The 1956 Academy Awards were presented March 27, 1957 at the RKO Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, Calif and the NBC Century Theatre, New York, N.Y.
| Best Motion Picture | Around the World in 80 Days, Michael Todd, producer (United Artists) |
| Friendly Persuasion, William Wyler, producer (Allied Artists) |
| Giant, George Stevens and Henry Ginsberg, producers (Warner Bros.) |
| The King and I, Charles Brackett, producer (Twentieth Century-Fox) |
| The Ten Commandments, Cecil B. DeMille, producer (Paramount) |
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 Around the World in 80 Days Archive Photos |
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| Best Actor | Yul Brynner, The King and I |
| James Dean, Giant |
| Kirk Douglas, Lust for Life |
| Rock Hudson, Giant |
| Sir Laurence Olivier, Richard III |
| Best Actress | Carroll Baker, Baby Doll |
| Ingrid Bergman, Anastasia |
| Katharine Hepburn, The Rainmaker |
| Nancy Kelly, The Bad Seed |
| Deborah Kerr, The King and I |
| Actor in a Supporting Role | Don Murray, Bus Stop |
| Anthony Perkins, Friendly Persuasion |
| Anthony Quinn, Lust for Life |
| Mickey Rooney, The Bold and the Brave |
| Robert Stack, Written on the Wind |
| Actress in a Supporting Role | Mildred Dunnock, Baby Doll |
| Eileen Heckart, The Bad Seed |
| Mercedes McCambridge, Giant |
| Patty McCormack, The Bad Seed |
| Dorothy Malone, Written on the Wind |
| Directing | Michael Anderson, Around the World in 80 Days |
| Walter Lang, The King and I |
| George Stevens, Giant |
| King Vidor, War and Peace |
| William Wyler, Friendly Persuasion |
| Writing | | Motion Picture Story | Leo Katcher, The Eddy Duchin Story | | Jean Paul Sartre, The Proud and the Beautiful | | Dalton Trumbo, The Brave One | | Cesare Zavattini, Umberto D. | | Screenplay, Adapted | Norman Corwin, Lust for Life | | Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat, Giant | | James Poe, John Farrow and S.J. Perelman, Around the World in 80 Days | | Tennessee Williams, Baby Doll | | Screenplay, Original | Federico Fellini and Tullio Pinelli, La Strada | | Albert Lamorisse, The Red Balloon | | Robert Lewin, The Bold and the Brave | | William Rose, The Lady Killers | | Andrew L. Stone, Julie |
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| Cinematography | | Black-and-White | Burnett Guffey, The Harder They Fall | | Boris Kaufman, Baby Doll | | Hal Rosson, The Bad Seed | | Joseph Ruttenberg, Somebody Up There Likes Me | | Walter Strenge, Stagecoach to Fury | | Color | Jack Cardiff, War and Peace | | Loyal Griggs, The Ten Commandments | | Lionel Lindon, Around the World in 80 Days | | Leon Shamroy, The King and I | | Harry Stradling, The Eddy Duchin Story |
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| Art Direction | | Black-and-White | Ross Bellah, art direction; William R. Kiernan and Louis Diage, set decoration, The Solid Gold Cadillac | | Cedric Gibbons and Malcolm F. Brown, art direction; Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason, set decoration, Somebody Up There Likes Me | | Takashi Matsuyama, art direction and set decoration, The Magnificent Seven | | Hal Pereira and A. Earl Hedrick, art direction; Samuel M. Comer and Frank R. McKelvy, set decoration, The Proud and the Profane | | Lyle R. Wheeler and Jack Martin Smith, art direction; Walter M. Scott and Stuart A. Reiss, set decoration, Teenage Rebel | | Color | Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters and Preston Ames, art direction; Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason, set decoration, Lust for Life | | Boris Leven, art direction; Ralph S. Hurst, set decoration, Giant | | Hal Pereira, Walter H. Tyler and Albert Nozaki, art direction; Sam M. Comer and Ray Moyer, set decoration, The Ten Commandments | | James W. Sullivan and Ken Adam, art direction; Ross J. Dowd, set decoration, Around the World in 80 Days | | Lyle R. Wheeler and John DeCuir, art direction; Walter M. Scott and Paul S. Fox, set decoration, The King and I |
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| Sound Recording | Columbia Studio Sound Dept., The Eddy Duchin Story |
| Paramount Studio Sound Dept., The Ten Commandments |
| RKO Radio Studio Sound Dept., The Brave One |
| Twentieth Century-Fox Studio Sound Dept., The King and I |
| Westrex Sound Services, Inc. and Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Dept., Friendly Persuasion |
| Music | | Song | “Friendly Persuasion” (Thee I Love), Friendly Persuasion, Dimitri Tiomkin, music; Paul Francis Webster, lyrics | | “Julie,” Julie, Leith Stevens, music; Tom Adair, lyrics | | “True Love,” High Society; Cole Porter, music and lyrics | | “Whatever Will Be, Will Be” (Que Será, Será), The Man Who Knew Too Much, Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, music and lyrics | | “Written on the Wind,” Written on the Wind, Victor Young, music; Sammy Cahn, lyrics | | Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture | Hugo Friedhofer, Between Heaven and Hell | | Alfred Newman, Anastasia | | Alex North, The Rainmaker | | Dimitri Tiomkin, Giant | | Victor Young, Around the World in 80 Days | | Scoring of a Musical Picture | Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin, High Society | | Alfred Newman and Ken Darby, The King and I | | Lionel Newman, The Best Things in Life Are Free | | George Stoll and Johnny Green, Meet Me in Las Vegas | | Morris Stoloff and George Duning, The Eddy Duchin Story |
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| Film Editing | Albert Akst, Somebody Up There Likes Me |
| Anne Bauchens, The Ten Commandments |
| William Hornbeck, Philip W. Anderson and Fred Bohanan, Giant |
| Gene Ruggiero and Paul Weatherwax, Around the World in 80 Days |
| Merrill G. White, The Brave One |
| Costume Design | | Black-and-White | Kohei Ezaki, The Magnificent Seven | | Edith Head, The Proud and the Profane | | Charles LeMaire and Mary Wills, Teenage Rebel | | Jean Louis, The Solid Gold Cadillac | | Helen Rose, The Power and the Prize | | Color | Marie De Matteis, War and Peace | | Edith Head, Ralph Jester, John Jensen, Dorothy Jeakins and Arnold Friberg, The Ten Commandments | | Moss Mabry and Marjorie Best, Giant | | Irene Sharaff, The King and I | | Miles White, Around the World in 80 Days |
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| Special Effects | John Fulton, The Ten Commandments |
| A. Arnold Gillespie, Irving Ries and Wesley C. Miller, Forbidden Planet |
| Short Subjects | | Cartoon | Gerald McBoing-Boing on Planet Moo (Jolly Frolics Series) (United Productions of America; Columbia) | | The Jay Walker (UPA Special Series) (United Productions of America; Columbia) | | Mister Magoo's Puddle Jumper (Mr. Magoo Series) (United Productions of America; Columbia) | | One-Reel | Crashing the Water Barrier (The Sports Parade Series) (Konstantin Kalser, producer; Warner Bros.) | | I Never Forget a Face (Warner Specials Series) (Robert Youngson, producer; Warner Bros.) | | Time Stood Still (Scope Gems Series) (Cedric Francis, producer; Warner Bros.) | | Two-Reel | The Bespoke Overcoat (Go Pictures, Inc.; Romulus Films) | | Cow Dog (Walt Disney Productions; Buena Vista) | | The Dark Wave (John Healy, producer; Twentieth Century-Fox) | | Samoa (People and Places Series) (Walt Disney Productions; Buena Vista) |
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| Documentary | | Short Subject | A City Decides (Charles Guggenheim and Associates, Inc.) | | The Dark Wave (John Healy, producer; Twentieth Century-Fox) | | The House Without a Name (Valentine Davies, producer; Universal-International) | | Man in Space (Walt Disney Productions; Buena Vista) | | The True Story of the Civil War (Louis Clyde Stoumen, producer; Camera Eye Pictures, Inc.) | | Feature | The Naked Eye (Camera Eye Pictures, Inc.; Film Representatives, Inc.) | | The Silent World (Filmad-F.S.J.Y.C. Production; Columbia) | | Where Mountains Float (Arno/Studios, Copenhagen; Brandon Films, Inc.) |
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| Foreign Language Film | The Captain of Kopenick, Federal Republic of Germany—West |
| Gervaise, France |
| Harp of Burma, Japan |
| Qivitoq, Denmark |
| La Strada, Italy |
| Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award | Buddy Adler |
| Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (Not necessarily given each year ) | Y. Frank Freeman |
| Honorary Award | To Eddie Cantor for distinguished service to the film industry |
