33rd Academy Awards
The 33rd Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1960, were held on April 17, 1961, hosted by Bob Hope at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. This was the first ceremony to be aired on ABC television, which has aired the Academy Awards ever since.
Billy Wilder's The Apartment won Best Picture, the last black-and-white film to do so until Schindler's List and The Artist at the 66th and 84th Academy Awards, respectively.
Elizabeth Taylor, who had a near-fatal bout with pneumonia a short time before the ceremony, was viewed as having received her Oscar out of sympathy rather than for her performance in Butterfield 8.
Gary Cooper was selected by the Academy Board of Governors to receive an Academy Honorary Award "for his many memorable screen performances and the international recognition he, as an individual, has gained for the motion picture industry". Cooper was too ill to attend the ceremony, though his condition was not publicly disclosed; James Stewart, a close friend of Cooper, accepted the Oscar on his behalf. Stewart's emotional speech hinted that something was seriously wrong, and the following day newspapers ran the headline, "Gary Cooper has cancer". Cooper died less than four weeks later.
Rising star Hayley Mills was selected by the Academy Board of Governors as the year's recipient of the Academy Juvenile Award for her breakthrough and acclaimed performance in Walt Disney's Pollyanna. She was the last recipient of the award; going forward, juvenile actors could officially compete in competitive categories. This was the first year a red carpet lined the walk into the theater.
Winners and nominees
Nominees were announced on February 27, 1961. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.Honorary Awards
- To Gary Cooper for his many memorable screen performances and the international recognition he, as an individual, has gained for the motion picture industry.
- To Stan Laurel for his creative pioneering in the field of cinema comedy.
- To Hayley Mills for Pollyanna, the most outstanding juvenile performance during 1960.
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
- Sol Lesser
Presenters and performers
Presenters
- Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows
- Polly Bergen and Richard Widmark
- Yul Brynner
- Kitty Carlisle and Moss Hart
- Cyd Charisse and Tony Martin
- Betty Comden and Adolph Green
- Wendell Corey and Susan Strasberg
- Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh
- Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee
- Greer Garson
- Hugh Griffith
- Audrey Hepburn
- Jim Hutton and Paula Prentiss
- Eric Johnston
- Danny Kaye
- Gina Lollobrigida
- Tina Louise and Tony Randall
- Barbara Rush and Robert Stack
- Eva Marie Saint
- Shirley Temple
- William Wyler
Performers
- The Brothers Four
- Connie Francis
- The Hi-Lo's
- Jane Morgan
- Sarah Vaughan
Multiple nominations and awards
| Nominations | Film |
| 10 | The Apartment |
| 7 | The Alamo |
| 7 | Pepe |
| 7 | Sons and Lovers |
| 6 | Spartacus |
| 5 | Elmer Gantry |
| 5 | The [Facts of Life |The Facts of Life] |
| 5 | Never on Sunday |
| 5 | The Sundowners |
| 4 | Inherit the Wind |
| 4 | Psycho |
| 4 | Sunrise at Campobello |
| 3 | Exodus |
| 2 | BUtterfield 8 |
| 2 | Can-Can |
| 2 | Cimarron |
| 2 | The Virgin Spring |
| Awards | Film |
| 5 | The Apartment |
| 4 | Spartacus |
| 3 | Elmer Gantry |