Winner 
32nd Academy Awards
The 1959 file: winners first, ballot trails on demand, and the films that shaped the ceremony.
Ceremony at a glance
Best Picture went to Ben-Hur. The winning leader is Ben-Hur with 11 wins. The most nominated title is Ben-Hur with 12 nominations. 35 winners named across 29 categories.
Most awarded titles
- Ben-Hur 11 wins12 nominations
- The Diary of Anne Frank 3 wins8 nominations
- Room at the Top 2 wins6 nominations
- Some Like It Hot 1 win6 nominations
- Pillow Talk 1 win5 nominations
Best Picture Nominees
The major races
The 1959 ceremony centers on Ben-Hur. Picture, Director, Actor and Actress: 4 of 4 decided, 20 nominees in all.
- Anatomy of a Murder Otto Preminger
- Room at the Top John Woolf | James Woolf
- The Diary of Anne Frank George Stevens
- The Nun's Story Henry Blanke
Complete Ceremony Ledger
Every winner and nominee in every category, with film, person and review links.
25 categories126 records35 winners
1 winner5 records
Ben-Hur
Credit: Sam Zimbalist
Anatomy of a Murder
Credit: Otto Preminger
Room at the Top
Credit: John WoolfJames Woolf
The Nun's Story
Credit: Henry Blanke
1 winner5 records
Ben-Hur
Credit: William Wyler
Room at the Top
Credit: Jack Clayton
Some Like It Hot
Credit: Billy Wilder
The Nun's Story
Credit: Fred Zinnemann
1 winner5 records
1 winner5 records
1 winner5 records
1 winner5 records
1 winner5 records
North by Northwest
Credit: Ernest Lehman
Wild Strawberries
Credit: Ingmar Bergman
1 winner5 records
Room at the Top
Credit: Neil Paterson
Anatomy of a Murder
Credit: Wendell Mayes
Ben-Hur
Credit: Karl Tunberg
The Nun's Story
Credit: Robert Anderson
1 winner5 records
Black Orpheus
Credit: France
Paw
Credit: Denmark
The Bridge
Credit: West Germany
The Great War
Credit: Italy
1 winner5 records
Ben-Hur
Credit: Miklos Rozsa
On the Beach
Credit: Ernest Gold
Pillow Talk
Credit: Frank DeVol
The Diary of Anne Frank
Credit: Alfred Newman
The Nun's Story
Credit: Franz Waxman
1 winner5 records
1 winner5 records
Anatomy of a Murder
Credit: Louis R. Loeffler
North by Northwest
Credit: George Tomasini
On the Beach
Credit: Frederic Knudtson
The Nun's Story
Credit: Walter Thompson
1 winner2 records
1 winner5 records
1 winner5 records
1 winner5 records
Anatomy of a Murder
Credit: Sam Leavitt
Career
Credit: Joseph LaShelle
Some Like It Hot
Credit: Charles Lang Jr.
1 winner5 records
Ben-Hur
Credit: Robert L. Surtees
Porgy and Bess
Credit: Leon Shamroy
The Big Fisherman
Credit: Lee Garmes
The Five Pennies
Credit: Daniel L. Fapp
The Nun's Story
Credit: Franz Planer
1 winner5 records
Some Like It Hot
Credit: Orry-Kelly
Career
Credit: Edith Head
The Gazebo
Credit: Helen Rose
The Young Philadelphians
Credit: Howard Shoup
1 winner5 records
Ben-Hur
Credit: Elizabeth Haffenden
Porgy and Bess
Credit: Irene Sharaff
The Best of Everything
Credit: Adele Palmer
The Big Fisherman
Credit: Renie
The Five Pennies
Credit: Edith Head
1 winner2 records
The Race for Space
Credit: David L. Wolper
1 winner3 records
1 winner5 records
Porgy and Bess
Credit: Andre PrevinKen Darby
Say One for Me
Credit: Lionel Newman
Sleeping Beauty
Credit: George Bruns
The Five Pennies
Credit: Leith Stevens
1 winner4 records
Moonbird
Credit: John Hubley
Mexicali Shmoes
Credit: John W. Burton
Noah's Ark
Credit: Walt Disney
The Violinist
Credit: Ernest Pintoff
1 winner5 records
The Golden Fish
Credit: Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Between the Tides
Credit: Ian Ferguson
Mysteries of the Deep
Credit: Walt Disney
1 winner5 records
Ceremony Highlights
Categories in this ceremony
Winner Circle
Ben-Hur
William Wyler
Simone Signoret
Charlton Heston
Shelley Winters
Hugh Griffith
Pillow Talk
Room at the Top
Black Orpheus
Ben-Hur
High Hopes
Ralph E. Winters, John D. Dunning
Visual Effects by A. Arnold Gillespie, Robert MacDonald; Audible Effects by Milo Lory
Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler, George W. Davis; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott, Stuart A. Reiss
Art Direction: William A. Horning, Edward Carfagno; Set Decoration: Hugh Hunt
William C. Mellor
Robert L. Surtees
Orry-Kelly
Elizabeth Haffenden
Bernhard Grzimek, Producer
Bert Haanstra, Producer
Buster Keaton
Lee De Forest
Bob Hope
Andre Previn | Ken Darby
DOUGLAS G. SHEARER, ROBERT E. GOTTSCHALK and JOHN R. MOORE
Dr. Howard S. Coleman, DR. A. FRANCIS TURNER, HAROLD H. SCHROEDER, JAMES R. BENFORD and HAROLD E. ROSENBERGER
ROBERT P. GUTTERMAN and LIPSNER-SMITH CORP.
Wadsworth E. Pohl, JACK ALFORD, HENRY IMUS, JOSEPH SCHMIT, PAUL FASSNACHT, AL LOFQUIST and TECHNICOLOR CORP.
Wadsworth E. Pohl, WILLIAM EVANS, WERNER HOPF, S.E. HOWSE, THOMAS P. DIXON, STANFORD RESEARCH INSTITUTE and TECHNICOLOR CORP.
E.L. Stones, GLEN ROBINSON, WINFIELD HUBBARD and LUTHER NEWMAN
UB IWERKS
John Hubley, Producer
Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Producer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department, Franklin E. Milton, Sound Director
Sortable ledger
Every nomination from this ceremony as a sortable table, for research that needs the raw record beside the posters and winners above.