The second national telecast of the Awards show drew an estimated 43 million viewers. Shirley Booth, appearing in a play in Philadelphia, presented the Academy Award for Best Actor through a live broadcast cut-in, having privately received the winner's name over the telephone from O'Connor. Gary Cooper pre-recorded his presentation of the Academy Award for Best Actress while on location in Mexico shooting Garden of Evil, with O'Connor then announcing the winner's name live.
William Holden's acceptance speech for Best Actor for Stalag 17 was simply "Thank You", making it one of the shortest speeches on record, forced by the TV broadcast's strict cutoff time. Holden, frustrated, later personally paid for advertisements in the Hollywood trade publications to thank everyone he had wanted to in his speech, remarked that he felt that either Burt Lancaster or Montgomery Clift should have won the Oscar for From Here to Eternity instead of him, and expounded backstage on a system he felt valued commercials over program content;[4] NBC had cut into commercials during the middle of other acceptance speeches, as well.[4]
^Technically, the country of the film is recognized as winner of the Best International Feature award.[2] However, the award is accepted by the director on behalf of the country, and since 2014, the director's name is engraved on the statuette.[3]