HOLLYWOOD -- The screen world plainly showed its surprise today at the academy award selection of Cecil B. DeMille's "The Greatest Show on Earth" as the best movie of 1952.
Shirley Booth and Gary Cooper won "Oscars" for the best performances in leading roles -- as expected.
"High Noon," a suspenseful western which won Cooper his best actor Oscar, had been a strong pre-ceremony favorite.
Like Cooper, supporting actor award winner, Anthony Quinn, of "Viva Zapata," also was in Mexico. Blond Gloria Grahame accepted in person the supporting actress winner award for "The Bad and the Beautiful."
Composer Dimitri Tiomkin was another double winner, taking awards for the best song, "High Noon," with lyricist Ned Washington, and for the best scoring of a dramatic picture, "High Noon."
Walt Disney, who holds the record number of Oscars, won his 18th award for the best two-reeled short subject, "Water Birds."
Honorary awards were voted to comedian Harold Lloyd, Cinerama executive Merian C. Cooper, 20th Century-Fox founder Joseph Schenck and camera inventor George Mitchell.
Other awards:
Best Direction -- John Ford, "The Quiet Man."
Best Motion Picture Story -- Frederic M. Frank, Theodore St. John and Frank Caveat, "The Greatest Show on Earth."
Best Screen Play -- Charles Schnee, "The Bad and the Beautiful."
Sound -- "Breaking the Sound Barrier." (English).
One-reel short subject -- "Light in the Window."
Cartoons -- "Johann Mouse."
Feature Documentary -- "The Sea Around Us."
Film editing -- Elmo Williams and Garry Gerstad, "High Noon."
