Warner
Oscar Nominations: 11
Picture, produced by Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, and Quincy Jones
Actress: Whoopi Goldberg
Supporting Actress: Margaret Avery
Supporting Actress: Oprah Winfrey
Screenplay (Adapted): Meno Meyjes
Original Score: Quincy Jones, Jeremy Lubbock, Rod Temperton, Caiphus Semenya, Andrae Crouch, Chris Boardman, Jorge Calandrelli, Joel Rosenbaum, Fred Steiner, Jack Hayes, Jerry Hey, and Randy Kerber.
Original Song: “Miss Celie's Blues,” music by Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton, lyrics by Quincy Jones, Rod Temperton, and Lionel Richie
Cinematography: Allen Daviau
Makeup: Ken Chase
Costume Design:
Art Direction-Set Decoration: J. Michael Riva and Robert W. Welch; Linda DeScenna
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context
Two films in 1981 were nominated for 11 Oscars: Pollack's “Out of Africa,” which swept the awards, including Best Picture, and Spielberg's “The Color Purple,” which lost in each of its 11 categories.
The other three Best Picture nominees were of a smaller-scale: Peter Weir's “Witness,” with 8 nods, John Huston's “Prizzi's Honor,” also 8, and the indie “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” which brought Best Actor Oscar to William Hurt.