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The telecast of the 31st Academy Awards is among the most infamous. The show’s producer Jerry Wald started cutting numbers from the show to make sure it ran on time. Unfortunately, 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 Gone With the Wind's record of eight. It only lasted for one year, however, as Ben-Hur broke the record with eleven Oscars the following year.

Two notable omissions from the Best Picture nominees included Orson Welles' film noir Touch of Evil and Alfred Hitchcock's romantic mystery Vertigo.

Awards

Best Picture

Gigi

• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
• Auntie Mame
• Separate Tables
• The Defiant Ones

Best Director

Gigi - Vincente Minnelli

• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Richard Brooks
• I Want to Live! - Robert Wise
• The Defiant Ones - Stanley Kramer
• The Inn of the Sixth Happiness - Mark Robson

Best Actor

Separate Tables - David Niven

• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Paul Newman
• The Defiant Ones - Tony Curtis
• The Defiant Ones - Sidney Poitier
• The Old Man and the Sea - Spencer Tracy

Best Actress

I Want to Live! - Susan Hayward

• Auntie Mame - Rosalind Russell
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Elizabeth Taylor
• Separate Tables - Deborah Kerr
• Some Came Running - Shirley MacLaine

Best Supporting Actor

The Big Country - Burl Ives

• Some Came Running - Arthur Kennedy
• Teacher's Pet - Gig Young
• The Brothers Karamazov - Lee J. Cobb
• The Defiant Ones - Theodore Bikel

Best Supporting Actress

Separate Tables - Wendy Hiller

• Auntie Mame - Peggy Cass
• Lonelyhearts - Maureen Stapleton
• Some Came Running - Martha Hyer
• The Defiant Ones - Cara Williams

Best Original Screenplay

The Defiant Ones - Nedrick Young and Harold Jacob Smith

• Houseboat - Melville Shavelson and Jack Rose
• Teacher's Pet - Fay Kanin and Michael Kanin
• The Goddess - Paddy Chayefsky
• The Sheepman - William Bowers and James Edward Grant

Best Adapted Screenplay

Gigi - Alan Jay Lerner

• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Richard Brooks and James Poe
• I Want to Live! - Don Mankiewicz and Nelson Gidding
• Separate Tables - John Gay and Terence Rattigan
• The Horse's Mouth - Alec Guinness

Best Cinematography, Color

Gigi

• Auntie Mame
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
• South Pacific
• The Old Man and the Sea

Best Cinematography, Black & White

The Defiant Ones

• Desire Under the Elms
• I Want to Live!
• Separate Tables
• The Young Lions

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black & White or Color

Gigi

• A Certain Smile
• Auntie Mame
• Bell Book and Candle
• Vertigo

Best Costume Design, Black & White or Color

Gigi

• A Certain Smile
• Bell Book and Candle
• Some Came Running
• The Buccaneer

Best Sound

South Pacific

• A Time to Love and a Time to Die
• I Want to Live!
• The Young Lions
• Vertigo

Best Film Editing

Gigi

• Auntie Mame
• Cowboy
• I Want to Live!
• The Defiant Ones

Best Effects, Special Effects

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• Torpedo Run

Best Music, Original Song

Gigi - Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe for the song Gigi

• A Certain Smile - A Certain Smile
• Houseboat - Almost In Your Arms (Love Song from Houseboat)
• Marjorie Morningstar - A Very Precious Love
• Some Came Running - To Love and Be Loved

Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture

Gigi

• Damn Yankees!
• Mardi Gras
• South Pacific
• The Bolshoi Ballet

Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture

The Old Man and the Sea

• Separate Tables
• The Big Country
• The Young Lions
• White Wilderness

Best Short Subject, Live Action Subjects

Grand Canyon

Best Short Subject, Cartoons

Knighty Knight Bugs

Best Documentary, Short Subjects

Ama Girls

Best Documentary, Features

White Wilderness

Best Foreign Language Film

Mon oncle - France

• Helden - Germany
• I soliti ignoti - Italy
• La strada lunga un anno - Yugoslavia
• La venganza - Spain

Honorary Award

Maurice Chevalier

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

Jack L. Warner