| Number: | 40 |
| Award: | Academy Awards |
| Date: | April 10, 1968 |
| Site: | Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, California |
| Host: | Bob Hope |
| Producer: | Arthur Freed |
| Director: | Richard Dunlap |
| Best Picture: | In the Heat of the Night |
| Most Wins: | In the Heat of the Night (5) |
| Most Nominations: | Bonnie and Clyde and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (10) |
| Network: | ABC |
| Last: | 39th |
| Next: | 41st |
The 40th Academy Awards were held on April 10, 1968, to honor film achievements of 1967. Originally scheduled for April 8, the awards were postponed to two days later due to the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Bob Hope was once again the host of the ceremony.
This year, due to the waning popularity of black-and-white films, Best Cinematography, Art Direction, and Costume Design, previously divided into separate awards for color and monochrome films, were merged into single categories. This was the first Oscars since 1948 to feature clips from the Best Picture nominees.
This year marked the first of two times that three different films were nominated for the "Big Five" Oscars (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay): Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. While all three won major Oscars, Best Picture was awarded to Norman Jewison's thriller/mystery film, In the Heat of the Night. The same thing happened again at the ceremony for films from 1981 where the Best Picture winner was not one of the three films with "Big Five" nominations.
The Graduate became the seventh film to win Best Director and nothing else, and the last until the 94th Academy Awards. For the first time since the introduction of the Academy Award for Best Costume Design in 1948, Edith Head did not receive a nomination, after tallying 30 nominations and 7 wins over the previous 18 years.
Due to an all-out push by Academy President Gregory Peck, 18 of the 20 acting nominees were present at the ceremony.[1] Only Katharine Hepburn and the late Spencer Tracy, who was nominated posthumously, were missing. Edith Evans was the last performer born in the 1880s to receive an acting nomination (Best Actress, for her role in The Whisperers).
Nominations were announced on February 19, 1968. Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger .[2]
Gregory Peck
Alfred Hitchcock
Arthur Freed was presented for distinguished service to the Academy and the production of six top-rated Awards telecasts.
These films had multiple nominations:
The following films received multiple awards.
The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.
| Name | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| Announcer for the 40th Academy Awards | ||
| (AMPAS President) | Gave opening remarks welcoming guests to the awards ceremony | |
| Explained the eligibility and voting rules to the public | ||
| Presenter of the award for Best Sound | ||
| Presenter of the award for Best Supporting Actor | ||
| Presenters of the award for Best Cinematography | ||
| Presenters of the Short Subjects Awards | ||
| Presenters of the Documentary Awards | ||
| Presenter of the award for Best Costume Design | ||
| (host) | Presenter of the Honorary Award to Arthur Freed | |
| Presenter of the award for Best Special Visual Effects | ||
| Presenters of the award for Best Sound Effects | ||
| Presenter of the award for Best Supporting Actress | ||
| Presenter of the award for Best Film Editing | ||
| Presenter of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Gregory Peck | ||
| Presenter of the award for Best Foreign Language Film | ||
| Presenters of the award for Best Art Direction | ||
| Presenter of the Academy Awards' history montage | ||
| Presenters of the Music Awards | ||
| Presenter of the award for Best Song | ||
| Accepted Leslie Bricusse's award on his behalf | ||
| Presenter of the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award | ||
| Presenter of the award for Best Director | ||
| Presenters of the Writing Awards | ||
| Presenter of the award for Best Actor | ||
| Presenter of the award for Best Actress | ||
| Presenter of the award for Best Picture |
| Name | Role | Performed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Musical arranger and conductor | Orchestral | ||
| Performer | "The Bare Necessities" from The Jungle Book | ||
| Performer | "The Eyes of Love" from Banning | ||
Brasil '66 | Performer | "The Look of Love" from Casino Royale | |
| Performer | "Talk to the Animals" from Doctor Dolittle | ||
| Performer | "Thoroughly Modern Millie" from Thoroughly Modern Millie | ||
| Performers | "Hooray for Hollywood/There's No Business like Show Business" (orchestral) during the closing credits |