1961 Oscars: Winners and Nominees

56 films were recognised at the 1961 Academy Awards, across 26 categories. 17 of them took home at least one award.

The biggest winner of the year was The Apartment, with 5 awards, ahead of Spartacus with 4. 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

The Virgin Spring(1960)
Sweden
Winner
Kapo(1960)
Italy
Macario(1960)
Mexico
The Ninth Circle(1960)
Yugoslavia
The Truth (La Vérité)(1960)
France
The Truth (La Vérité)(1960)
La Vérité

Actor

Elmer Gantry(1960)
Burt Lancaster
Winner
Inherit the Wind(1960)
Spencer Tracy
Sons and Lovers(1960)
Trevor Howard
The Apartment(1960)
Jack Lemmon
The Entertainer(1960)
Laurence Olivier

Actor in a Supporting Role

Spartacus(1960)
Peter Ustinov
Winner
Exodus(1960)
Sal Mineo
Murder, Inc.(1960)
Peter Falk
The Alamo(1960)
Chill Wills
The Apartment(1960)
Jack Kruschen

Actress

BUtterfield 8(1960)
Elizabeth Taylor
Winner
Never on Sunday(1960)
Melina Mercouri
Sunrise at Campobello(1960)
Greer Garson
The Apartment(1960)
Shirley MacLaine
The Sundowners(1960)
Deborah Kerr

Actress in a Supporting Role

Elmer Gantry(1960)
Shirley Jones
Winner
Psycho(1960)
Janet Leigh
Sons and Lovers(1960)
Mary Ure
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs(1960)
Shirley Knight
The Sundowners(1960)
Glynis Johns

Art Direction (Black-and-White)

The Apartment(1960)
Art Direction: Alexander Trauner; Set Decoration: Edward G. Boyle
Winner
Psycho(1960)
Art Direction: Joseph Hurley, Robert Clatworthy; Set Decoration: George Milo
Sons and Lovers(1960)
Art Direction: Tom Morahan; Set Decoration: Lionel Couch
The Facts of Life(1960)
Art Direction: Joseph McMillan Johnson, Kenneth A. Reid; Set Decoration: Ross Dowd
Visit to a Small Planet(1960)
Art Direction: Hal Pereira, Walter Tyler; Set Decoration: Sam Comer, Arthur Krams

Art Direction (Color)

Spartacus(1960)
Art Direction: Alexander Golitzen, Eric Orbom; Set Decoration: Russell A. Gausman, Julia Heron
Winner
Cimarron(1960)
Art Direction: George W. Davis, Addison Hehr; Set Decoration: Henry Grace, Hugh Hunt, Otto Siegel
It Started in Naples(1960)
Art Direction: Hal Pereira, Roland Anderson; Set Decoration: Sam Comer, Arrigo Breschi
Pepe(1960)
Art Direction: Ted Haworth; Set Decoration: William Kiernan
Sunrise at Campobello(1960)
Art Direction: Edward Carrere; Set Decoration: George James Hopkins

Best Picture

The Apartment(1960)
Billy Wilder, Producer
Winner
Elmer Gantry(1960)
Bernard Smith, Producer
Sons and Lovers(1960)
Jerry Wald, Producer
The Alamo(1960)
John Wayne, Producer
The Sundowners(1960)
Fred Zinnemann, Producer

Cinematography (Black-and-White)

Sons and Lovers(1960)
Freddie Francis
Winner
Inherit the Wind(1960)
Ernest Laszlo
Psycho(1960)
John L. Russell
The Apartment(1960)
Joseph LaShelle
The Facts of Life(1960)
Charles B. Lang, Jr.

Cinematography (Color)

Spartacus(1960)
Russell Metty
Winner
BUtterfield 8(1960)
Joseph Ruttenberg, Charles Harten
Exodus(1960)
Sam Leavitt
Pepe(1960)
Joe MacDonald
The Alamo(1960)
William H. Clothier

Costume Design (Black-and-White)

The Facts of Life(1960)
Edith Head, Edward Stevenson
Winner
Never on Sunday(1960)
Deni Vachlioti
Seven Thieves(1960)
Bill Thomas
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond(1960)
Howard Shoup
The Virgin Spring(1960)
Marik Vos

Costume Design (Color)

Spartacus(1960)
Valles, Bill Thomas
Winner
Can-Can(1960)
Irene Sharaff
Midnight Lace(1960)
Irene
Pepe(1960)
Edith Head
Sunrise at Campobello(1960)
Marjorie Best

Directing

The Apartment(1960)
Billy Wilder
Winner
Never on Sunday(1960)
Jules Dassin
Psycho(1960)
Alfred Hitchcock
Sons and Lovers(1960)
Jack Cardiff
The Sundowners(1960)
Fred Zinnemann

Documentary (Short Subject)

Giuseppina(1960)
James Hill, Producer
Winner
A City Called Copenhagen(1960)
Statens Filmcentral, The Danish Government Film Office
Beyond Silence(1960)
United States Information Agency
George Grosz' Interregnum(1964)
Charles Carey and Altina Carey, Producers
Universe(1960)
Colin Low, Producer

Film Editing

The Apartment(1960)
Daniel Mandell
Winner
Inherit the Wind(1960)
Frederic Knudtson
Pepe(1960)
Viola Lawrence, Al Clark
Spartacus(1960)
Robert Lawrence
The Alamo(1960)
Stuart Gilmore

Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture)

Exodus(1960)
Ernest Gold
Winner
Elmer Gantry(1960)
Andre Previn
Spartacus(1960)
Alex North
The Alamo(1960)
Dimitri Tiomkin
The Magnificent Seven(1960)
Elmer Bernstein

Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture)

Song Without End(1960)
Morris Stoloff, Harry Sukman
Winner
Bells Are Ringing(1960)
Andre Previn
Can-Can(1960)
Nelson Riddle
Let's Make Love(1960)
Lionel Newman, Earle H. Hagen
Pepe(1960)
Johnny Green

Music (Song)

Never on Sunday(1960)
Never On Sunday in "Never on Sunday" Music and Lyrics by Manos Hadjidakis
Winner
High Time(1960)
The Second Time Around in "High Time" Music by James Van Heusen; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
Pepe(1960)
Faraway Part Of Town in "Pepe" Music by Andre Previn; Lyrics by Dory Langdon
The Alamo(1960)
The Green Leaves Of Summer in "The Alamo" Music by Dimitri Tiomkin; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
The Facts of Life(1960)
The Facts Of Life in "The Facts of Life" Music and Lyrics by Johnny Mercer

Short Subject (Cartoon)

Munro(1961)
William L. Snyder, Producer
Winner
A Place in the Sun(1959)
Frantisek Vystrecil, Producer
Goliath II(1960)
Walt Disney, Producer
High Note(1960)
Warner Bros.
Mouse and Garden(1960)
Warner Bros.

Sound

The Alamo(1960)
Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department, Gordon E. Sawyer, Sound Director; and Todd-AO Sound Department, Fred Hynes, Sound Director
Winner
Cimarron(1960)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department, Franklin E. Milton, Sound Director
Pepe(1960)
Columbia Studio Sound Department, Charles Rice, Sound Director
Sunrise at Campobello(1960)
Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, George R. Groves, Sound Director
The Apartment(1960)
Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department, Gordon E. Sawyer, Sound Director

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

Elmer Gantry(1960)
Richard Brooks
Winner
Inherit the Wind(1960)
Nedrick Young, Harold Jacob Smith
Sons and Lovers(1960)
Gavin Lambert, T. E. B. Clarke
The Sundowners(1960)
Isobel Lennart
Tunes of Glory(1960)
James Kennaway

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

The Apartment(1960)
Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond
Winner
Hiroshima Mon Amour(1959)
Marguerite Duras
Never on Sunday(1960)
Jules Dassin
The Angry Silence(1960)
Story by Richard Gregson, Michael Craig; Screenplay by Bryan Forbes
The Facts of Life(1960)
Norman Panama, Melvin Frank