17th Academy Awards

The 17th Academy Awards marked the first time this awards ceremony was broadcast nationally on the ABC Radio network.

Through the 1940’s, the ceremony and academy rules continued to evolve into the form by which we know them today. This is the first year that the Best Picture category was limited to 5 pictures. This was also the first and last time an individual was nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for playing the same role in the same film. Barry Fitzgerald was nominated in both categories for the character of Father Fitzgibbon in Going My Way. He won for Best Supporting Actor.

The 1944 Academy Award Winners

Picture: Going My Way
Actor: Bing Crosby (Going My Way)
Actress: Ingrid Bergman (Gaslight)
Supporting Actor: Barry Fitzgerald (Going My Way)
Supporting Actress: Ethel Barrymore (None but the Lonely Heart)
Director: Leo McCarey (Going My Way)
Adapted Screenplay: Frank Butler and Frank Cavett (Going My Way)
Original Screenplay: Lamar Trotti (Wilson) / Leo McCarey (Going My Way)
Song: "Swinging on a Star" (Going My Way)
Score: Since You Went Away (Dramatic or Comedy) / Cover Girl (Musical)
Cinematography: Laura (Black and White) / Wilson (Color)
Interior Decoration: Gaslight (Black and White) / Wilson (Color)
Film Editing: Wilson
Sound: Wilson
Special Effects: Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Short Films: Mouse Trouble (Cartoons) / Who's Who in Animal Land (One-Reel) / I Won't Play (Two-Reel)
Documentaries: With the Marines at Tarawa (Short) / The Fighting Lady (Feature)

The seventeenth Academy Awards ceremony was held on Thursday, March 15, 1945 at Grauman's Chinese Theater. Barry Fitzgerald (Going My Way) was nominated for best actor and best supporting actor for the same role. Because of the war, the statuettes were made out of plaster rather than bronze. Bob Hope and director John Cromwell hosted the ceremony.