I can’t find this googling, and I’m NOT looking for the person or movie with the largest number of Oscars.
Who has won at least one in the most different categories? Director, actor, screenwriter, producer, etc…
Yes I know there’s an arts forum, but as this is a straight factual question it seems better here.
Emma Thompson won Best Actress (Howard’s End) and Best Adapted Screenplay for (Sense and Sensibility)
Michael Douglas won Best Picture (as producer of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and Best Actor (Wall Street)
Warren Beatty only won one for Best Director for Reds but has been nominated 14 times as actor, writer, producer and director.
John Huston has two wins as Director and Writer of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre from 15 nominations as actor, producer, write and director.
Tough question. Francis Ford Coppola has four different Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director and Adapted Screenplay for “Godfather Part 2”, and Original Screenplay for “Patton”.
Walt Disney has wins in five different categories, although there is a lot of hair splitting in these:
Best short subject, cartoons
Best short subject, two-reelers
Best short subject, live action
Best documentary, features
Best documentary, short subjects
You can probably find someone in a music field or a cinematography field with more wins since they have been rearraged a lot in the past.
I finally figured out how to twiddle the main database for AMPAS. This page is a complete list of winners by name in all categories, including scientific and technical. It’s horrendously long and takes a year to come up.
There are so many people who have won in three categories that I won’t even bother with them: you can search for yourself.
Here are the ones with wins in four or more categories - although the “or more” is sometimes just an adjustment in the name of the category. No Honorary, Special, Scientific or Technical, Movie Studio, or Country awards counted. You are more than welcome to doublecheck: I was seriously losing it by the end.
Francis Ford Coppola [aka: Francis Coppola]
1970 (43rd) * WRITING (Story and Screenplay--based on factual material or material not previously published or produced) -- Patton [Francis Ford Coppola, Edmund H. North] [statuette]
1972 (45th) * WRITING (Screenplay--based on material from another medium) -- The Godfather [Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola] [statuette]
1974 (47th) * DIRECTING -- The Godfather Part II [statuette]
* BEST PICTURE -- The Godfather Part II [Francis Ford Coppola, Producer; Gray Frederickson and Fred Roos, Co-Producers] [statuette]
* WRITING (Screenplay Adapted from Other Material) -- The Godfather Part II [Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo] [statuette]
Walt Disney {d. Dec 15, 1966}
1931/32 (5th) * SHORT SUBJECT (Cartoon) -- Flowers and Trees [certificate of honorable mention]
* SPECIAL AWARD
To Walt Disney for the creation of 'Mickey Mouse.' [statuette]
1932/33 (6th) * SHORT SUBJECT (Cartoon) -- The Three Little Pigs [certificate of honorable mention]
1934 (7th) * SHORT SUBJECT (Cartoon) -- The Tortoise and the Hare [plaque]
1935 (8th) * SHORT SUBJECT (Cartoon) -- Three Orphan Kittens [plaque]
1936 (9th) * SHORT SUBJECT (Cartoon) -- The Country Cousin [plaque]
1937 (10th) * SHORT SUBJECT (Cartoon) -- The Old Mill [plaque]
1938 (11th) * SHORT SUBJECT (Cartoon) -- Ferdinand the Bull [plaque]
* SPECIAL AWARD
To Walt Disney for 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,' recognized as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon. [one statuette and seven miniature statuettes on a stepped base]
1939 (12th) * SHORT SUBJECT (Cartoon) -- The Ugly Duckling [plaque]
1941 (14th) * SHORT SUBJECT (Cartoon) -- Lend a Paw [plaque]
* SPECIAL AWARD
To Walt Disney, William Garity, John N. A. Hawkins and the RCA Manufacturing Company for their outstanding contribution to the advancement of the use of sound in motion pictures through the production of 'Fantasia.' [certificate of merit]
* IRVING G. THALBERG MEMORIAL AWARD -- [Thalberg bust]
1942 (15th) * SHORT SUBJECT (Cartoon) -- Der Fuehrer's Face [plaque]
1948 (21st) * SHORT SUBJECT (Two-reel) -- Seal Island [statuette]
1950 (23rd) * SHORT SUBJECT (Two-reel) -- In Beaver Valley [statuette]
1951 (24th) * SHORT SUBJECT (Two-reel) -- Nature's Half Acre [statuette]
1952 (25th) * SHORT SUBJECT (Two-reel) -- Water Birds [statuette]
1953 (26th) * DOCUMENTARY (Feature) -- The Living Desert [statuette]
* DOCUMENTARY (Short Subject) -- The Alaskan Eskimo [statuette]
* SHORT SUBJECT (Cartoon) -- Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom [statuette]
* SHORT SUBJECT (Two-reel) -- Bear Country [statuette]
1954 (27th) * DOCUMENTARY (Feature) -- The Vanishing Prairie [statuette]
1955 (28th) * DOCUMENTARY (Short Subject) -- Men against the Arctic [statuette]
1958 (31st) * SHORT SUBJECT (Live Action) -- Grand Canyon [statuette]
[The following is posthumous]
1968 (41st) * SHORT SUBJECT (Cartoon) -- Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day [statuette]
Gordon Hollingshead {d. Jul 8, 1952}
1932/33 (6th) * ASSISTANT DIRECTOR -- [certificate of merit]
1944 (17th) * SHORT SUBJECT (Two-reel) -- I Won't Play [plaque]
1945 (18th) * DOCUMENTARY (Short Subject) -- Hitler Lives? [statuette]
* SHORT SUBJECT (Two-reel) -- Star in the Night [statuette]
1946 (19th) * SHORT SUBJECT (One-reel) -- Facing Your Danger [statuette]
* SHORT SUBJECT (Two-reel) -- A Boy and His Dog [statuette]
1950 (23rd) * SHORT SUBJECT (One-reel) -- Grandad of Races [statuette]
Billy Wilder {d. Mar 27, 2002}
1945 (18th) * DIRECTING -- The Lost Weekend [statuette]
* WRITING (Screenplay) -- The Lost Weekend [Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder] [statuette]
1950 (23rd) * WRITING (Story and Screenplay) -- Sunset Blvd. [Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, D. M. Marshman, Jr.] [statuette]
1960 (33rd) * DIRECTING -- The Apartment [statuette]
* BEST MOTION PICTURE -- The Apartment [statuette]
* WRITING (Story and Screenplay--written directly for the screen) -- The Apartment [Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond] [statuette]