Who Has Won the Most Oscars?

There are many film accolades that can be conferred upon entertainers but none as prestigious as the Academy Award or Oscar. It is one of the most eminent award ceremonies, and is also the oldest. The recipients of Oscars are regarded as the highest note of quality or excellence for their respective category. An actor's popularity is not an indication of his quality, and if one notices the trends in awards, popular actors have few Oscars, if any. An interesting trivia question for many movie buffs, is who has got the most Oscars in his / her career.

Who Has Won the Most Oscars Ever?

The individual who has won the most Oscars in history is Walt Disney. The co-founder of Walt Disney Productions and creator of Mickey Mouse, has won a total of 26 Oscars, of which 4 are honorary. For Snow White, he received 1 full size Oscar and seven miniature statuettes. He also has the most number of Academy Award nominations, with 59. He also won the most Oscars in one year - 4 in 1954.

Which Films Have Won the Most Oscars?

The maximum number of Oscars won by a film is 11, and only 3 films have touched this record.

Ben-Hur (1959)
Directed by William Wyler, this epic won 11 out of its 12 nominations, and missed out on the best and supporting actress award. Ben Hur, played by Charlton Heston, is betrayed by his childhood friend and made a galley slave. The story depicts his struggle with slavery, the loss of his family, and finally gaining his freedom. This film was lauded for its religious backdrop, rich settings and impressive storyline.

Titanic (1997)
The tragic sinking of the RMS Titanic, right from the passengers boarding, to the final moments of the survivors being rescued, is the main plot of this James Cameron classic. The tale of rich-poor romance between Jack, a charming drifter, and Rose, an upper-class young lady, made the film eternally famous in the romance aspect. The detailed special effects, the rich historical dramatization, and the poignant love story, made this movie one of the highest grossing films of all time. It won 11 out of its fourteen nominations.

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
The box office success the Trilogy of The Lord of the Rings came to a close with this film. It had 11 nominations and won all 11 Oscars. It is also the first fantasy film to win the best film Oscar. Based on the Tolkien novel, LOTR: Return of the King, it portrays the last stand of Middle Earth against the march of Sauron. It also depicts the ending to the long journey of Frodo to Mount Doom to destroy the Ring. Each scene in this movie is memorable, from Aragorn calling the army of the dead, to the battle between the Nazguls and Gondor. Not just the picturization or the effects, the actors and storyline literally pull the viewer into Middle Earth. The highest number of nominations is 14, and only two films All About Eve (1950) and Titanic (1997) have received this number.

Which Actor and Actress has Won the Most Oscars?

Katherine Hepburn
Out of 12 Oscars nominations in her award-winning career, Katherine Hepburn won 4, all for best actress. She is ranked as the greatest female star by the American Film Institute. The movies for which she won are

• Morning Glory (1933)
• Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
• The Lion in Winter (1968)
• On Golden Pond (1981)

Jack Nicholson
Famous for playing crazy and weird characters, this actor has won 2 best actor awards (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - 1975, As Good As it Gets -1997), and 1 best supporting Oscar (Terms of Endearment - 1983). He has had a total of 12 nominations in his career.

Walter Brennan
This relatively unknown character actor, had a film career spanning five decades, and has appeared in more than 230 film and television roles. Out of 4 nominations in his career, he won 3 best supporting actor Oscars for his roles in

• Come and Get It (1936)
• Kentucky (1938)
• The Westerner (1940)

The most Oscar wins for best supporting actress are Shelley Winters (The Diary of Anne Frank - 1959, A Patch of Blue - 1965) and Dianne Wiest (Bullets over Broadway - 1994, Hannah and Her Sisters - 1986), with two each.

Which Director Has Won the Most Oscars?

Famous for directing Westerns, John Ford holds the record for most Oscars ever won for directing. He has directed more than 140 films, in both the silent and talking movie eras. He won 4 Oscars for directing the following movies

• The Informer (1935)
• The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
• How Green Was My Valley (1941)
• The Quiet Man (1952)

Miscellaneous

• Joseph Ruttenberg and Leon Shamroy have won 4 Oscars each for cinematography
• Cedric Gibbons has won 11 Oscars for Art direction
• The woman who has won the most Oscars, is costume designer Edith Head with 8 Oscars
• Actress with most Oscar nominations is Meryl Streep, with 16
• Actor with most Oscar nominations is Jack Nicholson, with 12
• William Wyler has the most nominations for directing, with 12
• Denzel Washington holds the most Oscar wins for African-American actors, with 2 awards
• The Lord of the Rings trilogy has 17 wins out of 30 awards, making it the most awarded and nominated film series
• Peter O'Toole has been nominated for 8 Oscars, without a single win
• The actor with most posthumous nominations is James Dean with 2

The big five Academy Awards are best picture, best director, best actor, best actress and best writing. Only 3 films have won all 5 accolades. They are

• It Happened One Night (1934)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
• The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

So that was a look at the most Oscar winners in different fields of film. At this year's awards, there were no record breakers. Two films, Hugo and The Artist, won 5 awards each. Forget the glitz and glamor of the red carpet or the speeches and the internal politics of the film industry, a guaranteed place in film history is only through winning an Oscar.