Who’s won the most Oscars?

Written by Amy Tikkanen

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Academy Award: Oscar statuettes

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Category: Arts & Culture

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First presented in 1929, the Academy Awards are among the most prestigious prizes in the film industry. Competition is fierce, and a number of individuals have won multiple awards. With 22 Oscars, producer Walt Disney holds the record for the most wins; he was also the recipient of four special or honorary Academy Awards. Art director Cedric Gibbons is a distant second, with 11 Oscars, but he has a particularly close connection to the awards. Many credit him with designing the Oscar statuette. Who are some of the other big winners? And what film has garnered the most Oscars? Read on to find out.

Acting

actor/actress	wins	best actress/actor awards	best supporting actress/actor awards
Katharine Hepburn	4	Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), On Golden Pond (1981)
Daniel Day-Lewis	3	My Left Foot (1989), There Will Be Blood (2007), Lincoln (2012)
Frances McDormand	3	Fargo (1996), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), Nomadland (2020)
Meryl Streep	3	Sophie’s Choice (1982), The Iron Lady (2011)	Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Jack Nicholson	3	One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), As Good as It Gets (1997)	Terms of Endearment (1983)
Ingrid Bergman	3	Gaslight (1944), Anastasia (1956)	Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Walter Brennan	3		Come and Get It (1936), Kentucky (1938), The Westerner (1940)

Directing

director	wins	films
John Ford	4	The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952)
Frank Capra	3	It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), You Can’t Take It with You (1938)
William Wyler	3	Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Ben-Hur (1959)
Frank Borzage	2	7th Heaven (1927), Bad Girl (1931)
Lewis Milestone	2	Two Arabian Knights (1927), All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Frank Lloyd	2	The Divine Lady (1928), Cavalcade (1933)
Leo McCarey	2	The Awful Truth (1937), Going My Way (1944)
Billy Wilder	2	The Lost Weekend (1945), The Apartment (1960)
Elia Kazan	2	Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), On the Waterfront (1954)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz	2	A Letter to Three Wives (1949), All About Eve (1950)
George Stevens	2	A Place in the Sun (1951), Giant (1956)
Fred Zinnemann	2	From Here to Eternity (1953), A Man for All Seasons (1966)
David Lean	2	The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Robert Wise	2	West Side Story (1961), The Sound of Music (1965)
Miloš Forman	2	One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), Amadeus (1984)
Oliver Stone	2	Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Clint Eastwood	2	Unforgiven (1992), Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Steven Spielberg	2	Schindler’s List (1993), Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Ang Lee	2	Brokeback Mountain (2005), Life of Pi (2012)
Alfonso Cuarón	2	Gravity (2013), Roma (2018)
Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu	2	Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), The Revenant (2015)

Film

film	wins	awards
Ben-Hur (1959)	11	Best picture, actor, supporting actor, director, art direction (color), cinematography (color), costume design (color), film editing, music, sound, special effects
Titanic (1997)	11	best picture, director, art direction, cinematography, costume design, film editing, music (original dramatic score), music (original song), sound, sound effects editing, visual effects
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)	11	Best picture, director, art direction, costume design, film editing, makeup, music (original score), music (original song), sound mixing, visual effects, writing (adapted screenplay)
West Side Story (1961)	10	Best picture, supporting actor, supporting actress, director, art direction (color), cinematography (color), costume design (color), film editing, music (score), sound
Gigi (1958)	9	Best picture, director, art direction, cinematography (color), costume design, film editing, music (score of a musical picture), music (song), writing (adapted screenplay)
The Last Emperor (1987)	9	Best picture, director, art direction, cinematography, costume design, film editing, music (original score), sound, writing (adapted screenplay)
The English Patient (1996)	9	Best picture, supporting actress, director, art direction, cinematography, costume design, film editing, music (original dramatic score), sound
Gone with the Wind (1939)	8	Best actress, supporting actress, director, art direction, cinematography (color), film editing, outstanding production, writing (screenplay)
From Here to Eternity (1953)	8	Best picture, supporting actor, supporting actress, editor, cinematography (black-and-white), film editing, sound recording, writing (screenplay)
On the Waterfront (1954)	8	Best picture, actor, supporting actress, director, art direction (black-and-white), cinematography (black-and-white), film editing, writing (story and screenplay)
My Fair Lady (1964)	8	Best picture, actor, director, art direction (color), cinematography (color), costume design (color), music (scoring of music—adapted or treatment), sound
Cabaret (1972)	8	Best actress, supporting actor, director, art direction, cinematography, film editing, music (adaptation and original song score), sound
Gandhi (1982)	8	Best picture, actor, director, art direction, cinematography, costume design, film editing, writing (original screenplay)
Amadeus (1984)	8	Best picture, actor, director, art direction, costume design, makeup, sound, writing (adapted screenplay)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)	8	Best picture, director, cinematography, film editing, music (original score), music (original song), sound mixing, writing (adapted screenplay)

Amy Tikkanen