HistoryData
general1958

30th Academy Awards — award ceremony presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for achievement in filmmaking in 1957

March 26, 1958

The 30th Academy Awards honored 1957 films, notable for a blacklisting controversy in the screenplay award and Joanne Woodward's Best Actress win.

Quick Facts

Year
1958
Category
general

Key Facts

Ceremony date
March 26, 1958
Best Actress winner
Joanne Woodward (The Three Faces of Eve)
Best Screenplay (Adapted)
Pierre Boulle for The Bridge on the River Kwai
Most nominations without a win
Peyton Place — 9 nominations, 0 wins
Blacklisted actual writers
Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson
Record tied
First time Best Director nominees matched all Best Picture nominees

Location

United States

Cause → Event → Consequence

Cause

The 1957 film season produced several major studio productions eligible for Academy recognition, while the Hollywood blacklist continued to affect credit attribution for writers. Off-screen tragedies, including the death of producer Mike Todd in a plane crash and the Lana Turner scandal, added turbulence to the awards season.

Event

The 30th Academy Awards were held on March 26, 1958. Joanne Woodward won Best Actress for The Three Faces of Eve. The Best Adapted Screenplay went to Pierre Boulle for The Bridge on the River Kwai, even though blacklisted writers Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson had authored the script. Peyton Place tied a nominations-without-a-win record with nine.

Consequence

The blacklisting anomaly in the screenplay category was later corrected when the Academy acknowledged Foreman and Wilson as true recipients. Peyton Place's nine-nomination shutout set a record that stood until 1977. The alignment of Best Director and Best Picture nominees was historically noted and would only recur four more times before 2009.

Timeline Context

Timeline around 195819581955195619571959196019611958–60 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup — international football competition13th Chess Olympiad — FIDE chess tournament for national teams1958 Cannes Film Festival — film festival edition1958 World Men's Handball Championship — 1958 edition of the World Men's Handball Championship1958 Formula One season — sports season1958 European Athletics Championships — 1958 edition of the European Athletics Championships1958 Asian Games — third edition of the Asian GamesGreat Leap Forward — 1958–1962 Chinese socioeconomic campaign30th-academy-awards-award-ceremony-presented-by-the-academ-1958