4th Academy Awards

The 4th Academy Awards were held on November 10, 1931, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, awarding films released between August 1, 1930, and July 31, 1931. Cimarron was the first Western to win Best Picture, and would remain the only to do so until Dances With Wolves won in 1990. Cimarron received a then-record seven nominations, one in every category for which it was eligible, and was the first Best Picture winner to win more than two awards; it and A Free Soul were the first films to receive multiple acting nominations.

Nine-year-old Jackie Cooper was the first child actor to receive a nomination and was the youngest nominee until Justin Henry received a nomination for his performance in 1979's Kramer vs. Kramer at age eight. He remains the second-youngest Oscar nominee of all time, and the only Best Actor nominee under age 18. At the ceremony, he fell asleep^[1] on the shoulder of Best Actress nominee Marie Dressler; when Dressler was announced as the winner, Cooper had to be eased onto his mother's lap.

Vice President Charles Curtis attended the ceremony to address the 1,800 guests, making the ceremony a national event.^[1]

Best Actor winner Lionel Barrymore became the first person to have received nominations in multiple categories, having been nominated for Best Director for Madame X at the 2nd Academy Awards, as well as the only Best Actor winner born in the 1870s.