32nd Academy Awards 32nd Academy Awards The 32nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, was held on April 4, 1960 and took place at the RKO Pantages Theatre to honor the best films of 1959. The epic drama "Ben-Hur" won 11 Oscars, breaking the record of nine set the year before by "Gigi". "Ben-Hur" remained the most honored motion picture in Academy Award history until "Titanic" equaled the feat in 1997, followed by "" in 2003. "Ben-Hur" was the third film to win both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, a feat not repeated until "Mystic River"
Ben Hur (1907 film) on the publicity of the case and the film, Harper & Brothers published a lavishly designed and illustrated book, "The Chariot Race from Ben-Hur", which excerpted only the race from Lew Wallace's novel. Accompanying the text were color illustrations by Sigismond Ivanowski. Actor William S. Hart, soon after to became a famous silent film cowboy, reprises his role as Messala from the 1899 Broadway premiere and 1900 season Broadway play. Herman Rottger is Ben-Hur against Hart's Messala (in the 1900 play William Farnum, another soon to be famous silent cowboy, portrayed the character). The film is noteworthy as a precedent