Trivia

Because his Academy Award was destroyed in a fire, Gene Kelly, who was a presenter that night, was presented with a replacement. When Kelly and co-presenter Ray Bolger wanted to start with their presentation, Academy President Gene Allen appeared on stage to give Kelly the replacement Oscar. Kelly was not being told that he would receive that replacement, but stated that he had the feeling that it would happen.

Linda Hunt, who won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for L'Année de tous les dangers (1982), became the first person to win an Oscar for playing a character of the opposite sex. She played a male photographer in the movie.

This edition didn't include the makeup category, created two years earlier.

This was the first awards show in history to use a computer-generated graphic timer clock to notify awardees how much time they had to give their speeches before time was up. The countdown clock was displayed on a large screen TV in front of the stage. It was controlled by the assistant director who had the discretion to activate it or not depending on the importance of the award and, for this show, was programmed for 30 seconds. This has since become a staple element of almost all award shows and is often followed up by the music when the awardee ignores the clock.

After Honorary Oscar recipient, legendary film producer Hal Roach, ended up his acceptance speech, he accidentally forgot to take his Oscar with him.