This year's Oscars promises to be an interesting affair – delayed due to the ongoing pandemic, it will also be a mixture of filmmakers at different venues (including the BFI in London) and some Zoom acceptances. It's also heavily weighted towards indie films, with the likes of Nomadland, Promising Young Woman and Minari rubbing shoulders with the bigger (yet Netflix-backed) The Trial Of The Chicago 7 and Mank in the Best Picture category.
But what of the Academy Awards in days gone past? Which films have won the most trophies or scored the highest number of nominations? And who among the acting cohort has been the most successful when it comes to the event? We decided to dig into the history and look at the most successful films at the Oscars, the performers who have gone home with the most gongs, and a full list of every Best Picture Winner in history so far. Oscar facts! Get yer Oscar facts here!
Which films have won the most Oscars?
Oscars 2004: The Lord Of the Rings: The Return Of The King (2003)
Total Oscar Nominations: 11
Wins: 11
Peter Jackson's epic conclusion to his first Middle-earth trilogy proved that a genre that the Academy has traditionally been somewhat sniffy towards can triumph when it has this sort of impact on craft, commercial success and critical appeal. Equalling the previous likes of Titanic and Ben-Hur, it was both a roaring victory and a chance for the cast and crew to party.
Best Picture
Best Director (Peter Jackson)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson)
Best Art Direction/Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Makeup
Best Score
Best Song ('Into The West')
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects
2003 Best Picture Nominees:
The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King
Lost In Translation
Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World
Mystic River
Seabiscuit
Oscars 1998: Titanic (1997)
Total Oscar Nominations: 14
Wins: 11
Infamously troubled during its production, Titanic represents the fact that you should never count James Cameron out. It ended up a box office sensation, and, thanks to this, one of the most award-winning films of all time. Its win is largely remembered for Cameron's proclamation, "I'm the king of the world!" on collecting his Best Director award.
Best Picture
Best Director (James Cameron)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction/Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Song ('My Heart Will Go On')
Best Sound
Best Sound Effects Editing
Best Visual Effects
1997 Best Picture Nominees:
As Good As It Gets
The Full Monty
Good Will Hunting
LA Confidential
Titanic
Oscars 1960: Ben-Hur (1959)
Total Oscar Nominations: 12
Wins: 11
The title character suffered betrayal and slavery, ultimately triumphing. The film based about his story also had its challenges, and also won out against its own competitors. Ben-Hur still stands as one of the biggest Oscar champions.
Best Picture
Best Director (William Wyler)
Best Actor (Charlton Heston)
Best Supporting Actor (Hugh Griffith)
Best Cinematography, Colour
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Colour
Best Costume Design, Colour
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Sound
Best Special Effects
1959 Best Picture Nominees:
Anatomy Of A Murder
Ben-Hur
The Diary Of Anne Frank
The Nun’s Story
Room At The Top
Oscars 1962: West Side Story (1961)
Total Oscar Nominations: 11
Wins: 10
Shakespearian tragedy becomes musical history, particularly for Rita Moreno, who became the first Latina actress to win an Oscar (Katy Jurado scored the first nomination in 1954). Now, all eyes will be on Steven Spielberg's version to see whether it enjoys a similar triumph.
Best Picture
Best Director (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins)
Best Supporting Actor (George Chakiris)
Best Supporting Actress (Rita Moreno)
Best Cinematography, Color
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color
Best Costume Design, Color
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Sound
1961 Best Picture Nominees:
Fanny
The Guns Of Navarone
The Hustler
Judgment At Nuremberg
West Side Story
Oscar 1997: The English Patient (1996)
Total Oscar Nominations: 12
Wins: 9
The romantic drama with an identity mystery at its heart didn't quite convert all of its nominations into wins, but it still did well.
Best Picture
Best Director (Anthony Minghella)
Best Supporting Actress (Juliette Binoche)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction/Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Sound
1996 Best Picture Nominees:
The English Patient
Fargo
Jerry Maguire
Secrets & Lies
Shine
Oscars 1988: The Last Emperor (1987)
Total Oscar Nominations: 9
Wins: 9
This story about the final Emperor of China went undefeated at the Academy Awards, going nine-for-nine.
Best Picture
Best Director (Bernardo Bertolucci)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Bernardo Bertolucci and Mark Peploe)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction/Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Sound
1987 Best Picture Nominees:
Broadcast News
Fatal Attraction
Hope And Glory
The Last Emperor
Moonstruck
Oscar 1959: Gigi (1958)
Total Oscar Nominations: 9
Wins: 9
Weary of the conventions of Parisian society, a rich playboy and a youthful courtesan-in-training enjoy a platonic friendship, but it may not stay platonic for long. Another nine-for-nine winner.
Best Picture
Best Director (Vincente Minnelli)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Alan Jay Lerner)
Best Cinematography, Color
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black and White or Color
Best Costume Design, Black and White or Color
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Original Song ('Gigi')
1958 Best Picture Nominees:
Auntie Mame
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
The Defiant Ones
Gigi
Separate Tables
Oscar 2009: Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Total Oscar Nominations: 10
Wins: 8
A Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums becomes a contestant on the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers. Like the hero, Danny Boyle's film was an unlikely Oscar juggernaut, landing zero acting nominations, but still winning big.
Best Picture
Best Director (Danny Boyle)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Simon Beaufoy)
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Song (‘Jai Ho’)
Best Sound Mixing
2008 Best Picture Nominees:
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
Oscars 1985: Amadeus (1984)
Total Oscar Nominations: 11
Wins: 8
The incredible true story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, told by his peer and secret rival, Antonio Salieri, now confined to an insane asylum. Though Amadeus was the one to go down in history, it was Salieri actor F. Murray Abraham who took home the performing plaudits.
Best Picture
Best Director (Milos Forman)
Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Peter Shaffer)
Best Art Direction/Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Sound
Best Makeup
1984 Best Picture Nominees:
Amadeus
The Killing Fields
A Passage To India
Places In The Heart
A Soldier’s Story
Oscars 1983: Gandhi (1982)
Total Oscar Nominations: 11
Wins: 8
Gandhi’s character is fully explained as a man of nonviolence. Through his patience, he is able to drive the British out of the subcontinent. And the stubborn nature of Jinnah and his commitment towards Pakistan is portrayed. Richard Attenborough had spent 20 years trying to make the film, and was emotionally upon taking the stage to accept his awards. "The person whom you really honored was Mahatma Gandhi himself," he said upon receiving Best Picture, "and his plea to all of us to live in peace."
Best Picture
Best Director (Richard Attenborough)
Best Actor (Ben Kingsley)
Best Original Screenplay (John Briley)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction/Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
1982 Best Picture Nominees:
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
Gandhi
Missing
Tootsie
The Verdict
Oscars 1973: Cabaret (1972)
Total Oscar Nominations: 10
Wins: 8
A Berlin-era club entertainer romances two different men while the Nazis are rising to power all around them. “Cabaret” holds the distinction of winning the most Oscars without taking home the Best Picture prize.
Best Director (Bob Fosse)
Best Actress (Liza Minnelli)
Best Supporting Actor (Joel Grey)
Best Art Direction/Set Decoration
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Sound
1972 Best Picture Nominees:
Cabaret
Deliverance
The Godfather
The Emigrants
Sounder
Oscars 1965: My Fair Lady (1964)
Total Oscar Nominations: 12
Wins: 8
A misogynistic and snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.
Best Picture
Best Director (George Cukor)
Best Actor (Rex Harrison)
Best Cinematography, Color
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color
Best Costume Design, Color
Best Score
Best Sound
1964 Best Picture Nominees:
Becket
Dr. Strangelove or; How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb
Mary Poppins
My Fair Lady
Zorba The Greek
Oscars 1955: On The Waterfront (1954)
Total Oscar Nominations: 12
Wins: 8
An ex-prize fighter turned longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses.
Best Picture
Best Director (Elia Kazan)
Best Actor (Marlon Brando)
Best Supporting Actress (Eva Marie Saint)
Best Writing, Story and Screenplay (Budd Schulberg)
Best Cinematography, Black and White
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black and White
Best Film Editing
1954 Best Picture Nominees:
The Caine Mutiny
The Country Girl
On The Waterfront
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers
Three Coins In A Fountain
Oscars 1954: From Here To Eternity (1953)
Total Oscar Nominations: 13
Wins: 8
In Hawaii in 1941, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit’s team, while his captain’s wife and second-in-command are falling in love.
Best Picture
Best Director (Fred Zinnemann)
Best Supporting Actor (Frank Sinatra)
Best Supporting Actress (Donna Reed)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Daniel Taradash)
Best Cinematography, Black and White
Best Film Editing
Best Sound
1953 Best Picture Nominees:
From Here To Eternity
Julius Caesar
The Robe
Roman Holiday
Shane
Oscars 1940: Gone With The Wind (1939)
Total Oscar Nominations: 13
Wins: 8
A manipulative Southern belle carries on a turbulent affair with a blockade runner during the American Civil War. Hattie McDaniel's Best Supporting Actress win was historic as the first African-American Oscar triumph, and for the fact that she was even permitted to attend the ceremony at all in an era with strict, horrific segregation rules.
Best Picture
Best Director (Victor Fleming)
Best Actress (Vivien Leigh)
Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Sidney Howard)
Best Cinematography, Color
Best Art Direction
Best Film Editing
Honorary Oscar: William Cameron Menzies, for outstanding achievement in the use of color for the enhancement of dramatic mood.
Technical Achievement Award: RD Musgrave, for pioneering work in the use of coordinated equipment.
1939 Best Picture Nominees:
Dark Victory
Gone With The Wind
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Love Affair
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
Ninotchka
Of Mice And Men
Stagecoach
The Wizard Of Oz
Wuthering Heights
Which actors have won the most Oscars?
We often talk about those who have the most nominations without winning them all (looking at you, Meryl Streep, you deserve better), but what of those who have walked up to the stage having actually won in their category. Here's the list...
1) Katharine Hepburn — 4 wins, 12 nominations
Best actress: Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (1967), The Lion In Winter (1968), On Golden Pond (1981)
2) Daniel Day-Lewis — 3 wins, 6 nominations
Best actor: My Left Foot (1989), There Will Be Blood (2007), Lincoln (2012)
3) Meryl Streep — 3 wins, 21 nominations
Best actress: Sophie's Choice (1982), The Iron Lady (2011)
Best supporting actress: Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979)
4) Jack Nicholson — 3 wins, 12 nominations
Best actor: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975), As Good As It Gets (1997)
Best supporting actor: Terms Of Endearment (1983)
5) Ingrid Bergman — 3 wins, 7 nominations
Best actress: Gaslight (1944), Anastasia (1956)
Best supporting actress: Murder On The Orient Express (1974)
6) Walter Brennan — 3 wins, 4 nominations
Best supporting actor: Come And Get It (1936), Kentucky (1938), The Westerner (1940)
7) Bette Davis — 2 wins, 10 nominations
Best actress: Dangerous (1935), Jezebel (1938)
8) Spencer Tracy — 2 wins, 9 nominations
Best actor: Captains Courageous (1937), Boys Town (1938)
9) Marlon Brando — 2 wins, 8 nominations
Best actor: On The Waterfront (1954), The Godfather (1972)
10) Jack Lemmon — 2 wins, 8 nominations
Best actor: Save The Tiger (1973)
Best supporting actor: Mister Roberts (1955)
11) Denzel Washington — 2 wins, 8 nominations
Best actor: Training Day (2001)
Best supporting actor: Glory (1989)
Every Best Picture winner from 1927–2020
2020 - Parasite
2019 - Green Book
2018 - The Shape Of Water
2017 - Moonlight
2016 - Spotlight
2015 - Birdman
2014 - 12 Years A Slave
2013 - Argo
2012 - The Artist
2011 - The King's Speech
2010 - The Hurt Locker
2009 - Slumdog Millionaire
2008 - No Country For Old Men
2007 - The Departed
2006 - Crash
2005 - Million Dollar Baby
2004 - The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King
2003 - Chicago
2002 - A Beautiful Mind
2001 - Gladiator
2000 - American Beauty
1999 - Shakespeare In Love
1998 - Titanic
1997 - The English Patient
1996 - Braveheart
1995 - Forrest Gump
1994 - Schindler’s List
1993 - Unforgiven
1992 - The Silence Of The Lambs
1991 - Dances With Wolves
1990 - Driving Miss Daisy
1989 - Rain Man
1988 - The Last Emperor
1987 - Platoon
1986 - Out Of Africa
1985 - Amadeus
1984 - Terms Of Endearment
1983 - Gandhi
1982 - Chariots Of Fire
1981 - Ordinary People
1980 - Kramer Vs. Kramer
1979 - The Deer Hunter
1978 - Annie Hall
1977 - Rocky
1976 - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
1975 - The Godfather Part II
1974 - The Sting
1973 - The Godfather
1972 - The French Connection
1971 - Patton
1970 - Midnight Cowboy
1969 - Oliver!
1968 - In The Heat Of The Night
1967 - A Man For All Seasons
1966 - The Sound Of Music
1965 - My Fair Lady
1964 - Tom Jones
1963 - Lawrence Of Arabia
1962 - West Side Story
1961 - The Apartment
1960 - Ben-Hur
1959 - Gigi
1958 - The Bridge On The River Kwai
1957 - Around The World In 80 Days
1956 - Marty
1955 - On The Waterfront
1954 - From Here To Eternity
1953 - The Greatest Show On Earth
1952 - An American In Paris
1951 - All About Eve
1950 - All The King's Men
1949 - Hamlet
1948 - Gentleman's Agreement
1947 - The Best Years Of Our Lives
1946 - The Lost Weekend
1945 - Going My Way
1944 - Casablanca
1943 - Mrs. Miniver
1942 - How Green Was My Valley
1941 - Rebecca
1940 - Gone With The Wind
1939 - You Can't Take It With You
1938 - The Life Of Emile Zola
1937 - The Great Ziegfeld
1936 - Mutiny On The Bounty
1935 - It Happened One Night
1933/1934 - Cavalcade
1932/1933 - Grand Hotel
1931/1932 - Cimarron
1930/1931 - All Quiet On The Western Front
1929/1930 - The Broadway Melody
1928/1929 - Wings