Official website oscars.org Currently held by Ennio Morricone | Country United States of America Category of Academy Awards | |
 | ||
Presented by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences People also search for Academy Award for Best Original Song Winners & Nominees La La LandJustin Hurwitz, La La Land, Winner, JackieMicachu, Jackie, Nominee, LionDustin O'Halloran - Volker Bertelmann, Lion, Nominee, PassengersThomas Newman, Passengers, Nominee, MoonlightNicholas Britell, Moonlight, Nominee, The Hateful EightEnnio Morricone, The Hateful Eight, Winner, Bridge of SpiesThomas Newman, Bridge of Spies, Nominee, SicarioJóhann Jóhannsson, Sicario, Nominee, Star Wars: The Force AwakensJohn Williams, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Nominee, CarolCarter Burwell, Carol, Nominee, The Grand Budapest HotelAlexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Winner, The Imitation GameAlexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game, Nominee, InterstellarHans Zimmer, Interstellar, Nominee, Mr TurnerGary Yershon, Mr Turner, Nominee, The Theory of EverythingJóhann Jóhannsson, The Theory of Everything, Nominee, GravitySteven Price, Gravity, Winner, PhilomenaAlexandre Desplat, Philomena, Nominee, HerOwen Pallett - William Butler, Her, Nominee, Saving Mr BanksThomas Newman, Saving Mr Banks, Nominee, The Book ThiefJohn Williams, The Book Thief, Nominee, Life of PiMychael Danna, Life of Pi, Winner, SkyfallThomas Newman, Skyfall, Nominee, LincolnJohn Williams, Lincoln, Nominee, ArgoAlexandre Desplat, Argo, Nominee, Anna KareninaDario Marianelli, Anna Karenina, Nominee | ||
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.
Contents
Superlatives
These are only for nominations in the Scoring categories. Nominations in other categories, such as the Original Song category, are not included.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Withdrawn nominations
Nino Rota was nominated for The Godfather, but the nomination was withdrawn when it was discovered that Rota had used music from an earlier score of his, Fortunella (1958), and was replaced by Sleuth.