Best Picture nominees listed first, the rest alphabetical. David Lynch's The Elephant Man and Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull, with 8 nominations each, had the most nominations of this year's films. Their nominations included Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director. Michael Apted's Coal Miner's Daughter received 7 nominations while Ordinary People and The Stunt Man were also nominated.
The year's winner of acting categories also marked as the closest span ever between the four winners, all of whom were under 40 when they won the award. Robert De Niro was 37 when awarded Best Actor, Sissy Spacek was 31 when awarded Best Actress, Timothy Hutton was 20 when awarded Best Supporting Actor, and Mary Steenburgen was 28 when awarded Best Supporting Actress.