The Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. Before 1940, there was an Academy Award for Best Story for writing. For 1940, it and the award in this article were separated into two awards. Beginning with the Oscars for 1957, the two categories were combined to honor only the screenplay.
1940s
* 1940 The Great McGinty – Preston Sturges
o Angels over Broadway – Ben Hecht
o Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet – Norman Burnside, Heinz Herald, John Huston
o Foreign Correspondent – Charles Bennett, Joan Harrison
o The Great Dictator – Charlie Chaplin
* 1941 Citizen Kane – Herman Mankiewicz, Orson Welles
o The Devil and Miss Jones – Norman Krasna
o Sergeant York – Harry Chandlee, Abem Finkel, John Huston, Howard Koch
o Tall, Dark and Handsome – Karl Tunberg, Darrell Ware
o Tom, Dick and Harry – Paul Jarrico
* 1942 Woman of the Year – Michael Kanin, Ring Lardner Jr
o One of Our Aircraft is Missing – Micheal Powell, Emeric Pressburger
o The Road to Morocco – Frank Butler, Don Hartman
o Wake Island – W. R. Burnett, Frank Butler
o The War Against Mrs. Hadley – George Oppenheimer
* 1943 Princess O’Rourke – Norman Krasna
o Air Force – Dudley Nichols
o In Which We Serve – Noel Coward
o The North Star – Lillian Hellman
o So Proudly We Hail – Alan Scott
* 1944 Wilson – Lamar Trotti
o Hail the Conquering Hero – Preston Surges
o The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek – Preston Surges
o Two Girls and a Sailor – Richard Connell, Glays Lehman
o Wing and a Prayer – Jerome Cady
* 1945 Marie-Louise – Richard Schweizer
o Dillinger – Philp Yordon
o Music for Millions – Myles Connolly
o Salty O’Rourke – Milton Holmes
o What Next, Corporal Hargrove? – Harry Kurnitz
* 1946 The Seventh Veil – Muriel Box, Sydney Box
o The Blue Dahlia – Raymond Chandler
o Children of Paradise – Jacques Prévert
o Notorius – Ben Hecht
o The Road to Utopia – Norman Panama, Melvin Frank
* 1947 The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer – Sidney Sheldon
o Body and Soul – Abraham Polonsky
o A Double Life – Ruth Gordon, Garson Kanin
o Monsieur Verdoux – Charlie Chaplin
o Shoeshine – Sergio Amidei, Adolfo Franci, C. G. Viola, Cesare Zavattini
* 1948 none given
* 1949 Battleground – Robert Pirosh
o Jolson Sings Again – Sidney Buchman
o Paisà – Alfred Hayes, Federico Fellini, Sergio Amidei, Marcello Pagliero, Roberto Rossellini
o Passport To Pimlico – T. E. B. Clarke
o The Quiet One – Helen Levitt, Janice Loeb, Sidney Meyers1950s
* 1950 Sunset Boulevard – Charles Brackett, D.M. Marshman, Billy Wilder
o Adam’s Rib – Ruth Gordon, Garson Kanin
o Caged – Virginia Kellogg, Bernard C. Schoenfeld
o The Men – Carl Foreman
o No Way Out – Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Lesser Samuels
* 1951 An American in Paris – Alan Jay Lerner
o The Big Carnival – Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels, Walter Newman
o David and Bathsheba – Philip Dunne
o Go for Broke! – Robert Pirosh
o The Well – Clarence Greene, Russell Rouse
* 1952 The Lavender Hill Mob – T.E.B. Clarke
o The Atomic City – Sydney Boehm
o Breaking the Sound Barrier – Terence Rattigan
o Pat and Mike – Ruth Gordon, Garson Kanin
o Viva Zapata! – John Steinbeck
* 1953 Titanic – Charles Brackett, Richard Breen, Walter Reisch
o The Band Wagon – Betty Comden, Adolph Green
o The Desert Rats – Richard Murphy
o The Naked Spur – Sam Rolfe, Harold Jack Bloom
o Take the High Ground – Millard Kaufman
* 1954 On the Waterfront – Budd Schulberg
o The Barefoot Contessa – Joseph L. Mankiewicz
o Genevieve – William Rose
o The Glenn Miller Story – Valentine Davies, Oscar Brodney
o Knock on Wood – Norman Panama, Melvin Frank
* 1955 Interrupted Melody – Sonya Levien, William Ludwig
o The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell – Milton Sperling, Emmet Lavery
o It’s Always Fair Weather – Betty Comden, Adolph Green
o Mr. Hulot’s Holiday – Jacques Tati, Henri Marquet
o The Seven Little Foys – Melville Shavelson, Jack Rose
* 1956 The Red Balloon – Albert Lamorisse
o The Bold and the Brave – Robert Lewin
o Julie – Andrew L. Stone
o La Strada – Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli
o The Lady Killers – William Rose
* 1957 Designing Women – George Wells
o Funny Face – Leonard Gershe
o Man of a Thousand Faces – Ralph Wheelwright, R. Wright Campbell, Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts
o The Tin Star – Barney Slater, Joel Kane, Dudley Nichols
o Vitelloni – Frederico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli
* 1958 The Defiant Ones – Nathan Douglas, Harold Jacob Smith
o The Goddess – Paddy Chayefsky
o The Houseboat – Melville Shavelson, Jack Rose
o The Sheepman – James Edward Grant, William Bowers
o Teacher’s Pet – Fay Kanin, Michael Kanin
* 1959 Pillow Talk – Clarence Greene, Maurice Richlin, Russell Rouse, Stanley Shapiro
o The 400 Blows – François Truffaut, Marcel Moussy
o North by Northwest – Ernest Lehman
o Operation Petticoat – Paul King, Joseph Stone, Stanely Shapiro, Maurice Richlin
o Wild Strawberries – Ingmar Bergman1960s
* 1960 The Apartment – I.A.L. Diamond, Billy Wilder
o The Angry Silence – Richard Gregson, Michael Craig, Bryan Forbes
o The Facts of Life – Norman Panama, Melvin Frank
o Hiroshima Mon Amour – Marguerite Duras
o Never on Sunday – Jules Dassin
* 1961 Splendor in the Grass – William Inge
o Ballad of a Soldier – Valentin Yoshov, Grigori Chukhrai
o La Dolce Vita – Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano, Brunello Rondi
o General Della Rovere – Sergio Amidei, Diego Fabbi, Indro Montanelli
o Lover Come Back – Stanley Shapiro, Paul Henning
* 1962 Divorce, Italian Style – Ennio de Concini, Pietro Germi, Alfredo Giannetti
o Freud – Charles Kaufman, Wolfgang Reinhardt
o Last Year at Marienbad – Alain Robbe-Grillet
o That Touch of Mink – Stanley Shapiro, Nate Monaster
o Through a Glass Darkly – Ingmar Bergman
* 1963 How the West Was Won – James Webb
o 8½ – Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, Brunello Rondi
o America, America – Elia Kazan
o The Four Days of Naples – Carlo Bernari, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Massimo Franciosa, Nanni Loy, Vasco Pratolini
o Love with the Proper Stranger – Arnold Schulman
* 1964 Father Goose – Peter Stone, Frank Tarloff
o A Hard Day’s Night – Alun Owen
o One Potato, Two Potato – Raphael Hayes, Orville H. Hampton
o The Organizer – Age Monicelli, Scarpelli Monicelli, Mario Monicelli
o That Man from Rio – Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Ariane Mnouchkine, Daniel Boulanger, Philippe de Broca
* 1965 Darling – Frederic Raphael
o Casanova ’70 – Age Monicelli, Scarpelli Monicelli, Mario Monicelli, Tonino Guerra, Giorgio Salvioni, Suso Cecchi D’Amico
o Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines – Jack Davies, Ken Annakin
o The Train – Franklin Coen, Frank Davis
o The Umbrellas of Cherbourg – Jacques Demy
* 1966 A Man and a Woman – Claude Lelouch, Pierre Uytterhoeven
o Blowup – Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra, Edward Bond
o The Fortune Cookie – Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond
o Khartoum – Robert Ardrey
o The Naked Prey – Clinkt Johnston, Don Peters
* 1967 Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner – William Rose
o Bonnie and Clyde – David Newman, Robert Benton
o Divorce, American Style – Robert Kaufman, Norman Lear
o La Guerre Est Finie – Jorge Semprún
o Two for the Road – Frederic Raphael
* 1968 The Producers – Mel Brooks
o 2001: A Space Odyssey – Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke
o The Battle of Algiers – Franco Solinas, Gillo Pontecorvo
o Faces – John Cassavetes
o Hot Millions – Iro Wallach, Peter Ustinov
* 1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – William Goldman
o Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice – Paul Mazursky, Larry Tucker
o The Damned – Nicola Badalucco, Enrico Medioli, Luchino Visconti
o Easy Rider – Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Terry Southern
o The Wild Bunch – Walon Green, Roy N. Sickner, Sam Peckinpah1970s
* 1970 Patton – Francis Ford Coppola, Edmund North
o Five Easy Pieces – Adrien Joyce, Bob Rafelson
o Joe – Norman Wexler
o Love Story – Enrich Segal
o My Night at Maud’s – Éric Rohmer
* 1971 The Hospital – Paddy Chayefsky
o Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion – Elio Petri, Ugo Pirro
o Klute – Andy and Dave Lewis
o Summer of ’42 – Herman Raucher
o Sunday Bloody Sunday – Penelope Gilliatt
* 1972 The Candidate – Jeremy Larner
o The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie – Luis Buñuel, Jean-Claude Carrière
o Lady Sings the Blues – Terrence McCloy, Chris Clark, Suzanne de Passe
o Murmur of the Heart – Louis Malle
o Young Winston – Carl Foreman
* 1973 The Sting – David Ward
o American Graffiti – George Lucas, Gloria Katz, Willard Huyck
o Cries and Whispers – Ingmar Bergman
o Save the Tiger – Steve Shagan
o A Touch of Class – Melvin Frank, Jack Rose
* 1974 Chinatown – Robert Towne
o Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore – Robert Getchell
o The Conversation – Francis Ford Coppola
o Day for Night – François Truffaut, Jean-Louis Richard, Suzanne Schiffman
o Harry and Tonto – Paul Mazursky, Josh Greenfeld
* 1975 Dog Day Afternoon – Frank Pierson
o Amarcord – Federico Fellini, Tonino Guerra
o And Now My Love – Claude LeLouch, Pierre Uytterhoeven
o Lies My Father Told Me – Ted Allan
o Shampoo – Robert Towne, Warren Beatty
* 1976 Network – Paddy Chayefsky
o Cousin, cousine – Jean-Charles Tacchella, Daniele Thompson
o The Front – Walter Bernstein
o Rocky – Sylvester Stallone
o Seven Beauties – Lina Wertmüller
* 1977 Annie Hall – Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman
o The Goodbye Girl – Neil Simon
o The Late Show – Robert Benton
o Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope – George Lucas
o The Turning Point – Arthur Laurents
* 1978 Coming Home – Robert Jones, Waldo Salt
o Autumn Sonata – Ingmar Bergman
o The Deer Hunter – Michael Cimino, Deric Washburn, Louis Garfinkle, Quinn K. Redeker
o Interiors – Woody Allen
o An Unmarried Woman – Paul Mazursky
* 1979 Breaking Away – Steve Tesich
o All That Jazz – Robert Alan Aurthur, Bob Fosse
o …And Justice for All – Valerie Curtin, Barry Levinson
o The China Syndrome – Mike Gray, T.S. Cook, James Bridges
o Manhattan – Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman
1980s* 1980 Melvin and Howard – Bo Goldman
o Brubaker – W. D. Richter, Arthur Ross
o Fame – Christopher Gore
o Mon oncle d’Amérique – Jean Gruault, Henri Laborit
o Private Benjamin – Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer, Harvey Miller
* 1981 Chariots of Fire – Colin Welland
o Absence of Malice – Kurt Luedtke
o Arthur – Steve Gordon
o Atlantic City – John Guare
o Reds – Warren Beatty, Trevor Griffiths
* 1982 Gandhi – John Briley
o Diner – Barry Levinson
o E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial – Melissa Mathison
o An Officer and a Gentleman – Douglas Day Stewart
o Tootsie – Larry Gelbart, Murray Schisgal, Don McGuire
* 1983 Tender Mercies – Horton Foote
o The Big Chill – Lawrence Kasdan, Barbara Benedek
o Fanny and Alexander – Ingmar Bergman
o Silkwood – Nora Ephron, Alice Arlen
o WarGames – Lawrence Lasker, Walter F. Parkes
* 1984 Places in the Heart – Robert Benton
o Beverly Hills Cop – Daniel Petrie, Jr., Danilo Bach
o Broadway Danny Rose – Woody Allen
o El Norte – Gregory Nava, Anna Thomas
o Splash – Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, Bruce Jay Friedman, Brian Grazer
* 1985 Witness – William Kelley, Pamela Wallace, Earl Wallace
o Back to the Future – Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale
o Brazil – Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard, Charles McKeown
o The Official Story – Luis Puenzo, Aida Bortnik
o The Purple Rose of Cairo – Woody Allen
* 1986 Hannah and Her Sisters – Woody Allen
o Crocodile Dundee – Paul Hogan, Ken Shadie, John Cornell
o My Beautiful Laundrette – Hanif Kureishi
o Platoon – Oliver Stone
o Salvador – Oliver Stone, Richard Boyle
* 1987 Moonstruck – John Patrick Shanley
o Au revoir, les enfants – Louis Malle
o Broadcast News – James L. Brooks
o Hope and Glory – John Boorman
o Radio Days – Woody Allen
* 1988 Rain Man – Ronald Bass, Barry Morrow
o Big – Gary Ross, Anne Spielberg
o Bull Durham – Ron Shelton
o A Fish Called Wanda – John Cleese, Charles Crichton
o Running on Empty – Naomi Foner
* 1989 Dead Poets Society – Tom Schulman
o Crimes and Misdemeanors – Woody Allen
o Do the Right Thing – Spike Lee
o Sex, Lies, and Videotape – Steven Soderbergh
o When Harry Met Sally… – Nora Ephron1990s
* 1990 Ghost – Bruce Rubin
o Alice – Woody Allen
o Avalon – Barry Levinson
o Green Card – Peter Weir
o Metropolitan – Whit Stillman
* 1991 Thelma and Louise – Callie Khouri
o Boyz N the Hood – John Singleton
o Bugsy – James Toback
o The Fisher King – Richard LaGravenese
o Grand Canyon – Lawrence Kasdan, Meg Kasdan
* 1992 The Crying Game – Neil Jordan
o Husbands and Wives – Woody Allen
o Lorenzo’s Oil – George Miller, Nick Enright
o Passion Fish – John Sayles
o Unforgiven – David Peoples
* 1993 The Piano – Jane Campion
o Dave – Gary Ross
o In the Line of Fire – Jeff Maguire
o Philadelphia – Ron Nyswaner
o Sleepless in Seattle – Nora Ephron, David S. Ward, Jeff Arch
* 1994 Pulp Fiction – Roger Avary, Quentin Tarantino
o Bullets Over Broadway – Woody Allen, Douglas McGrath
o Four Weddings and a Funeral – Richard Curtis
o Heavenly Creatures – Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson
o Red – Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Krzysztof Kieślowski
* 1995 The Usual Suspects – Christopher McQuarrie
o Braveheart – Randall Wallace
o Mighty Aphrodite – Woody Allen
o Nixon – Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson, Oliver Stone
o Toy Story – Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, John Lasseter, Peter Docter, Joe Ranft
* 1996 Fargo – Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
o Jerry Maguire – Cameron Crowe
o Lone Star – John Sayles
o Secrets & Lies – Mike Leigh
o Shine – Jan Sardi, Scott Hicks
* 1997 Good Will Hunting – Ben Affleck, Matt Damon
o As Good as It Gets – Mark Andrus, James L. Brooks
o Boogie Nights – Paul Thomas Anderson
o Deconstructing Harry – Woody Allen
o The Full Monty – Simon Beaufoy
* 1998 Shakespeare in Love – Marc Norman, Tom Stoppard
o Bulworth – Warren Beatty, Jeremy Pikser
o Life Is Beautiful – Vincenzo Cerami, Roberto Benigni
o Saving Private Ryan – Robert Rodat
o The Truman Show – Andrew Niccol
* 1999 American Beauty – Alan Ball
o Being John Malkovich – Charlie Kaufman
o Magnolia – Paul Thomas Anderson
o The Sixth Sense – M. Night Shyamalan
o Topsy-Turvy – Mike Leigh2000s
* 2000 – Almost Famous – Cameron Crowe
o Billy Elliot – Lee Hall
o Erin Brockovich – Susannah Grant
o Gladiator – David Franzoni, John Logan, William Nicholson
o You Can Count on Me – Kenneth Lonergan
* 2001 – Gosford Park – Julian Fellowes
o Amélie – Guillaume Laurant, Jean-Pierre Jeunet
o Memento – Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan
o Monster’s Ball – Milo Addica, Will Rokos
o The Royal Tenenbaums – Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson
* 2002 – Hable con ella (Talk to Her) – Pedro Almodóvar
o Far from Heaven – Todd Haynes
o Gangs of New York – Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, Kenneth Lonergan
o My Big Fat Greek Wedding – Nia Vardalos
o Y tu mamá también – Carlos Cuarón, Alfonso Cuarón
* 2003 – Lost in Translation – Sofia Coppola
o The Barbarian Invasions – Denys Arcand
o Dirty Pretty Things – Steven Knight
o Finding Nemo – Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, David Reynolds
o In America – Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan, Kirsten Sheridan
* 2004 – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, Pierre Bismuth
o The Aviator – John Logan
o Hotel Rwanda – Keir Pearson, Terry George
o The Incredibles – Brad Bird
o Vera Drake – Mike Leigh
* 2005 – Crash – Paul Haggis, Robert Moresco
o Syriana – Stephen Gaghan
o Good Night, and Good Luck. – George Clooney, Grant Heslov
o Match Point – Woody Allen
o The Squid and the Whale – Noah Baumbach
* 2006 – Little Miss Sunshine – Michael Arndt
o Babel – Guillermo Arriaga
o Letters from Iwo Jima – Paul Haggis and Iris Yamashita (screenplay and story)
o Pan’s Labyrinth – Guillermo del Toro
o The Queen – Peter Morgan
* 2007 – Juno – Diablo Cody
o Lars and the Real Girl – Nancy Oliver
o Michael Clayton – Tony Gilroy
o Ratatouille – Brad Bird
o The Savages – Tamara Jenkins
* 2008 – Milk – Dustin Lance Black
o Frozen River – Courtney Hunt
o Happy-Go-Lucky – Mike Leigh
o In Bruges – Martin McDonagh
o WALL-E – Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter
* 2009 – The Hurt Locker – Mark Boal
o Inglourious Basterds – Quentin Tarantino
o The Messenger – Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman
o A Serious Man – Joel & Ethan Coen
o Up – Bob Peterson, Pete Docter (screenplay and story) and Tom McCarthy (story)
Comments on this entry are closed.