1981 (54th Annual Awards)
Winners Only

Listed below are the Academy Award winners for the year 1981 (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.

Best Picture

Chariots of Fire, Enigma Productions Limited; The Ladd Company/Warner Bros. (UK) David Puttnam, Producer.

Actor in a Leading Role

Henry Fonda in On Golden Pond, ITC Films/IPC Films Production; Universal. (UK, USA)

Actress in a Leading Role

Katharine Hepburn in On Golden Pond, ITC Films/IPC Films Production; Universal. (UK, USA)

Actor in a Supporting Role

John Gielgud in Arthur, Rollins, Joffe, Morra and Brezner Production; Orion.

Actress in a Supporting Role

Maureen Stapleton in Reds, J.R.S. Production; Paramount.

Directing

Reds, J.R.S. Production; Paramount. Warren Beatty.

Art Direction-Set Decoration

Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lucasfilm, Ltd. Production; Paramount. Art direction by Norman Reynolds and Leslie Dilley; set decoration by Michael Ford.

Cinematography

Reds, J.R.S. Production; Paramount. Vittorio Storaro.

Costume Design

Chariots of Fire, Enigma Productions Limited; The Ladd Company/Warner Bros. (UK) Milena Canonero.

Documentary

(Feature)

Genocide, Arnold Schwartzman Productions, Inc. Arnold Schwartzman and Rabbi Marvin Hier, Producers.

(Short Subject)

Close Harmony, Noble Enterprise. Nigel Noble, Producer.

Film Editing

Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lucasfilm, Ltd. Production; Paramount. Michael Kahn.

Foreign Language Film

Mephisto, Mafilm-Objektiv Studio and Manfred Durniok Production. (West Germany, Hungary, Austria)

Makeup

An American Werewolf in London, Lycanthrope/PolyGram/Universal Pictures Production; Universal. (UK, USA) Rick Baker.

Music

(Original Score)

Chariots of Fire, Enigma Productions Limited; The Ladd Company/Warner Bros. (UK) Vangelis.

(Original Song)

Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do) from Arthur, Rollins, Joffe, Morra and Brezner Production; Orion. Music and lyric by Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, Christopher Cross and Peter Allen.

Short Films

(Animated)

Crac, Société Radio Canada. (Canada) Frédéric Back, Producer.

(Live Action)

Violet, The American Film Institute. (Canada, USA) Paul Kemp and Shelley Levinson, Producers.

Sound

Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lucasfilm, Ltd. Production; Paramount. Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, Gregg Landaker and Roy Charman.

Special Achievement Award

(Sound Effects Editing)

Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lucasfilm, Ltd. Production; Paramount. Ben Burtt and Richard L. Anderson.

Visual Effects

Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lucasfilm, Ltd. Production; Paramount. Richard Edlund, Kit West, Bruce Nicholson and Joe Johnston.

Writing

(Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium)

On Golden Pond, ITC Films/IPC Films Production; Universal. (UK, USA) Ernest Thompson.

(Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen)

Chariots of Fire, Enigma Productions Limited; The Ladd Company/Warner Bros. (UK) Colin Welland.

Honorary Award

To Barbara Stanwyck, for superlative creativity and unique contribution to the art of screen acting. [ [Statuette]]

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

Danny Kaye

Gordon E. Sawyer Award

Joseph B. Walker

Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

Albert R. Broccoli

Scientific or Technical Award

(Academy Award of Merit)

To the Fuji Photo Film Company, Ltd. for the research, development and introduction of a new Ultra-high-speed color negative film for motion pictures.

(Scientific and Engineering Award)

To Nelson Tyler for the progressive development and improvement of the Tyler Helicopter motion picture camera platform.

To Leonard Sokolow for the concept and design and to Howard T. LaZare for the development of the Consolidated Film Industries’ Stroboscan motion picture film viewer.

To Richard Edlund and Industrial Light and Magic, Incorporated for the concept and engineering of a beam-splitter optical composite motion picture printer.

To Richard Edlund and Industrial Light and Magic, Incorporated for the engineering of the Empire Motion Picture Camera System.

To Edward J. Blasko and Dr. Roderick T. Ryan of the Eastman Kodak Company for the application of the Prostar Microfilm Processor for motion picture title and special optical effects production.

(Technical Achievement Award)

To Hal Landaker for the concept and to Alan D. Landaker for the engineering of the Burbank Studios’ Production Sound Department 24-frame color video system.

To Bill Hogan of Ruxton, Ltd. and Richard J. Stumpf and Daniel R. Brewer of Universal City Studios’ Production Sound Department for the engineering of a 24-frame color video system.

To John DeMuth for the engineering of a 24-frame color video system.

To ERNST F. NUTTMANN of Continental Camera Systems, Inc. for the development of a pitching lens for motion picture photography.

To Bill Taylor of Universal City Studios for the concept and specifications for a Two Format, Rotating Head, Aerial Image Optical Printer.

To Peter D. Parks of Oxford Scientific Films for the development of the OSF microcosmic zoom device for microscopic photography.

To Dr. Louis Stankiewicz and H. L. Blachford for the development of Baryfol sound barrier materials.

To Dennis Muren and Stuart Ziff of Industrial Light and Magic, Incorporated for the development of a Motion Picture Figure Mover for animation photography.