The 27th Academy Awards were held on March 30, 1955 to honor the best films of 1954, hosted by Bob Hope at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood with Thelma Ritter hosting from the NBC Century Theatre in New York City.
On the Waterfront led the ceremony with twelve nominations and eight wins, including Best Picture. Its total wins tied the record of Gone with the Wind (1939) and From Here to Eternity (1953), though those each had thirteen nominations. It was the third film to receive five acting nominations, and the first to receive three in the Best Supporting Actor category. A "rematch" occurred in the category of Best Actor between Marlon Brando and Humphrey Bogart following Bogart's upset victory three years earlier. In an upset (Bing Crosby was the favored nominee), Brando won, now seen as one of the greatest Best Actor wins in Oscar history.[1] This was Brando's fourth consecutive nomination for Best Actor (starting with A Streetcar Named Desire in 1951), a record that remains unmatched to this day.
In an even bigger upset, Grace Kelly won Best Actress for The Country Girl over Judy Garland, who was heavily favored to win for A Star Is Born.[2] Garland could not attend the ceremony, having recently given birth to her third child; cameramen were present in her home so she could give an acceptance speech, only to awkwardly leave when Kelly was announced as the winner. Groucho Marx later sent her a telegram expressing that her loss was "the biggest robbery since Brink's".[3]
Dorothy Dandridge became the first African American actress to receive a nomination for Best Actress.
Nominees were announced on February 12, 1955. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.[4]
