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Around the World in 80 Days poster
Best Picture

Oscar Ledger Year Dossier

29th Dossier

The 1956 file for 29th Academy Awards: winners first, ballot trails on demand, and the films that shaped the ceremony.

Year 1956
Best Picture Around the World in 80 Days
Winner Record 36/31
Top Winner The King and I
All Ceremonies Full Ballot Open Full Ledger

Annual Thesis

Around the World in 80 Days took Picture; The King and I controlled the board.

This dossier opens with the four races readers check first: Picture, Director, Actor, and Actress. 4 of 4 major races have winners recorded, with 20 major-field records feeding into the full 36/31 ceremony ledger below.

4major races 20major-field records 4/4winners recorded
Full Ballot Winner Circle All Ceremonies Best Picture Best Director Best Actor Best Actress

Ceremony Snapshot

A live, winner-driven snapshot of this ceremony.

Best Picture went to Around the World in 80 Days. The winning leader is The King and I with 5 wins.

The King and I 5 wins | 9 nominations
Around the World in 80 Days 5 wins | 8 nominations
Somebody Up There Likes Me 2 wins | 3 nominations
Giant 1 wins | 10 nominations
The Ten Commandments 1 wins | 7 nominations
Winner Record 36/31

Categories settled and marked as winners in the ledger.

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Best Picture Nominees

The shortlist most readers look for first: 5 Best Picture nominees from this ceremony.

134Nominations
36Wins
31Categories
1927/28-2025Ledger span

Major Races

The Four Races That Shape the Night

A fast editorial scan of Picture, Director, Actor, and Actress before the full ceremony ledger opens out below.

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Complete Ceremony Ledger

Full ballot mode is showing every winner, nominee, film, person, and review link for this ceremony.

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27 categories 134 records 36 winners

Category

Best Picture

1 winner / 5 records

Category

Best Director

1 winner / 5 records

Category

Best Actress

1 winner / 5 records

Category

Best Actor

1 winner / 5 records

1 winner / 5 records

1 winner / 5 records

1 winner / 5 records

1 winner / 5 records

Nominee

Friendly Persuasion

Credit: Michael Wilson

NOTE: Early in 1956, the name of blacklisted screenwriter Michael Wilson had been deleted from the screen credits of Friendly Persuasion by Allied Artists, the film's distributor, based on a 1952 agreement between the Screen Writers Guild and various production companies. That agreement gave studios the right to omit from the screen the name of any individual who had failed to clear himself before a duly constituted legislative committee of Congress if accused of Communist affiliations, as was the case with Wilson at the time. The Academy, in the awkward position of possibly conferring its highest honor on someone whose name had been omitted from screen credit, revised its bylaws at a special February 6, 1957, meeting. That revision, in essence, allowed that in such cases, the achievement itself could be eligible for nomination, but the specific writer would be ineligible. The following instructions were sent to Price Waterhouse & Co., Certified Public Accountants, who tabulated Academy ballots: \"...we ask that if, in tabulating the nominations ballots for Best Screenplay (adapted), Friendly Persuasion is one of the five nominations, you list the other four alphabetically by title and below: Friendly Persuasion - Achievement nominated, but writer ineligible for Award under Academy By-Laws.\"" On February 17, 1957, the Academy's Board of Governors voted to instruct Price Waterhouse & Co. \""...to list five nominations, and in the event that one of these is declared ineligible under the By-Law provision, four nominations would appear on the final ballot.\"" THIS NOMINATION WAS NOT INCLUDED ON THE FINAL BALLOT. (The bylaw was repealed by the Academy as \""unworkable\"" on January 12, 1959.) On December 10, 2002, the Academy's Board of Governors voted to reinstate Mr. Wilson's nomination."

Film History Person History

1 winner / 5 records

1 winner / 5 records

1 winner / 5 records

Category

FILM EDITING

1 winner / 5 records

Category

VISUAL EFFECTS

1 winner / 2 records

1 winner / 5 records

1 winner / 5 records

1 winner / 5 records

1 winner / 5 records

1 winner / 5 records

1 winner / 5 records

1 winner / 3 records

1 winner / 5 records

1 winner / 5 records

1 winner / 3 records

1 winner / 3 records

1 winner / 4 records

Category

SOUND RECORDING

1 winner / 5 records

1 winner / 5 records

Winner

The Brave One

Credit: Dalton Trumbo

NOTE: The name of the writer credited with authorship, Robert Rich, turned out to be an alias. Two decades later, the mystery was officially solved and the Academy statuette went (on May 2, 1975, presented by then Academy president Walter Mirisch) to its rightful owner, screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, blacklisted in 1956 by the industry for political affiliations. Robert Rich (who had nothing to do with the film industry) is a nephew of the King Brothers, producers of the film. They chose his name to be the alias for Dalton Trumbo on the screenplay.

Film History Person History
Nominee

High Society

Credit: Edward BerndsElwood Ullman

NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL NOMINATION. Edward Bernds and Elwood Ullman, the authors of this Bowery Boys quickie, respectfully withdrew their own names and the nomination, aware that voters had probably mistaken their film with a 1956 MGM release with the same title written by John Patrick and starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra. (Even so, MGM's High Society would only have been eligible for adapted screenplay.)

Film History

Ceremony Highlights

Poster-first highlights from this ceremony, led by winners and the titles that defined the night.

Categories in this ceremony

Best Actor Best Supporting Actor Best Actress Best Supporting Actress ART DIRECTION (Black-and-White) ART DIRECTION (Color) Best Picture CINEMATOGRAPHY (Black-and-White) CINEMATOGRAPHY (Color) COSTUME DESIGN (Black-and-White) COSTUME DESIGN (Color) Best Director DOCUMENTARY (Feature) DOCUMENTARY (Short Subject) FILM EDITING HONORARY AWARD INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM IRVING G. THALBERG MEMORIAL AWARD JEAN HERSHOLT HUMANITARIAN AWARD MUSIC (Original Score) MUSIC (Original Song Score or Adaptation Score) MUSIC (Original Song) SCIENTIFIC OR TECHNICAL AWARD (Class III) SHORT FILM (Animated) SHORT SUBJECT (One-reel) SHORT SUBJECT (Two-reel) SOUND RECORDING VISUAL EFFECTS WRITING (Adapted Screenplay) WRITING (Original Screenplay) WRITING (Original Story)

Winner Circle

A category-by-category winner roll call generated directly from the ceremony ledger.

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