4th Academy Awards

4th Academy Awards
Date	November 10, 1931
Site	Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles, California
Hosted by	Lawrence Grant
Highlights
Best Picture	Cimarron
Most awards	Cimarron (3)
Most nominations	Cimarron (7)

The 4th Academy Awards were awarded to films completed and screened released between August 1, 1930, and July 31, 1931, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At the ceremony, nine-year-old Jackie Cooper, nominated for Best Actor in Skippy, fell asleep on the shoulder of Best Actress nominee Marie Dressler. When Dressler was announced as the winner, Cooper had to be eased onto his mother's lap.

Cimarron was the first Western to win Best Picture, and would remain the only one to do so for 59 years (until Dances with Wolves won in 1991). It received a then-record seven nominations, and was the first film to win more than two awards.

Jackie Cooper was the first child star to receive a nomination, and he was the youngest nominee for nearly 50 years. He is the second-youngest Oscar nominee ever and the only Best Actor nominee under age 18.

Best Actor winner Lionel Barrymore became the first person to have received nominations in multiple categories, with a Best Director nod for Madame X at the 2nd Academy Awards. He was also the only ever best leading actor winner to be born in the 1870s

In addition, Cimarron and A Free Soul became the first movies to receive multiple acting nominations.

Awards

William LeBaron; Best Picture winner

Lionel Barrymore; Best Actor winner

Marie Dressler; Best Actress winner

Howard Estabrook; Best Adaptation winner

Nominees were announced on October 5, 1931. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.

Outstanding Production Cimarron – William LeBaron for RKO Pictures‡ East Lynne – Winfield Sheehan for Fox Film Corporation The Front Page – Howard Hughes for United Artists Skippy – Adolph Zukor for Paramount Pictures Trader Horn – Irving Thalberg for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	Best Director Norman Taurog – Skippy‡ Wesley Ruggles – Cimarron Clarence Brown – A Free Soul Lewis Milestone – The Front Page Josef von Sternberg – Morocco
Best Actor Lionel Barrymore – A Free Soul as Stephen Ashe‡ Jackie Cooper – Skippy as Skippy Skinner Richard Dix – Cimarron as Yancey Cravat Fredric March – The Royal Family of Broadway as Tony Cavendish Adolphe Menjou – The Front Page as Walter Burns	Best Actress Marie Dressler – Min and Bill as Min Divot‡ Marlene Dietrich – Morocco as Amy Jolly Irene Dunne – Cimarron as Sabra Ann Harding – Holiday as Linda Seton Norma Shearer – A Free Soul as Jan Ashe
Best Original Story The Dawn Patrol – John Monk Saunders‡ The Doorway to Hell – Rowland Brown Laughter – Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast, Douglas Doty, and Donald Ogden Stewart The Public Enemy – John Bright and Kubec Glasmon Smart Money – Lucien Hubbard and Joseph Jackson	Best Adaptation Cimarron – Howard Estabrook, based on the novel by Edna Ferber‡ The Criminal Code – Seton I. Miller and Fred Niblo Jr., based on the play by Martin Flavin Holiday – Horace Jackson, based on the play by Philip Barry Little Caesar – Francis Edward Faragoh and Robert N. Lee, based on the novel by William R. Burnett Skippy – Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Sam Mintz, based on the comic strip by Percy Crosby
Best Sound Recording Paramount Publix Studio Sound Department‡ MGM Studio Sound Department RKO Radio Studio Sound Department Samuel Goldwyn-United Artists Studio Sound Department	Best Art Direction Cimarron – Max Rée‡ Just Imagine – Stephen Goosson and Ralph Hammeras Morocco – Hans Dreier Svengali – Anton Grot Whoopee! – Richard Day
Best Cinematography Tabu – Floyd Crosby‡ Cimarron – Edward Cronjager Morocco – Lee Garmes The Right to Love – Charles Lang Svengali – Barney McGill

Multiple nominations and awards

The following seven films received multiple nominations:

• 7 nominations: Cimarron
• 4 nominations: Skippy and Morocco
• 3 nominations: The Front Page and A Free Soul
• 2 nominations: Holiday and Svengali

The following one film received multiple awards:

• 3 awards: Cimarron

See also

• 1930 in film
• 1931 in film