9th Academy Awards


The 9th Academy Awards were held on March 4, 1937, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California to honor films released in 1936. They were hosted by George Jessel, with music by the Victor Young Orchestra, with Spike Jones on drums. This year marked the introduction of the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories, and was the first year that the awards for directing and acting were fixed at five nominees per category.
Jessel assigned the wrong awards to the right winners of the newly-introduced supporting categories. The Great Ziegfeld was not a popular choice for Best Picture among members of the press, who felt that voters had been brainwashed by its lush gaudiness; they also felt that Luise Rainer's win of Best Actress for her performance was unjustified due to the short length of her role in the film.
My Man Godfrey became the first film to receive nominations in all four acting categories, but did not win in any category. It is the only such film to not receive a nomination for Best Picture, and was the only one to lose all of its nominations until Sunset Boulevard at the 23rd Academy Awards and American Hustle at the 86th. It was also the first of four films to receive four acting nominations without one for Best Picture, followed by I Remember Mama, Othello, and Doubt.

Winners and nominees

Awards

Nominees were announced on February 7, 1937. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.
The Great Ziegfeld – Hunt Stromberg for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Frank Capra – Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
  • * William Wyler – Dodsworth
  • * Robert Z. Leonard – The Great Ziegfeld
  • * Gregory La Cava – My Man Godfrey
  • * W. S. Van Dyke – San Francisco
  • Paul Muni – The Story of Louis Pasteur as Louis Pasteur
  • * Gary Cooper – Mr. Deeds Goes to Town as Longfellow Deeds
  • * Walter Huston – Dodsworth as Sam Dodsworth
  • * William Powell – My Man Godfrey as Godfrey
  • * Spencer Tracy – San Francisco as Father Tim Mullin
  • Luise Rainer – The Great Ziegfeld as Anna Held
  • * Irene Dunne – Theodora Goes Wild as Theodora Lynn/"Caroline Adams"
  • * Gladys George – Valiant Is the Word for Carrie as Carrie Snyder
  • * Carole Lombard – My Man Godfrey as Irene Bullock
  • * Norma Shearer – Romeo and Juliet as Juliet
  • Walter Brennan – Come and Get It as Swan Bostrom
  • * Mischa Auer – My Man Godfrey as Carlo
  • * Stuart Erwin – Pigskin Parade as Amos
  • * Basil Rathbone – Romeo and Juliet as Tybalt
  • * Akim Tamiroff – The General Died at Dawn as General Yang
  • Gale Sondergaard – Anthony Adverse as Faith Paleologus
  • * Beulah Bondi – The Gorgeous Hussy as Rachel Jackson
  • * Alice Brady – My Man Godfrey as Angelica Bullock
  • * Bonita Granville – These Three as Mary Tilford
  • * Maria Ouspenskaya – Dodsworth as Baroness Von Obersdorf
  • The Story of Louis Pasteur – Pierre Collings and Sheridan Gibney
  • * Fury – Norman Krasna
  • * The Great Ziegfeld – William Anthony McGuire
  • * San Francisco – Robert Hopkins
  • * Three Smart Girls – Adele Comandini
  • The Story of Louis Pasteur – Pierre Collings and Sheridan Gibney
  • * After the Thin Man – Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, based on a story by Dashiell Hammett
  • * Dodsworth – Sidney Howard, based on the play by Howard and the novel by Sinclair Lewis
  • * Mr. Deeds Goes to Town – Robert Riskin, based on the story "Opera Hat" by Clarence Budington Kelland
  • * My Man Godfrey – Eric Hatch and Morris Ryskind, based on the story "1101 Park Avenue" by Hatch
  • Bored of Education – Hal Roach and MGM
  • * Moscow Moods – Paramount
  • * Wanted – A Master – Pete Smith and MGM
  • The Public Pays – MGM
  • * Double or Nothing – Warner Bros.
  • * Dummy Ache – RKO Radio
  • Give Me Liberty – Warner Bros.
  • * La Fiesta de Santa Barbara – Louis Lewyn and MGM
  • * Popular Science J-6-2 – Paramount
  • The Country Cousin – Walt Disney Productions and United Artists
  • * The Old Mill Pond – Harman-Ising and MGM
  • * Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor – Fleischer Studios and Paramount
  • Anthony Adverse – Warner Bros. Studio Music Department
  • * The Charge of the Light Brigade – Warner Bros. Studio Music Department
  • * The Garden of Allah – Selznick International Pictures Music Department
  • * The General Died at Dawn – Paramount Studio Music Department
  • * Winterset – RKO Radio Studio Music Department
  • "The Way You Look Tonight" from Swing Time – Music by Jerome Kern; Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
  • * "Did I Remember" from Suzy – Music by Walter Donaldson; Lyrics by Harold Adamson
  • * "I've Got You Under My Skin" from Born to Dance – Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
  • * "A Melody From the Sky" from Trail of the Lonesome Pine – Music by Louis Alter; Lyrics by Sidney Mitchell
  • * "Pennies from Heaven" from Pennies from Heaven – Music by Arthur Johnston; Lyrics by Johnny Burke
  • * "When Did You Leave Heaven" from Sing, Baby, Sing – Music by Richard A. Whiting; Lyrics by Walter Bullock
  • San Francisco – Douglas Shearer
  • * Banjo on My Knee – Edmund H. Hansen
  • * The Charge of the Light Brigade – Nathan Levinson
  • * Dodsworth – Thomas T. Moulton
  • * General Spanky – Elmer A. Raguse
  • * Mr. Deeds Goes to Town – John P. Livadary
  • * The Texas Rangers – Franklin Hansen
  • * That Girl from Paris – John Aalberg
  • * Three Smart Girls – Homer G. Tasker
  • Dodsworth – Richard Day
  • * Anthony Adverse – Anton Grot
  • * The Great Ziegfeld – Cedric Gibbons, Eddie Imazu, and Edwin B. Willis
  • * Lloyd's of London – William S. Darling
  • * The Magnificent Brute – Albert S. D'Agostino and Jack Otterson
  • * Romeo and Juliet – Cedric Gibbons, Fredric Hope, and Edwin B. Willis
  • * Winterset – Perry Ferguson
  • Anthony Adverse – Tony Gaudio
  • * The General Died at Dawn – Victor Milner
  • * The Gorgeous Hussy – George J. Folsey
  • Anthony Adverse – Ralph Dawson
  • * Come and Get It – Edward Curtiss
  • * The Great Ziegfeld – William S. Gray
  • * Lloyd's of London – Barbara McLean
  • * A Tale of Two Cities – Conrad A. Nervig
  • * Theodora Goes Wild – Otto Meyer
  • The Great Ziegfeld – Seymour Felix
  • * Born to Dance – Dave Gould
  • * Cain and Mabel – Bobby Connolly
  • * Dancing Pirate – Russell Lewis
  • * Gold Diggers of 1937 – Busby Berkeley
  • * One in a Million – Jack Haskell
  • * Swing Time – Hermes Pan
  • The Charge of the Light Brigade – Jack Sullivan
  • * Anthony Adverse – William Cannon
  • * The Garden of Allah – Eric G. Stacey
  • * The Last of the Mohicans – Clem Beauchamp
  • * San Francisco – Joseph M. Newman
  • Special Awards

    Multiple nominations and awards

    NominationsFilm
    7Anthony Adverse
    7Dodsworth
    7The Great Ziegfeld
    6My Man Godfrey
    6San Francisco
    5Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
    4Romeo and Juliet
    4The Story of Louis Pasteur
    3The Charge of the Light Brigade
    3The General Died at Dawn
    3Three Smart Girls
    2Born to Dance
    2Come and Get It
    2The Garden of Allah
    2The Gorgeous Hussy
    2Lloyd's of London
    2Swing Time
    2A Tale of Two Cities
    2Theodora Goes Wild
    2Winterset

    AwardsFilm
    4Anthony Adverse
    3The Great Ziegfeld
    3The Story of Louis Pasteur