| 7th Academy Awards | |
|---|---|
| Date | February 27, 1935 |
| Site | Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California |
| Hosted by | Irvin S. Cobb |
| Highlights | |
| Best Picture | It Happened One Night |
| Most awards | It Happened One Night (5) |
| Most nominations | One Night of Love (6) |
The 7th Academy Awards, honoring the best films for 1934, was held on February 27, 1935,[1] at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Irvin S. Cobb. As of this ceremony, the Academy's award eligibility period coincided with the calendar year (with temporary exceptions for the 93rd and 94th Academy Awards due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Frank Capra's influential romantic comedy It Happened One Night became the first of three films to date to "sweep" the top five awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. This feat would later be matched by One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975 and The Silence of the Lambs in 1991. It also was the first romantic comedy to win Best Picture, and the first film to win two acting Oscars.
The categories of Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song were first introduced this year. This was the first of only two years in which write-in candidates were permitted, a response to the controversy surrounding the snub of Bette Davis for Of Human Bondage.[2] The Academy, inundated by calls, letters and editorials decrying this slight, told members they could vote in names on a printed ballot or write in any other name that was desired. Claudette Colbert declared that this announcement would give Davis the win in a walk.[2] However, in final voting, Davis came in fourth place. Colbert, who viewed herself as having no chance, was informed of her victory upon boarding a train for New York. She hastily rushed into the ceremony to collect her award, then went back to the waiting train.[2]
This was the last time that all Best Actor nominees were first time acting nominees until the 95th Academy Awards, and the last time until the 43rd Academy Awards where either lead acting category was entirely first-time nominees.
Six-year-old Shirley Temple received the first Juvenile Award, making her the youngest Oscar recipient. Clark Gable was the first Best Actor winner born in the 20th century (1901).