Oscar-Winning Composers

Once sound films had become the standard, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), sponsor of the Academy Awards, added a new category: Best Original Score. Over the years, other additions have included Best Song and Best Adapted Score, and for a period of time in the 1990s, the category was split between Best Original Dramatic/Musical or Comedy Score (mainly as a result of the influx of new Disney animated films). As you look over the following list, you’ll notice the names of many of the composers we will be looking at over the next several weeks. Keep in mind that this is not necessarily an indicator of quality, but it does give a sense of when certain composers or styles were dominant in Hollywood. Often in a given year there were several significant films nominated with only one winner; for example, in 1939, Max Steiner’s landmark score for Gone with the Wind lost out to Herbert Stothart’s Wizard of Oz, which was more or less a musical comedy. You will also notice a distinct international flavor to award-winning since the mid-1990s, which is definitely a positive trend in film music!
Year Composer Film
1934 Victor Schertzinger/Gus Kahn One Night of Love
1935 Max Steiner The Informer
1936 Erich Wolfgang Korngold Anthony Adverse
1937 Charles Previn 100 Men and a Girl
1938 Erich Wolfgang Korngold The Adventures of Robin Hood
1939 Herbert Stothar The Wizard of Oz
1940 Harline/Smith/Washington Pinocchio
1941 Bernard Herrmann All That Money Can Buy
1942 Max Steiner Now, Voyager
1943 Alfred Newman The Song of Bernadette
1944 Max Steiner Since You Went Away
1945 Miklos Rozsa Spellbound
1946 Hugo Friedhofer The Best Years of Our Lives
1947 Miklos Rozsa A Double Life
1948 Brian Easdale The Red Shoes
1949 Aaron Copland The Heiress
1950 Franz Waxman Sunset Boulevard
1951 Franz Waxman A Place in the Sun
1952 Dmitri Tiomkin High Noon
1953 Bronislau Kaper Lili
1954 Dmitri Tiomkin The High and the Mighty
1955 Alfred Newman Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
1956 Victor Young Around the World in 80 Days
1957 Malcolm Arnold The Bridge on the River Kwai
1958 Dmitri Tiomkin The Old Man and the Sea
1959 Miklos Rozsa Ben-Hur
1960 Ernest Gold Exodus
1961 Henry Mancini Breakfast at Tiffany’s
1962 Maurice Jarre Lawrence of Arabia
1963 John Addison Tom Jones
1964 Richard & Robert B. Sherman Mary Poppins
1965 Maurice Jarre Dr. Zhivago
1966 John Barry Born Free
1967 Elmer Bernstein Thoroughly Modern Millie
1968 John Barry The Lion in Winter
1969 Burt Bacharach Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
1970 Francis Lai Love Story
1971 Michel Legrand The Summer of ‘42
1972 Chaplin/Rasch/Russell Limelight
1973 Marvin Hamlisch The Way We Were
1974 Nino Rota/Carmine Coppola The Godfather, Part II
1975 John Williams Jaws
1976 Jerry Goldsmith The Omen
1977 John Williams Star Wars
1978 Georgio Moroder Midnight Express
1979 Georges Delerue A Little Romance
1980 Michael Gore Fame
1981 Vangelis Chariots of Fire
1982 John Williams E.T.
1983 Bill Conti The Right Stuff
1984 Maurice Jarre A Passage to India
1985 John Barry Out of Africa
1986 Herbie Hancock ‘Round Midnight
1987 Sakamoto/Byrne/Su The Last Emperor
1988 David Grusin The Milagro Beanfield War
1989 Alan Menken The Little Mermaid
1990 John Barry Dances with Wolves
1991 Alan Menken Beauty and the Beast
1992 Alan Menken Aladdin
1993 John Williams Schindler’s List
1994 Hans Zimmer The Lion King
1995
* Luis Bacalov
† Alan Menken
Il Postino
Pocahontas
1996
* Gabriel Yared
† Rachel Portman
The English Patient
Emma
1997
* James Horner
† Anne Dudley
Titanic
The Full Monty
1998
* Nicola Piovani
† Stephen Warbeck
Life Is Beautiful
Shakespeare in Love
1999 John Corigliano The Red Violin
2000 Tan Dun Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2001 Howard Shore The Fellowship of the Ring
2002 Elliot Goldenthal Frida
2003 Howard Shore The Return of the King
2004 Jan A.P. Kaczmarek Finding Neverland
2005 Gustavo Santaolalla Brokeback Mountain
2006 Gustavo Santaolalla Babel
2007 Dario Marianelli Atonement
2008 A.R. Rahman Slumdog Millionaire
2009 Michael Giacchino Up
2010 Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross The Social Network
2011 Ludovic Bource The Artist
2012 Mychael Danna Life of Pi
2013 Steven Price Gravity
2014 Alexandre Desplat The Grand Budapest Hotel
2015 Ennio Morricone The Hateful Eight
2016 Justin Hurwitz La La Land
* Best Original Dramatic Score
† Best Original Musical or Comedy Score