This page covers the Awards for 1953. If you wish, read my disclaimer.

Use this link for information on the Awards Ceremony for this year's nominees.

 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! 

"It's wonderful, but I think it's my year to retire." -- Walt Disney

UNMENTIONABLES
· 11-year-old Brandon De Wilde's nomination didn't turn his head; in fact, his parents didn't tell him and he didn't find out about his nomination until four years later.
· Robert Strauss was so proud of his unexpected nomination for Stalag 17 that he printed his acceptance speech in the trades.
· MGM, which had borrowed William Holden from Paramount for Executive Suite, decided that an Academy Award plug would help sell the film, so -- a week before the Awards were handed out -- they introduced the nominee in the trailer as "the winner of the Best Male Acting Oscar."
· The Academy was so grateful to Louis L'Amour for saving them from a potential brouhaha that they gave him free tickets to the show and invited him to become a member of the Writers Branch.
· Doris Day told show producer Johnny Green that she couldn't perform her radio hit "Secret Love" on the show. "I'm terrified of appearing before people!" the former Les Brown band singer confessed. Ann Blyth said she'd be happy to sing the song. During rehearsals, someone noticed that Blyth was pregnant, stirring discussion about whether she should be seen belting the lyric "And my secret love's no secret anymore." High-level meetings were held, and it was decided that since Blyth was married, no impressionable young viewers would be corrupted.
· Daily Variety's pre-show poll of Academy members was spot-on with its prediction of the winners in all of the six major categories.
· Bob Hope's TV sponsor Crysler wouldn't allow him to host a show underwritten by Oldsmobile.
· After accepting her Award for Black-and-White Costume Design, Edith Head told reporters backstage what she was going to do with her fifth Oscar®: "I'm going to take it home and design a dress for it."
· Donna Reed sprinted down the aisle to receive her Award. "It was a long walk, I didn't think I would make it," she said from the podium. "As wonderful as From Here to Eternity was, what's even more wonderful is Eternity to here."
· As he closed his acceptance speech, Frank Sinatra quipped, "They're doing a lot of songs up here tonight but nobody asked me... I love you though." No one mentioned that in 1946 the Academy has asked him to sing and he'd refused.
· Best Actress nominees Deborah Kerr and Audrey Hepburn didn't get to the Century Theatre broadcast until their Broadway shows were over. Hepburn made a beeline to an anteroom to take off her stage makeup. A harried cameraman gave her five minutes, then banged on the door, yelling, "Hey, Skinny, come on out!"
· Gary Cooper's filmed presentation of the Best Actress Award featured Cooper reading the nominees, opening the envelope and pulling out a blank sheet of paper. "Shall I read it?" Donald O'Connor asked in Hollywood. He announced Audrey Hepburn's name, and in New York a very confused young lady mounted the steps to the stage, turned suddenly, and began to wander off toward the wings. Fredric March guided the winner back to the podium. "This is too much," Hepburn sighed.
· Shirley Booth's presentation of the Best Actor Award was televised from her dressing room backstage in Philadelphia where she was starring in a musical called By the Beautiful Sea. Booth chatted with her maid, put on her glasses, turned to the camera, said "Hello" and skipped down the names of nominees. To reveal the winner, Booth spoke on the phone to a Price, Waterhouse representative and responded, "Yes, I'll tell everyone." She faced the camera and said, "William Holden." In Hollywood, the Stalag 17 star -- the only Best Actor nominee in attendance -- raced to the stage, where Donald O'Connor whispered to him that the show was running into overtime. Holden told the audience, "Thank you, thank you," and got off.
· The telecast ended after the announcement of From Here to Eternity as Best Picture.
· Three evenings after the Awards, Audrey Hepburn did it to Deborah Kerr again: She won the Tony Award as Broadway's Best Actress.
· After a night of celebrating, William Holden woke up the next morning in his tuxedo in his easy chair surrounded by the neighborhood kids. His children had brought them in to look at the Oscar®, which was resting in Daddy's lap.
· Frank Sinatra, who'd come to the Awards show with his kids Nancy and Frank Jr., took them home and then, flushed with victory, took a solitary walk around Beverly Hills, until the police stopped him and asked him where he got that statuette.