Bob Hope is the host for the 14th time of the 40th annual Academy Awards.He would host this gala event alone only one more time; 10 years later in 1978, celebrating the 50th anniversary of this annual presentation. Academy President Gregory Peck gives tribute to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Bob Hope commences the program with a monologue. Presenters and award winners include Carol Channing, Patty Duke, George Kennedy, and Katharine Hepburn. In a salute to the history of the Oscar and its first decade of development, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross, MacDonald Carey, Diahann Carroll, Robert Morse, Barbara Rush, Eva Marie Saint, Martha Raye, Olivia
de Havilland, who salutes Oscar's second decade, Natalie Wood, Richard Crenna, Elke Sommer, Walter Matthau, Estelle Parsons, Dame Edith Evans, Grace Kelly, who salutes Oscar's third decade, Hal Ashby, Rosalind Russell, Anne Bancroft, who salutes Oscar's fourth decade, Danny Kaye, Rock Hudson, Shirley Jones, Angie Dickinson,
Gene Kelly, Barbra Streisand, Robert Wise, Claire Bloom, Rod Steiger, Alfred Hitchcock, Mike Nichols, Sterling Silliphant, Stanley Kramer, Audrey Hepburn, Sidney Poitier, Julie Andrews, and Walter Mirisch. Bob Hope concludes with some serious remarks reflecting the assassination of Martin Luther King regarding bigotry and the purpose of motion pictures...to reflect the human condition. Hank Sims is the announcer.
George Kennedy-Best supporting actor
Estelle Parsons_Best supporting actress
Alfred Hitchcock: Irving Thalberg Award.