26th Academy Awards

The 26th Academy Awards were held on March 25, 1954, simultaneously at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood (hosted by Donald O'Connor), and the NBC Center Theatre in New York City (hosted by Fredric March).

The second national telecast of the Awards show drew an estimated 43 million viewers. Shirley Booth, appearing in a play in Philadelphia, presented the Academy Award for Best Actor through a live broadcast cut-in, having privately received the winner's name over the telephone from O'Connor. Gary Cooper pre-recorded his presentation of the Academy Award for Best Actress while on location in Mexico shooting Garden of Evil, with O'Connor then announcing the winner's name live.

All the major winners in this year were black-and-white films. Fred Zinnemann's From Here to Eternity won eight awards from its thirteen nominations: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Academy Award for Best Director, Best Screenplay (Daniel Taradash), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Burnett Guffey), Best Sound Recording, and Best Film Editing. It was the third film to receive five acting nominations. Its eight awards matched the record set by Gone with the Wind in 1939. Walt Disney won four awards, a record to this day for most Oscars won by a single person in the same year (the record was tied by Bong Joon Ho at the 92nd Academy Awards ).

William Holden's acceptance speech for Best Actor for Stalag 17 was simply "Thank You", making it one of the shortest speeches on record, forced by the TV broadcast's strict cutoff time. Holden, frustrated, later personally paid for advertisements in the Hollywood trade publications to thank everyone he had wanted to in his speech, remarked that he felt that either Burt Lancaster or Montgomery Clift should have won the Oscar for From Here to Eternity instead of him, and expounded backstage on a system he felt valued commercials over program content; NBC had cut into commercials during the middle of other acceptance speeches, as well.

Awards
Nominees were announced on February 15, 1954. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.

Academy Honorary Awards

 * Pete Smith – "For his witty and pungent observations on the American scene in his series of 'Pete Smith Specialties.
 * Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation – "In recognition of their imagination, showmanship and foresight in introducing the revolutionary process known as CinemaScope".
 * Joseph I. Breen – "For his conscientious, open-minded and dignified management of the Motion Picture Production Code".
 * Bell and Howell Company – "For their pioneering and basic achievements in the advancement of the motion picture industry".
 * The War of the Worlds for Best Special Effects.

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

 * George Stevens

Academy Award of Merit

 * Henri Chretien for Cinemascope contribution