poitier – The Defiant Ones as Noah Cullen Spencer Tracy – The Old Man and the Sea as The Old Man	*Susan Hayward – I Want to Live!* as Barbara Graham** Deborah Kerr – Separate Tables as Sibyl Railton-Bell Shirley MacLaine – Some Came Running as Ginny Moorehead Rosalind Russell – Auntie Mame as Mame Dennis Elizabeth Taylor – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as Margaret "Maggie the Cat" Pollitt
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
*Burl Ives – The Big Country* as Rufus Hannassey** Theodore Bikel – The Defiant Ones as Sheriff Max Muller Lee J. Cobb – The Brothers Karamazov as Fyodor Karamazov Arthur Kennedy – Some Came Running as Frank Hirsh Gig Young – Teacher's Pet as Dr. Hugo Pine	*Wendy Hiller – Separate Tables* as Pat Cooper** Peggy Cass – Auntie Mame as Agnes Gooch Martha Hyer – Some Came Running as Gwen French Maureen Stapleton – Lonelyhearts as Fay Doyle Cara Williams – The Defiant Ones as Billy's mother
Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen	Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
The Defiant Ones – Nedrick Young and Harold Jacob Smith The Goddess – Paddy Chayefsky Houseboat – Melville Shavelson and Jack Rose The Sheepman – William Bowers and James Edward Grant Teacher's Pet – Fay Kanin and Michael Kanin	Gigi – Alan Jay Lerner from the novella by Colette Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – Richard Brooks and James Poe from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams The Horse's Mouth – Alec Guinness from The Horse's Mouth by Joyce Cary I Want to Live! – Don Mankiewicz and Nelson Gidding from writings by Ed Montgomery and Barbara Graham Separate Tables – John Gay and Terence Rattigan from Separate Tables by Terence Rattigan
Best Foreign Language Film	Best Documentary Feature
My Uncle (France) Arms and the Man (Germany) Big Deal on Madonna Street (Italy) The Road a Year Long (Yugoslavia) La venganza (Spain)	White Wilderness – Ben Sharpsteen Antarctic Crossing The Hidden World Psychiatric Nursing
Best Documentary Short Subject	Best Live Action Short Subject
Ama Girls – Ben Sharpsteen Employees Only Journey into Spring The Living Stone Overture	Grand Canyon – Walt Disney Journey into Spring – Ian Ferguson The Kiss – John Hayes Snows of Aorangi – New Zealand Screen Board T Is for Tumbleweed – James A. Lebenthal
Best Short Subject – Cartoons	Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
Knighty Knight Bugs – John W. Burton Paul Bunyan – Walt Disney Sidney's Family Tree – William M. Weiss	The Old Man and the Sea – Dimitri Tiomkin The Big Country – Jerome Moross Separate Tables – David Raksin White Wilderness – Oliver Wallace The Young Lions – Hugo Friedhofer
Best Scoring of a Musical Picture	Best Song
Gigi – André Previn The Bolshoi Ballet – Yuri Faier and G. Rozhdestvensky Damn Yankees! – Ray Heindorf Mardi Gras – Lionel Newman South Pacific – Alfred Newman and Ken Darby	*"Gigi" from Gigi* – Music by Frederick Loewe; Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner** "Almost In Your Arms (Love Song from Houseboat)" from Houseboat – Music and Lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans "A Certain Smile" from A Certain Smile – Music by Sammy Fain; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster "To Love and Be Loved" from Some Came Running – Music by Jimmy Van Heusen; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn "A Very Precious Love" from Marjorie Morningstar – Music by Sammy Fain; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
Best Sound	Best Art Direction
South Pacific – Fred Hynes I Want to Live! – Gordon E. Sawyer A Time to Love and a Time to Die – Leslie I. Carey Vertigo – George Dutton The Young Lions – Carlton W. Faulkner	Gigi – Art Direction: William A. Horning (posthumous award) and E. Preston Ames; Set Decoration: Henry Grace and F. Keogh Gleason Auntie Mame – Art Direction: Malcolm Bert; Set Decoration: George James Hopkins Bell, Book and Candle – Art Direction: Cary Odell; Set Decoration: Louis Diage A Certain Smile – Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and John DeCuir; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott and Paul S. Fox Vertigo – Art Direction: Hal Pereira and Henry Bumstead; Set Decoration: Samuel M. Comer and Frank R. McKelvy
Best Costume Design	Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
Gigi – Cecil Beaton Bell, Book and Candle – Jean Louis The Buccaneer – Ralph Jester, Edith Head and John Jensen A Certain Smile – Charles LeMaire and Mary Wills Some Came Running – Walter Plunkett	The Defiant Ones – Sam Leavitt Desire Under the Elms – Daniel L. Fapp I Want to Live! – Lionel Lindon Separate Tables – Charles Lang The Young Lions – Joseph MacDonald
Best Cinematography, Color	Best Film Editing
Gigi – Joseph Ruttenberg Auntie Mame – Harry Stradling Sr. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – William Daniels The Old Man and the Sea – James Wong Howe South Pacific – Leon Shamroy	Gigi – Adrienne Fazan Auntie Mame – William Ziegler Cowboy – William Lyon and Al Clark The Defiant Ones – Frederic Knudtson I Want to Live! – William Hornbeck
Best Special Effects
Tom Thumb – Tom Howard Torpedo Run – Visual Effects: A. Arnold Gillespie; Audible Effects: Harold Humbrock

Academy Honorary Award

Maurice Chevalier “for his contributions to the world of entertainment for more than half a century.”

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

Jack L. Warner

Presenters and performers

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Presenters

Buddy Adler (Presenter: Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award)
Eddie Albert and Vincent Price (Presenters: Art Direction Award)
June Allyson and Dick Powell (Presenters: Musical Scoring Awards)
Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant (Presenters: Best Motion Picture)
Dirk Bogarde, Van Heflin, and Elizabeth Taylor (Presenters: Writing Awards)
Red Buttons and Shelley Winters (Presenters: Best Supporting Actress)
James Cagney and Kim Novak (Presenters: Best Actress)
Cyd Charisse and Robert Stack (Presenters: Best Foreign Language Film)
Gary Cooper and Millie Perkins (Presenters: Best Director)
Wendell Corey and Ernie Kovacs (Presenters: Costume Design Award)
Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh (Presenters: Short Subjects Awards)
Bette Davis and Anthony Quinn (Presenters: Best Supporting Actor)
Doris Day and Rock Hudson (Presenters: Cinematography Awards)
Irene Dunne and John Wayne (Presenters: Best Actor)
Steve Forrest and Jean Simmons (Presenters: Best Film Editing)
Anthony Franciosa and Eva Marie Saint (Presenters: Music Awards)
Charlton Heston and Jane Wyman (Presenters: Best Sound Recording)
Sophia Loren and Dean Martin (Presenters: Best Original Song)
Shirley MacLaine and Peter Ustinov (Presenters: Best Visual Effects)
Rosalind Russell (Presenter: Honorary Award to Maurice Chevalier)
Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood (Presenters: Documentary Awards)

Performers

Nick Adams, Anna Maria Alberghetti, James Darren, Dean Jones, Connie Stevens, and Tuesday Weld ("Almost In Your Arms" from Houseboat)
Joan Collins, Angela Lansbury and Dana Wynter ("It's Great Not to Be Nominated")
Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster ("It's Alright With Us")
Eddie Fisher ("To Love and Be Loved" from Some Came Running)
Rhonda Fleming and Howard Keel ("A Very Precious Love" from Marjorie Morningstar)
Tony Martin ("Gigi" from Gigi)
John Raitt ("A Certain Smile" from A Certain Smile)

Multiple nominations and awards

These films had multiple nominations:

9 nominations: The Defiant Ones, Gigi
7 nominations: Separate Tables
6 nominations: Auntie Mame, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and I Want to Live!
5 nominations: Some Came Running
3 nominations: A Certain Smile, The Old Man and the Sea, South Pacific, and The Young Lions
2 nominations: Bell, Book and Candle, The Big Country, Houseboat, Journey into Spring, Teacher's Pet, Vertigo, and White Wilderness

The following films received multiple awards.

9 wins: Gigi
2 wins: The Defiant Ones and Separate Tables

References

^ "James Franco and Anne Hathaway to host Oscars". The Daily Telegraph. November 29, 2010. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
^ "The 31st Academy Awards (1959) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.

Academy Awards

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)

Awards of Merit

Proposed awards	Popular Film

Special awards

Governors Awards	Academy Honorary Award Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award Special Achievement Academy Award
Academy Scientific and Technical Awards	Academy Award of Merit (non-competitive) Scientific and Engineering Award Technical Achievement Award John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation Gordon E. Sawyer Award
Student Awards	Student Academy Award

Former awards

Merit Awards	Assistant Director Dance Direction Sound Editing Story
Special Awards	Academy Juvenile Award

Ceremonies^‡

‡ Dates and years listed for each ceremony were the eligibility period of film release in Los Angeles County. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period was done on a seasonal basis, from August to July. For the 6th ceremony, held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1, 1932, to December 31, 1933. From the 7th ceremony, held in 1935, through the 92nd ceremony, held in 2020, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31. For the 93rd ceremony, held in 2021, the eligibility period was from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021. For the 94th ceremony, held in 2022, the eligibility period was from March 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021.

Category