| 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 |
The 31st Academy Awards ceremony was held on April 6, 1959, to honor the best films of 1958. The show's producer, Jerry Wald, started cutting numbers from the show to make sure it ran on time. He cut too much material and the ceremony ended 20 minutes early, leaving Jerry Lewis to attempt to fill in the time. Eventually, NBC cut to a re-run of a sports show.
The film Gigi 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). It would be short-lived, however, as Ben-Hur broke the record with eleven Oscars the following year.
Gigi was the last film until The Last Emperor (1987) to win Best Picture without any acting nominations. It also had the biggest clean sweep at the time, winning all nine of its nominations, a record that would be tied by The Last Emperor. This record was broken in 2003 when The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won all 11 of its 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 won an award during the same ceremony.[1]
