At age 8, Justin Henry became the youngest nominee for a competitive award in Academy history. As of 2016, the record still remains.
In his "I refuse to believe I beat..." speech, winning as Best Actor, Dustin Hoffman forgot to mention Roy Scheider, who was nominated in the same category but managed to make mention of his old friend Robert Duvall, nominated as Supporting Actor.
None of the five nominated films in the best Art Direction-Set Decoration category were period pieces, a rare instance in the category. All That Jazz (1979) and The China Syndrome (1979) were set in the 1970's; Apocalypse Now (1979) during the early 1970's in the Vietnam War while Alien (1979) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) were futuristic pieces.