RKO Radio (Sierra Pictures)
Oscar Nominations: 7
Actress: Ingrid Bergman
Supporting Actor: Jose Ferrer
Cinematography (Color): Joseph Valentine
Costume Design (Color): Dorothy Jeakins and Karinska
Art Direction-Set Decoration (Color): Richard Day; Edwin Casey Roberts, and Joseph Kish
Scoring (Drama or Comedy): Hugo Friedhofer
Film Editing: Frank Sullivan
Oscar Awards: 3
Cinematography
Costume Design
Special Award for Walter Wanger for distinguished service to the industry in adding to its moral stature by his production
Oscar Context
In 1948, “The Snake Pit” competed for the top Oscar with Laurence Olivier's “Hamlet,” which won Best Picture, Actor, and other awards; the ballet-drama “The Red Shoes,” which broke box-office records in the U.S.; Jean Negulesco's melodrama “Johnny Belinda;” and John Huston's “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” which won in three of its four nominations, including Director and Screenplay for John Huston.
The most nominated picture, and thus the biggest loser, was “Johnny Belinda,” receiving 12 nominations, but winning only one Oscar, Best Actress for Jane Wyman as the deaf-mute girl Belinda McDonald. Olivia de Havilland won her second Best Actress Oscar the following year, for “The Heiress.”
In 1948, the winners of the Best Actress were Jane Wyman for “Johnny Belinda,” and the Supporting Actor Walter Huston for “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” “The Red Shoes” deservedly won the Color Art Direction and the Score Oscar for Brian Easdale. The Editing Oscar went to Paul Weatherwax for the noir drama, “The Naked City.”
