1952 Oscars: Winners and Nominees

56 films were recognised at the 1952 Academy Awards, across 27 categories. 14 of them took home at least one award.

The biggest winner of the year was An American in Paris, with 6 awards, ahead of A Place in the Sun with 6. The categories below run from Writing (Story and Screenplay), Actor and Actor in a Supporting Role to the smaller prizes, and in every one the winner is listed first, followed by the other nominees.

Each title links to the film's full award history at all four awards, and the links at the bottom step to the previous and next ceremony.

Last updated August 12, 2026

Writing (Story and Screenplay)

An American in Paris(1951)
Alan Jay Lerner
Winner
Ace in the Hole (The Big Carnival)(1951)
Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels, Walter Newman
Ace in the Hole (The Big Carnival)(1951)
The Big Carnival
David and Bathsheba(1951)
Philip Dunne
Go for Broke!(1951)
Robert Pirosh
The Well(1951)
Clarence Greene, Russell Rouse

Actor

The African Queen(1951)
Humphrey Bogart
Winner
A Place in the Sun(1951)
Montgomery Clift
A Streetcar Named Desire(1951)
Marlon Brando
Bright Victory(1951)
Arthur Kennedy
Death of a Salesman(1951)
Fredric March

Actor in a Supporting Role

A Streetcar Named Desire(1951)
Karl Malden
Winner
Come Fill the Cup(1951)
Gig Young
Death of a Salesman(1951)
Kevin McCarthy
Quo Vadis(1951)
Leo Genn
Quo Vadis(1951)
Peter Ustinov

Actress

A Streetcar Named Desire(1951)
Vivien Leigh
Winner
A Place in the Sun(1951)
Shelley Winters
Detective Story(1951)
Eleanor Parker
The African Queen(1951)
Katharine Hepburn
The Blue Veil(1951)
Jane Wyman

Actress in a Supporting Role

A Streetcar Named Desire(1951)
Kim Hunter
Winner
Death of a Salesman(1951)
Mildred Dunnock
Detective Story(1951)
Lee Grant
The Blue Veil(1951)
Joan Blondell
The Mating Season(1951)
Thelma Ritter

Art Direction (Black-and-White)

A Streetcar Named Desire(1951)
Art Direction: Richard Day; Set Decoration: George James Hopkins
Winner
Fourteen Hours(1951)
Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler, Leland Fuller; Set Decoration: Thomas Little, Fred J. Rode
La Ronde(1950)
D'Eaubonne
The House on Telegraph Hill(1951)
Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler, John DeCuir; Set Decoration: Thomas Little, Paul S. Fox
Too Young to Kiss(1951)
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis, Jack D. Moore

Art Direction (Color)

An American in Paris(1951)
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Preston Ames; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis, Keogh Gleason
Winner
David and Bathsheba(1951)
Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler, George Davis; Set Decoration: Thomas Little, Paul S. Fox
On the Riviera(1951)
Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler, Leland Fuller; Musical Settings: Joseph C. Wright; Set Decoration: Thomas Little, Walter M. Scott
Quo Vadis(1951)
Art Direction: William A. Horning, Cedric Gibbons, Edward Carfagno; Set Decoration: Hugh Hunt
The Tales of Hoffmann(1951)
Hein Heckroth

Best Picture

An American in Paris(1951)
Arthur Freed, Producer
Winner
A Place in the Sun(1951)
George Stevens, Producer
A Streetcar Named Desire(1951)
Charles K. Feldman, Producer
Decision Before Dawn(1951)
Anatole Litvak and Frank McCarthy, Producers
Quo Vadis(1951)
Sam Zimbalist, Producer

Cinematography (Black-and-White)

A Place in the Sun(1951)
William C. Mellor
Winner
A Streetcar Named Desire(1951)
Harry Stradling
Death of a Salesman(1951)
Frank Planer
Strangers on a Train(1951)
Robert Burks
The Frogmen(1951)
Norbert Brodine

Cinematography (Color)

An American in Paris(1951)
Alfred Gilks; Ballet Photography by John Alton
Winner
David and Bathsheba(1951)
Leon Shamroy
Quo Vadis(1951)
Robert Surtees, William V. Skall
Show Boat(1951)
Charles Rosher
When Worlds Collide(1951)
John F. Seitz, W. Howard Greene

Costume Design (Black-and-White)

A Place in the Sun(1951)
Edith Head
Winner
A Streetcar Named Desire(1951)
Lucinda Ballard
Kind Lady(1951)
Walter Plunkett, Gile Steele
The Model and the Marriage Broker(1951)
Charles LeMaire, Renie
The Mudlark(1950)
Edward Stevenson, Margaret Furse

Costume Design (Color)

An American in Paris(1951)
Orry-Kelly, Walter Plunkett, Irene Sharaff
Winner
David and Bathsheba(1951)
Charles LeMaire, Edward Stevenson
Quo Vadis(1951)
Herschel McCoy
The Great Caruso(1951)
Helen Rose, Gile Steele
The Tales of Hoffmann(1951)
Hein Heckroth

Directing

A Place in the Sun(1951)
George Stevens
Winner
A Streetcar Named Desire(1951)
Elia Kazan
An American in Paris(1951)
Vincente Minnelli
Detective Story(1951)
William Wyler
The African Queen(1951)
John Huston

Film Editing

A Place in the Sun(1951)
William Hornbeck
Winner
An American in Paris(1951)
Adrienne Fazan
Decision Before Dawn(1951)
Dorothy Spencer
Quo Vadis(1951)
Ralph E. Winters
The Well(1951)
Chester Schaeffer

Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture)

A Place in the Sun(1951)
Franz Waxman
Winner
A Streetcar Named Desire(1951)
Alex North
David and Bathsheba(1951)
Alfred Newman
Death of a Salesman(1951)
Alex North
Quo Vadis(1951)
Miklos Rozsa

Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture)

An American in Paris(1951)
Johnny Green, Saul Chaplin
Winner
Alice in Wonderland(1951)
Oliver Wallace
On the Riviera(1951)
Alfred Newman
Show Boat(1951)
Adolph Deutsch, Conrad Salinger
The Great Caruso(1951)
Peter Herman Adler, Johnny Green

Music (Song)

Here Comes the Groom(1951)
In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening in "Here Comes the Groom" Music by Hoagy Carmichael; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
Winner
Golden Girl(1951)
Never in "Golden Girl" Music by Lionel Newman; Lyrics by Eliot Daniel
Rich, Young and Pretty(1951)
Wonder Why in "Rich, Young and Pretty" Music by Nicholas Brodszky; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
Royal Wedding(1951)
Too Late Now in "Royal Wedding" Music by Burton Lane; Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
The Strip(1951)
A Kiss To Build A Dream On in "The Strip" Music and Lyrics by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby and Oscar Hammerstein II

Sound Recording

The Great Caruso(1951)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department, Douglas Shearer, Sound Director
Winner
A Streetcar Named Desire(1951)
Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, Col. Nathan Levinson, Sound Director
Bright Victory(1951)
Universal-International Studio Sound Department, Leslie I. Carey, Sound Director
I Want You(1951)
Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department, Gordon Sawyer, Sound Director
Two Tickets to Broadway(1951)
RKO Radio Studio Sound Department, John O. Aalberg, Sound Director

Writing (Motion Picture Story)

Seven Days to Noon(1950)
Paul Dehn, James Bernard
Winner
Bullfighter and the Lady(1951)
Budd Boetticher, Ray Nazarro
Here Comes the Groom(1951)
Robert Riskin, Liam O'Brien
Teresa(1951)
Alfred Hayes, Stewart Stern
The Frogmen(1951)
Oscar Millard

Writing (Screenplay)

A Place in the Sun(1951)
Michael Wilson, Harry Brown
Winner
A Streetcar Named Desire(1951)
Tennessee Williams
Detective Story(1951)
Philip Yordan, Robert Wyler
La Ronde(1950)
Max Ophuls, Jacques Natanson
The African Queen(1951)
James Agee, John Huston

Documentary (Short Subject)

Benjy(1951)
Made by Fred Zinnemann with the cooperation of Paramount Pictures Corporation for the Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital
Winner
One Who Came Back(1952)
Owen Crump, Producer. (Film sponsored by the Disabled American Veterans, in cooperation with the United States Department of Defense and the Association of Motion Picture Producers)
The Seeing Eye(1951)
Gordon Hollingshead, Producer