54th Academy Awards

[Kandy Swartzel]

The54th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1981 and took place on March 29, 1982, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 22 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Howard W. Koch and directed by Marty Pasetta.[3] Comedian and talk show host Johnny Carson hosted the show for the fourth consecutive time.

The nominees for the 54th Academy Awards were announced on February 11, 1982, by Academy president Fay Kanin and actor Lloyd Bridges.[5] Reds earned the most nominations with twelve; On Golden Pond came in second with ten.[6] The winners were announced at the awards ceremony on March 29.

Best Director winner Warren Beatty became the first person to earn acting, directing, producing, and screenwriting nominations for the same film for the second time. He previously earned nominations in the same categories for 1978's Heaven Can Wait.[7][8] On Golden Pond was the fifth film to win both lead acting awards.[9] Best Actress winner Katharine Hepburn became the first and only performer to win four competitive acting Oscars.[10] Furthermore, the 48-year span between her first win for 1933's Morning Glory and her last win for On Golden Pond set the record for the longest span between first and last career Oscar wins.[11]

In November 1981, the Academy hired film director, screenwriter, and producer Melvin Frank to produce the telecast for the first time. "The Academy is fortunate that Melvin Frank has agreed to make himself available for our show," said AMPAS President Fay Kanin in a press release announcing the selection. "He joins a distinguished list of producers who have consistently made the Academy Awards the entertainment highlight of the year."[20] Two months later, it was announced that comedian and The Tonight Show host Johnny Carson would preside over emceeing duties for the 1982 ceremony.[21] In February 1982, Howard W. Koch took over producing duties after Frank had been hospitalized for complications stemming from a virus.[1] Koch stated that all artistic contributions made by Frank would remain during the production of the festivities.[22]

Beginning with this ceremony, AMPAS introduced a new competitive award that would honor achievement in makeup.[23] According to Academy executive administrator John Pavlik, the category would be presented if a special committee composed of makeup artists, hairstylists, cinematographers, and other related craftspeople determined that at least one film was deemed worthy of such awards. Members would be able to nominate up to five films, and the committee would review the seven films receiving the most votes to select up to three nominees.[24] Prior to the introduction of this category, 1964's 7 Faces of Dr. Lao and 1968's Planet of the Apes were given special honorary awards.[25]

St. Petersburg Times film critic Thomas Sabulis wrote, "The Academy Awards show was a reasonably good television product. The acceptance speeches were thankfully brief and concise."[26] Columnist Janet Maslin of The New York Times remarked, "Thanks largely to the fancifulness of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' voters, Monday night's Oscar presentation was the most exciting in recent years. When the awards show itself is something less than swift or glamorous, which was certainly the case this year, it can still come to life if the voting takes a sufficiently strange turn."[19] The Atlanta Constitution critic Scott Cain commented, "The academy has steadily increased the amount of showpieces. These musical numbers worked splendidly this year and the program was relatively painless at 3.5 hours in length."[27]

Harold Schindler of The Salt Lake Tribune called the ceremony "a three-and-a-half-hour marathon which sparkled in spots, sputtered in others, and featured some of the most uneven casting in the program's history."[28] Austin American-Statesman film critic Patrick Taggart quipped, "Whether or not the awards will be taken more seriously in the future, the ceremony last Monday night certainly had the dreariness one associates with serious events."[29] The Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Desmond Ryan commented that due to many winners being absent from the festivities, "An already dull evening lapsed into long stretches of tedium."[30]

The American telecast on ABC drew in an average of 46.2 million people over the length of the entire ceremony.[31] Moreover, the show drew higher Nielsen ratings compared to the previous ceremony, with 33.6% of households watching with a 53% share.[32]

A total of 78 awards were presented following the Academy's decision to restructure the Grammy Award categories. Paul McCartney received the MusiCares Person of the Year award on February 10, 2012, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, two nights prior to the Grammy telecast.[8]

On February 8, 2012, the Academy announced that the 54th Grammy Pre-Telecast Ceremony would stream live internationally. The ceremony took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center and was streamed live in its entirety internationally at Grammy's official website and CBS Television Network. The ceremony was co-hosted by Dave Koz and MC Lyte. A total of 68 awards were presented in the Pre-Telecast ceremony.[9] The official poster was designed by Architect Frank Gehry.[10]

The day before the ceremony, Whitney Houston died in Los Angeles, and the show's producers quickly planned a tribute in the form of Jennifer Hudson singing Houston's "I Will Always Love You".[11] The awards show began with a Bruce Springsteen performance followed by an LL Cool J prayer for Whitney Houston. Adele won all of her six nominations, equalling the record for most wins by a female artist in one night, first held by Beyonc.[7][12] Adele became only the second artist in history, following Christopher Cross in 1981, to have won all four of the general field (Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year) awards throughout her career.[13] Foo Fighters and Kanye West followed with five and four awards, respectively.[7][14] With his win for Best Musical Theater Album (for The Book of Mormon: Original Broadway Cast Recording), producer Scott Rudin became the 11th person to become an EGOT winner.[15]

The anticipation for the show's tributes to the late Whitney Houston greatly helped increased the ratings for the 54th Grammy Awards, which became the second highest in its history with 39.9 million viewers (trailing only behind the 1984 Grammys with 51.67 million viewers). The rating was 50% higher than in 2011.[16] This remains the highest-rated Grammy telecast on 21st-century U.S. television.

Amy Winehouse, Nick Ashford, Phoebe Snow, Jerry Leiber, Steve Jobs, Heavy D, Sylvia Robinson, Nate Dogg, M-Bone, Jimmy Castor, George Shearing, Roger Williams, Ray Bryant, Gil Cates, Fred Steiner, Dobie Gray, Ferlin Husky, Larry Butler, Wilma Lee Cooper, Harley Allen, Liz Anderson, Charlie Craig, Barbara Orbison, Frank DiLeo, Steve Popovich, Tal Herzberg, Bruce Jackson, Johnny Otis, Benny Spellman, Don DeVito, Roger Nichols, Stan Ross, Joe Arroyo, Facundo Cabral, Marv Tarplin, Esther Gordy Edwards, Carl Gardner, Cornell Dupree, Jerry Ragovoy, Gene McDaniels, Joe Morello, Gil Bernal, Frank Foster, Ralph MacDonald, Leonard Dillon, Clare Fischer, Bert Jansch, Andrew Gold, Bill Morrissey, Warren Hellman, Hazel Dickens, Gary Moore, Gerard Smith, Doyle Bramhall, Pinetop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Camilla Williams, Milton Babbitt, David Mason, Andy Kazdin, Alex Steinweiss, Bill Johnson, Jessy Dixon, Don Butler, Clarence Clemons and Whitney Houston.

I don't wanna read too much into these things but all his quotes really feel like turning 90 has done a number on him, in terms of reprioritizing everything about his life and career. He doesn't have six months to spare for your dumb movie, he can't afford to waste a day for the ol Oscar show. He's on Johnny Time now.

The oscars are a farce. Who gives a damn sh.t? Invitations from the leading orchestras are much more important than all this academy awards bs. I doubt the Oppenheimer composer will ever conduct the Berlin Philharmonic (does he even conduct himself?).

Actually yes, after I saw that Variety article ... they could have honoured, for one last time before it's over, traditional Hollywood craftsmanship at the very least, and the oldest ever nominated personality. (if that is true?) I tried to forget about the hype around freshness, youth, and Oscar sweepers to believe in it...

I adored the Japanese folk, honestly and quite sympathetically accepting a trophy for Godzilla and the surprising but well-deserved nod to Miyazaki. (a Williams situation right there) ... and we even watched these two fine movies with our daughter at the earliest screenings possible here in Austria.

Only to a certain extent. It is of course highly relevant for a *music* award. But 1) a score doesn't have to be the best music (or even good music) when divorced from the film to be the best at supporting its picture.

And 2) Philip Glass has never conducted the Berlin Philharmonic, and he doesn't conduct himself either, and yet he's rightfully considered one of the greats - and now I'm talking about music in general, not just film music. So even for that these things are not required.

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