The Best Screenplay And Writing

The Best Screenplay and Writing Academy Awards The Category of Screenplay and Writing Awards: See this site's 101 Greatest Film Screenplays of All-Time One indicator of the types of screenplays that are nominated for awards is within the Best Picture category. Through the 79th Academy Awards ceremony (through 2007), the vast majority of films that have won the top prize have been adapted from other sources, while about a fourth have been original screenplays: • • • • • •

43 of 80 Best Picture-winning films: adapted from novels, stories or short stories, or remakes of other films (i.e., Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Rebecca (1940), BenHur (1959), The Departed (2006), No Country for Old Men (2007)) 12 of 80 Best Picture-winning films: adapted from stage plays or stage musicals (i.e., You Can't Take It With You (1938), Hamlet (1948), West Side Story (1961), The Sound of Music (1965)) 1 of 80 Best Picture-winning films: adapted from an article ( On the Waterfront (1954)) 1 of 80 Best Picture-winning films: adapted from a TV show (Marty (1955)) 1 of 80 Best Picture-winning films: adapted from various writings ( Lawrence of Arabia (1962)) 22 of 80 Best Picture-winning films: original screenplays (i.e., Going My Way (1944), The Apartment (1960), Rocky (1976), Unforgiven (1992), Crash (2005))

There have been many writers who have unofficially worked on various nominated (and winning) screenplays who are not included or credited for the screenplay. [Uncredited but talented screenwriters include neophytes, called screenplay polishers, who make minor rewrites to improve the dialogue or scene directions.] The Academy Awards include only those who are officially nominated. History of Changes in the Award: See an entire detailed listing of Academy Award Script/Screenplay Winners from 1927/28 to the Present on this site. This awards category has varied considerably over the first 30 years of the awards ceremony, but solidified itself by about 1970: •

in the first year of the Academy Awards, 1927/1928, there were only two writing categories: Best Writing, Adaptation and Best Original Story; there was also a shortlived category termed Best Title Writing, discontinued after this year at the end of the silent era

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in the second and third years of the Academy Awards (1928/29 and 1929/30), there was only a single writing award: Writing Achievement, with no distinction between original works and adaptations. Only the titles of the nominated films were announced. Writers were nominated for all of their work that year, rather than

nominating the writer for a specific film •

in the next four ceremonies (1930/31, 1931/32, 1932/33, and 1934), the distinction between original works and adaptations was resumed with two categories: Best Writing, Adaptation and Best Original Story

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beginning in 1935, the term screenplay was first used as a nomination category (replacing Best Writing, Adaptation - it was used to indicate an adaptation rather than an original story), so now there were two categories: Best Original Story and Best Screenplay (adaptation) (Because of these rules, The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936) remains the only film to win its two writing nominations in one ceremony for the same screenwriters (Pierre Collings and Sheridan Gibney), for both Best Original Story and Best Screenplay (adaptation). Collings and Gibney are the only screenwriters to win two Oscars each for their work on a single film.)

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in 1940, the Academy started a new category - Best Original Screenplay, in addition to the other two categories: Best Original Story and Best Screenplay (adaptation). Best Original Story was intended to give credit to the authors of performance works (not novels) that films were based on. Therefore, oftentimes, the source and its adaptation would earn nominations - and Oscars. (Besides The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936) with more than one writing Oscar, Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) was the first to win two writing Oscars, followed by Going My Way (1944) and Miracle on 34th Street (1947). But in these other three cases, the script authors were different people from the writers credited with the screenplay.)

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in 1942, the titles for the three awards were: Best Screenplay (adaptation), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Original Motion Picture Story

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in 1948, the award went back to only two awards: Best Motion Picture Story (original screenplay) and Best Screenplay (adaptation); the Best Original Screenplay category was dropped

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in 1949, the award was expanded back to three nebulous categories: Best Motion Picture Story, Best Screenplay (adaptation) and Best Story and Screenplay (the new name for the Best Original Screenplay category)

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in 1956, there were again three nominees, retaining Best Motion Picture Story and two other renamed categories: Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay

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in 1957, the modern division of the award into "original" and "adapted" screenplays was finally implemented - with only two renamed categories: Best Screenplay Based on Material From Another Medium (Adapted Screenplay) and Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Original Screenplay); the category of Best Motion Picture Story was discarded by being merged into the other categories

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in 1969, the category of Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen was renamed: Best Story and Screenplay - Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced

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since then, the category names for the writing awards have been simplified to

Adapted Screenplay and Original Screenplay Currently, there are two basic categories of writing awards: • •

Writing, Adapted Screenplay: awarded to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source (novel or play usually) Writing, Original Screenplay: awarded to the writer of a script not based on previously published material

Top Academy Award Screenwriting Nominations and Winners: Woody Allen (13) and Billy Wilder (12) have been nominated the most for any screenwriting category. Four individuals have been awarded with three (3) screenwriting Oscars: Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, Francis Ford Coppola, and Paddy Chayefsky.

Top Screenwriting Oscar Winners: Overall Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder 12 nominations 3 wins

Wins: The Lost Weekend (1945) - (Best Screenplay adaptation) Sunset Boulevard (1950) - (Best Story and Screenplay - original) The Apartment (1960) - (Best Original Story and Screenplay) Nominated For: Ninotchka (1939) - (Best Screenplay - adaptation) Hold Back the Dawn (1941) - (Best Screenplay adaptation) Ball of Fire (1941) - (Best Original Story) Double Indemnity (1944) - (Best Screenplay adaptation) A Foreign Affair (1948) - (Best Screenplay adaptation) The Big Carnival (1951), aka Ace in the Hole (Best Story and Screenplay - original) Sabrina (1954) - (Best Screenplay - adaptation) Some Like It Hot (1959) - (Best Adapted Screenplay) The Fortune Cookie (1966) - (Best Original Screenplay) Note: Wilder had 7 Adapted Screenplay nominations, 4 Original Screenplay nominations, and one Best Original Story nomination. Billy Wilder, Francis Ford Coppola, Charles Brackett and Paddy Chayefsky share the Academy Award record for Oscar writing wins (3) in all categories. Together, Wilder and Charles Brackett are responsible for a total of 14 screenplay nominations. They co-share 5 screenplay nominations (from 19391950) and two wins: The Lost Weekend (1945) and Sunset Boulevard (1950). Woody Allen Wins: Annie Hall (1977) Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

Woody Allen 14 nominations 2 wins

Nominated For: Interiors (1978) Manhattan (1979) Broadway Danny Rose (1984) The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) Radio Days (1987) Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) Alice (1990)

The Best Screenplay and Writing Academy Awards Other Leading Contenders for Most Writing Nominations and Wins: •

Ben Hecht: (6 Nominations, 2 Wins) Oscar wins: Underworld (1927/28), The Scoundrel (1935) Nominations: Viva Villa! (1934), Wuthering Heights (1939), Angels Over Broadway (1940), Notorious (1946)

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Carl Foreman: (6 Nominations, 1 Win) Oscar win: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Nominations: Champion (1949), The Men (1950), Navarone (1961), Young Winston (1972)

High Noon (1952), The Guns of

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Oliver Stone: (6 Nominations, 1 Win) Oscar win: Midnight Express (1978) Nominations: Platoon (1986), Salvador (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), JFK (1991), Nixon (1995)

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Robert Benton: (5 Nominations, 2 Wins) Oscar wins: Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Places in the Heart (1984) Nominations: Bonnie and Clyde (1967), The Late Show (1977), Nobody's Fool (1994)

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Joseph L. Mankiewicz: (5 Nominations, 2 Wins) Oscar wins: A Letter to Three Wives (1949), All About Eve (1950) Nominations: Skippy (1930/31), No Way Out (1950), The Barefoot Contessa (1954)

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Michael Wilson: (5 Nominations, 2 Wins) Oscar wins: A Place in the Sun (1951), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) + Nominations: 5 Fingers (1952), Friendly Persuasion (1956), Lawrence of Arabia (1962) + (+ Wilson was posthumously given his Oscar nominated credit - and in the case of The Bridge of the River Kwai (1957), his Oscar (in 1985) - due to his blacklisting and working on each screenplay anonymously. The credited and awarded screenwriter, Pierre Boule, could not speak or write English.)

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George Seaton: (4 Nominations, 2 Wins) Oscar wins: Miracle on 34th Street (1947), The Country Girl (1954) Nominations: The Song of Bernadette (1943), Airport (1970)

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Stanley Shapiro: (4 Nominations, 1 Win) Oscar wins: Pillow Talk (1959) Nominations: Operation Petticoat (1959), Lover Come Back (1961), That Touch of Mink (1962)

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Melvin Frank: (4 Nominations, 0 Wins) Nominations: The Road to Utopia (1946), Knock on Wood (1954), The Facts of

Life (1960), A Touch of Class (1973) •

Edward Anhalt: (3 Nominations, 2 Wins) Oscar wins: Panic in the Streets (1950), Becket (1964) Nominations: The Sniper (1952)

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Dalton Trumbo: (3 Nominations, 2 Wins) Oscar wins: Roman Holiday (1953), The Brave One (1956)+ Nominations: Kitty Foyle (1940) (+ Trumbo wrote The Brave One (1956) under the pseudonym Robert Rich due to blacklisting, and received his award shortly before his death in 1976.)

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Frances Marion: (3 Nominations, 2 Wins) Oscar wins: The Big House (1929/30), The Champ (1931/32) Nominations: The Prizefighter and the Lady (1932/33)

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Waldo Salt: (3 Nominations, 2 Wins) Oscar wins: Midnight Cowboy (1969), Coming Home (1978) Nominations: Serpico (1973)

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Alvin Sargent: (3 Nominations, 2 Wins) Oscar wins: Julia (1977), Ordinary People (1980) Nominations: Paper Moon (1973)

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Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: (3 Nominations, 2 Wins) Oscar wins: A Room with a View (1985), Howards End (1992) Nominations: The Remains of the Day (1993)

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Alan Jay Lerner: (3 Nominations, 2 Wins) Oscar wins: An American in Paris (1951), Gigi (1958) Nominations: My Fair Lady (1964)

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Robert Bolt: (3 Nominations, 2 Wins) Oscar wins: Doctor Zhivago (1965), A Man for All Seasons (1966) Nominations: Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

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Frank Cavett: (3 Nominations, 2 Wins) Oscar wins: Going My Way (1944), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) Nominations: Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947)

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Horton Foote: (3 Nominations, 2 Wins) Oscar wins: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Tender Mercies (1983) Nominations: The Trip to Bountiful (1985)

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Bo Goldman: (3 Nominations, 2 Wins) Oscar wins: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Melvin and Howard (1980) Nominations: Scent of a Woman (1992)

Writers with Triple Wins for the Same Film: A few writers/directors have accomplished the 'hat trick' of triple Oscar wins as producerdirector-writer:

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Leo McCarey for Going My Way (1944) Billy Wilder for The Apartment (1960) Francis Ford Coppola for The Godfather, Part 2 (1974) James L. Brooks for Terms of Endearment (1983) Peter Jackson for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Other Mosts: •

Toy Story (1995), nominated for Best Original Screenplay, had the most screenwriters (7) attached to an Oscar screenplay nominee

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Three films are tied for the most screenwriters (4) attached to an Oscar screenplay winner - Pygmalion (1938) (a winner in two categories: Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Screenplay) - Mrs. Miniver (1942) (for Best Screenplay) - Pillow Talk (1959) (for Best Story and Screenplay)

Trivia for Academy Award Writing Nominations and Wins: Firsts •

Because of confused Academy rules, Bess Meredyth (for A Woman of Affairs (1928/29) and Wonder of Women (1928/29)) and Josephine Lovett (for Our Dancing Daughters (1928/29)) were the first women to receive a screenplay "nomination", but they were not officially nominated

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Elliott Clawson was nominated (but not officially) for four films in one ceremony, in 1928/29 (for The Cop; The Leatherneck; Sal of Singapore; and Skyscraper)

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Frances Marion, a renowned and respected scriptwriter, was the first woman to win a solo writing Oscar - Best Screenplay for The Big House (1929/30). This win also gave her the distinction of being the first woman to write a Best Picture nominee. She duplicated this feat and became the first screenwriter to win two screenwriting Oscars with her Best Original Story win for The Champ (1931/32). She was nominated only one other time - without a win, for Best Original Screenplay for The Prizefighter and the Lady (1932/33). [She scripted screenplays from the silent era into the late 30s, for films such as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917), Anne of Green Gables (1919), Pollyanna (1920), Stella Dallas (1925), The Scarlet Letter (1926), Anna Christie (1931), Dinner at Eight (1933), Camille (1936), and The Good Earth (1937).]

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Sarah Y. Mason became the first woman to be a co-winner of a screenplay award, Best Screenplay Adaptation for Little Women (1932/33). [Her co-winner was Victor Heerman.]

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Paul Green and Sonya Levien were the first screenwriters to be nominated for a musical script (State Fair (1932))

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Both Casey Robinson and Gregory Rogers were the first and only write-in candidates for screenwriting (in the same year) that were not official nominees, for Captain Blood (1935) and G-Men (1935) respectively

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Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett became the first screenwriters to be nominated

for a sequel, After the Thin Man (1936). [Its predecessor, The Thin Man (1934), was also nominated for Best Screenplay Adaptation, and written by the same duo.] •

Joan Harrison became the first screenwriter to be nominated in two different categories in the same year: Rebecca (1940) (Best Screenplay) and Foreign Correspondent (1940) (Best Original Screenplay). Both films were directed by Alfred Hitchcock

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Emeric Pressburger became the first (and only) screenwriter to be nominated in three different screenwriting categories in a single year: Best Original Story (The Invaders (1942) aka The 49th Parallel (win)), Best Original Screenplay (One of Our Aircraft is Missing (1942)), and Best Screenplay - Adapted (also for The Invaders (1942))

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George Froeschel, Claudine West and Arthur Wimperis were the first trio of screenwriters to be nominated in the same year in the same category (Best Screenplay), for Mrs. Miniver (1942) (with James Hilton, with whom they won) and for Random Harvest (1942)

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Benjamin Glazer became the first screenwriter to win Best Screenplay for two different screenplay catagories: Best Adapted Screenplay (Seventh Heaven (1927/28), the first screenplay adaptation Oscar ever awarded) and Best Original Story (Arise, My Love (1940))

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Divorce - Italian Style (1962) was the first foreign language film to win a screenplay Oscar. Ugo Pirro was the first foreign language screenwriter to have two nominations in two categories in the same ceremony: The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971) (Screenplay - Original) and Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) (Screenplay - Adapted)

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Emma Thompson became the only individual to have won an Academy Award for both acting (Best Actress for Howards End (1992)) and screenwriting (Best Adapted Screenplay for Sense and Sensibility (1995))

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In 2007, four female scriptwriters (all first-time nominees) were nominated for individual screenplay honors: Original Screenplay nomination: Diablo Cody for Juno, Tamara Jenkins for The Savages, and Nancy Oliver for Lars and the Real Girl Adapted Screenplay nomination: Sarah Polley for Away From Her

The Best Screenplay and Writing Academy Awards Writers with Most Best Picture Nominations and Wins: Billy Wilder holds the record for writing more Best Picture nominees (7) than anyone else. Wilder's nominated and winning (marked with *) Best Picture films were: •

Ninotchka (1939)

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Hold Back the Dawn (1941) Double Indemnity (1944) The Lost Weekend (1945)*+ Sunset Boulevard (1950)+ Witness for the Prosecution (1957) - NOT screenplay-nominated The Apartment (1960)*+

+ - won Best Screenplay Francis Ford Coppola and Alan Jay Lerner both hold the record for writing more Best Picture winners (3) than anyone else. Their nominated and winning (marked with *) Best Picture films were: Francis Ford Coppola: • • • • • •

Patton (1970)*+ The Godfather (1972)*+ The Conversation (1974) The Godfather: Part II (1974)*+ Apocalypse Now (1979) The Godfather: Part III (1990)

Alan Jay Lerner: • • •

An American in Paris (1951)*+ Gigi (1958)*+ My Fair Lady (1964)*

+ - won Best Screenplay Best Picture Screenplay Writing Trivia: Anita Loos was the second woman to receive the sole screenplay credit for a Best Picture nominee with San Francisco (1936). Her play Gigi would later become the basis for the Best Picture-winning Gigi (1958). Joan Harrison became the first woman to co-author a Best Picture winner - Rebecca (1940) - with Robert E. Sherwood. [She also co-wrote Best Picture nominee Foreign Correspondent (1940) that same year (also a Hitchcock film.)] No woman has ever had the solo screenplay credit of a Best Picture winner. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala has the most solo screenplay credits (3) for a Best Picture nominee by a woman. Wang Hui-Ling and Tsai Kuo Jung are the only Asian screenwriters (assisted by executive producer James Schamus) to write a Best Picture nominee - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). George Bernard Shaw was the only Nobel Prize winner to receive a Best Screenplay Oscar, for Pygmalion (1938) -- based on his own 1912 stage play of the same name. Robert Riskin became the first writer to author two Best Picture winners with You Can't Take It with You (1938) - his previous Best Picture winner was It Happened One Night (1934). With My Fair Lady (1964), Alan Jay Lerner became the first writer to pen nominated screenplays for three Best Picture winners - his two wins were An American in Paris (1951)

and Gigi (1958). His feat of three Best Picture winning screenplays has only been matched by Francis Ford Coppola. Paul Haggis became the first screenwriter to have written two consecutive Best Pictures (with a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Crash (2005) and a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for Million Dollar Baby (2004) (which lost to Sideways (2004))). Dudley Nichols was the first Oscar winner to refuse an Academy Award - for his screenplay credit on The Informer (1935). He was boycotting the awards as a member of the Screen Writers Guild. (Two years later, after the Academy accepted the guilds and ended its support for union-busting activities, Nichols accepted his award.) Woody Allen holds the record for most screenplay nominations (14, and all in the Best Original Screenplay category), but has only had two film screenplays for a Best Picture nominee - Annie Hall (1977) (which won Best Picture) and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). Both pictures gave Allen a Best Original Screenplay Oscar - his only two wins. David Lean's two screenplays nominated for Best Picture were an incredible 38 years apart Great Expectations (1946) and A Passage to India (1984). Laurence Olivier's adaptation of Best Picture winner Hamlet (1948) was uncredited, making William Shakespeare the "official" writer of the film. Joseph L. Mankiewicz similarly gave credit for his screenplay of Julius Caesar (1953) to Shakespeare. Neither Olivier, Mankiewicz nor Shakespeare were given Best Screenplay nominations. Romeo and Juliet (1968) was the first Best Picture nominee directly adapted from Shakespeare that did not credit The Bard with the screenplay. Frances Walsh, Philppa Boyens, and Peter Jackson's three screenplays that became Best Picture nominees were all from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. [Oddly, Stephen Sinclair was only involved with The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002).] Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich co-wrote the most Best Picture nominees (6) as a writing duo, including The Thin Man (1934)*, After the Thin Man (1936)*, It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Father of the Bride (1950)*, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)*, and The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). [Screenplay nominees are marked with *.] All of Mario Puzo's screenplays for Best Picture nominees were from the Godfather trilogy. Goodfellas (1990) was the SOLE screenplay by Martin Scorsese to be nominated for Best Picture. Best Picture champs usually win one of the two screenplay awards - approximately two-thirds have done so since 1950. Best Picture Winners: Not Nominated for Best Screenplay Award • • • • • •

Wings (1927/28) The Broadway Melody (1928/29) Grand Hotel (1931/32) Calvacade (1932/33) Hamlet (1948) The Sound Of Music (1965)

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Titanic (1997)

Best Picture Winners: Did Not Win Either a Best Screenplay Award or Best Director Award • • • • • • • • • •

Wings (1927/28) The Broadway Melody (1928/29) Grand Hotel (1931/32) Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) The Great Ziegfeld (1936) Rebecca (1940) Hamlet (1948) All the King's Men (1949) Gladiator (2000) Chicago (2002)

Best Picture Winners: Won a Best Screenplay Award, But Did Not Win Best Director • • • • • • • • • • •

Cimarron (1930/31) The Life of Emile Zola (1937) An American in Paris (1951) The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) Around the World in 80 Days (1956) In the Heat of the Night (1967) The Godfather (1972) Chariots of Fire (1981) Driving Miss Daisy (1989) Shakespeare in Love (1998) Crash (2005)

Best Picture Winners: Won Best Director, But Did Not Win a Best Screenplay Award • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

All Quiet on the Western Front (1929/30) Cavalcade (1932/33) You Can't Take it With You (1938) How Green Was My Valley (1941) Gentleman's Agreement (1947) Ben-Hur (1959) West Side Story (1961) Lawrence of Arabia (1962) My Fair Lady (1964) The Sound of Music (1965) Oliver! (1968) Rocky (1976) The Deer Hunter (1978) Platoon (1986) Unforgiven (1992) Braveheart (1995) The English Patient (1996) Titanic (1997)

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Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Blacklisted-Related Screenwriters: Ring Lardner Jr.'s screenplay of M*A*S*H (1970) bears little resemblance to the final film, but was the sole screenplay credit, winning the Best Screenplay Adaptation Oscar, widely seen as an "apology" for being blacklisted. Philip Dunne was given credit for The Robe (1953) as a front for blacklisted Albert Maltz. Ian McLellan Hunter was given credit for Roman Holiday (1953) as a front of blacklisted Dalton Trumbo. Michael Wilson's work on Friendly Persuasion (1956), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) (along with Carl Foreman) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962) went uncredited due to blacklisting, but each film earned an Oscar nominations for Best Screenplay Adaptation. All blacklisted writers were later officially recredited for their work, and given their respective awards (often posthumously).

The Best Screenplay and Writing Academy Awards - Winners Year

Adapted Screenplay

Original Screenplay

2006

The Departed William Monahan

Little Miss Sunshine Michael Arndt

2005

Brokeback Mountain Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana

Crash Paul Haggis, Robert Moresco

2004

Sideways Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2003 Frances Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson 2002

The Pianist Ronald Harwood

Lost in Translation Sofia Coppola Talk To Her (Hable con ella) Pedro Almodóvar

Year

Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published - Adapted

Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Original

2001

A Beautiful Mind Akiva Goldsman

Gosford Park Julian Fellows

2000

Traffic Stephen Gaghan

Almost Famous Cameron Crowe

1999

The Cider House Rules John Irving

American Beauty Alan Ball

1998

Gods And Monsters Bill Condon

Shakespeare In Love Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard

1997

L.A. Confidential Brian Helgeland & Curtis Hanson

Good Will Hunting Ben Affleck & Matt Damon

1996

Sling Blade Billy Bob Thornton

Fargo Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

1995

Sense And Sensibility Emma Thompson

The Usual Suspects Christopher McQuarrie

1994

Forrest Gump Eric Roth

Pulp Fiction Quentin Tarantino & Roger Avery

1993

Schindler's List Steven Zaillian

The Piano Jane Campion

1992

Howards End Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

The Crying Game Neil Jordan

1991

The Silence Of The Lambs Ted Tally

Thelma & Louise Callie Khouri

Screenplay Year Based on Material from Another Medium - Adapted

Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Original

1990

Dances With Wolves Michael Blake

Ghost Bruce Joel Rubin

1989

Driving Miss Daisy Alfred Uhry

Dead Poets Society Tom Schulman

1988

Dangerous Liaisons Christopher Hampton

Rain Man Ronald Bass & Barry Morrow

1987

The Last Emperor Mark Peploe & Bernardo Bertolucci

Moonstruck John Patrick Shanley

1986

A Room With A View Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Hannah And Her Sisters Woody Allen

1985

Out Of Africa Kurt Luedtke

Witness Earl W. Wallace, William Kelley & Pamela Wallace

1984

Amadeus Peter Shaffer

Places In The Heart Robert Benton

1983

Terms Of Endearment James L. Brooks

Tender Mercies Horton Foote

1982

Missing Costa-Gavras & Donald Stewart

Gandhi John Briley

1981

On Golden Pond Ernest Thompson

Chariots Of Fire Colin Welland

1980

Ordinary People Alvin Sargent

Melvin And Howard Bo Goldman

1979

Kramer Vs. Kramer Robert Benton

Breaking Away Steve Tesich

1978

Midnight Express Oliver Stone

Coming Home Nancy Dowd, Waldo Salt & Robert C. Jones

1977

Julia Alvin Sargent

Annie Hall Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman

1976

All The President's Men William Goldman

Network Paddy Chayefsky

Year

Screenplay Adapted from Other Material

Original Screenplay

1975

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Lawrence Hauben & Bo Goldman

Dog Day Afternoon Frank Pierson

1974

The Godfather Part II Francis Ford Coppola & Mario Puzo

Chinatown Robert Towne

Story and Screenplay--Based on Screenplay-Factual Material or Material Not Year Based on Material From Another Previously Published or Produced Medium - Adapted - Original 1973

The Exorcist William Peter Blatty

The Sting David S. Ward

1972

The Godfather Mario Puzo & Francis Ford Coppola

The Candidate Jeremy Larner

1971

The French Connection Ernest Tidyman

Hospital Paddy Chayefsky

1970

M*A*S*H Ring Lardner, Jr.

Patton Francis Ford Coppola & Edmund H. North

1969

Midnight Cowboy Waldo Salt

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid William Goldman

Screenplay-Year Based on Material from Another Medium - Adapted

Story and Screenplay-Written Directly For the Screen Original

1968

The Lion In Winter James Goldman

The Producers Mel Brooks

1967

In The Heat Of The Night Stirling Silliphant

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner William Rose

1966

A Man For All Seasons Robert Bolt

A Man And A Woman Claude Lelouch & Pierre Uytterhoeven

1965

Doctor Zhivago Robert Bolt

Darling Frederic Raphael

1964

Becket Edward Anhalt

Father Goose S. H. Barnett, Peter Stone & Frank Tarloff

1963

Tom Jones John Osborne

How The West Was Won James R. Webb

1962

To Kill A Mockingbird Horton Foote

Divorce - Italian Style Ennio de Concini, Alfredo Giannetti & Pietro Germi

1961

Judgment At Nuremberg Abby Mann

Splendor In The Grass William Inge

1960

Elmer Gantry Richard Brooks

The Apartment Billy Wilder & I. A. L. Diamond

1959

Room At The Top Neil Paterson

Pillow Talk Russell Rouse, Clarence Greene Stanley Shapiro & Maurice Richlin

1958

Gigi Alan Jay Lerner

The Defiant Ones Nedrick Young, Harold Jacob Smith

1957

The Bridge On The River Kwai Pierre Boulle [front], Michael Wilson & Carl Foreman (both blacklisted at the time, with no screen credit; awarded Oscars posthumously in 1984)

Designing Woman George Wells

The Best Screenplay and Writing Academy Awards - Winners Year Adapted Screenplay

Motion Picture Story

Original Screenplay

Around The World In 80 Days 1956 James Poe, John Farrow & S. J. Perelman

The Brave One Dalton Trumbo (Robert Rich [alias])

The Red Balloon Albert Lamorisse

Year

Screenplay Adaptation

Motion Picture Story

Story & Screenplay Original

1955

Marty Paddy Chayefsky

Love Me or Leave Me Daniel Fuchs

Interrupted Melody William Ludwig, Sonya Levien

1954

The Country Girl George Seaton

Broken Lance Philip Yordan

From Here To Eternity 1953 Daniel Taradash

1952

The Bad and the Beautiful Charles Schnee

1951

A Place In The Sun Michael Wilson & Harry Brown

All About Eve 1950 Joseph L. Mankiewicz

1949

A Letter To Three Wives Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Roman Holiday Dalton Trumbo (Ian McLellan Hunter [alias])

On The Waterfront Budd Schulberg Titanic Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch & Richard Breen

The Greatest Show On Earth The Lavender Hill Mob Frederic M. Frank, T. E. B. Clarke Theodore St. John, Frank Cavett Seven Days To Noon Paul Dehn & James Bernard

An American In Paris Alan Jay Lerner

Panic In The Streets Edna Anhalt & Edward Anhalt

Sunset Boulevard Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder & D. M. Marshman, Jr.

The Stratton Story Douglas Morrow

Battleground Robert Pirosh

Year

Screenplay - Adaptation

1948

The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre John Huston

Motion Picture Story The Search Richard Schweizer & David Wechsler

Year

Screenplay Adaptation

Motion Picture Story

Original Screenplay

1947

Miracle on 34th Street George Seaton

Miracle On 34th Street Valentine Davies

The Bachelor And The Bobby-Soxer Sidney Sheldon

Year 1946

Screenplay Adaptation

Original Motion Picture Story

Original Screenplay

The Best Years of Vacation From Marriage Our Lives Clemence Dane Robert E. Sherwood

The Seventh Veil Muriel Box & Sydney Box

The House On 92nd Street Charles G. Booth

Marie-Louise Richard Schweizer

Going My Way Leo McCarey

Wilson Lamar Trotti

1943

Casablanca Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch

The Human Comedy William Saroyan

Princess O'Rourke Norman Krasna

1942

Mrs. Miniver Arthur Wimperis, George Froeschel, James Hilton & Claudine West

The Invaders (aka 49th Parallel) Emeric Pressburger

Woman Of The Year Ring Lardner, Jr. & Michael Kanin

The Lost Weekend 1945 Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder Going My Way 1944 Frank Butler, Frank Cavett

Here Comes Mr. Jordan 1941 Sidney Buchman & Seton I. Miller

Citizen Kane Here Comes Mr. Jordan Herman J. Mankiewicz Harry Segall & Orson Welles

Year

Screenplay Adaptation

1940

The Philadelphia Story Donald Ogden Stewart

Year

Screenplay - Adaptation

1939

Original Story

Original Screenplay

Arise, My Love Benjamin Glazer & John S. Toldy

The Great McGinty Preston Sturges

Gone With The Wind Sidney Howard

Original Story Mr. Smith Goes To Washington Lewis R. Foster

1938

Pygmalion Cecil Lewis, W. P. Lipscomb, & Ian Dalrymple George Bernard Shaw (Screenplay)

Boys Town Dore Schary & Eleanore Griffin

1937

The Life Of Emile Zola Norman Reilly Raine, Heinz Herald, & Geza Herczeg

A Star Is Born William A. Wellman & Robert Carson

1936

The Story Of Louis Pasteur Pierre Collings & Sheridan Gibney

The Story Of Louis Pasteur Pierre Collings & Sheridan Gibney

1935

The Informer Dudley Nichols

The Scoundrel Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur

Year

Writing - Adaptation

Original Story

1934

It Happened One Night Robert Riskin

Manhattan Melodrama Arthur Caesar

1932/33

Little Women Vistor Heerman & Sarah Y. Mason

One Way Passage Robert Lord

1931/32

Bad Girl Edwin Burke

The Champ Frances Marion

1930/31

Cimarron Howard Estabrook

The Dawn Patrol John Monk Saunders

Year

Writing Achievement - Screenplay

1929/30

The Big House Frances Marion

1928/29

The Patriot Hans Kraly

Year

Adaptation

Original Story

Title Writing

1927/28

7th Heaven Benjamin Glazer

Underworld Ben Hecht

Joseph Farnham