| 47th Academy Awards | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date | April 8, 1975 |
| Site | Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles |
| Hosted by | Bob Hope, Shirley MacLaine, Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra |
| Produced by | Howard W. Koch |
| Directed by | Marty Pasetta |
| Highlights | |
| Best Picture | The Godfather Part II |
| Most awards | The Godfather Part II (6) |
| Most nominations | Chinatown and The Godfather Part II (11) |
| TV in the United States | |
| Network | NBC |
The 47th Academy Awards were presented Tuesday, April 8, 1975, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, honoring the best films of 1974. The ceremonies were presided over by Bob Hope, Shirley MacLaine, Sammy Davis Jr., and Frank Sinatra. This was the final ceremony to be telecast on NBC before broadcast rights for the U.S. were acquired by the ceremony's present broadcaster, ABC.
The success of The Godfather Part II was notable; it received twice as many Oscars as its predecessor (six) and duplicated its feat of three Best Supporting Actor nominations (as of the 96th Academy Awards, it is the last film to receive three nominations in a single acting category). Between the two of them, father and son Carmine and Francis Ford Coppola won four awards, with Carmine winning for Best Original Dramatic Score (with Nino Rota) and Francis for Picture, Director, and Best Screenplay Adapted from Other Material (with Mario Puzo).
Prior to the ceremony, Dustin Hoffman, who was nominated for his performance in the film Lenny, described the awards as "ugly" and "grotesque" and likened the ceremony to a beauty pageant, causing host Hope to remark that "if Dustin Hoffman wins tonight, he's going to have a friend pick it up for him—George C. Scott."[1] Ingrid Bergman felt that she won her Academy Award out of a collective show business guilt over her being ostracized from Hollywood in 1949 due to her affair with director Roberto Rossellini and that Valetina Cortese was worthier of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.[1] Upon winning the Best Documentary Feature Oscar for Hearts & Minds, co-producer Bert Schneider said, "It's ironic that we're here at a time just before Vietnam is about to be liberated" and then read a telegram containing "Greetings of Friendship to all American People" from Ambassador Dinh Ba Thi of the Provisional Revolutionary Government (Viet Cong)[2] delegation to the Paris Peace Accords.[1][3] The telegram thanked the anti-war movement "for all they have done on behalf of peace".[4] Hope, enraged by the speech, later wrote a telegram that he had Sinatra read to the divided audience. The note said: "The academy is saying, 'We are not responsible for any political references made on the program, and we are sorry they had to take place this evening.'"[1][5]
This was the only Oscar ceremony in which all five of the nominees in a single category were released by the same studio: all five Best Costume Design nominations were for films released by Paramount Pictures.
