Top Academy Awards Of 1961
 

To emphasize just how high the quality of film production was in 1961, here’s a short list of the films that didn’t even get nominated for best picture: 1. The sprawling, medieval, Charlton Heston vehicle: El Cid. 2. Breakfast at Tiffany’s. (It’s kind of difficult to imagine Audrey Hepburn not winning the Oscar for this, but Rita Moreno evidently beat her out). 3. A Raisin In The Sun. (This is, perhaps, the strangest omission in the lot. Especially as Fanny and The Guns of Navarone do not appear to have stood the test of time). 4. The Misfits (John Huston at his best, Clark Gable and Marilyn at their last). 5. Jules And Jim, (Truffaut’s timeless classic) 6. La Dolce Vita (Fellini’s timeless classic)

The winners of the top academy awards of 1961 were these: Best Actor: Maximillian Schell in: Judgment at Nurenberg (remarkably beating out Paul Newman in his performance as Fast Eddie Felson, in The Hustler. Newman went on to win his first academy award, more than two decades later, playing the same role, in Martin Scorscese’s The Color Of Money). Best Actress: Sophia Loren in: Two Women Best Motion Picture: West Side Story Best Director: Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for: West Side Story Best Supporting actress: Rita Moreno in: West Side Story Best Supporting Actor: George Chakiris in: West Side Story

As should be evident from this list, West Side Story “cleaned up,” winning 10 out of eleven categories for which it was nominated. This was by no means, a given going in. Judy Garland was a heavy favorite over Rita Moreno for the best supporting actress award and in the supporting actor arena all the talk in the days leading up to the big night was about heavy hitters: Jackie Gleason, Monty Clift, and George C. Scott. George Chakiris, (who?) a well respected, if comparatively unknown, song and dance man, pulled off one of the bigger upsets in Academy Award history, taking home the best supporting actor award for his work as Bernardo, the doomed gang member in West Side Story.

Despite all the legendary directors and performers on hand that evening, perhaps the most notable event of the night occurred when a Brooklyn taxi driver by the name of Stan Berman, crashed the event, stepped on stage and presented an ad-hoc, home-made “Oscar” to master of ceremonies, Bob Hope. Hope famously quipped: “Who needs Price Waterhouse, all we need is a doorman.”