theOscarSite.com is a registered Associate of amazon.com®.
When ordering Oscar®-nominated films, please help support this site by using the links provided on our film pages.
Welcome to theOscarSite's yearly Oscars® pages
This page covers the Awards for 1947. If you wish, read my disclaimer.
Click here for information on the Awards Ceremony for this year's nominees. (20th Annual Academy Awards®)
Use this link to go to my listing of every film and every person ever nominated for an Award!
Use this link to see every film nominated for an Award this year and how it ranks in nominations and Awards!
"We're going to the party afterward anyway. I won't be bitter." -- Rosalind Russell
Or use this link to view a larger version of the film.
Best Motion PicturePrior to the Awards for 1951, no producer(s) named with nominations
Scientific Or Technical Class I (Statuette) No award given for 1947.
Class II (Plaque) C. C. Davis, Electrical Research Products Division of Western Electric Company - For the development and application of an improved film drive filter mechanism.
C. R. Daily (Paramount Studio Film Laboratory Still and Engineering Departments) - For the development and first practical application to motion picture and still photography of a method of increasing film speed as first suggested to the industry by E I duPont de Nemours & Company.
Class III (Citation) Nathan Levinson (Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department) - For the design and construction of a constant-speed sound editing machine.
Farciot Edouart, C. R. Daily, Hal Corl & H. G. Cartwright (Paramount Studio Transparency and Engineering Departments) - For the first application of a special anti-solarizing glass to high intensity background and spot arc projectors.
Fred Ponedel (Warner Bros. Studio) - For pioneering the fabrication and practical application to motion picture color photography of large translucent photographic backgrounds.
Kurt Singer, RCA-Victor Division of (Radio Corporation of America) - For the design and development of a continuously variable band elimination filter.
James Gibbons (Warner Bros. Studio) - For the development and production of large dyed plastic filters for motion picture photography.
Special Awards To James Baskett - "For his able and heart-warming characterization of Uncle Remus, friend and story teller to the children of the world." Winner presented a Statuette.
To BILL AND COO - (Ken Murray, producer) "In which artistry and patience blended in a novel and entertaining use of the medium of motion pictures." Winner presented a Plaque.
To SHOESHINE (Italy) - (Paolo W. Tamborella, producer) "The high quality of this motion picture, brought to eloquent life in a country scarred by war, is proof to the world that the creative spirit can triumph over adversity." Winner presented a Statuette.
To William N. Selig, Albert E. Smith, Thomas Armat & George K. Spoor - "One of the small groups of pioneers whose belief in a new medium, and whose contributions to its development, blazed the trail along which the motion picture has progressed, in their lifetime, from obscurity to world-wide acclaim." Winners presented Statuettes.
Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award No award given for 1947.
FIRSTS · Italy's Shoeshine was the first foreign film to receive a Special Academy Award.
· Crossfire was the first second-tier (B movie) to be nominated for Best Picture.
RULE CHANGES Interior Decoration retitled "Art Direction - Set Decoration."
ROLE REVERSALS Ironically, Rosalind Russell turned down Loretta Young's role in The Farmer's Daughter.
SINS OF OMISSION Picture: Body and Soul, Black Narcissus, Out of the Past, Monsieur Verdoux Actor: Robert Mitchum - Out of the Past, Charles Chaplin - Monsieur Verdoux Actress: Deborah Kerr - Black Narcissus Supporting Actress: Martha Raye - Monsieur Verdoux Song: "Golden Earrings," "Time After Time"
ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID... "I'll be nominated for an Oscar® again. Maybe not next year. Maybe I'll have to wait until the fifties. But I intend to win someday," said Susan Hayward. (She won an Oscar® for 1958's I'll Cry Tomorrow.)
UNMENTIONABLES · The curious Best Screenplay winner, The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer, was penned by Sidney Sheldon, the pop-fiction novelist.
· In her acceptance speech, Best Supporting Actress winner Celeste Holm said, "Thank you for letting this happen. I'm so happy to be part of an industry that can create so much understanding in a world that needs it so much."
· James Baskett's Special Award for Uncle Remus in Song of the South allowed the Academy its sympathetic pitch for race relations without having to nominate him for Best Actor. Many black organizations were outraged by the recognition of Baskett's role as a happy-go-lucky slave.
· Best Song winner "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" was so popular that Carmen Miranda had included a backwards version of it in her nightclub act entitled "Eedapiz Ooh Dad."
· The odds-on pick for Best Actress was Rosalind Russell, the star of the arty Mourning Becomes Electra. Publicist Henry Rogers, who had masterminded Joan Crawford and Olivia De Havilland's Oscar® victories the previous two years, offered his services to Russell's husband, producer Freddie Brisson, a.k.a. "The Lizard of Roz." Extensive publicity resulted in Russell's Golden Globe Award. Rogers also made sure the actress was portrayed as a workhorse in the gossip columns. And then there were the ads in the trades, quoting critics like one from the New York World-Telegram, who advised Russell to "clear a place on the mantelpiece for the Oscar®."
· Consequently, near the end of the Awards ceremony, with only the Best Actress statuette left on the dais, the audience began a noisy exit. Rosalind Russell was a foregone conclusion. As Fredric March tore open the envelope, Russell confidently leaned forward and began to rise. March was about to announce her name, "Rosalind...", when he did a double take and paused. "The winner is Loretta Young!" The crowd that had already reached the door froze in its tracks. How was this possible? Even Young couldn't believe it. After breathlessly floating to the stage, she checked the envelope herself just to be sure. Rarely had Oscar night packed such a walloping surprise win. Russell, already half out of her seat, led the standing ovation. It may have been a case of follow-through posture over murderous instinct, but it certainly looked classy.
· "Up to now, this occasion for me has been a spectator sport. But I dressed, just in case," said the truly shocked Best Actress winner.
· Russell didn't even mention the 1947 Oscar® race in her memoirs, but said that the "one grace note in the discord" of Mourning Becomes Electra was that she received "a rare, handwritten note from Eugene O'Neill telling me how much he loved my performance as Lavinia."
· Another loser who looked on the bright side was William Powell. The 55-year-old Powell sent a congratulatory telegram to 57-year-old winner Ronald Coleman: "After all, it's a good thing you won instead of me, because you haven't many years left and I have so many ahead of me."
And, of course, here's the place where I have to put the disclaimer: This page was created for my own personal use and was intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. "Oscar" and "Academy Awards" are registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The "Oscar" Statuette is copyrighted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. These pages are neither authorized nor endorsed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. I cannot take responsibility for any errors or omissions on these pages; i.e., if you lose a bet because of something I missed, don't expect me to pay it off!
Sidebar highlights come from several sources, most notably The Academy Awards® - The Complete Unofficial History, by Gail Kinn & Jim Piazza, and Inside Oscar® - The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards®, by Mason Wiley & Damien Bona.
This page is authored by Gary Moody. If you have comments or questions about the page, please e-mail me at gary@theOscarSite.com.
Use this link to go to my listing of every film and every person ever nominated for an Award! 
