7th Academy Awards


The 7th Academy Awards, honoring the best films for 1934, was held on February 27, 1935, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Irvin S. Cobb. Since this ceremony, the Academy's award eligibility period coincided with the calendar year.
Frank Capra's influential romantic comedy It Happened One Night became the first of three films to date to "sweep" the top five awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. This feat would later be matched by One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975 and The Silence of the Lambs in 1991. It also was the first romantic comedy to win Best Picture, and the first film to win two acting Oscars as well as the first film to win more than 3 awards.
The categories of Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song were first introduced this year. This was the first of only two years in which write-in candidates were permitted, a response to the controversy surrounding the snub of Bette Davis for Of Human Bondage. The Academy, inundated by calls, letters and editorials decrying this slight, told members they could vote in names on a printed ballot or write in any other name that was desired. Claudette Colbert declared that this announcement would give Davis the win in a walk. However, in final voting, Davis came in fourth place. Colbert, who viewed herself as having no chance, was informed of her victory upon boarding a train for New York. She hastily rushed into the ceremony to collect her award, then went back to the waiting train.
This was the last time that all Best Actor nominees were first time acting nominees until the 95th Academy Awards, and the last time until the 43rd Academy Awards where either lead acting category was entirely first-time nominees.
Six-year-old Shirley Temple received the first Juvenile Award, making her the youngest Oscar recipient. Clark Gable was the first Best Actor winner born in the 20th century.

Winners and nominees

Awards

Nominees were announced on February 5, 1935. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.

  • Frank Capra – It Happened One Night
  • * Victor SchertzingerOne Night of Love
  • * W. S. Van DykeThe Thin Man
  • Clark Gable – It Happened One Night as Peter Warne
  • * Frank MorganThe Affairs of Cellini as Alessandro, Duke of Florence
  • * William PowellThe Thin Man as Nick Charles
  • Claudette Colbert – It Happened One Night as Ellen "Ellie" Andrews
  • * Bette Davis – Of Human Bondage as Mildred Rogers
  • * Grace MooreOne Night of Love as Mary Barrett
  • * Norma ShearerThe Barretts of Wimpole Street as Elizabeth Barrett
  • Manhattan Melodrama – Arthur Caesar
  • * Hide-Out – Mauri Grashin
  • * The Richest Girl in the WorldNorman Krasna
  • It Happened One NightRobert Riskin, based on the story "Night Bus" by Samuel Hopkins Adams
  • * The Thin ManFrances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett
  • * Viva Villa!Ben Hecht, based on the novel by Edgecumb Pinchon and O. B. Stade
  • La Cucaracha – Kenneth Macgowan and Pioneer Pictures
  • * Men in BlackJules White
  • * What, No Men! – Warner Bros.
  • City of WaxHorace Woodard and Stacy Woodard
  • * Bosom FriendsSkibo Productions
  • * Strikes and SparesPete Smith
  • The Tortoise and the HareWalt Disney
  • * Holiday LandScreen Gems
  • * Jolly Little ElvesWalter Lantz
  • One Night of LoveColumbia Studio Music Department
  • * The Gay DivorceeRKO Radio Studio Music Department
  • * The Lost Patrol – RKO Radio Studio Music Department
  • "The Continental" from The Gay Divorcee – Music by Con Conrad; Lyrics by Herb Magidson
  • * "Carioca" from Flying Down to Rio – Music by Vincent Youmans; Lyrics by Edward Eliscu and Gus Kahn
  • * "Love in Bloom" from She Loves Me Not – Music by Ralph Rainger; Lyrics by Leo Robin
  • One Night of Love – John P. Livadary
  • * The Affairs of Cellini – Thomas T. Moulton
  • * CleopatraFranklin Hansen
  • * Flirtation WalkNathan Levinson
  • * The Gay DivorceeCarl Dreher
  • * Imitation of LifeTheodore Soderberg
  • * Viva Villa!Douglas Shearer
  • * The White Parade – Edmund H. Hansen
  • The Merry WidowCedric Gibbons and Fredric Hope
  • * The Affairs of CelliniRichard Day
  • * The Gay DivorceeVan Nest Polglase and Carroll Clark
  • Cleopatra – Victor Milner
  • * The Affairs of CelliniCharles Rosher
  • * Operator 13 – George J. Folsey
  • Eskimo – Conrad A. Nervig
  • * CleopatraAnne Bauchens
  • * One Night of LoveGene Milford
  • Viva Villa! – John S. Waters
  • * CleopatraCullen Tate
  • * Imitation of LifeScott Beal
  • Special Award

  • To Shirley Temple, in grateful recognition of her outstanding contribution to screen entertainment during the year 1934.

    Multiple nominations and awards

  • NominationsFilm
    6One Night of Love
    5Cleopatra
    5The Gay Divorcee
    5It Happened One Night
    4The Affairs of Cellini
    4The Thin Man
    4Viva Villa!
    3Imitation of Life
    2The Barretts of Wimpole Street
    2Flirtation Walk
    2The White Parade

    WinsFilm
    5It Happened One Night
    2One Night of Love