It’s Oscar week! Every day this week, WTOP examines a different aspect of Oscar history and this year’s race.
On Monday, we examined whether “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” could mark the return of the blockbuster Best Picture.
Now, it’s time to examine the top winners in Academy Award history to compile the Oscar Mount Rushmore.
In sports, fans consider the number of championship rings to debate various Mount Rushmores.
You may love Michael Jordan and hate Tom Brady, but you have to acknowledge their accomplishments.
Similarly, we must put away personal subjectivity and take an objective look at the Oscar stats:
What’s the Oscar Mount Rushmore for Movies?
In terms of total wins, the Oscar Mount Rushmore would include the four winningest films. William Wyler’s “Ben-Hur” (1959) set the record with 11 wins, James Cameron’s “Titanic” (1997) tied the record with 11 wins, and Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003) also notched 11 wins. Rounding out the fourth slot is Robert Wise’s “West Side Story” (1961) with 10 wins, the only other film with a double-digit haul.
However, in terms of major category sweeps, only three movies have won the Big 5: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay. Those are Frank Capra’s “It Happened One Night” (1934), Miloš Forman’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975), and Jonathan Demme’s “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991).
Using this rubric, the fourth slot is debatable. It probably goes to “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979), which won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor, though Meryl Streep won for Best Supporting Actress instead of Best Actress. You could also make a case for last year’s champ “Everything Everywhere All At Once” (2022), which won Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actress and two supporting prizes but no Best Actor.
What’s the Oscar Mount Rushmore for Filmmakers?
If we’re specifically talking the director’s chair, John Ford leads the way with a record four Best Director wins for “The Informer” (1935), “The Grapes of Wrath” (1940), “How Green Was My Valley” (1941) and “The Quiet Man” (1952). Ironically, he did not win for arguably his four best westerns: “Stagecoach” (1939), “My Darling Clementine” (1946), “The Searchers” (1956) and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962).
After that, Frank Capra won Best Director three times for “It Happened One Night” (1934), “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” (1936), and “You Can’t Take It With You” (1938), but ironically did not win for “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939) or “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946). William Wyler also won Best Director three times for “Mrs. Miniver” (1942), “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946), and “Ben-Hur” (1959), all of which also won Best Picture.
If we expand the definition of filmmaker to including writing and producing, Ford is still the tops with six, adding producer prizes for “How Green Was My Valley” and “The Quiet Man.” He’s tied with Billy Wilder, who also won six, including Best Director and Best Screenplay for “The Lost Weekend” (1945); Best Screenplay for “Sunset Boulevard” (1950); and Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Original Screenplay for “The Apartment” (1960).
By this metric, Francis Ford Coppola is next with five Oscars, winning Best Original Screenplay for “Patton” (1970); Best Adapted Screenplay for “The Godfather” (1972); and Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for “The Godfather Part II” (1974). His masterful Corleone saga makes Coppola the only filmmaker to direct two installments of the same franchise (the original and the sequel) to a pair of Best Picture wins.
After that, Clint Eastwood has four filmmaking Oscars for producing and directing “Unforgiven” (1992), then producing and directing “Million Dollar Baby” (2004), while Steven Spielberg has three Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for “Schindler’s List” (1993) and Best Director for “Saving Private Ryan” (1998).
The most total wins belongs to Walt Disney with 22 trophies for decades of producing animated shorts, live-action shorts, feature documentaries, and short documentaries. The Best Animated Feature prize wasn’t invented until “Shrek” (2001), 35 years after Disney’s death, so he likely would have won dozens more if it existed.
Who’s on the Oscar Mount Rushmore for Actors?
Katharine Hepburn won Best Actress four times for “Morning Glory” (1933), “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” (1967), “The Lion in Winter” (1968), and “On Golden Pond” (1981). Daniel Day-Lewis won three Best Actors for “My Left Foot” (1989), “There Will Be Blood” (2007), and “Lincoln” (2012). Frances McDormand won three Best Actresses for “Fargo” (1996), “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (2017), and “Nomadland” (2020).
The fourth slot belongs to either Meryl Streep, who won Best Supporting Actress for “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979) and Best Actress twice for “Sophie’s Choice” (1982) and “The Iron Lady” (2011); Ingrid Bergman, who won Best Actress twice for “Gaslight” (1944) and “Anastasia” (1956), as well as Best Supporting Actress for “Murder on the Orient Express” (1974); or Jack Nicholson; who won Best Actor twice for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975) and “As Good As It Gets” (1997), as well as Best Supporting Actor for “Terms of Endearment” (1983).
Let’s also not forget Walter Brennan, who won Best Supporting Actor three times in a span of four years for “Come and Get It” (1936), “Kentucky” (1938), and “The Westerner” (1940) — none of which are his most memorable films in hindsight. I prefer him in “Sergeant York” (1941), “To Have and Have Not” (1944), “My Darling Clementine” (1946), “Red River” (1948), “Bad Day at Black Rock” (1955), and “Rio Bravo” (1959).
Of course, other actors deserve to be on the three-time winners list, including Denzel Washington, but alas, we’ll save that for our Oscar snubs and mistakes piece tomorrow!
Tune in every day this week as WTOP’s Jason Fraley examines a different aspect of Oscar history and this year’s race.
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