Academy Awards: 1981-1983

53rd Academy Awards

The 53rd Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1980, were presented March 31, 1981. The ceremony was originally scheduled for the previous day, but was postponed due to the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.
Johnny Carson was the host. The year’s winner of acting categories marked the closest age span between the four winners, all of whom were under 40 when they won the award. Robert De Niro was aged 37 when awarded Best Actor, Sissy Spacek was aged 31 when awarded Best Actress, Timothy Hutton was aged 20 when awarded Best Supporting Actor, and Mary Steenburgen was aged 28 when awarded Best Supporting Actress. In addition, Hutton was the youngest ever Best Supporting Actor winner.

Best Supporting Actress nominee Eva Le Gallienne was born in 1899, which made her the last acting nomination to ever happen at the Oscars for someone born in the 19th century.

Here are the nominees and winners of the acting categories, as well as Best Picture and Best Director:

Best Picture Winner: Ordinary People Coal Miner’s Daughter The Elephant Man Raging Bull Tess	Best Director Winner: Robert Redford – Ordinary People David Lynch – The Elephant Man Martin Scorsese – Raging Bull Richard Rush – The Stunt Man Roman Polanski – Tess
Best Actor Winner: Robert De Niro – Raging Bull Robert Duvall – The Great Santini John Hurt – The Elephant Man Jack Lemmon – Tribute Peter O’Toole – The Stunt Man	Best Actress Winner: Sissy Spacek – Coal Miner’s Daughter Ellen Burstyn – Resurrection Goldie Hawn – Private Benjamin Mary Tyler Moore – Ordinary People Gena Rowlands – Gloria
Best Supporting Actor Winner: Timothy Hutton – Ordinary People Judd Hirsch – Ordinary People Jason Robards – Melvin and Howard Michael O’Keefe – The Great Santini Joe Pesci – Raging Bull	Best Supporting Actress Winner: Mary Steenburgen – Melvin and Howard Eileen Brennan – Private Benjamin Eva Le Gallienne – Resurrection Cathy Moriarty – Raging Bull Diana Scarwid – Inside Moves

---

54th Academy Awards

The 54th Academy Awards were presented March 29, 1982. The ceremonies were presided over by Johnny Carson.

Chariots of Fire was the surprise winner (Reds was the favored nominee) of the Best Picture Oscar this year. It was the first time in 13 years that a British film won the Academy’s top honor. Next year’s winner, Gandhi, was also a British production.

Henry Fonda won his only competitive Oscar this year, as Best Actor for On Golden Pond. At 76 years of age, Fonda became the oldest winner in the Best Actor category in Academy history. The only other nomination he received in his career was Best Actor for his performance in The Grapes of Wrath 41 years ago – a record gap between acting nominations. His co-star, Katharine Hepburn, won her fourth Best Actress award that year, making it the most amount of Best Actress wins by any actress.

This year’s nominations also marked for the very first time that there’s three different films to be nominated for the “Top Five” Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay. The three films were On Golden Pond, Atlantic City and Reds. However, none of them winning the Best Picture prize, losing to Chariots of Fire. This also marked the first year that the award for Best Makeup was presented; the winner was Rick Baker for his work on An American Werewolf in London.

This year was the last year till the 2005 Oscars where all 5 picture nominations were also nominated for best director.

Here are the nominees and winners of the acting categories, as well as Best Picture and Best Director:

Best Picture Winner: Chariots of Fire Atlantic City On Golden Pond Raiders of the Lost Ark Reds	Best Director Winner: Warren Beatty – Reds Louis Malle – Atlantic City Hugh Hudson – Chariots of Fire Mark Rydell – On Golden Pond Steven Spielberg – Raiders of the Lost Ark
Best Actor Winner: Henry Fonda – On Golden Pond Warren Beatty – Reds Burt Lancaster – Atlantic City Dudley Moore – Arthur Paul Newman – Absence of Malice	Best Actress Winner: Katharine Hepburn – On Golden Pond Diane Keaton – Reds Marsha Mason – Only When I Laugh Susan Sarandon – Atlantic City Meryl Streep – The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Best Supporting Actor Winner: John Gielgud – Arthur James Coco – Only When I Laugh Ian Holm – Chariots of Fire Jack Nicholson – Reds Howard E. Rollins, Jr. – Ragtime	Best Supporting Actress Winner: Maureen Stapleton – Reds Melinda Dillon – Absence of Malice Jane Fonda – On Golden Pond Joan Hackett – Only When I Laugh Elizabeth McGovern – Ragtime

---

55th Academy Awards

The 55th Academy Awards were presented April 11, 1983. The ceremonies were presided over by Liza Minnelli, Dudley Moore, Richard Pryor, and Walter Matthau.

Louis Gossett, Jr. became the first African-American actor to win Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the tough and principled drill sergeant Emil Foley in An Officer and a Gentleman.

Here are the nominees and winners of the acting categories, as well as Best Picture and Best Director:

Best Picture Winner: Gandhi E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Missing Tootsie The Verdict	Best Director Winner: Richard Attenborough – Gandhi Wolfgang Petersen – Das Boot Steven Spielberg – E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Sydney Pollack – Tootsie Sidney Lumet – The Verdict
Best Actor Winner: Ben Kingsley – Gandhi Dustin Hoffman – Tootsie Jack Lemmon – Missing Paul Newman – The Verdict Peter O’Toole – My Favorite Year	Best Actress Winner: Meryl Streep – Sophie’s Choice Julie Andrews – Victor/Victoria Jessica Lange – Frances Sissy Spacek – Missing Debra Winger – An Officer and a Gentleman
Best Supporting Actor Winner: Louis Gossett, Jr. – An Officer and a Gentleman Charles Durning – The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas James Mason – The Verdict Robert Preston – Victor/Victoria John Lithgow – The World According to Garp	Best Supporting Actress Winner: Jessica Lange – Tootsie Kim Stanley – Frances Teri Garr – Tootsie Lesley Ann Warren – Victor/Victoria Glenn Close – The World According to Garp

Follow @returntothe80s