Playwrights and the Oscars

Playwrights Throughout the History of the Academy Awards

Feb 17, 2009

Playwrights have been associated with the Academy Award since its inception. The 81st Academy Award writing nominees carry on that legendary association.

Five playwrights have been nominated for the 81st Academy Awards for writing the best Original Screenplay or Adapted Screenplay. None of these playwrights are a stranger to Oscar.

Two have won Oscars previously. John Patrick Shanley, nominated for his adaptation of his award-winning play, Doubt, won in 1987 for his original script, Moonstruck. Martin McDonagh, nominated for his original work, In Bruges, won his 2005 award not for original or adapted screenplay, but for Best Short Film.

Other playwrights in the group have all seen other writing nominations. Mike Leigh (original script, Happy-Go-Lucky) has been nominated three times previously. Peter Morgan, nominated for the adaptation of his hit play, Frost/Nixon, was nominated in 2005 for his original script, The Queen. David Hare (adapted script, The Reader) was also nominated in 2002 for his adaptation of the novel The Hours.

Commonly, successful playwrights have crossed over to film writing. It may be more surprising to discover some of today's successful screenwriters crossing over to theatre. The Coen Brothers with two Oscars to their credits are one such example. Another, Charlie Kaufman has three nominations and one Oscar alongside his budding stage credentials.

Playwright Oscar Nomination Statistics

The record number of playwrights nominated in a single year was in 1943 with ten nominations. 1942 brought nine nominations, and 1953 garnered eight nominations for playwrights. Notably there are only two years in Oscar's history without verifiable nominations of writers with stage writing credentials: 1933 and 1960.

Benjamin Glazer, a founder of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, also has a connection to the stage. Glazer translated the play Liliom from Hungarian into English. The play was first performed on Broadway in 1921. Glazer's translation later served as the libretto for Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. Glazer received the first Oscar for an adaptation, 7th Heaven (1927).

Famous playwrights who never received an Oscar include one-time nominee Noel Coward, two-time nominees Tennessee Williams, Harold Pinter and David Mamet, and four-time nominee Neil Simon. Edward Albee has never written for the screen. It was veteran screenwriter and non-playwright, Ernst Lehman, who received the nomination for adapting Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966).

Other well-known playwrights include Horton Foote, nominated three times. Foote won for To Kill A Mockingbird (1962) and again for Tender Mercies (1983). Ronald Harwood, who won for The Pianist (2002), earned his first nomination for 1983's The Dresser. Tom Stoppard, who won an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love (1998) was first nominated in 1985 for his work on Brazil.

The very first Oscar for original screenplay went to playwright Ben Hecht for Underworld (1927). Hecht holds the number two spot for the most writing nominations received by a playwright. Nominations include his scripts for Wuthering Heights (1939) and Notorious (1946). He took home his second statuette for The Scoundrel (1935) written with frequent collaborator and playwright, Charles MacArthur.

Playwright Woody Allen holds the most writing nominations received by any writer. Currently at fourteen nominations received through the years 1977 to 2005, Allen has brought home two Oscars. His first win (and nomination) was with Annie Hall (1977). His second win was for Hannah and Her Sisters (1987). All of Allen's fourteen writing nominations are for scripts written directly for the screen.

Three Oscars are the record wins for any individual writer. Four writers hold this record: Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, Francis Ford Coppola, and Paddy Chayefsky. Among them, only Chayefsky is a playwright. Chayefsky, nominated four times, won for Marty (1955) and not again until The Hospital (1971) and Network (1976).

The Oscars will be awarded on February 22, 2009. With twelve writers nominated in total, at least one of the five nominated playwrights has a good chance on winning.

The copyright of the article Playwrights and the Oscars in Playwrights & Stage Actors is owned by JD Eames. Permission to republish Playwrights and the Oscars in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Feb 19, 2009 4:19 PM

Guest :

I especially love writing categories in award shows. I consider it THE category most important. For without the writer and his/her words and imagination, there would be nothing!

~Deb