# Who has the most academy awards? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2002, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-most-academy-awards/118516 "2002-07-11T23:16:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-most-academy-awards/118516/1 "2002-07-11T23:16:42Z")
Combining all categories, who has the most oscars? I imagine it is a producer or a composer. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-most-academy-awards/118516/2 "2002-07-11T23:28:15Z")
From the “Tell Me” interface at [http://www.littlegoldenguy.com/home.asp](http://www.littlegoldenguy.com/home.asp) : ```auto People with the most Wins for All Categories between 1927/28 and 2001: *Name Wins * **Walt Disney 20** ``` Yer welcome. 🙂 ---
**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:** [July 11, 2002, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-most-academy-awards/118516/3 "2002-07-11T23:31:12Z")
The official site says Walt Disney has the greatest number of nominations and wins, with 64 and 26 across (I assume) a variety of categories. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-most-academy-awards/118516/4 "2002-07-11T23:33:02Z")
Well, at least we agree on the person! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-most-academy-awards/118516/5 "2002-07-11T23:33:14Z")
What about John Williams I thought he had 27 ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-most-academy-awards/118516/6 "2002-07-11T23:47:16Z")
WOW! I figured it was 8 or 10. In the twenties!!! Amazing. John Williams has only WON 5. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-most-academy-awards/118516/7 "2002-07-12T00:03:26Z")
Part of the confusion is that Coldfire’s site only lists competitive Oscars and not Honorary/Special Achievement ones. Disney’s breakdown goes as follows: Animated Short Subject: **12** (the first in 1932, the last in 1968) Live Action/Two-Reel Short Subject: **6** Documentary Short Subject: **2** Documentary Feature: **2** Honorary Oscars: **3** (one for Mickey Mouse, _Snow White_\*, and _Fantasia_ each) Irving Thalberg Award: **1** \*\* [sub]\*Note that this Oscar was actually one full statuette and 7 miniature ones. \*\*Note that, though given by the Academy, this is not an actual Oscar statue at all but a bust of Thalberg[/sub] Disney is also the only person to win 4 Oscars in one year: 1953. Interestingly, the only time he was ever nominated for a “Major” category (non-short, non-documentary) was for Best Picture for _Mary Poppins_. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-most-academy-awards/118516/8 "2002-07-12T06:53:46Z")
This isn’t really what you asked, but Edith Head [http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Head,+Edith](http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Head,+Edith), costume designer, had 34 nominations and 8 awards. That’s got to be some kind of record…Timmy p.s. - I hope I did the URL thing correctly! ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-most-academy-awards/118516/9 "2002-07-12T07:31:18Z")
Dagnabbit, I was gonna say Edith! Damn dopers… ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-most-academy-awards/118516/10 "2002-07-12T15:43:51Z")
“Edith Head gives good costume”…unknown ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-most-academy-awards/118516/11 "2002-07-12T16:17:39Z")
With four Oscars, isn’t Katherine Hepburn the Best Actress with the most awards?