45th Academy Awards

45th Academy Awards
Date	Tuesday, March 27, 1973
Site	Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles
Host	Carol Burnett, Michael Caine, Charlton Heston, Rock Hudson
Producer	Howard W. Koch
Director	Marty Pasetta
Highlights
Best Picture	The Godfather
Most awards	Cabaret (8)
Most nominations	The Godfather and Cabaret (10)
TV in the United States
Network	NBC
Duration	2 hours, 38 minutes

The 45th Academy Awards were presented March 27, 1973, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The ceremonies were presided over by Carol Burnett, Michael Caine, Charlton Heston, and Rock Hudson.

The ceremony was marked by Marlon Brando's boycott of the Oscars and his sending of Sacheen Littlefeather to explain why he would not show up to collect his Best Actor award for The Godfather, and by Charlie Chaplin's first competitive Oscar win for Best Original Score for his 20-year-old film Limelight, which was eligible because it did not screen in Los Angeles until 1972. Chaplin had received honorary Academy Awards in 1929 and 1972.

Cabaret, Bob Fosse's adaptation of the Broadway stage musical, set a record for the most Oscars won without winning Best Picture. Although Best Picture winner The Godfather received only three Academy Awards, it is recognized today as one of the most acclaimed and beloved films of all time.

This year was the first time that two African American women received nominations for Best Actress.

Winners and nominees

Awards

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.

Best Picture	Best Director
The Godfather – Albert S. Ruddy Cabaret – Cy Feuer Deliverance – John Boorman The Emigrants – Bengt Forslund Sounder – Robert B. Radnitz	Bob Fosse – Cabaret John Boorman – Deliverance Francis Ford Coppola – The Godfather Joseph L. Mankiewicz – Sleuth Jan Troell – The Emigrants
Best Actor	Best Actress
Marlon Brando – The Godfather as Vito Corleone (Declined) Michael Caine – Sleuth as Milo Tindle Laurence Olivier – Sleuth as Andrew Wyke Peter O'Toole – The Ruling Class as Jack Gurney Paul Winfield – Sounder as Nathan Lee Morgan	Liza Minnelli – Cabaret as Sally Bowles Diana Ross – Lady Sings the Blues as Billie Holiday Maggie Smith – Travels with My Aunt as Augusta Bertram Cicely Tyson – Sounder as Rebecca Morgan Liv Ullmann – The Emigrants as Kristina Nilsson
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
Joel Grey – Cabaret as the M.C. Eddie Albert – The Heartbreak Kid as Mr. Corcoran James Caan – The Godfather as Santino "Sonny" Corleone Robert Duvall – The Godfather as Tom Hagen Al Pacino – The Godfather as Michael Corleone	Eileen Heckart – Butterflies Are Free as Mrs. Baker Jeannie Berlin – The Heartbreak Kid as Lila Kolodny Geraldine Page – Pete 'n' Tillie as Gertrude Wilson Susan Tyrrell – Fat City as Oma Shelley Winters – The Poseidon Adventure as Belle Rosen
Best Original Screenplay	Best Adapted Screenplay
The Candidate – Jeremy Larner The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie – Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière Lady Sings the Blues – Chris Clark, Suzanne de Passe and Terence McCloy Murmur of the Heart – Louis Malle Young Winston – Carl Foreman	The Godfather – Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo from The Godfather by Puzo Cabaret – Jay Presson Allen from Cabaret by Fred Ebb and John Kander The Emigrants – Bengt Forslund and Jan Troell from The Emigrants and Unto a Good Land by Vilhelm Moberg Pete 'n' Tillie – Julius J. Epstein from Witch's Milk by Peter De Vries Sounder – Lonne Elder III from Sounder by William H. Armstrong
Best Documentary Feature	Best Documentary Short
Marjoe – Sarah Kernochan and Howard Smith Ape and Super-Ape – Bert Haanstra Malcolm X – Arnold Perl and Marvin Worth Manson – Robert Hendrickson and Laurence Merrick The Silent Revolution – Eckehard Munck	This Tiny World – Charles Huguenot van der Linden and Martina Huguenot van der Linden Hundertwasser's Rainy Day – Peter Schamoni K-Z – Giorgio Treves Selling Out – Tadeusz Jaworski The Tide of Traffic – Humphrey Swingler
Best Foreign Language Film	Best Original Song
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (France) in French – Luis Buñuel The Dawns Here Are Quiet (USSR) in Russian – Stanislav Rostotsky I Love You Rosa (Israel) in Hebrew – Moshé Mizrahi My Dearest Senorita (Spain) in Spanish – Jaime de Armiñán The New Land (Sweden) in Swedish – Jan Troell	"The Morning After" from The Poseidon Adventure – Joel Hirschhorn and Al Kasha "Ben" from Ben – Don Black and Walter Scharf "Come Follow, Follow Me" from The Little Ark – Fred Karlin and Marsha Karlin "Marmalade, Molasses & Honey" from The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean – Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman and Maurice Jarre "Strange Are the Ways of Love" from The Stepmother – Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster
Best Live Action Short	Best Animated Short
Norman Rockwell's World... An American Dream – Richard Barclay Frog Story – Ray Gideon and Ron Satlof Solo – David Adams	A Christmas Carol – Richard Williams Kama Sutra Rides Again – Bob Godfrey Tup Tup – Nedeljko Dragic
Best Original Score (Dramatic)	Best Score (Adaptation and Original Song)
Limelight – Charlie Chaplin, Raymond Rasch and Larry Russell Images – John Williams Napoleon and Samantha – Buddy Baker The Poseidon Adventure – John Williams Sleuth – John Addison	Cabaret – Adaptation: Ralph Burns Lady Sings the Blues – Adaptation: Gil Askey Man of La Mancha – Adaptation: Laurence Rosenthal
Best Costume Design	Best Sound Mixing
Travels with My Aunt – Anthony Powell The Godfather – Anna Hill Johnstone Lady Sings the Blues – Ray Aghayan, Norma Koch and Bob Mackie The Poseidon Adventure – Paul Zastupnevich Young Winston – Anthony Mendleson	Cabaret – David Hildyard and Robert Knudson Butterflies Are Free – Charles T. Knight and Arthur Piantadosi The Candidate – Gene Cantamessa and Richard Portman The Godfather – Charles Grenzbach, Chris Newman and Richard Portman The Poseidon Adventure – Herman Lewis and Theodore Soderberg
Best Art Direction	Best Cinematography
Cabaret – Art Direction: Jurgen Kiebach and Rolf Zehetbauer; Set Decoration: Herbert Strabel Lady Sings the Blues – Art Direction: Carl Anderson; Set Decoration: Reg Allen The Poseidon Adventure – Art Direction: William Creber; Set Decoration: Raphael Bretton Travels with My Aunt – Art Direction: John Box, Robert W. Laing and Gil Parrondo Young Winston – Art Direction: Donald M. Ashton, Geoffrey Drake, John Graysmark and William Hutchinson; Set Decoration: Peter James	Cabaret – Geoffrey Unsworth 1776 – Harry Stradling, Jr. Butterflies Are Free – Charles Lang The Poseidon Adventure – Harold E. Stine Travels with My Aunt – Douglas Slocombe
Best Film Editing
Cabaret – David Bretherton Deliverance – Tom Priestley The Godfather – William H. Reynolds and Peter Zinner The Hot Rock – Fred W. Berger and Frank P. Keller The Poseidon Adventure – Harold F. Kress

Honorary Academy Awards

Academy Honorary Award

• Charles S. Boren
• Edward G. Robinson

Films with multiple nominations and awards

The following 15 films received multiple nominations.

• Ten: Cabaret and The Godfather
• Eight: The Poseidon Adventure
• Five: Lady Sings the Blues
• Four: The Emigrants, Sleuth, Sounder and Travels with My Aunt
• Three: Butterflies Are Free, Deliverance and Young Winston
• Two: The Candidate, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Heartbreak Kid and Pete 'n' Tillie

^ A Does not include the one nomination received for Best Foreign Language Film the previous year

The following two films received multiple awards.

• Eight: Cabaret
• Three: The Godfather

Eligibility controversies

It was initially announced, on February 12, 1973, that The Godfather received 11 nominations, more than any other film that year. This was reduced to 10 nominations (tied with Cabaret for the most) after a new vote by the Academy's music branch, following a controversy over whether Nino Rota's score for The Godfather was eligible for the nomination it received. For the re-balloting, members of the music branch chose from six films: The Godfather and the five films that had been on the shortlist for best original dramatic score but did not get nominated. John Addison's score for Sleuth won this new vote, and thus replaced Rota's score on the official list of nominees. The controversy arose, according to Academy president Daniel Taradash, because the love theme in The Godfather had previously been used by Rota in Fortunella, an Italian movie from several years earlier.

The nominations in the category of Best Original Song were not announced in February with the rest of the nominations, reportedly because of "a mixup in balloting". It was later reported that the Academy had been considering whether Curtis Mayfield's song "Freddie's Dead" from the film Super Fly should be eligible. The song was ruled ineligible for a nomination because its lyrics were not sung in the film. (The song was released as a single with lyrics, but the version in the film was an instrumental.) Academy governor John Green was quoted as saying: "Times have changed. In the old days Hollywood made 30 or 40 musicals a year, and there were plenty of songs to choose from. Now there are hardly any, and most of the eligible songs are themes. Both the lyric and the music must be heard on the sound track to be eligible."

Presenters and performers

The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.

Presenters

Name	Role
Hank Simms	Announcer for the 45th Academy Awards
Daniel Taradash (AMPAS President)	Gave opening remarks welcoming guests to the awards ceremony
Clint Eastwood Charlton Heston	Explained the voting rules to the public
Eddie Albert Edward Albert	Presenters of the award for Best Sound
Merle Oberon	Presenter of the award for Best Visual Effects
Bea Arthur Peter Boyle	Presenters of the Short Subjects Awards
Robert Duvall Cloris Leachman	Presenters of the award for Best Supporting Actress
Elke Sommer Jack Valenti	Presenters of the award for Best Foreign Language Film
John Gavin Katharine Ross	Presenters of the award for Best Film Editing
James Coburn Diana Ross	Presenters of the award for Best Supporting Actor
Richard Walsh	Presenter of the Honorary Award to Charles S. Boren
Robert Wagner Natalie Wood	Presenters of the Documentary Awards
Marisa Berenson Michael Caine	Presenters of the award for Best Costume Design
Greer Garson Laurence Harvey	Presenters of the award for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Dyan Cannon Burt Reynolds	Presenters of the Music Awards
Candice Bergen Billy Dee Williams	Presenters of the award for Best Cinematography
Sonny & Cher	Presenters of the award for Best Original Song
Charlton Heston	Presenter of the Honorary Award to Edward G. Robinson
Frank Sinatra	Presenter of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Jack Lemmon	Presenter of the Writing Awards
Julie Andrews George Stevens	Presenters of the award for Best Director
Roger Moore Liv Ullmann	Presenters of the award for Best Actor
Sacheen Littlefeather	Declined Marlon Brando's award on his behalf
Gene Hackman Raquel Welch	Presenters of the award for Best Actress
Clint Eastwood	Presenter of the award for Best Picture
John Wayne	Introducer of the performance of "You Ought to Be in Pictures"

Performers

Name	Role	Performed
John Williams	Musical arranger Conductor	Orchestral
Angela Lansbury	Performer	"Make a Little Magic"
Michael Jackson	Performer	"Ben" from Ben
Springfield Revival	Performer	"Come Follow, Follow Me" from The Little Ark
Glen Campbell The Mike Curb Congregation	Performer	"Marmalade, Molasses & Honey" from The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
Connie Stevens	Performer	"The Morning After" from The Poseidon Adventure
Diahann Carroll	Performer	"Strange Are the Ways of Love" from The Stepmother
Academy Awards Chorus	Performers	"You Ought to Be in Pictures"

See also

• 30th Golden Globe Awards
• 1972 in film
• 15th Grammy Awards
• 24th Primetime Emmy Awards
• 25th Primetime Emmy Awards
• 26th British Academy Film Awards
• 27th Tony Awards