The 49th Academy Awards were presented Monday, March 28, 1977, at the Dorothy Chandler PavilioninLos Angeles, California. The ceremonies were presided over by Richard Pryor, Ellen Burstyn, Jane Fonda, and Warren Beatty. Network and All the President's Men were the two biggest winners of the ceremony, with four Oscars each, but Best Picture and Best Director, as well as Best Editing, were won by Rocky.
| 49th Academy Awards | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date | March 28, 1977 |
| Site | Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Hosted by | Richard Pryor, Ellen Burstyn, Jane Fonda and Warren Beatty |
| Produced by | William Friedkin |
| Directed by | Marty Pasetta |
| Highlights | |
| Best Picture | Rocky |
| Most awards | All the President's Men and Network (4) |
| Most nominations | Network and Rocky (10) |
| TV in the United States | |
| Network | ABC |
| Duration | 3 hours, 38 minutes |
| |
Network became the second film (after A Streetcar Named Desire) to win three acting Oscars, the last to do so until Everything Everywhere All at Once, and the last, as of the 94th Academy Awards, to receive five acting nominations. It was also the eleventh of fifteen films (to date) to receive nominations in all four acting categories. Best Actor winner Peter Finch became the first posthumous acting winner, having suffered a fatal heart attack in mid-January. With only five minutes and two seconds of screentime, Beatrice Straight set a record for the shortest performance ever to win an acting Oscar (Best Supporting Actress).
Piper Laurie was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Carrie (1976), her first role since her Best Actress-nominated performance in The Hustler (1961), thus being nominated for two consecutive roles, fifteen years apart.
Lina Wertmüller became the first woman nominated for Best Director for Seven Beauties, which was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. With her win for Best Original Song as the composer for the love theme "Evergreen" from A Star Is Born, Barbra Streisand became the first woman to be honored in the category, and, as of the 94th Academy Awards, the only person to have won Academy Awards for both acting, and songwriting (following her Best Actress win for Funny Girl at the 40th Academy Awards).
No honorary awards were given this year.
ABC held the rights to the Oscars from 1961to1970 and regained them for the 1976 event. For the second straight year, the ceremony was scheduled directly opposite the NCAA championship basketball gameonNBC, won by MarquetteinAl McGuire's final game as head coach.
Nominees were announced on February 10, 1977. Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger (‡).[1][2]
| Nominations | Film |
|---|---|
| 10 | Network |
| Rocky | |
| 8 | All the President's Men |
| 6 | Bound for Glory |
| 4 | Seven Beauties |
| A Star Is Born | |
| Taxi Driver | |
| 3 | Cousin Cousine |
| King Kong | |
| Logan's Run | |
| Voyage of the Damned | |
| 2 | Carrie |
| Face to Face | |
| Fellini's Casanova | |
| The Incredible Sarah | |
| The Omen | |
| The Seven-Per-Cent Solution |
| Awards | Film |
|---|---|
| 4 | All the President's Men |
| Network | |
| 3 | Rocky |
| 2 | Bound for Glory |
The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers:
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Hank Simms | Announcer of the 49th annual Academy Awards |
| Walter Mirisch (AMPAS President) | Gave opening remarks welcoming guests to the awards ceremony |
| Chevy Chase | Explains the voting rules to the public |
| Tatum O'Neal | Presenter of the award for Best Supporting Actor |
| Marty Feldman | Presenter of the Short Films Awards |
| Roy Scheider | Presenter of the Special Achievement Award |
| Marthe Keller | Presenter of the award for Best Art Direction |
| Muhammad Ali Sylvester Stallone |
Presenters of the award for Best Supporting Actress |
| William Holden | Presenter of the award for Best Film Editing |
| Red Skelton | Presenter of the award for Best Sound |
| Cicely Tyson | Presenter of the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial AwardtoPandro S. Berman |
| Donald Sutherland | Presenter of the award for Best Cinematography |
| Pearl Bailey | Presenter of the award for Best Foreign Language Film |
| Ann-Margret | Presenter of the Music Awards |
| Lillian Hellman | Presenter of the Documentary Awards |
| Neil Diamond | Presenter of the award for Best Original Song |
| Norman Mailer | Presenter of the Writing Awards |
| Jeanne Moreau | Presenter of the award for Best Director |
| Tamara Dobson | Presenter of the award for Best Costume Design |
| Liv Ullmann | Presenter of the award for Best Actor |
| Louise Fletcher | Presenter of the award for Best Actress |
| Jack Nicholson | Presenter of the award for Best Picture |
| Name | Role | Performed |
|---|---|---|
| Bill Conti | Musical arranger and conductor | Orchestral |
| Ann-Margret | Performer | “Magic Circle (It All Started in Someone's Head)“ |
| Eddie Albert | Performer | "A World That Never Was" from Half a House |
| Ben Vereen | Performer | "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky |
| Tom Jones | Performer | "Come to Me" from The Pink Panther Strikes Again |
| Tony Vivante | Performer | "Ave Satani" from The Omen |
| Barbra Streisand | Performer | "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" from A Star Is Born |
| Ann-Margret | Performer | “Magic Circle (Reprise)” |