Oscar History: Academy Award Winning Movies and Actors of 1957

A look at Oscar winners and nominees, behind the scenes on the decisions for best picture, actor, etc for 1957, The Bridge on the River Kwai gets top honors.

1957

Best Picture

NOMINEES: The Bridge on the River Kwai, Peyton Place, Sayonara, Twelve Angry Men, Witness for the Prosecution

THE WINNER: The Bridge on the River Kwai (Columbia)

DIRECTOR: David Lean

PLAYERS: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins

Best Actor

NOMINEES: Marlon Brando (Sayonara); Anthony Franciosa (A Hatful of Rain); Alec Guinness (The bridge on the River Kwai); Charles Laughton (Witness for the Prosecution); Anthony Quinn (Wild Is the Wind)

THE WINNER: Alec Guinness

Best Actress

NOMINEES: Deborah Kerr (Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison); Anna Magnani (Wild Is the Wind); Elizabeth Taylor (Raintree County); Lana Turner (Peyton Place); Joanne Woodward (The Three Faces of Eve)

THE WINNER: Joanne Woodward

Behind the Oscar

Two violent deaths surrounded the Awards this year. Four days before the ceremony, a plane crash ended the life of Mike Todd and the latest marriage of Elizabeth Taylor. Elizabeth was a contender for an Oscar for Raintree County. Also in the running was Lana Turner for Peyton Place, and Lana would soon be embroiled in the scandal of her life when her boyfriend Johnny Stompanato was killed in her Beverly Hills home. Relative newcomer Joanne Woodward won, however, causing the one catty remark of the evening, delivered by Joan Crawford. Miss Crawford, noting that Joanne had made her own dress for the occasion, said: "Joanne Woodward is setting the cause of Hollywood glamour back 20 years by making her own clothes."