Peter Finch had been encouraged by director Sidney Lumet to campaign for Oscar for Best Actor for Network (1976) and had decided to join him on Good Morning America (1975). They met in the Beverly Hills Hotel on the morning of January 14, 1977, where suddenly Finch clutched his chest and died of a heart attack. Three months later, he became the first actor to win the Best Actor award posthumously.
Bernard Herrmann became the only person in the history of the Academy Awards to be posthumously nominated twice in the same year in the same category. He was nominated for Obsession (1976) and Taxi Driver (1976). He lost both to Jerry Goldsmith for The Omen (1976).
When Andre R. Guttfreund and 'Peter Werner (III)' won for Best Live Action Short for their film In the Region of Ice (1976), the Academy, for some reason, only presented them with one Oscar. Presenter Marty Feldman, realizing that there was one Oscar and two winners, threw the Oscar on the floor, breaking it in half, and gave a half to each of the winners.
As of 2013, this is the last Academy Awards ceremony telecast not to receive any Emmy nomination.
Willian Friedkin, producer of the awards, tried to get Stanley Kubrick to present one of the big Oscars, but Kubrick refused, arguing he did not travel outside of England.