1953 Oscars
Film’s most glamorous stars, including Elizabeth Taylor, Tony Curtis and Gloria Grahame, hit RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood for the 25th annual Academy Awards — the first televised Oscar ceremony — in 1953.
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Image Credit: Photo Credit: Courtesy of ©A.M.P.A.S.. -
Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Courtesy of ©A.M.P.A.S.. Hollywood’s golden couple at the time, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, smiled for the cameras.
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Walt Disney
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Courtesy of ©A.M.P.A.S.. Walt Disney was a presenter and also won an Oscar for the live-action short Water Birds.
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Greer Garson, Buddy Fogelson and Zsa Zsa Gabor
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Courtesy of ©A.M.P.A.S.. Greer Garson (left), a presenter, and Zsa Zsa Gabor flank Buddy Fogelson.
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Elizabeth Taylor
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Loomis Dean//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images Taylor paused to sign an autograph for a little girl on her way into RKO Pantages Theatre. It rained that day, cutting bleacher attendance to 1,500 (about half of the previous year’s count), but that did not dampen the spirits of the celebrities, who were ready for their close-ups.
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From the Press Room
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Loomis Dean//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images The Greatest Show on Earth nabbed best picture and The Bad and the Beautiful won five Oscars, but the telecast — seen in an estimated 10.9 million homes — was the night’s biggest winner. “It was a very exciting time,” says Robert Wagner. “It was an adventure, being televised for the first time.”
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Bob Hope
Image Credit: Photo Credit: JOE RUSTAN/AFP/Getty Images Bob Hope hosted the 110-minute telecast (taped simultaneously at New York’s NBC International Theatre so actors working on Broadway could take part), becoming flustered only once when Charles Brackett surprised him with an honorary Oscar.
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‘Near Record Audience’
THR reported that a “near record audience” tuned in to the 90-minute broadcast, for which 10 cameras were used at the Hollywood location (including a 20-foot crane on the street and a roving camera backstage). Another six cameras were employed in New York for five cut-ins to the telecast.
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Olivia de Havilland, John Wayne and Janet Gaynor
Image Credit: Photo Credit: AP Photo Olivia de Havilland (left) and Janet Gaynor flanked John Wayne, who accepted Oscars for Gary Cooper (best actor for High Noon) and John Ford (best director for The Quiet Man), both of whom could not attend.
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1953 Oscars
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Courtesy of Everett Collection “He was so proud of me that night,” says Terry Moore (a supporting actress nominee for Come Back, Little Sheba) of her date, Roger Wagner, who lifted a chain in front of the theater so that Moore could go in — the couple had missed the entrance for the red carpet. “I didn’t want to win,” adds Moore. “I just felt that I wasn’t good enough to win, so I was relieved when I didn’t.”