18th Academy Awards — award ceremony presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for achievement in filmmaking in 1945
The first postwar Oscars ceremony, held in 1946, marked a return to prewar glamour while honoring Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend with Best Picture and Best Director.
Key Facts
- Ceremony date
- March 7, 1946
- Venue
- Grauman's Chinese Theatre
- Best Picture winner
- The Lost Weekend (Billy Wilder)
- First sequel nominated for Best Picture
- The Bells of St. Mary's
- Statuette change
- Plaster replaced by bronze with gold plating
- Historic Best Picture sweep
- Every nominated film won at least one Oscar
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
World War II had forced austerity measures on the Academy Awards, including the use of plaster statuettes in place of metal ones. With the war's end in 1945, the film industry and the Academy were eager to restore the prestige and spectacle of prewar ceremonies.
The 18th Academy Awards were held on March 7, 1946, at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Bronze, gold-plated statuettes returned, and Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend dominated proceedings, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay — the first film to also hold the Palme d'Or.
The Lost Weekend's success signaled that serious, socially challenging films could triumph at the Oscars. The ceremony also set two firsts: every Best Picture nominee won at least one award, and a sequel — The Bells of St. Mary's — received a Best Picture nomination for the first time in Oscar history.