Grand Hotel in 1931-32. It was produced by Irving Thalberg, who the Irving Thalberg Award for the industry's outstanding producer was named after. Thalberg died at the tender age of 37, but managed to produce an impressive number of classic films including two Best Pictures: Grand Hotel and Mutiny on the Bounty. Thalberg's two Best Pictures hold the distinction of being two of the only three films to receive the award that did not win an Oscar in any other category (the other being MGM's Broadway Melody, which is sometimes credited to Thalberg although it was actually produced by Harry Rapf). He never took screen credit for his productions, feeling that credit was something that should be given and not taken. Thalberg had an stellar career, becoming the head of production at Universal Studios at the age of 20, and moving to MGM in 1924. Some of the films he produced are The Hunchback of Notre Dame, He Who Gets Slapped, Ben Hur, A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, Camille, and The Good Earth.

Other films to be nominated for Best Picture
without a nomination in any other category are:

Trader Horn (1930/31)
Five Star Final (1931/32)
One Hour With You (1931/32)
Smiling Lieutenant (1931/32)
She Done Him Wrong (1933/34)
Smilin' Thru (1932/33)
Here Comes the Navy (1934)
The House of Rothschild (1934)
The White Parade (1934)
Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
Libeled Lady (1936)
One Foot in Heaven (1941)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)