Academy Awards of 1970
 

The first and most successful of these pictures was Patton, a controversial biopic about legendary World War II General George S. Patton. Patton beat another nominated war movie that was almost the opposite of Patton. The Academy Awards of 1970 also recognized Roger Altman with a Best Picture nomination for M*A*S*H, a smart, rebellious, anti-war comedy that gave birth to one of the most popular and long-running television situation comedies of all time.

Patton continued its domination of the Academy Awards of 1970 with a Best Actor win for George C. Scott, who played the title role in defining fashion as World War II General Patton. Interestingly, Scott declined to accept his award, condemning the ceremony and the competition as demeaning to actors. Scott beat out some very talented actors in James Earl Jones, Jack Nicholson, Mervyn Douglas and Ryan O’Neal to receive the honor.

The Best Actress Oscar for 1970 went to Glenda Jackson, for her portrayal of Gudrun Brangwen in the novel adaptation Women in Love. She was the fourth English actress in the last seven years to enjoy this award.

The Best Supporting Actor Oscar went to John Mills in his only nomination. He won for his portrayal of Michael, the mute village simpleton from Ryan’s Daughter. Many felt that this was more of a lifetime achievement award for Mills than a recognition of this specific performance. He was the first actor since the silent movie era to win an Oscar for a silent role. Appropriately, he gave no acceptance speech.

The Academy Awards of 1970 awarded the Best Supporting Actress Oscar to seventy year old Helen Hayes for her performance as Ada Quonsett in Airport. Hayes win was significant in that she was the first person to win Oscars for both Best Actor or Actress and Best Supporting Actor or Actress.

Finally, the Academy Awards offered their best director Oscar in 1970, unsurprisingly, to Franklin Shaffner, the director of Patton. It would be Shaffner’s only nomination. All together, Patton garnered seven wins out of ten nominations, winning Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction/Set Direction, Best Sound and Best Film Editing. Directors that Shaffner beat out in order to earn the award included Roger Altman for M*A*S*H, along with Frederico Fellini, Arthur Hiller and Ken Russell.