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The 64th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...
(AMPAS), honored the best films of 1991 in the United States and took place on March 30, 1992, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented
Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
(commonly referred to as Oscars) in 23 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Gil Cates and directed by Jeff Margolis. Actor Billy Crystal hosted the show for the third consecutive year. Three weeks earlier, in a ceremony held at the
Century Plaza Hotel The Fairmont Century Plaza is a landmark 19-story luxury hotel in Los Angeles. Located in Century City, the hotel forms a sweeping crescent design fronting the Avenue of the Stars, adjacent to the twin Century Plaza Towers and the 2000 Avenue o ...
in Los Angeles on March 7, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host
Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...
. '' The Silence of the Lambs'' won five awards, including Best Picture. Other winners included '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' with four awards, ''
Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...
'', ''
Bugsy ''Bugsy'' is a 1991 American biographical crime drama film chronicling the life of American mobster Bugsy Siegel and his relationship with Virginia Hill. It is directed by Barry Levinson, written by James Toback, and stars Warren Beatty as Siegel ...
'', and '' JFK'' with two, and '' City Slickers'', '' Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment'', '' The Fisher King'', ''
In the Shadow of the Stars ''In the Shadow of the Stars'' is a 1991 American documentary film about the San Francisco Opera by the husband-and-wife team of Irving Saraf and Allie Light as it depicts the lives of the various members of the chorus, rather than the big name ...
'', '' Manipulation'', ''
Mediterraneo ''Mediterraneo'' is a 1991 Italian war comedy-drama film directed by Gabriele Salvatores and written by Enzo Monteleone. The film is set during World War II and concerns a group of Italian soldiers who become stranded on a Greek island in the ...
'', '' Session Man'', and '' Thelma & Louise'' with one. The telecast garnered more than 44 million viewers in the United States.


Winners and nominees

The nominees for the 64th Academy Awards were announced on February 19, 1992, at 5:38 a.m. PST (13:38 UTC) at the
Samuel Goldwyn Theater The Samuel Goldwyn Theatre is a screening-only movie theater named after filmmaker Samuel Goldwyn. It is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, California, at headquarters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). ...
in
Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...
, by
Karl Malden Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009) was an American actor. He was primarily a character actor, who according to Robert Berkvist, "for more than 60 years brought an intelligent intensity and a homespun aut ...
, president of the Academy, and the actress
Kathleen Turner Mary Kathleen Turner (born June 19, 1954) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, and two Tony Awards. Turner became widely ...
. ''
Bugsy ''Bugsy'' is a 1991 American biographical crime drama film chronicling the life of American mobster Bugsy Siegel and his relationship with Virginia Hill. It is directed by Barry Levinson, written by James Toback, and stars Warren Beatty as Siegel ...
'' led all nominees with ten nominations; '' JFK'' came in second with eight. The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on March 30, 1992. '' The Silence of the Lambs'' became the first horror film to win Best Picture and the first film to be released on home video prior to winning that award. Moreover, it was the third film to win the " Big Five" major categories for picture, directing, lead acting performances, and screenwriting. The other two films to achieve this feat were 1934's ''
It Happened One Night ''It Happened One Night'' is a 1934 pre-Code American romantic comedy film with elements of screwball comedy directed and co-produced by Frank Capra, in collaboration with Harry Cohn, in which a pampered socialite ( Claudette Colbert) tr ...
'' and 1975's ''
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest may refer to: * ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Ken Kesey * ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (play), a 1963 stage adaptation of the novel starring Kirk Douglas * ''One Flew Over the ...
''. ''
Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...
'' became the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture. '' Toy Story 3'' and '' Up'' are the only two other animated films ever nominated for Best Picture. By virtue of her second win for Best Actress,
Jodie Foster Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and the hono ...
, at age 28 became the youngest person to win two Oscars. ''
Boyz n the Hood ''Boyz n the Hood'' is a 1991 American coming-of-age hood drama film written and directed by John Singleton in his feature directorial debut. It stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut, Ice Cube, Laurence Fishburne, Nia Long, Regina King, and An ...
s
John Singleton John Daniel Singleton (January 6, 1968 April 28, 2019) was an American director, screenwriter, and producer. He made his feature film debut writing and directing ''Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for B ...
became the first African-American to be nominated for Best Director and the youngest nominee in that category. Nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress, respectively,
Diane Ladd Diane Ladd is an American actress. She has appeared in over 120 film and television roles. For the 1974 film ''Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'', she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and was nominated for the Academy A ...
and
Laura Dern Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, and five Golden Globe Awards. Born to actor Bruce Dern and act ...
became the first mother and daughter nominated in the same year.


Awards

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with double dagger ().


Academy Honorary Award

*
Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of ...


Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

*
George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the '' Star Wars'' and '' Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as c ...


Films with multiple nominations and awards

The following 16 films had multiple nominations: The following five films received multiple awards:


Presenters and performers

The following individuals presented awards or performed musical numbers:


Presenters (in order of appearance)


Performers (in order of appearance)


Ceremony information

Riding on the success of 63rd Academy Awards which won several Emmys, AMPAS rehired Gil Cates for the third consecutive year. He christened the 1992 ceremony with the theme "Pure Joy of the Movies" explaining that "Motion pictures provide us with laughter, romance, adventure and a deeper understanding of ourselves. With all the extraordinary events that are taking place today, it's wonderful that we can still get away to see a film." A month before the festivities, Cates recruited actor and comedian Billy Crystal to host the ceremony for the third straight year. According to ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' columnist Army Archerd, Crystal planned to perform a bungee jump stunt as part of his entrance at the beginning of the ceremony. However, the act was scrapped due to high insurance costs for the Academy and Crystal coming down with the flu. Instead, Crystal, who was wearing Hannibal Lecter's mask from '' The Silence of the Lambs'', was hauled onto the stage by two men. Several other people were involved in the production of the ceremony. Choreographer
Debbie Allen Deborah Kaye Allen (born January 16, 1950) is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, singer-songwriter, director, producer, and a former member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She has been nominated 20 times for an ...
supervised the Best Song nominee performances and the Best Original Score dance number. Film composer and musician
Bill Conti William Conti (born April 13, 1942) is an American composer and conductor, best known for his film scores, including ''Rocky'' (and four of its sequels), ''The Karate Kid'' (and all of its sequels), '' For Your Eyes Only'', ''Dynasty'' (and its ...
served as musical director of the ceremony. In tandem with the theme of the ceremony, Chuck Workman produced a montage highlighting famous movie scenes from past and present.


Box office performance of nominees

At the time of the nominations announcement on February 19, the combined gross of the five Best Picture nominees at the US box office was $393 million with an average of $78.7 million per film. ''The Silence of the Lambs'' was the highest earner among the Best Picture nominees with $130.7 million in domestic box office receipts. The film was followed by ''Beauty and the Beast'' ($106.6 million), ''The Prince of Tides'' ($59.3 million), ''JFK'' ($58.1 million), and finally ''Bugsy'' ($38.9 million). Of the 50 top-grossing movies of the year, 72 nominations went to 15 of them. Only ''Silence of the Lambs'' (3rd), ''Beauty and the Beast'' (6th), ''Cape Fear'' (10th), ''The Prince of Tides'' (18th), ''JFK'' (21st), ''Boyz n the Hood'' (22nd), ''Thelma and Louise'' (27th), ''The Fisher King'' (30th), and ''Bugsy'' (32nd) were nominated for Best Picture, directing, acting, or screenwriting. The other top 50 box office hits that earned nominations were ''Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' (1st), ''Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'' (2nd), ''Hook'' (5th), ''The Addams Family'' (7th), ''Backdraft'' (12th), and ''Star Trek VI: the Undiscovery Country'' (13th).


LGBT in film protest

Several days before the ceremony,
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...
activist groups such as Queer Nation and Out in Film announced plans to stage a protest outside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The organizations were voicing their complaints regarding derogatory and unflattering portrayals of homosexuals in film such as ''The Silence of the Lambs'', ''JFK'', and the upcoming film '' Basic Instinct''. Queer Nation spokesman Rick Wilson said that the demonstrators "would stop cars from getting to the Oscars. It'll be a stall-in". Wilson also announced plans to disrupt the proceedings inside the theater. In response, producer Gil Cates stated, "Anyone can protest about anything they want outside the show." But he said that the standard, "generic response" to something happening during the ceremony on camera, "would be to cut to a commercial." Moreover, Academy spokesman Bob Werden reiterated that while security plans would not be as stringent as the previous year, firemen and police officers would be on hand in case of fallout from the protests. On the day of the telecast, several protesters carried various signs that contained statements such as "Stop Hollywood's Homophobia" and "Hollywood Stop Censoring Our True Queer Lives." One man who had purchased tickets to the ceremony yelled statistics regarding
AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...
in protest as John Candy was introducing a Best Song performance. The protester was immediately escorted out by security without any arrests, nor were his remarks heard during the broadcast.


Critical reviews

The show received a positive reception from most media publications. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' film critic
Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...
raved that the telecast was "uncharacteristically lively". She also praised host Crystal saying that his opening monologue "set the evening's clever and iconoclastic tone." Columnist Scott Williams of the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...
wrote that "Crystal was charming from the moment he was wheeled onstage and strolled into the audience wearing the face mask of the demonic Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter from ''The Silence of the Lambs,'' which was named best picture." Ray Richmond from the ''
Orange County Register ''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digital Fiest/Media News subsidiaries. ...
'' commented that Crystal "is such a magnificent Oscar host that the job should be his as long as he wants it."


Ratings and reception

The American telecast on ABC drew in an average of 44.44 million people over its length, which was a 5% increase from the previous year's ceremony. The show also drew higher
Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
compared to the previous ceremony with 29.84% of households watching over a 50.26 share. In addition, it also drew a higher 18–49 demo rating with a 20.71 rating over a 39.51 share among viewers in that demographic. In July 1992, the ceremony presentation received nine nominations at the 44th Primetime Emmys. The following month, the ceremony won three of those nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Program ( Hal Kanter, Buz Kohan, Billy Crystal, Marc Shaiman, David Steinberg,
Robert Wuhl Robert Wuhl (born October 9, 1951) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television comedy series '' Arliss'' (1996–2002) and for his portrayal of newspaper reporter Alexander Knox in Tim B ...
, Bruce Vilanch), Outstanding Music Direction (
Bill Conti William Conti (born April 13, 1942) is an American composer and conductor, best known for his film scores, including ''Rocky'' (and four of its sequels), ''The Karate Kid'' (and all of its sequels), '' For Your Eyes Only'', ''Dynasty'' (and its ...
, Jack Eskew,
Julie Giroux Julie Ann Giroux (born December 12, 1961 in Fairhaven, Massachusetts) is an American pianist and composer of orchestral, choral, chamber, and numerous concert band works. Biography Giroux graduated from Ouachita Parish High School, in Mon ...
, Ashley Irwin,
Hummie Mann Hummie Mann (born October 29, 1955) is a Canadian-born American film score composer. His credits include the Mel Brooks films '' Robin Hood: Men in Tights'' and '' Dracula: Dead and Loving It''. Mann was awarded an Emmy for arranging Billy Crys ...
), and Outstanding Costume Design for a Variety or Music Program (Raymond Aghayan).


See also

* 12th Golden Raspberry Awards *
34th Grammy Awards The 34th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1992, recognizing accomplishments by musicians from the previous year (1991). Natalie Cole won the most awards (three), including Album of the Year. Paul Simon opened the show. Performers ...
*
44th Primetime Emmy Awards The 44th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, August 30, 1992. The ceremony was broadcast on Fox from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. It was hosted by Tim Allen, Kirstie Alley and Dennis Miller, and directed by ...
* 45th British Academy Film Awards *
46th Tony Awards The 46th Annual Tony Awards was broadcast by CBS from the Gershwin Theatre on May 31, 1992. The host was Glenn Close. The ceremony Presenters: * Alan Alda * Alec Baldwin * Carol Channing * Kirk Douglas * Michael Douglas * Richard Dreyfuss * Dais ...
*
49th Golden Globe Awards The 49th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 1991, were held on January 18, 1992 at the Beverly Hilton. The nominations were announced on December 27, 1991. Winners and nominees Film The followi ...
* List of submissions to the 64th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film * 1991 in film


References


Bibliography

* *


External links

;Official websites
Academy Awards Official website

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Official website
;Analysis

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Academy Awards, USA: 1992
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;Other resources * {{DEFAULTSORT:Academy Awards, 64th 1991 film awards 1992 in the United States Academy Awards ceremonies 1992 in Los Angeles 1992 in American cinema March 1992 events in the United States
Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...
Television shows directed by Jeff Margolis