1959 Oscars: Winners and Nominees

54 films were recognised at the 1959 Academy Awards, across 23 categories. 13 of them took home at least one award.

The biggest winner of the year was Gigi, with 9 awards, ahead of Separate Tables with 2. The categories below run from International Feature Film, 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

International Feature Film

Mon Oncle(1958)
France
Winner
Arms and the Man(1958)
West Germany
Big Deal on Madonna Street (The Usual Unidentified Thieves)(1958)
Italy
Big Deal on Madonna Street (The Usual Unidentified Thieves)(1958)
The Usual Unidentified Thieves
Revenge(1958)
La Venganza
The Year Long Road(1958)
Yugoslavia
Vengeance (La Venganza)(1958)
Spain

Actor

Separate Tables(1958)
David Niven
Winner
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof(1958)
Paul Newman
The Defiant Ones(1958)
Tony Curtis
The Defiant Ones(1958)
Sidney Poitier
The Old Man and the Sea(1958)
Spencer Tracy

Actor in a Supporting Role

The Big Country(1958)
Burl Ives
Winner
Some Came Running(1958)
Arthur Kennedy
Teacher's Pet(1958)
Gig Young
The Brothers Karamazov(1958)
Lee J. Cobb
The Defiant Ones(1958)
Theodore Bikel

Actress

I Want to Live!(1958)
Susan Hayward
Winner
Auntie Mame(1958)
Rosalind Russell
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof(1958)
Elizabeth Taylor
Separate Tables(1958)
Deborah Kerr
Some Came Running(1958)
Shirley MacLaine

Actress in a Supporting Role

Separate Tables(1958)
Wendy Hiller
Winner
Auntie Mame(1958)
Peggy Cass
Lonelyhearts(1958)
Maureen Stapleton
Some Came Running(1958)
Martha Hyer
The Defiant Ones(1958)
Cara Williams

Art Direction

Gigi(1958)
Art Direction: William A. Horning, Preston Ames; Set Decoration: Henry Grace, Keogh Gleason
Winner
A Certain Smile(1958)
Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler, John DeCuir; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott, Paul S. Fox
Auntie Mame(1958)
Art Direction: Malcolm Bert; Set Decoration: George James Hopkins
Bell, Book and Candle(1958)
Art Direction: Cary Odell; Set Decoration: Louis Diage
Vertigo(1958)
Art Direction: Hal Pereira, Henry Bumstead; Set Decoration: Sam Comer, Frank McKelvy

Best Picture

Gigi(1958)
Arthur Freed, Producer
Winner
Auntie Mame(1958)
Warner Bros.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof(1958)
Lawrence Weingarten, Producer
Separate Tables(1958)
Harold Hecht, Producer
The Defiant Ones(1958)
Stanley Kramer, Producer

Cinematography (Black-and-White)

The Defiant Ones(1958)
Sam Leavitt
Winner
Desire Under the Elms(1958)
Daniel L. Fapp
I Want to Live!(1958)
Lionel Lindon
Separate Tables(1958)
Charles Lang, Jr.
The Young Lions(1958)
Joe MacDonald

Cinematography (Color)

Gigi(1958)
Joseph Ruttenberg
Winner
Auntie Mame(1958)
Harry Stradling, Sr.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof(1958)
William Daniels
South Pacific(1958)
Leon Shamroy
The Old Man and the Sea(1958)
James Wong Howe

Costume Design

Gigi(1958)
Cecil Beaton
Winner
A Certain Smile(1958)
Charles LeMaire, Mary Wills
Bell, Book and Candle(1958)
Jean Louis
Some Came Running(1958)
Walter Plunkett
The Buccaneer(1958)
Ralph Jester, Edith Head, John Jensen

Directing

Gigi(1958)
Vincente Minnelli
Winner
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof(1958)
Richard Brooks
I Want to Live!(1958)
Robert Wise
The Defiant Ones(1958)
Stanley Kramer
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness(1958)
Mark Robson

Documentary (Short Subject)

Ama Girls(1958)
Ben Sharpsteen, Producer
Winner
Employees Only(1958)
Kenneth G. Brown, Producer
Journey Into Spring(1958)
Ian Ferguson, Producer
Overture(1958)
Thorold Dickinson, Producer
The Living Stone(1959)
Tom Daly, Producer

Film Editing

Gigi(1958)
Adrienne Fazan
Winner
Auntie Mame(1958)
William Ziegler
Cowboy(1958)
William A. Lyon, Al Clark
I Want to Live!(1958)
William Hornbeck
The Defiant Ones(1958)
Frederic Knudtson

Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture)

The Old Man and the Sea(1958)
Dimitri Tiomkin
Winner
Separate Tables(1958)
David Raksin
The Big Country(1958)
Jerome Moross
The Young Lions(1958)
Hugo Friedhofer
White Wilderness(1958)
Oliver Wallace

Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture)

Gigi(1958)
Andre Previn
Winner
Damn Yankees(1958)
Ray Heindorf
Mardi Gras(1958)
Lionel Newman
South Pacific(1958)
Alfred Newman, Ken Darby
The Bolshoi Ballet(1957)
Yuri Faier, G. Rozhdestvensky

Music (Song)

Gigi(1958)
Gigi in "Gigi" Music by Frederick Loewe; Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Winner
A Certain Smile(1958)
A Certain Smile in "A Certain Smile" Music by Sammy Fain; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
Houseboat(1958)
Almost In Your Arms (Love Song From 'Houseboat') in "Houseboat" Music and Lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans
Marjorie Morningstar(1958)
A Very Precious Love in "Marjorie Morningstar" Music by Sammy Fain; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
Some Came Running(1958)
To Love And Be Loved in "Some Came Running" Music by James Van Heusen; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn

Short Subject (Live Action)

Grand Canyon(1958)
Walt Disney, Producer
Winner
Journey Into Spring(1958)
Ian Ferguson, Producer
Snows of Aorangi(1958)
New Zealand Screen Board
T Is for Tumbleweed(1958)
James A. Lebenthal, Producer
The Kiss(1958)
John Patrick Hayes, Producer

Sound

South Pacific(1958)
Todd-AO Sound Department, Fred Hynes, Sound Director
Winner
A Time to Love and a Time to Die(1958)
Universal-International Studio Sound Department, Leslie I. Carey, Sound Director
I Want to Live!(1958)
Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department, Gordon E. Sawyer, Sound Director
The Young Lions(1958)
20th Century-Fox Studio Sound Department, Carl Faulkner, Sound Director
Vertigo(1958)
Paramount Studio Sound Department, George Dutton, Sound Director

Writing (Screenplay--based on material from another medium)

Gigi(1958)
Alan Jay Lerner
Winner
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof(1958)
Richard Brooks, James Poe
I Want to Live!(1958)
Nelson Gidding, Don Mankiewicz
Separate Tables(1958)
Terence Rattigan, John Gay
The Horse's Mouth(1958)
Alec Guinness

Writing (Story and Screenplay--written directly for the screen)

The Defiant Ones(1958)
Nedrick Young, Harold Jacob Smith
Winner
Houseboat(1958)
Melville Shavelson, Jack Rose
Teacher's Pet(1958)
Fay Kanin, Michael Kanin
The Goddess(1958)
Paddy Chayefsky
The Sheepman(1958)
Story by James Edward Grant; Screenplay by William Bowers, James Edward Grant