The 12th Academy Awards ceremony, held on February 29, 1940 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best in film for 1939 at a banquet in the Coconut Grove at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. It was hosted by Bob Hope, in his first of nineteen turns as host.
David O. Selznick; Best Picture winner and Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award recipient
Victor Fleming; Best Director winner
Robert Donat; Best Actor winner
Vivien Leigh; Best Actress winner
Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)
The Ambassador Hotel was a hotel in Los Angeles, California. Designed by architect Myron Hunt, the Ambassador Hotel formally opened to the public on January 1, 1921. Later renovations by architect Paul Williams were made to the hotel in the late 1940s. It was also home to the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, a premier Los Angeles night spot for decades; host to six Oscar ceremonies and to every United States President from Herbert Hoover to Richard Nixon.
Entrance gate of the Ambassador Hotel in 1959
Entrance of the Ambassador Hotel, 1970.
Early postcard of the Ambassador Hotel in March 1921.
The Cocoanut Grove was Los Angeles' premier nightclub for celebrities and entertainers.