# Actors who have won a Grammy, Tony, Emmy, and Oscar **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 11, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-won-a-grammy-tony-emmy-and-oscar/321039 "2005-09-11T00:07:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-won-a-grammy-tony-emmy-and-oscar/321039/1 "2005-09-11T00:07:18Z")
So, I’m watching the Muppet Show Season 1 with the “special features” turned on. In the Rita Moreno episode, it is mentioned that she is the first actor to win all four major entertainment awards (I already knew this). By saying she’s the first, this leads me to believe that someone else has done this. Is this true? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-won-a-grammy-tony-emmy-and-oscar/321039/2 "2005-09-11T00:19:23Z")
Liza Minelli has all four. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-won-a-grammy-tony-emmy-and-oscar/321039/3 "2005-09-11T00:33:11Z")
According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_have_won_an_Emmy,_a_Grammy,_an_Oscar_and_a_Tony_Award) there are nine\*. Mel Brooks John Gielgud Marvin Hamlisch Helen Hayes Audrey Hepburn Mike Nichols Johnathan Tunick Richard Rogers and Moreno \*Barbara Streisand and Liza Minelli have both been given special merit awards (that aren’t regular categories) in one of the four areas. \*If the Daytime Emmys are included, then Whoopi Goldberg qualifies as well. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-won-a-grammy-tony-emmy-and-oscar/321039/4 "2005-09-11T00:38:42Z")
> [@Garfield226](#): > > \*If the Daytime Emmys are included, then Whoopi Goldberg qualifies as well. I would not include anything that would qualify Whoopi Goldberg. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-won-a-grammy-tony-emmy-and-oscar/321039/5 "2005-09-11T02:37:16Z")
Mind you, Rita’s Grammy is a bit of a stretch- she SHARED a “Best Educational Recording” Grammy with the entire Electric Company. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-won-a-grammy-tony-emmy-and-oscar/321039/6 "2005-09-11T03:45:04Z")
Yo, man. Either you got the gold on the shelf or you don’t. If your name’s on the plaque, then it’s for real. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-won-a-grammy-tony-emmy-and-oscar/321039/7 "2005-09-11T04:04:17Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Yo, man. Either you got the gold on the shelf or you don’t. If your name’s on the plaque, then it’s for real. > > 😃 I didn’t say it doesn’t count. I merely point out that while her Oscar, Tony and Emmy awards were all in major categories and were all given for individual performances that Ms. Moreno gave, her Grammy was in a minor category most people aren’t aware of, and it was shared by a large number of people. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2005, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-won-a-grammy-tony-emmy-and-oscar/321039/8 "2005-09-11T05:05:35Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I didn’t say it doesn’t count. I merely point out that while her Oscar, Tony and Emmy awards were all in major categories and were all given for individual performances that Ms. Moreno gave, her Grammy was in a minor category most people aren’t aware of, and it was shared by a large number of people. That is true, but the award IS in a category given every year, and those awards go to groups all the time. Ms. Streisand’s only Tony was for “Star of the Decade,” which I believe was a special “non-competitive” award given just to her and never before or since. Ms. Minelli’s only Grammy was a “special merit award” from the Recording Academy Association, which is the same group that names the Grammys. In other words, I think if any of them should be “less qualified” than the others, I’d say it’s those two, simply by virtue of one-fourth of the honor being arrived at non-traditionally or “through a loophole.” Interesting stuff though. Definitely interesting.