38th Academy Awards


The 38th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1965, were held on April 18, 1966, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. They were hosted by Bob Hope, and were the first Oscars to be broadcast live in color. Lynda Bird Johnson, daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson, attended the ceremony, escorted by actor George Hamilton.
The most successful films of the year were The Sound of Music and Doctor Zhivago, each with ten nominations and five wins, with the former winning Best Picture. Both films are in the top 10 inflation-adjusted commercially successful films ever made, and both would go on to appear on the American Film Institute list of the greatest American films of the twentieth century.
The Sound of Music was the first Best Picture winner without a screenwriting nomination since Hamlet, and would be the last until Titanic at the 70th Academy Awards. Othello became the third film to receive four acting nominations without one for Best Picture. William Wyler received the last of his record twelve Best Director nominations for The Collector.

Awards

Nominees were announced on February 21, 1966. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.
The Sound of Music – Robert Wise, producer
Robert Wise – The Sound of Music
  • * William Wyler – The Collector
  • * John Schlesinger – Darling
  • * David Lean – Doctor Zhivago
  • * Hiroshi Teshigahara – Woman in the Dunes
  • Lee Marvin – Cat Ballou as Kid Shelleen / Tim Strawn
  • * Richard Burton – The Spy Who Came In from the Cold as Alec Leamas
  • * Laurence Olivier – Othello as Othello
  • * Rod Steiger – The Pawnbroker as Sol Nazerman
  • * Oskar Werner – Ship of Fools as Dr. Wilhelm "Willi" Schumann
  • Julie Christie – Darling as Diana Scott
  • * Julie Andrews – The Sound of Music as Maria von Trapp
  • * Samantha Eggar – The Collector as Miranda Grey
  • * Elizabeth Hartman – A Patch of Blue as Selina D'Arcey
  • * Simone Signoret – Ship of Fools as La Condesa
  • Martin Balsam – A Thousand Clowns as Arnold Burns
  • * Ian Bannen – The Flight of the Phoenix as "Ratbags" Crow
  • * Tom Courtenay – Doctor Zhivago as Pavel "Pasha" Antipov
  • * Michael Dunn – Ship of Fools as Carl Glocken
  • * Frank Finlay – Othello as Iago
  • Shelley Winters – A Patch of Blue as Rose-Ann D'Arcey
  • * Ruth Gordon – Inside Daisy Clover as Lucile Clover
  • * Joyce Redman – Othello as Emilia
  • * Maggie Smith – Othello as Desdemona
  • * Peggy Wood – The Sound of Music as the Mother Abbess
  • Darling – Frederic Raphael
  • * Casanova 70 – Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli, Mario Monicelli, Tonino Guerra, Giorgio Salvioni and Suso Cecchi d'Amico
  • * Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines – Jack Davies and Ken Annakin
  • * The Train – Franklin Coen and Frank Davis
  • * The Umbrellas of Cherbourg – Jacques Demy
  • Doctor Zhivago – Robert Bolt from Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
  • * Cat Ballou – Walter Newman and Frank Pierson from The Ballad of Cat Ballou by Roy Chanslor
  • * The Collector – Stanley Mann and John Kohn from The Collector by John Fowles
  • * Ship of Fools – Abby Mann from Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter
  • * A Thousand Clowns – Herb Gardner from A Thousand Clowns by Herb Gardner
  • The Shop on Main Street
  • * Blood on the Land
  • * Dear John
  • * Kwaidan
  • * Marriage Italian Style
  • The Eleanor Roosevelt Story
  • * The Battle of the Bulge... The Brave Rifles
  • * The Forth Road Bridge
  • * Let My People Go: The Story of Israel
  • * To Die in Madrid
  • To Be Alive!
  • * Mural on Our Street
  • * Nyitany
  • * Point of View
  • * Yeats Country
  • The Chicken – Claude Berri
  • * Fortress of Peace – Lothar Wolff
  • * Skaterdater
  • * Snow
  • * Time Piece – Jim Henson
  • The Dot and the Line
  • * Clay or the Origin of Species
  • * The Thieving Magpie
  • Doctor Zhivago – Maurice Jarre
  • * The Agony and the Ecstasy – Alex North
  • * The Greatest Story Ever Told – Alfred Newman
  • * A Patch of Blue – Jerry Goldsmith
  • * The Umbrellas of Cherbourg – Michel Legrand and Jacques Demy
  • The Sound of Music – Irwin Kostal
  • * Cat Ballou – Frank De Vol
  • * The Pleasure Seekers – Lionel Newman and Alexander Courage
  • * A Thousand Clowns – Don Walker
  • * The Umbrellas of Cherbourg – Michel Legrand
  • "The Shadow of Your Smile" from The Sandpiper – Music by Johnny Mandel; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
  • * "The Ballad of Cat Ballou" from Cat Ballou – Music by Jerry Livingston; Lyrics by Mack David
  • * "I Will Wait for You" from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg – Music by Michel Legrand; Lyrics by Jacques Demy
  • * "The Sweetheart Tree" from The Great Race – Music by Henry Mancini; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
  • * "What's New Pussycat?" from What's New Pussycat? – Music by Burt Bacharach; Lyrics by Hal David
  • The Great Race – Treg Brown
  • * Von Ryan's Express – Walter Rossi
  • The Sound of Music – James Corcoran and Fred Hynes
  • * The Agony and the Ecstasy – James Corcoran
  • * Doctor Zhivago – A. W. Watkins and Franklin Milton
  • * The Great Race – George Groves
  • * Shenandoah – Waldon O. Watson
  • Ship of Fools – Art Direction: Robert Clatworthy; Set Decoration: Joseph Kish
  • * King Rat – Art Direction: Robert Emmet Smith; Set Decoration: Frank Tuttle
  • * A Patch of Blue – Art Direction: George Davis and Urie McCleary; Set Decoration: Henry Grace and Charles S. Thompson
  • * The Slender Thread – Art Direction: Hal Pereira and Jack Poplin; Set Decoration: Robert R. Benton and Joseph Kish
  • * The Spy Who Came In from the Cold – Art Direction: Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen and Ted Marshall; Set Decoration: Josie MacAvin
  • Doctor Zhivago – Art Direction: John Box and Terence Marsh; Set Decoration: Dario Simoni
  • * The Agony and the Ecstasy – Art Direction: John DeCuir and Jack Martin Smith; Set Decoration: Dario Simoni
  • * The Greatest Story Ever Told – Art Direction: Richard Day, William J. Creber and David S. Hall ; Set Decoration: Ray Moyer, Fred M. MacLean and Norman Rockett
  • * Inside Daisy Clover – Art Direction: Robert Clatworthy; Set Decoration: George James Hopkins
  • * The Sound of Music – Art Direction: Boris Leven; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott and Ruby Levitt
  • Ship of Fools – Ernest Laszlo
  • * In Harm's Way – Loyal Griggs
  • * King Rat – Burnett Guffey
  • * Morituri – Conrad Hall
  • * A Patch of Blue – Robert Burks
  • Doctor Zhivago – Freddie Young
  • * The Agony and the Ecstasy – Leon Shamroy
  • * The Great Race – Russell Harlan
  • * The Greatest Story Ever Told – William C. Mellor and Loyal Griggs
  • * The Sound of Music – Ted D. McCord
  • Darling – Julie Harris
  • * Morituri – Moss Mabry
  • * A Rage to Live – Howard Shoup
  • * Ship of Fools – Jean Louis and Bill Thomas
  • * The Slender Thread – Edith Head
  • Doctor Zhivago – Phyllis Dalton
  • * The Agony and the Ecstasy – Vittorio Nino Novarese
  • * The Greatest Story Ever Told – Marjorie Best and Vittorio Nino Novarese
  • * Inside Daisy Clover – Edith Head and Bill Thomas
  • * The Sound of Music – Dorothy Jeakins
  • The Sound of Music – William H. Reynolds
  • * Cat Ballou – Charles Nelson
  • * Doctor Zhivago – Norman Savage
  • * The Flight of the Phoenix – Michael Luciano
  • * The Great Race – Ralph E. Winters
  • Thunderball – John Stears
  • * The Greatest Story Ever Told – J. McMillan Johnson
  • Honorary Award

    Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

    Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

    Multiple nominations and awards

    These films had multiple nominations:
    The following films received multiple awards.

    Presenters and performers

    The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.