George Burns Al Lewis won him the 1975 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and permanently secured his career resurgence. At the age of 80, Burns was the oldest Oscar winner in the history of the Academy Awards, a record that would remain until Jessica Tandy won an Oscar for "Driving Miss Daisy" in 1989. In 1977, Burns made another hit film, "Oh, God!", playing the omnipotent title role opposite singer John Denver as an earnest but befuddled supermarket manager, whom God picks at random to revive his message. The image of Burns in a sailor's cap and light springtime jacket as
5th Academy Awards Best Picture without a Best Director nomination until "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989), and the third of seven to win without a screenwriting nomination. This was the first of three Oscars in which "two" films not nominated for Best Picture received more nominations than the winner ("Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and "The Guardsman"). This happened again at the 25th and 79th Academy Awards. This year also introduced short films to the Oscars, with "Flowers and Trees" being the first color winner and first animated short winner. This was the first and, to date, only ceremony in which there was a