32nd Academy Awards — award ceremony presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for achievement in filmmaking in 1959
Ben-Hur won 11 Oscars at the 32nd Academy Awards, setting a record for most wins at a single ceremony that stood until 1997.
Key Facts
- Date of ceremony
- April 4, 1960
- Venue
- RKO Pantages Theatre, Hollywood
- Ben-Hur Oscar wins
- 11 awards
- Previous record (Gigi, 1958)
- 9 awards
- William Wyler Best Director wins
- 3 (most by any director at the time)
- Films honored
- Films released in 1959
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
William Wyler directed Ben-Hur, a large-scale MGM biblical epic released in 1959 that drew widespread critical acclaim and commercial success. The ceremony took place amid an actors' strike and reduced studio support for the Academy, with many stars absent, partly due to fallout from Jerry Lewis's controversial closing number at the prior year's ceremony.
The 32nd Academy Awards were held on April 4, 1960, at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. Ben-Hur dominated the evening, winning 11 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director for Wyler, surpassing the previous record of nine wins set by Gigi. Wyler became the only director to have guided three Best Picture winners.
Ben-Hur's 11-win record became a benchmark in Oscar history, not equaled until Titanic in 1997 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003. The ceremony also highlighted growing tensions between Hollywood studios and the Academy, with studios publicly questioning the value of their sponsorship of the broadcast.