# 79th Academy Awards
The 79th Academy Awards honored the films of 2006 and were presented on Sunday, February 25, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, in a telecast broadcast live by the ABC Television Network.[1](https://digitalcollections.oscars.org/digital/api/collection/p15759coll9/id/11429/download) • [2](https://www.laalmanac.com/arts/ar20a.php) The crime drama *The Departed* took Best Picture and gave Martin Scorsese his long-awaited first directing Oscar, while the musical *Dreamgirls* led the nominations with eight but was left out of the Best Picture race.[3](https://www.screendaily.com/the-79th-academy-awards/4031124.article) • [4](https://www.tvguide.com/news/dreamgirls-leads-oscar-12415/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Date and venue | Sunday, February 25, 2007, Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, Hollywood; televised live on ABC[1](https://digitalcollections.oscars.org/digital/api/collection/p15759coll9/id/11429/download) |
| Host | Ellen DeGeneres, hosting the Oscars for the first time[5](https://www.digitalhit.com/academy-awards/79th/) |
| Best Picture | *The Departed*, which also won Directing, Adapted Screenplay, and Film Editing, for four Oscars total[3](https://www.screendaily.com/the-79th-academy-awards/4031124.article) |
| Leading nominee | *Dreamgirls*, eight nominations, excluded from Best Picture; won two awards[4](https://www.tvguide.com/news/dreamgirls-leads-oscar-12415/) • [3](https://www.screendaily.com/the-79th-academy-awards/4031124.article) |
| Acting winners | Forest Whitaker (*The Last King of Scotland*), Helen Mirren (*The Queen*), Alan Arkin (*Little Miss Sunshine*), Jennifer Hudson (*Dreamgirls*)[6](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2007/H) |
| Foreign Language Film | *The Lives of Others* (Germany)[6](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2007/H) |
| Honorary award | Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Sherry Lansing[6](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2007/H) |
## Nominations
Nominations were announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, by actress [Salma Hayek](https://www.edgepedia.org/salma-hayek), with Academy president Sid Ganis.[4](https://www.tvguide.com/news/dreamgirls-leads-oscar-12415/) *Dreamgirls* led with eight nominations, but its exclusion from Best Picture was the story of the morning, positioning the ensemble drama *[Babel](https://www.edgepedia.org/babel-film)* and the mob saga *The Departed* as front-runners.[7](https://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/40277.pdf) The Best Picture field was *Babel*, *The Departed*, *Letters from Iwo Jima*, *Little Miss Sunshine*, and *The Queen*.[4](https://www.tvguide.com/news/dreamgirls-leads-oscar-12415/)
The acting lineups carried their own milestones. [Meryl Streep](https://www.edgepedia.org/meryl-streep) received her 14th nomination, for *[The Devil Wears Prada](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-devil-wears-prada-film)*.[7](https://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/40277.pdf) The Directing category included two films made in a language other than English, *Babel* and *Letters from Iwo Jima*; a Time magazine retrospective notes this happened in only two years, 1977 and 2007, and that the director of one of the 2007 entries, [Clint Eastwood](https://www.edgepedia.org/clint-eastwood) for *Letters from Iwo Jima*, was American.[8](https://time.com/5517545/everything-to-know-2019-oscars/)
## Winners
***The Departed*** took four Oscars: Best Picture, Directing for Martin Scorsese, Adapted Screenplay for William Monahan, and Film Editing for Thelma Schoonmaker.[3](https://www.screendaily.com/the-79th-academy-awards/4031124.article) • [9](https://uzo.sakura.ne.jp/burma/nlm/nlm_data/nlm_2007/nlm_02_2007/nlm_27_02_2007.pdf) Producer Graham King accepted the top prize, saying from the stage, "To be standing here where Martin Scorsese won his Oscar is such a joy, such a joy."[3](https://www.screendaily.com/the-79th-academy-awards/4031124.article) Scorsese's win ended a long stretch without a directing Oscar, and presenters [Francis Ford Coppola](https://www.edgepedia.org/francis-ford-coppola), George Lucas, and [Steven Spielberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-spielberg) handed him the statuette.[6](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2007/H)
The acting awards went as expected by most observers: [Forest Whitaker](https://www.edgepedia.org/forest-whitaker) for *The Last King of Scotland* and [Helen Mirren](https://www.edgepedia.org/helen-mirren) for *The Queen* in the lead categories, with [Alan Arkin](https://www.edgepedia.org/alan-arkin) (*Little Miss Sunshine*) and Jennifer Hudson (*Dreamgirls*) taking the supporting prizes.[6](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2007/H) • [10](https://archives.nd.edu/observer/2007-02-27_v41_092.pdf)
***Pan's Labyrinth*** was the night's leading foreign-language winner, with three Oscars: Art Direction for Eugenio Caballero and Pilar Revuelta, Cinematography for Guillermo Navarro, and Makeup.[6](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2007/H) • [11](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/6756/oscars/episodeguide) It lost the Foreign Language Film category, which went to Germany's *The Lives of Others*.[6](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2007/H)
Other multiple winners included *Dreamgirls* and *An Inconvenient Truth* and *Little Miss Sunshine* with two each.[11](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/6756/oscars/episodeguide) *Dreamgirls*' wins came in Sound Mixing, for Michael Minkler, Bob Beemer, and Willie Burton, and Supporting Actress for Hudson.[3](https://www.screendaily.com/the-79th-academy-awards/4031124.article) The sound result consigned to oblivion Kevin O'Connell's 19th nomination, this time for *Apocalypto*.[3](https://www.screendaily.com/the-79th-academy-awards/4031124.article) *An Inconvenient Truth* won Documentary Feature for Davis Guggenheim, and [Melissa Etheridge](https://www.edgepedia.org/melissa-etheridge) won Original Song for "I Need to Wake Up" from the same film.[6](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2007/H) • [3](https://www.screendaily.com/the-79th-academy-awards/4031124.article) *Babel*, with seven nominations, won only Original Score.[5](https://www.digitalhit.com/academy-awards/79th/) • [3](https://www.screendaily.com/the-79th-academy-awards/4031124.article)
The short-film prizes went to *The Danish Poet* (animated), *West Bank Story* (live action), and *[The Blood of Yingzhou District](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-blood-of-yingzhou-district)* (documentary).[3](https://www.screendaily.com/the-79th-academy-awards/4031124.article)
## The ceremony
[Ellen DeGeneres](https://www.edgepedia.org/ellen-degeneres) hosted for the first time, wearing a velvet suit with sneakers, and called the evening "the most international Oscars ever."[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2007/02/26/the-broadcast-long-and-longer/59df3ca2-e43d-4c01-a44e-7e63bd981800/) Within the first 15 minutes she led a gospel choir through the aisles of the Kodak Theatre, and later wandered into the audience to make small talk with Scorsese, presenting him with a script she said she had written.[10](https://archives.nd.edu/observer/2007-02-27_v41_092.pdf) • [12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2007/02/26/the-broadcast-long-and-longer/59df3ca2-e43d-4c01-a44e-7e63bd981800/) Reviewers split on the result: The Washington Post called the broadcast "alternately (and sometimes simultaneously) a bore and a horror," while the Notre Dame Observer described a rejuvenation of Hollywood's most storied night.[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2007/02/26/the-broadcast-long-and-longer/59df3ca2-e43d-4c01-a44e-7e63bd981800/) • [10](https://archives.nd.edu/observer/2007-02-27_v41_092.pdf) The show ran long enough that DeGeneres vacuumed the aisles late in the evening.[13](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2007/02/26/departed-arrives/1265a6a8-f577-48e7-b9d9-d0f997efcac1/)
The Scientific and Technical Awards were presented at a separate ceremony, where [Maggie Gyllenhaal](https://www.edgepedia.org/maggie-gyllenhaal) handed out 15 awards including the Gordon E. Sawyer Award to Ray Feeney; segments were shown during the main telecast.[14](https://www.oscars.org/sci-tech-awards/ceremonies/79th-sci-tech-awards-memorable-moments)
## Assessment
Retrospectives have generally treated the 2007 Oscars kindly on the top prizes. A Den of Geek re-examination a decade later asked how well the choices held up, and Scorsese himself acknowledged in his speech that many people had wanted the prize for him.[15](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/did-the-2007-oscars-get-it-right/) The year is also remembered for its international breadth: DeGeneres's "most international" framing matched a nominee group that included films and performers from Mexico, Japan, Germany, and elsewhere, and the two foreign-language Directing nominees that Time counts as a rarity in Oscar history.[10](https://archives.nd.edu/observer/2007-02-27_v41_092.pdf) • [8](https://time.com/5517545/everything-to-know-2019-oscars/)
## References
1. [79th Annual Academy Awards press release, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences digital collections](https://digitalcollections.oscars.org/digital/api/collection/p15759coll9/id/11429/download)
2. [Locations of the Academy Awards Ceremony, LA Almanac](https://www.laalmanac.com/arts/ar20a.php)
3. [The 79th Academy Awards, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/the-79th-academy-awards/4031124.article)
4. [Dreamgirls Leads Oscar Nods, Yet Snubbed for Best Pic, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/news/dreamgirls-leads-oscar-12415/)
5. [79th Annual Academy Awards Coverage (2007), DigitalHit](https://www.digitalhit.com/academy-awards/79th/)
6. [2007 Academy Awards: Winners & Nominees, Oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2007/H)
7. [Dreamgirls leads Academy Awards contenders, Associated Press via The Baylor Lariat, January 24, 2007](https://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/40277.pdf)
8. [Here's Everything You Need to Know About the 2019 Oscars, Time](https://time.com/5517545/everything-to-know-2019-oscars/)
9. [Nikkei newspaper report on the 79th Academy Awards, February 27, 2007](https://uzo.sakura.ne.jp/burma/nlm/nlm_data/nlm_2007/nlm_02_2007/nlm_27_02_2007.pdf)
10. [2007 Oscars in Review, The Observer (University of Notre Dame), February 27, 2007](https://archives.nd.edu/observer/2007-02-27_v41_092.pdf)
11. [Oscars episode guide, 2007-02-25, TVmaze](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/6756/oscars/episodeguide)
12. [The Broadcast: Long and Longer, The Washington Post, February 26, 2007](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2007/02/26/the-broadcast-long-and-longer/59df3ca2-e43d-4c01-a44e-7e63bd981800/)
13. ['Departed' Arrives; Whitaker, Mirren Are King and Queen, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2007/02/26/departed-arrives/1265a6a8-f577-48e7-b9d9-d0f997efcac1/)
14. [79th Sci-Tech Awards Memorable Moments, Oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/sci-tech-awards/ceremonies/79th-sci-tech-awards-memorable-moments)
15. [Did The 2007 Oscars Get It Right?, Den of Geek](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/did-the-2007-oscars-get-it-right/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Awards and screen reference › Academy Awards ceremonies and categories*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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