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The 32nd Academy Awards honored film achievements of 1959 on 4 April 1960.

MGM's (producer Sam Zimbalist) and director William Wyler's three and a half-hour long epic drama Ben-Hur (with a spectacular sea battle and eleven minute chariot race choreographed by Yakima Canutt) broke the previous year's all-time record of Gigi (1958). It was the most-honored motion picture in Academy Awards history up to that time and for many years - until 1997, with its record-breaking eleven Oscars from twelve nominations. And it was the most expensive film of its time, budgeted at $15 million.

Ben-Hur was a re-make of MGM's own 1926 silent film of the same name. Both films were based on or inspired by General Lew Wallace's novel (first published in 1880) about the rise of Christianity.

Winners and Nominees

Best Picture

Ben-Hur

• Anatomy of a Murder
• Room at the Top
• The Diary of Anne Frank
• The Nun's Story

Best Director

Ben-Hur - William Wyler

• Room at the Top - Jack Clayton
• Some Like It Hot - Billy Wilder
• The Diary of Anne Frank - George Stevens
• The Nun's Story - Fred Zinnemann

Best Actor

Ben-Hur - Charlton Heston

• Anatomy of a Murder - James Stewart
• Room at the Top - Laurence Harvey
• Some Like It Hot - Jack Lemmon
• The Last Angry Man - Paul Muni

Best Actress

Room at the Top - Simone Signoret

• Pillow Talk - Doris Day
• Suddenly, Last Summer - Katharine Hepburn
• Suddenly, Last Summer - Elizabeth Taylor
• The Nun's Story - Audrey Hepburn

Best Supporting Actor

Ben-Hur - Hugh Griffith

• Anatomy of a Murder - Arthur O'Connell
• Anatomy of a Murder - George C. Scott
• The Diary of Anne Frank - Ed Wynn
• The Young Philadelphians - Robert Vaughn

Best Supporting Actress

The Diary of Anne Frank - Shelley Winters

• Imitation of Life - Susan Kohner
• Imitation of Life - Juanita Moore
• Pillow Talk - Thelma Ritter
• Room at the Top - Hermione Baddeley

Best Original Screenplay

Pillow Talk - Russell Rouse , Clarence Greene , Stanley Shapiro and Maurice Richlin

• North by Northwest - Ernest Lehman
• The 400 Blows - Francois Truffaut and Marcel Moussy
• Operation Petticoat - Paul King , Joseph Stone , Stanley Shapiro and Maurice Richlin
• Wild Strawberries - Ingmar Bergman

Best Adapted Screenplay

Room at the Top - Neil Paterson

• Anatomy of a Murder - Wendell Mayes
• Ben-Hur - Karl Tunberg
• Some Like It Hot - Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond
• The Nun's Story - Robert Anderson

Best Cinematography, Color

Ben-Hur

• Porgy and Bess
• The Big Fisherman
• The Five Pennies
• The Nun's Story

Best Cinematography, Black & White

The Diary of Anne Frank

• Anatomy of a Murder
• Career
• Some Like It Hot
• The Young Philadelphians

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black & White

The Diary of Anne Frank

• Career
• Some Like It Hot
• Suddenly, Last Summer
• The Last Angry Man

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color

Ben-Hur

• Journey to the Center of the Earth
• North by Northwest
• Pillow Talk
• The Big Fisherman

Best Costume Design, Black & White

Some Like It Hot

• Career
• The Diary of Anne Frank
• The Gazebo
• The Young Philadelphians

Best Costume Design, Color

Ben-Hur

• Porgy and Bess
• The Best of Everything
• The Big Fisherman
• The Five Pennies

Best Sound

Ben-Hur

• Journey to the Center of the Earth
• Libel
• Porgy and Bess
• The Nun's Story

Best Film Editing

Ben-Hur

• Anatomy of a Murder
• North by Northwest
• On the Beach
• The Nun's Story

Best Effects, Special Effects

Ben-Hur

• Journey to the Center of the Earth

Best Music, Original Song

A Hole in the Head - Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn for the song High Hopes

• The Best of Everything - The Best of Everything
• The Five Pennies - The Five Pennies
• The Hanging Tree - The Hanging Tree
• The Young Land - Strange Are The Ways of Love

Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture

Porgy and Bess

• L'il Abner
• Say One For Me
• Sleeping Beauty
• The Five Pennies'

Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture

Ben-Hur

• On the Beach
• Pillow Talk
• The Diary of Anne Frank
• The Nun's Story

Best Short Subject, Live Action Subjects

The Golden Fish

Best Short Subject, Cartoon

Moonbird

Best Documentary, Short Subjects

Glas

Best Documentary, Features

Serengeti

Best Foreign Language Film

Orfeu Negro - France

• Die Brucke - Germany
• Dorp aan de rivier - Netherlands
• La grande guerra - Italy
• Paw - Denmark

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

Bob Hope

Honorary Oscar

An Honorary Oscar was awarded to Buster Keaton, for what was described as "his unique talents which brought immortal comedies to the screen", such as Sherlock, Jr. (1924), The Navigator (1924), The General (1927), Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), and The Cameraman (1928).