Alternate Oscars—1980s

1980

Best Picture of 1980

Airplane!

The Big Red One (The Reconstruction)

The Blues Brothers

Caddyshack

The Elephant Man

The Empire Strikes Back

Kagemusha

✔ Ordinary People

★ Raging Bull

The Shining

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Best Actor of 1980

John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd (The Blues Brothers)

★ ✔ Robert De Niro (Raging Bull)

Robert Hays (Airplane!)

John Hurt (The Elephant Man)

Jack Nicholson (The Shining)

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Best Actress of 1980

Ellen Burstyn (Resurrection)

Julie Hagerty (Airplane!)

Goldie Hawn (Private Benjamin)

Nastassja Kinski (Tess)

★ ✔ Sissy Spacek (Coal Miner's Daughter)

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Best Director of 1980

Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker (Airplane!)

Samuel Fuller (The Big Red One) (The Reconstruction)

Akira Kurosawa (Kagemusha)

✔ Robert Redford (Ordinary People)

★ Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull)

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Best Supporting Actor of 1980

Dabney Coleman (9 to 5)

★ ✔ Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People)

Bill Murray (Caddyshack)

Joe Pesci (Raging Bull)

Jack Warden (Used Cars)

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Best Supporting Actress of 1980

Eileen Brennan (Private Benjamin)

★ Mary Tyler Moore (Ordinary People)

Cathy Moriarty (Raging Bull)

Dolly Parton (9 to 5)

✔ Mary Steenburgen (Melvin and Howard)

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Special Award

Thelma Schoonmaker (Raging Bull) (film editing)

"9 to 5" (9 to 5) music and lyrics by Dolly Parton (song)

The Blues Brothers (best soundtrack)

Caddyshack (best ever movie about golf and gophers)

Jimmy Carter (Used Cars) (best Presidential cameo)

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1981

Best Picture of 1981

Atlantic City

Blow Out

Body Heat

Das Boot

✔ Chariots of Fire

Gallipoli

On Golden Pond

Ragtime

★ Raiders of the Lost Ark

Reds

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Best Actor of 1981

Warren Beatty (Reds)

✔ Henry Fonda (On Golden Pond)

★ Harrison Ford (Raiders of the Lost Ark)

Burt Lancaster (Atlantic City)

Dudley Moore (Arthur)

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Best Actress of 1981

★ Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Ark)

Diane Keaton (Reds)

Susan Sarandon (Atlantic City)

Meryl Streep (The French Lieutenant's Woman)

Kathleen Turner (Body Heat)

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Best Director of 1981

✔ Warren Beatty (Reds)

Louis Malle (Atlantic City and My Dinner with Andre)

Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot)

★ Steven Spielberg (Raiders Of The Lost Ark)

Peter Weir (Gallipoli)

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Best Supporting Actor of 1981

✔ John Gielgud (Arthur)

Ian Holm (Chariots of Fire)

Jack Nicholson (Reds)

Robert Prosky (Thief)

★ Howard E. Rollins, Jr. (Ragtime)

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Best Supporting Actress of 1981

Joan Hackett (Only When I Laugh)

Elizabeth McGovern (Ragtime)

Helen Mirren (The Long Good Friday and Excalibur)

Marília Pêra (Pixote)

★ ✔ Maureen Stapleton (Reds)

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Special Award

Wolfgang Petersen, from the novel by Lothar G. Buchheim (Das Boot) (adapted screenplay)

Lawrence Kasdan, from a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman (Raiders of the Lost Ark) (original screenplay)

John Williams (Raiders of the Lost Ark) (score)

Vangelis (Chariots Of Fire) (best score to listen to when running on a beach in slow motion)

Pennies from Heaven (adapted song score)

Victory (best soccer movie)

My Dinner with Andre (just order dessert already)

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1982

Best Picture of 1982

★ Blade Runner

Diner

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

ƒ Fanny and Alexander

✔ Gandhi

Sophie's Choice

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

The Thing

Tootsie

Victor/Victoria

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Best Actor of 1982

Harrison Ford (Blade Runner)

★ Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie)

✔ Ben Kingsley (Gandhi)

Paul Newman (The Verdict)

Kurt Russell (The Thing)

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Best Actress of 1982

Julie Andrews (Victor/Victoria)

Jessica Lange (Frances)

★ ✔ Meryl Streep (Sophie's Choice)

Debra Winger (An Officer and a Gentleman and Cannery Row)

Rosel Zech (Veronika Voss)

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Best Director of 1982

✔ Richard Attenborough (Gandhi)

Ingmar Bergman (Fanny and Alexander)

Barry Levinson (Diner)

★ Ridley Scott (Blade Runner)

Steven Spielberg (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial)

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Best Supporting Actor of 1982

Charles Durning (Tootsie and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas)

✔ Louis Gossett, Jr. (An Officer and a Gentleman)

★ Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner)

Sean Penn (Fast Times at Ridgemont High)

Robert Preston (Victor/Victoria)

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Best Supporting Actress of 1982

Ellen Barkin (Diner)

Teri Garr (Tootsie)

✔ Jessica Lange (Tootsie)

Heather O'Rourke (Poltergeist)

★ Lesley Ann Warren (Victor/Victoria)

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Special Award

Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples, from the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner) (adapted screenplay)

Vangelis (Blade Runner) (score)

Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse (Victor/Victoria) (song score)

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1983

Best Picture of 1983

The Big Chill

A Christmas Story

Local Hero

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life

Return of the Jedi

★ The Right Stuff

Scarface

✔ Terms of Endearment

Trading Places

Zelig

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Best Actor of 1983

Peter Billingsley (A Christmas Story)

Michael Caine (Educating Rita)

✔ Robert Duvall (Tender Mercies)

★ Eddie Murphy (Trading Places)

Al Pacino (Scarface)

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Best Actress of 1983

Jane Alexander (Testament)

Jennifer Beals (Flashdance)

✔ Shirley MacLaine (Terms of Endearment)

Julie Walters (Educating Rita)

★ Debra Winger (Terms of Endearment)

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Best Director of 1983

✔ James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment)

Bob Clark (A Christmas Story)

Brian De Palma (Scarface)

Bill Forsyth (Local Hero)

★ Philip Kaufman (The Right Stuff)

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Best Supporting Actor of 1983

Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy (Trading Places)

Jerry Lewis (The King of Comedy)

★ Darren McGavin (A Christmas Story)

✔ Jack Nicholson (Terms of Endearment)

Sam Shepard (The Right Stuff)

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Best Supporting Actress of 1983

Sandra Bernhard (The King of Comedy)

Jamie Lee Curtis (Trading Places)

Rebecca De Mornay (Risky Business)

Melinda Dillon (A Christmas Story)

★ ✔ Linda Hunt (The Year Of Living Dangerously)

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Special Award

Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown & Bob Clark, from the novel In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash by Jean Shepherd (A Christmas Story) (adapted screenplay)

The Leg Lamp (A Christmas Story) (best major award)

Bill Conti (The Right Stuff) (score)

John Barry (High Road to China) (best score to listen to while flying with Island Wings Air Service over the Misty Fjords National Monument in Alaska)

"Every Sperm is Sacred" (Monty Python's The Meaning of Life) music by Andre Jacquemin & Dave Howman; lyrics by Michael Palin & Terry Jones (song)

The Big Chill (best soundtrack)

WarGames (good movie, bad video game)

"It was the Dukes! It was the Dukes!! It was the Dukes!!!" (Trading Places) (who were the worst employers of all time)

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1984

Best Picture of 1984

✔ Amadeus

El Norte

Ghostbusters

The Killing Fields

The Natural

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Once Upon a Time in America

A Passage to India

★ The Terminator

This Is Spinal Tap

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Best Actor of 1984

✔ F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus)

★ Albert Finney (Under the Volcano)

Tom Hulce (Amadeus)

Steve Martin (All of Me)

Harry Dean Stanton (Paris, Texas and Repo Man)

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Best Actress of 1984

Judy Davis (A Passage to India)

Mia Farrow (Broadway Danny Rose)

Linda Hamilton (The Terminator)

Molly Ringwald (Sixteen Candles)

★ Kathleen Turner (Romancing The Stone)

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Best Director of 1984

★ James Cameron (The Terminator)

Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street)

✔ Milos Forman (Amadeus)

Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields)

Rob Reiner (This Is Spinal Tap)

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Best Supporting Actor of 1984

John Lithgow (Footloose and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension)

Pat Morita (The Karate Kid)

✔ Haing S. Ngor (The Killing Fields)

★ Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator)

James Woods (Once Upon a Time in America)

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Best Supporting Actress of 1984

★ ✔ Peggy Ashcroft (A Passage to India)

Elizabeth Berridge (Amadeus)

Glenn Close (The Natural)

Lindsay Crouse (Places in the Heart)

Christine Lahti (Swing Shift)

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Special Award

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (animated feature)

Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Rob Reiner (This Is Spinal Tap) (screenplay)

Stan Winston (The Terminator) (special Terminator effects)

Randy Newman (The Natural) (score)

Prince (Purple Rain) (song score)

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1985

Best Picture of 1985

★ Back To The Future

Blood Simple

Brazil

The Breakfast Club

The Color Purple

✔ Out of Africa

The Purple Rose of Cairo

Ran

Shoah

Witness

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Best Actor of 1985

Griffin Dunne (After Hours)

Harrison Ford (Witness)

Michael J. Fox (Back To The Future)

★ ✔ William Hurt and Raul Julia (Kiss of the Spider Woman)

Jonathan Pryce (Brazil)

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Best Actress of 1985

Norma Aleandro (The Official Story)

Mia Farrow (The Purple Rose of Cairo)

★ Whoopi Goldberg (The Color Purple)

✔ Geraldine Page (The Trip to Bountiful)

Meryl Streep (Out of Africa and Plenty)

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Best Director of 1985

Terry Gilliam (Brazil)

John Hughes (The Breakfast Club)

★ Akira Kurosawa (Ran)

✔ Sydney Pollack (Out of Africa)

Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future)

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Best Supporting Actor of 1985

Klaus Maria Brandauer (Out of Africa)

Crispin Glover (Back to the Future)

Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Silverado and Witness)

★ Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future)

M. Emmet Walsh (Blood Simple)

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Best Supporting Actress of 1985

Margaret Avery (The Color Purple)

Mieko Harada (Ran)

★ ✔ Anjelica Huston (Prizzi’s Honor)

Lea Thompson (Back to the Future)

Oprah Winfrey (The Color Purple)

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Special Award

Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale (Back to the Future) (original screenplay)

Kevin Pike and Ken Ralston (Back to the Future) (visual effects)

Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni & Masato Ide, from the play King Lear by William Shakespeare (Ran) (adapted screenplay)

"Don't You (Forget About Me)" (The Breakfast Club) music and lyrics by Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff (song)

Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy (The Breakfast Club) (best ensemble cast)

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1986

Best Picture of 1986

Aliens

Blue Velvet

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Hannah and Her Sisters

Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring

Mona Lisa

✔ Platoon

★ A Room with a View

Stand by Me

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

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Best Actor of 1986

Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller's Day Off)

Jeff Goldblum (The Fly)

★ Bob Hoskins (Mona Lisa)

Gary Oldman (Sid and Nancy)

James Woods (Salvador)

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Best Actress of 1986

Melanie Griffith (Something Wild)

✔ Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God)

Kathleen Turner (Peggy Sue Got Married)

★ Sigourney Weaver (Aliens)

Chloe Webb (Sid and Nancy)

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Best Director of 1986

Woody Allen (Hannah and Her Sisters)

★ James Ivory (A Room with a View)

David Lynch (Blue Velvet)

Rob Reiner (Stand by Me)

✔ Oliver Stone (Platoon and Salvador)

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Best Supporting Actor of 1986

★ ✔ Michael Caine (Hannah and Her Sisters and Mona Lisa)

Daniel Day-Lewis (My Beautiful Laundrette and A Room with a View)

Denholm Elliott (A Room with a View and Defence of the Realm)

Dennis Hopper (Blue Velvet and Hoosiers)

River Phoenix (Stand By Me)

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Best Supporting Actress of 1986

Emmanuelle Béart (Manon of the Spring)

Isabella Rossellini (Blue Velvet)

★ Maggie Smith (A Room with a View)

Cathy Tyson (Mona Lisa)

✔ Dianne Wiest (Hannah and Her Sisters)

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Special Award

Woody Allen (Hannah and Her Sisters) (original screenplay)

Raynold Gideon & Bruce A. Evans, from the story "The Body" by Stephen King (Stand by Me) (adapted screenplay)

"Take My Breath Away" (Top Gun) music by Giorgio Moroder; lyrics by Tom Whitlock (song)

Jenny Beaven and John Bright (A Room with a View) (costumes)

Robert Skotak, Stan Winston, John Richardson and Suzanne Benson (Aliens) (visual effects)

the Alien franchise (watch the first two, burn the rest)

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1987

Best Picture of 1987

Au Revoir, Les Enfants

Broadcast News

Empire Of The Sun

Full Metal Jacket

Hope and Glory

✔ The Last Emperor

Moonstruck

★ The Princess Bride

The Untouchables

Wings of Desire

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Best Actor of 1987

John Candy (Planes, Trains and Automobiles)

✔ Michael Douglas (Wall Street and Fatal Attraction)

William Hurt (Broadcast News)

★ Steve Martin (Roxanne and Planes, Trains and Automobiles)

Robin Williams (Good Morning, Vietnam)

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Best Actress of 1987

✔ Cher (Moonstruck)

★ Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction)

Jennifer Grey (Dirty Dancing)

Holly Hunter (Broadcast News and Raising Arizona)

Robin Wright (The Princess Bride)

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Best Director of 1987

✔ Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor)

John Boorman (Hope and Glory)

Brian De Palma (The Untouchables)

★ Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride)

Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire)

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Best Supporting Actor of 1987

Albert Brooks (Broadcast News)

✔ Sean Connery (The Untouchables)

R. Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket)

Morgan Freeman (Street Smart)

★ Mandy Patinkin (The Princess Bride)

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Best Supporting Actress of 1987

Joan Chen (The Last Emperor)

✔ Olympia Dukakis (Moonstruck)

Anjelica Huston (The Dead)

★ Mary Stuart Masterson (Some Kind of Wonderful)

Anne Ramsey (Throw Momma from the Train)

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Special Award

Wim Wenders & Peter Handke (Wings of Desire) (original screenplay)

William Goldman, from his novel (The Princess Bride) (adapted screenplay)

Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, André the Giant, Wallace Shawn, Christopher Guest, Fred Savage, Peter Falk, Billy Crystal, Carol Kane, Peter Cook and Mel Smith (The Princess Bride) (ensemble cast)

"(I've Had) The Time of My Life" (Dirty Dancing) music by Franke Previte, John Denicola and Donald Markowitz; lyrics by Franke Previte (song)

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1988

Best Picture of 1988

Akira

★ Bull Durham

ƒ Cinema Paradiso

Die Hard

A Fish Called Wanda

Grave of the Fireflies

My Neighbor Totoro

✔ Rain Man

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

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Best Actor of 1988

Kevin Costner (Bull Durham)

★ Tom Hanks (Big)

✔ Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man)

Jeremy Irons (Dead Ringers)

Bruce Willis (Die Hard)

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Best Actress of 1988

Jamie Lee Curtis (A Fish Called Wanda)

✔ Jodie Foster (The Accused)

Christine Lahti (Running on Empty)

Carmen Maura (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown)

★ Susan Sarandon (Bull Durham)

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Best Director of 1988

Pedro Almodóvar (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown)

✔ Barry Levinson (Rain Man)

John McTiernan (Die Hard)

Ron Shelton (Bull Durham)

★ Robert Zemeckis (Who Framed Roger Rabbit)

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Best Supporting Actor of 1988

Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice)

★ ✔ Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda)

Michael Palin (A Fish Called Wanda)

Alan Rickman (Die Hard)

Tim Robbins (Bull Durham)

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Best Supporting Actress of 1988

Joan Cusack (Working Girl and Married to the Mob)

✔ Geena Davis (The Accidental Tourist)

Frances McDormand (Mississippi Burning)

Lena Olin (The Unbearable Lightness of Being)

★ Michelle Pfeiffer (Dangerous Liaisons)

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Special Award

Ron Shelton (Bull Durham) (original screenplay)

Leslie Nielsen (The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!) (the Country Joe West umpire award)

Ken Ralston, Richard Williams, Edward Jones and George Gibbs (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) (visual effects)

Die Hard (worst office Christmas party ever)

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1989

Best Picture of 1989

Batman

Crimes and Misdemeanors

Dead Poets Society

★ Do the Right Thing

Glory

Henry V

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

The Killer

My Left Foot

When Harry Met Sally ...

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Best Actor of 1989

Billy Crystal (When Harry Met Sally ...)

★ John Cusack (Say Anything)

✔ Daniel Day-Lewis (My Left Foot)

Michael Keaton (Batman)

James Spader (sex, lies, and videotape)

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Best Actress of 1989

Andie MacDowell (sex, lies and videotape)

Michelle Pfeiffer (The Fabulous Baker Boys)

★ Meg Ryan (When Harry Met Sally ...)

Winona Ryder (Heathers)

✔ Jessica Tandy (Driving Miss Daisy)

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Best Director of 1989

Kenneth Branagh (Henry V)

Tim Burton (Batman)

★ Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing)

Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally ...)

Ed Zwick (Glory)

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Best Supporting Actor of 1989

Danny Aiello (Do the Right Thing)

★ Sean Connery (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade)

James Earl Jones (Field of Dreams)

Jack Nicholson (Batman)

✔ Denzel Washington (Glory)

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Best Supporting Actress of 1989

Ruby Dee (Do the Right Thing)

Carrie Fisher (When Harry Met Sally ...)

✔ Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot)

Amy Madigan (Field of Dreams)

★ Laura San Giacomo (sex, lies and videotape)

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Special Award

"Fight the Power" (Do the Right Thing) music and lyrics by Chuck D (as Carlton Ridenhour), Hank Shocklee, Eric Sadler and Keith Shocklee (song)

Nora Ephron (When Harry Met Sally ...) (original screenplay)

The Little Mermaid (animated feature)

"Carpe Diem" (Dead Poets Society) (best inspiration for an inspirational poster)

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My choices are noted with a ★. A tie is indicated with a ✪. Historical Oscar winners are noted with a ✔. Best foreign-language picture winners are noted with an ƒ. A historical winner who won in a different category is noted with a ✱.

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