15th Academy Awards

The 15th Academy Awards was held in the Cocoanut Grove at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on March 4, 1943, honoring the films of 1942. The ceremony is most famous for the speech by Greer Garson; accepting the award for Best Actress, Garson spoke for nearly six minutes, considered to be the longest Oscars acceptance speech. A portion of the ceremony was broadcast by CBS Radio.

Mrs. Miniver was the second film (after My Man Godfrey in 1936) to receive nominations in all four acting categories, as well as the first film to receive five acting nominations; it won six of its twelve nominations, including Best Picture and William Wyler's first of three Best Director awards.

Irving Berlin presented the Academy Award for Best Original Song, which he ended up winning himself for "White Christmas". There was also a four-way tie for Best Documentary Feature, a unique occurrence.

Awards
Nominees were announced on February 8, 1943. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.

Academy Honorary Award

 * Charles Boyer – "for his progressive cultural achievement in establishing the French Research Foundation in Los Angeles as a source of reference for the Hollywood Motion Picture Industry".
 * Noël Coward – "for his outstanding production achievement in In Which We Serve".
 * Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – "for its achievement in representing the American Way of Life in the production of the Andy Hardy series of films".

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

 * Sidney Franklin

Ceremony information
William Wyler was the first person born in 20th century to win the best director. This ceremony was the last to include a banquet as part of the festivities due to increased attendance and the continuance of World War II. Ceremonies would be held in theaters starting with the 16th Academy Awards in 1944. Because of wartime commitments, the usually gold-plated Oscar was made of plaster for this ceremony.