The 1959 Academy Awards were presented April 4, 1960 at the RKO Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, Calif.
| Best Motion Picture | Anatomy of a Murder, Otto Preminger, producer (Columbia) |
| Ben-Hur, Sam Zimbalist, producer (MGM) |
| The Diary of Anne Frank, George Stevens, producer (Twentieth Century-Fox) |
| The Nun's Story, Henry Blanke, producer (Warner Bros.) |
| Room at the Top, John and James Woolf, producers (Continental) |
| Best Actor | Laurence Harvey, Room at the Top |
| Charlton Heston, Ben-Hur |
| Jack Lemmon, Some Like It Hot |
| Paul Muni, The Last Angry Man |
| James Stewart, Anatomy of a Murder |
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 Charlton Heston, Ben-Hur Archive Photos |
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| Best Actress | Doris Day, Pillow Talk |
| Audrey Hepburn, The Nun's Story |
| Katharine Hepburn, Suddenly, Last Summer |
| Simone Signoret, Room at the Top |
| Elizabeth Taylor, Suddenly, Last Summer |
| Actor in a Supporting Role | Hugh Griffith, Ben-Hur |
| Arthur O'Connell, Anatomy of a Murder |
| George C. Scott, Anatomy of a Murder |
| Robert Vaughn, The Young Philadelphians |
| Ed Wynn, The Diary of Anne Frank |
| Actress in a Supporting Role | Hermione Baddeley, Room at the Top |
| Susan Kohner, Imitation of Life |
| Juanita Moore, Imitation of Life |
| Thelma Ritter, Pillow Talk |
| Shelley Winters, The Diary of Anne Frank |
| Directing | Jack Clayton, Room at the Top |
| George Stevens, The Diary of Anne Frank |
| Billy Wilder, Some Like It Hot |
| William Wyler, Ben-Hur |
| Fred Zinnemann, The Nun's Story |
| Writing | | Screenplay Based on Material From Another Medium | Robert Anderson, The Nun's Story | | Wendell Mayes, Anatomy of a Murder | | Neil Paterson, Room at the Top | | Karl Tunberg, Ben-Hur | | Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond, Some Like It Hot | | Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen | Ingmar Bergman, Wild Strawberries | | Ernest Lehman, North by Northwest | | Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene, story; Stanley Shapiro and Maurice Richlin, screenplay, Pillow Talk | | François Truffaut and Marcel Moussy, The 400 Blows |
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| Cinematography | | Black-and-White | Charles Lang, Jr., Some Like It Hot | | Joseph LaShelle, Career | | Sam Leavitt, Anatomy of a Murder | | William C. Mellor, The Diary of Anne Frank | | Harry Stradling, Sr., The Young Philadelphians | | Color | Daniel L. Fapp, The Five Pennies | | Lee Garmes, The Big Fisherman | | Franz Planer, The Nun's Story | | Leon Shamroy, Porgy and Bess | | Robert L. Surtees, Ben-Hur |
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| Art Direction | | Black-and-White | Carl Anderson, art direction; William Kiernan, set decoration, The Last Angry Man | | Ted Haworth, art direction; Edward G. Boyle, set decoration, Some Like It Hot | | Oliver Messel and William Kellner, art direction; Scot Slimon, set decoration, Suddenly, Last Summer | | Hal Pereira and Walter Tyler, art direction; Sam Comer and Arthur Krams, set decoration, Career | | Lyle R. Wheeler and George W. Davis, art direction; Walter M. Scott and Stuart A. Reiss, set decoration, The Diary of Anne Frank | | Color | John DeCuir, art direction; Julia Heron, set decoration, The Big Fisherman | | William A. Horning, Robert Boyle and Merrill Pye, art direction; Henry Grace and Frank McKelvy, set decoration, North by Northwest | | William A. Horning and Edward Carfagno, art direction; Hugh Hunt, set decoration, Ben-Hur | | Richard H. Riedel, art direction; Russell A. Gausman and Ruby R. Levitt, set decoration, Pillow Talk | | Lyle R. Wheeler, art direction, Franz Bachelin and Herman A. Blumenthal, set decoration; Walter M. Scott and Joseph Kish, Journey to the Center of the Earth |
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| Sound | MGM London Studio Sound Dept., Libel! |
| MGM Studio Sound Dept. Ben-Hur |
| Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Dept. and Todd-AO Sound Dept., Porgy and Bess |
| Twentieth Century-Fox Studio Sound Dept., Journey to the Center of the Earth |
| Warner Bros. Studio Sound Dept., The Nun's Story |
| Music | | Song | “The Best of Everything,” The Best of Everything, Alfred Newman, music; Sammy Cahn, lyrics | | “The Five Pennies,” The Five Pennies, Sylvia Fine, music and lyrics | | “The Hanging Tree,” The Hanging Tree, Jerry Livingston, music; Mack David, lyrics | | “High Hopes,” A Hole in the Head, James Van Heusen, music; Sammy Cahn, lyrics] | | “Strange Are the Ways of Love,” The Young Land, Dimitri Tiomkin, music; Ned Washington, lyrics | | Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture | Frank DeVol, Pillow Talk | | Ernest Gold, On the Beach | | Miklos Rozsa, Ben-Hur | | Franz Waxman, The Nun's Story | | Scoring of a Musical Picture | George Bruns, Sleeping Beauty | | Lionel Newman, Say One for Me | | André Previn and Ken Darby, Porgy and Bess | | Nelson Riddle and Joseph J. Lilley, Li'l Abner | | Leith Stevens, The Five Pennies |
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| Film Editing | Frederic Knudtson, On the Beach |
| Louis R. Loeffler, Anatomy of a Murder |
| Walter Thompson, The Nun's Story |
| George Tomasini, North by Northwest |
| Ralph E. Winters and John D. Dunning, Ben-Hur |
| Costume Design | | Black-and-White | Edith Head, Career | | Charles LeMaire and Mary Wills, The Diary of Anne Frank | | Orry-Kelly, Some Like It Hot | | Helen Rose, The Gazebo | | Howard Shoup, The Young Philadelphians | | Color | Elizabeth Haffenden, Ben-Hur | | Edith Head, The Five Pennies | | Adele Palmer, The Best of Everything | | Renie, The Big Fisherman | | Irene Sharaff, Porgy and Bess |
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| Special Effects | L. B. Abbott and James B. Gordon, visual; Carl Faulkner, audible, Journey to the Center of the Earth |
| A. Arnold Gillespie and Robert MacDonald, visual; Milo Lory, audible, Ben-Hur |
| Short Subjects | | Cartoon | Mexicali Shmoes (Speedy Gonzales Series) (John W. Burton, producer; Warner Bros.) | | Moonbird (Storyboard, Inc.; Edward Harrison) | | Noah's Ark (Walt Disney Productions; Buena Vista) | | The Violinist (Pintoff Productions; Kingsley International) | | Live Action | Between the Tides (British Transport Films; Lester A. Schoenfeld Films) | | The Golden Fish (Les Requins Associes; Columbia) | | Mysteries of the Deep (Walt Disney Productions; Buena Vista) | | The Running, Jumping and Standing-Still Film (Lion International Films; Kingsley-Union Films) | | Skyscraper (Tishman Realty and Construction Co.; Burstyn Film Enterprises) |
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| Documentary | | Short Subject | Donald in Mathmagic Land (Walt Disney Productions; Buena Vista) | | From Generation to Generation (Cullen Associates; Maternity Center Association) | | Glass (Netherlands Government; George K. Arthur-Go Pictures, Inc.) | | Feature | The Race for Space (David L. Wolper, producer; Wolper, Inc.) | | Serengeti Shall Not Die (Okapia-Film GmbH Production; Transocean-Film) |
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| Foreign Language Film | Black Orpheus, France |
| The Bridge, Federal Republic of Germany—West |
| The Great War, Italy |
| Paw, Denmark |
| The Village on the River, Netherlands |
| Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award | Bob Hope |
| Honorary Awards | To Lee De Forest for his pioneering inventions that brought sound to the motion picture |
| To Buster Keaton for his unique talents that brought immortal comedies to the screen |
