The evening’s dominant force was *Lawrence of Arabia*, David Lean’s epic account of T.E. Lawrence’s role in the Arab Revolt during the First World War. The film had been nominated in ten categories and won seven: Best Picture, Best Director (Lean), Best Cinematography in color (Freddie Young), Best Film Editing (Anne V. Coates), Best Art Direction in color, Best Sound (John Cox), and Best Original Score (Maurice Jarre). It was a commanding performance in the technical categories that reflected both the film’s visual ambition and the Academy’s traditional respect for scale.
Gregory Peck won Best Actor for *To Kill a Mockingbird*, Robert Mulligan’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel. Ed Begley won Best Supporting Actor for *Sweet Bird of Youth*. Patty Duke—sixteen years old—won Best Supporting Actress for *The Miracle Worker*, becoming at the time the youngest competitive Oscar winner in Academy history. (Tatum O’Neal would break that record eleven years later for *Paper Moon*.)
Horton Foote won Best Adapted Screenplay for *To Kill a Mockingbird*. *Divorce Italian Style* won Best Original Screenplay.
Crawford was there to present the Best Director award—a formal, recognized role in the ceremony, not simply the proxy function she would later serve. She was a presenter. She was also, by the accounts of those who were present, exceptionally well turned out for the evening.
When the Best Actress category was reached, the announcement of Anne Bancroft’s name set in motion the moment that the rest of the evening, and much of the subsequent legend, would turn on.