1939 (12th Annual Awards)
Winners Only

Listed below are the Academy Award winners for the year 1939 (non-winning nominations have been omitted from this list). Click on the name of a film, person or song in the list to display more information about that film, person or song Or, click on a year in the column on the right to display the winners from that year.

Outstanding Production

Gone with the Wind, Selznick International Pictures; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Best Actor

Robert Donat in Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. (UK)

Best Actress

Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind, Selznick International Pictures; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Actor in a Supporting Role

Thomas Mitchell in Stagecoach, Walter Wanger; United Artists.

Actress in a Supporting Role

Hattie McDaniel in Gone with the Wind, Selznick International Pictures; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Directing

Gone with the Wind, Selznick International Pictures; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Victor Fleming.

Art Direction

Gone with the Wind, Selznick International Pictures; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Lyle Wheeler.

Cinematography

(Black-and-White)

Wuthering Heights, Samuel Goldwyn Productions; United Artists. Gregg Toland.

(Color)

Gone with the Wind, Selznick International Pictures; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ernest Haller and Ray Rennahan.

Film Editing

Gone with the Wind, Selznick International Pictures; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom.

Music

(Original Score)

The Wizard of Oz, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Herbert Stothart.

(Scoring)

Stagecoach, Walter Wanger; United Artists. Richard Hageman, Frank Harling, John Leipold and Leo Shuken.

(Song)

Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Music by Harold Arlen; lyrics by E. Y. Harburg.

Short Subjects

(Cartoons)

The Ugly Duckling, Walt Disney Productions; RKO Radio. [Silly Symphony Series] Walt Disney, Producer.

(One-reel)

Busy Little Bears, Paramount. [Paragraphics Series]

(Two-reel)

Sons of Liberty, Warner Bros. [Historical Featurette Series]

Sound Recording

When Tomorrow Comes, Universal. Universal Studio Sound Department, Bernard B. Brown, Sound Director.

Special Effects

The Rains Came, 20th Century-Fox. Fred Sersen and E. H. Hansen.

Writing

(Original Story)

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Columbia. Lewis R. Foster.

(Screenplay)

Gone with the Wind, Selznick International Pictures; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Sidney Howard.

Special Award

To Douglas Fairbanks—recognizing the unique and outstanding contribution of Douglas Fairbanks, first President of the Academy, to the intenational development of the motion picture. [ [Statuette]]

To The Motion Picture Relief Fund—acknowledging the outstanding services to the industry during the past year of the Motion Picture Relief Fund and its progressive leadership. Presented to Jean Hersholt, President; Ralph Morgan, Chairman of the Executive Committee; Ralph Block, First Vice-President; and Conrad Nagel. [ [Plaque]]

To William Cameron Menzies for outstanding achievement in the use of color for the enhancement of dramatic mood in the production of Gone with the Wind. [ [Plaque]]

To The Technicolor Company for its contributions in successfully bringing three-color feature production to the screen. [ [Statuette]]

(Juvenile)

To Judy Garland for her outstanding performance as a screen juvenile during the past year. [ [Miniature Statuette]]

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

David O. Selznick

Scientific or Technical Award

(Class III)

To George Anderson of Warner Bros. Studio for an improved positive head for sun arcs.

To John Arnold of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio for the M-G-M mobile camera crane.

To Thomas T. Moulton, Fred Albin, and the Sound Department of the Samuel Goldwyn Studio for the origination and application of the Delta db test to sound recording in motion pictures.

To Farciot Edouart, Joseph E. Robbins, William Rudolph and Paramount Pictures, Inc. for the design and construction of a quiet portable treadmill.

To Emery Huse and Ralph B. Atkinson of the Eastman Kodak Company for their specifications for chemical analysis of photographic developers and fixing baths.

To Harold Nye of Warner Bros. Studio for a miniature incandescent spot lamp.

To A. J. Tondreau of Warner Bros. Studio for the design and manufacture of an improved sound track printer.

Multiple Award for important contributions in cooperative development of new improved Process Projection Equipment:

F. R. Abbott, Haller Belt, Alan Cook and the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company for faster projection lenses;

The Mitchell Camera Company for a new type process projection head;

Mole-Richardson Company for a new type automatically controlled projection arc lamp;

Charley Handley, David Joy and the National Carbon Company for improved and more stable high-intensity carbons;

Winton Hoch and the Technicolor Motion Picture Corp. for an auxiliary optical system;

Don Musgrave and Selznick International Pictures, Inc. for pioneering in the use of coordinated equipment in the production, Gone with the Wind.