Academy Award for Best Original Score
Academy Award for Best Original Score | |
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Country | United States |
Presented by | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |
Currently held by |
Ennio Morricone The Hateful Eight (2015) |
Official website |
oscars |
The Academy Award for Best Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.[1]
Superlatives
These are only for nominations in the Scoring categories. Nominations in other categories, such as the Original Song category, are not included.
Category | Name | Superlative | Notes |
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Most Awards | Alfred Newman | 9 awards | Awards resulted from 41 nominations. |
Most Nominations | John Williams | 50 nominations | Nominations resulted in 5 awards. |
Most Nominations without an Award | Alex North | 14 nominations |
Only one composer has won two Scoring Oscars the same year: in 1973, Marvin Hamlisch won Original Dramatic Score for The Way We Were and Best Adaptation Score, for The Sting. Hamlisch also won Best Song that year for The Way We Were (song), making him the only composer to win three music Oscars in the same year.
Only one composer has won Oscars three years in a row: Roger Edens won for Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949) and Annie Get Your Gun (1950).
Eight composers have won Oscars two years in a row:
- Ray Heindorf won for Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and This is the Army (1943).
- Franz Waxman won for Sunset Boulevard (1950) and A Place in the Sun (1951).
- Alfred Newman won for With a Song in My Heart (1952) and Call Me Madam (1953). He won again for Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955) and The King and I (1956).
- Adolph Deutsch won for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) and Oklahoma! (1955).
- André Previn won for Gigi (1958) and 1959's Porgy and Bess (1959). He won again for Irma La Douce (1963) and My Fair Lady (1964).
- Leonard Rosenman won for Barry Lyndon (1975) and Bound for Glory (1976).
- Alan Menken won for Beauty and The Beast (1991) and Aladdin (1992).
- Gustavo Santaolalla won for Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Babel (2006).
Female nominees
Three women have won in the scoring categories. Two are composers: Rachel Portman, who won for Emma (1996), and Anne Dudley, who won for The Full Monty (1997); the third, is lyricist Marilyn Bergman, who won for Yentl (1983) in the Original Song Score category, sharing the award with co-lyricist Alan Bergman (her husband) and composer Michel Legrand.
The only female composers nominated for multiple Scoring Oscars are Rachel Portman, who was nominated for Emma (1996) (for which she won for Best Original Score), The Cider House Rules (1999) and Chocolat (2000); and Angela Morley, who was nominated twice in the Original Song Score category for The Little Prince (1974) and The Slipper and the Rose (1976).
Notable nominees
Dmitri Shostakovich and Duke Ellington were both nominated the same year but lost to arrangers of West Side Story.
Because much of the music in film is usually classical music, the scores of Midnight Express by Giorgio Moroder in 1979, Slumdog Millionaire by A. R. Rahman in 2009, The Social Network in 2011 by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and Her by William Butler and Owen Pallett in 2014 are the only scores with electronic based music ever to be nominated, with the first three winning the award.
Noted nominated composers known for their music mostly outside of the film world include: Aaron Copland, Kurt Weill, Gian-Carlo Menotti, Philip Glass, John Corigliano, Peter Maxwell Davies, Randy Newman, Richard Rodney Bennett, Stephen Schwartz, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Artie Shaw, Trent Reznor, Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock.
Rock musicians and pop stars are most often nominated in the songwriting category. A handful that were nominated in the Scoring categories includes: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Prince, Pete Townshend, Rod McKuen, Isaac Hayes, Kris Kristofferson, Quincy Jones, Randy Newman, Anthony Newley, Paul Williams, Tom Waits, David Byrne, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Trent Reznor and Matthew Wilder.
Record producers George Martin (the Beatles) and Jerry Wexler (Atlantic Records) also received nominations in the Scoring categories.
At the age of 87, Ennio Morricone became the oldest winner in Oscar history for a competitive award.[2][3]
Multiple nominations
The following is a list of composers nominated more than once and winning at least one Academy Award (in this category). This list is sorted by number of awards, with the number of total nominations listed in parentheses. These do not include nominations (or awards) in the Best Original Song category.
The following composers have been nominated for a Best Original Score Oscar more than once but have yet to garner one. The number of nominations is listed in parentheses. These do not include nominations (or awards) in the Best Original Song category.
Deceased:
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Living:
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Winners and nominees
The following is the list of nominated composers organized by year, and listing both films and composers. The years shown in the following list of winners are the production years, thus a reference to 1967 means the Oscars presented in 1968 for films released in 1967.
Note: From 1934–1937, the head of the music department (rather than the actual composer or composers, in most cases) received the nominations or award.
Note: From 1937–1945, any studio was guaranteed a nomination just by submitting a qualified entry.
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
Year | Winner Composer |
Nominees|- |
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1960 | Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture: Exodus – Ernest Gold |
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Score of a Musical Picture: Song without End (The Story of Franz Liszt) – Morris Stoloff, Harry Sukman |
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1961 | Score of a Musical Picture: Breakfast at Tiffany's – Henry Mancini |
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Score of a Musical Picture: West Side Story – Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Sid Ramin, Irwin Kostal |
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1962 | Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture: Lawrence of Arabia – Maurice Jarre |
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Score of a Musical Picture (adaptation or treatment): The Music Man – Ray Heindorf |
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1963 | Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture: Tom Jones – John Addison |
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Score of a Musical Picture (adaptation or treatment): Irma la Douce – André Previn |
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1964 | Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture: Mary Poppins – Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman |
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Score of a Musical Picture (adaptation or treatment): My Fair Lady – André Previn |
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1965 | Original Score: Doctor Zhivago – Maurice Jarre |
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Score of a Musical Picture (adaptation or treatment): The Sound of Music – Irwin Kostal |
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1966 | Original Score: Born Free – John Barry |
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Score of a Musical Picture (adaptation or treatment): A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum – Ken Thorne |
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1967 | Original Score: Thoroughly Modern Millie – Elmer Bernstein |
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Score of a Musical Picture (adaptation or treatment): Camelot – Alfred Newman, Ken Darby |
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1968 | Original Score: The Lion in Winter – John Barry |
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Score of a Musical Picture (adaptation or treatment): Oliver! – Adaptation score by Johnny Green |
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1969 | Original Score: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – Burt Bacharach |
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Score of a Musical Picture (adaptation or treatment): Hello, Dolly! – Adaptation score by Lennie Hayton and Lionel Newman |
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1970s
Year | Winner Composer |
Nominees|- |
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1970 | Original Dramatic Score: Love Story – Francis Lai |
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Original Song Score: Let It Be – Music and lyrics by The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr) |
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1971 | Original Dramatic Score: Summer of '42 – Michel Legrand |
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Original Song Score and Adaptation: Fiddler on the Roof – Adaptation Score by John Williams |
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1972 | Original Dramatic Score: Limelight – Charlie Chaplin, Raymond Rasch (posthumous award), Larry Russell (posthumous award) (Note: This film was originally screened in 1952, but it was not shown in Los Angeles until 1972, at which point it become eligible for this nomination) |
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Original Song Score and Adaptation: Cabaret – Adaptation Score by Ralph Burns |
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1973 | Original Dramatic Score: The Way We Were – Marvin Hamlisch |
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Original Song Score and Adaptation: The Sting – Adaptation Score by Marvin Hamlisch |
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1974 | Original Dramatic Score: The Godfather Part II – Nino Rota, Carmine Coppola |
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Original Song Score and Adaptation: The Great Gatsby – Adaptation Score by Nelson Riddle |
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1975 | Original Dramatic Score: Jaws – John Williams |
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Original Song Score and Adaptation: Barry Lyndon – Adaptation Score by Leonard Rosenman |
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1976 | Original Score: The Omen – Jerry Goldsmith |
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Original Song or Adaptation Score: Bound for Glory – Adaptation Score by Leonard Rosenman |
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1977 | Original Score: Star Wars – John Williams |
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Original Song or Adaptation Score: A Little Night Music – Adaptation Score by Jonathan Tunick |
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1978 | Original Score: Midnight Express – Giorgio Moroder |
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Original Adaptation Score: The Buddy Holly Story – Joe Renzetti |
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1979 | Original Score: A Little Romance – Georges Delerue |
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Original Song or Adaptation Score: All That Jazz – Adaptation Score by Ralph Burns |
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1980s
1990s
Note: From 1995 to 1998, songwriters and lyricists along with orchestral underscore composers were also eligible for nominations in the "Musical or Comedy Score" category.[4]
2000s
2010s
Year | Winner Composer |
Nominees |
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2010 | The Social Network – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross |
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2011 | The Artist – Ludovic Bource |
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2012 | Life of Pi – Mychael Danna |
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2013 | Gravity – Steven Price |
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2014 | The Grand Budapest Hotel – Alexandre Desplat |
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2015 | The Hateful Eight – Ennio Morricone |
See also
References
- ↑ "Rule Sixteen: Special Rules for the Best Picture of the Year Award | Rules for the 85th Academy Awards | Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences". Oscars.org. 2012-08-24. Archived from the original on 2013-12-11. Retrieved 2014-05-15.
- ↑ "Oscar win at 87 may make Ennio Morricone the oldest winner ever". David Ng. Los Angeles Times. February 28, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
- ↑ "Italy, Hollywood Celebrate Ennio Morricone's First Competitive Win". Ariston Anderson. Los Angeles Times. February 28, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
- ↑ "Academy Awards Database - AMPAS". Awardsdatabase.oscars.org. Retrieved 2014-05-15.
- ↑ Lisa Gerrard and Klaus Badelt also received screen credit for music score, but only Zimmer was deemed eligible for the nomination.
External links
- Oscars.org (official Academy site)
- The Academy Awards Database (official site)
- Oscar.com (official ceremony promotional site)