47th Academy Awards
The 47th Academy Awards were presented Tuesday, April 8, 1975, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, honoring the best films of 1974. The ceremonies were presided over by Bob Hope, Shirley MacLaine, Sammy Davis Jr., and Frank Sinatra. Before ABC, the ceremony's current broadcaster, acquired the U.S. broadcast rights, this was the last ceremony to air on NBC.
The success of The Godfather Part II was notable; it received twice as many Oscars as its predecessor and duplicated its feat of three Best Supporting Actor nominations. Between the two of them, father and son Carmine and Francis Ford Coppola won four awards, with Carmine winning for Best Original Dramatic Score and Francis for Picture, Director, and Best Screenplay Adapted from Other Material.
Prior to the ceremony, Dustin Hoffman, who was nominated for his performance in the film Lenny, described the awards as "ugly" and "grotesque" and likened the ceremony to a beauty pageant, causing host Hope to remark that "if Dustin Hoffman wins tonight, he's going to have a friend pick it up for him—George C. Scott." Ingrid Bergman felt that she won her Academy Award out of a collective showbusiness guilt over her being ostracized from Hollywood in 1949 due to her affair with director Roberto Rossellini and that Valentina Cortese was worthy of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Upon winning the Best Documentary Feature Oscar for Hearts and Minds, co-producer Bert Schneider said, "It's ironic that we're here at a time just before Vietnam is about to be liberated," and then read a telegram containing "Greetings of Friendship to All American People" from Ambassador Dinh Ba Thi of the Provisional Revolutionary Government (Viet Cong) delegation to the Paris Peace Accords. The telegram thanked the anti-war movement "for all they have done on behalf of peace". The speech infuriated Hope, who later wrote a telegram that he had Sinatra read to the divided audience. The note said: "The academy is saying, 'We are not responsible for any political references made on the program, and we are sorry they had to take place this evening.'" This speech infuriated a third co-host, Shirley MacLaine, and actor Warren Beatty, who sarcastically retorted "thank you, Frank, you old Republican". MacLaine, for her part, remarked "You said you were speaking for the Academy. Well, I'm a member of the Academy and you didn't ask me!".
This was the only Oscar ceremony in which all five of the nominees in a single category were released by the same studio: all five Best Costume Design nominations were for films released by Paramount Pictures.
Winners and nominees
Nominees were announced on February 24, 1975. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.Special Achievement Award (Visual Effects)
Earthquake — Frank Brendel, Glen Robinson and Albert Whitlock.Honorary Award
- To Howard Hawks - a master American filmmaker whose creative efforts hold a distinguished place in world cinema.
- To Jean Renoir - a genius who, with grace, responsibility and enviable devotion through silent film, sound film, feature, documentary and television, has won the world's admiration.
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Multiple nominations and awards
| Awards | Film |
| 6 | The Godfather Part II |
| 3 | The Towering Inferno |
| 2 | The Great Gatsby |