Most awards fans know about EGOT – the elite group of artists who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. But within that group is an even rarer sub‑category: performers and creators who completed their EGOT, at least in part, with non‑competitive or honorary awards.
This post looks at six such non‑competitive EGOT winners: Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, James Earl Jones, Harry Belafonte, Frank Marshall and Quincy Jones. For each, you’ll find a short overview plus a clear timeline of the awards that built their EGOT status.
Barbara Joan “Barbra” Streisand (born April 24th 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, becoming the first performer to hold all four major awards – Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.
She received her fourth distinct award in 1970. Between 1963 and 2001 Streisand received a total of 18 awards, three of which were non‑competitive. Having obtained her fourth award with a special Tony at age 28, she is the youngest special EGOT winner.
With just six years elapsing between her first award, a 1964 Grammy, and her 1970 Tony, Streisand held the record for completing the fastest special EGOT until 2023, when Frank Marshall did so within four years. Streisand is the only EGOT to win an Oscar in both a music and an acting category.
She is also the only winner to have three competitive awards for debut performances: her first studio album, first feature film and first television special. Additional distinctions include the Peabody Award, the AFI Life Achievement Award, the Kennedy Center Honor, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, the National Medal of Arts, the American Society of Cinematographers Board of Governors Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Emmy Awards
- 1965 – Outstanding Individual Achievements in Entertainment – Actors and Performers – My Name is Barbra
- 1995 – Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program – Barbra Streisand: The Concert
- 1995 – Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special – Barbra Streisand: The Concert
- 2001 – Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program – Timeless: Live in Concert
- 2001 – Outstanding Special Class Special – Reel Models: The First Women of Film
Grammy Awards
- 1964 – Best Vocal Performance, Female and Album of the Year (Other Than Classical) – The Barbra Streisand Album
- 1965 – Best Vocal Performance, Female – “People”
- 1966 – Best Vocal Performance, Female – My Name Is Barbra
- 1978 – Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female and Song of the Year – “Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)”
- 1981 – Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal – “Guilty” (with Barry Gibb)
- 1987 – Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female – The Broadway Album
- 1992 – Grammy Legend Award (non‑competitive)
- 1995 – Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (non‑competitive)
Academy Awards
- 1969 – Best Actress in a Leading Role – Funny Girl
- 1977 – Best Original Song – “Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)”
Tony Awards
- 1970 – Special Tony Award: Star of the Decade (non‑competitive)
Liza May Minnelli (born March 12th 1946) is an American actress, singer and dancer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto voice, she has received an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and four Tony Awards.
She is one of the few performers awarded a non‑competitive EGOT, having received two honorary Grammy Awards. Minnelli is a Knight of the French Legion of Honour, and her persona and style have cemented her status as a gay icon.
She received her fourth distinct award in 1990. Between 1965 and 2009, Minnelli received a total of seven awards, two of which were special.
Emmy Awards
- 1973 – Outstanding Single Program – Variety and Popular Music – Liza with a “Z”: A Concert for Television
Grammy Awards
- 1990 – Grammy Legend Award (non‑competitive)
Academy Awards
- 1973 – Best Actress in a Leading Role – Cabaret
Tony Awards
- 1965 – Best Leading Actress in a Musical – Flora the Red Menace
- 1974 – Special Tony Award “for adding luster to the Broadway season” (non‑competitive)
- 1978 – Best Leading Actress in a Musical – The Act
- 2009 – Best Special Theatrical Event – Liza’s at The Palace
James Earl Jones (January 17th 1931 – September 9th 2024) was an American actor. A pioneer for Black actors in the entertainment industry, he was known for his extensive and acclaimed roles on stage and screen.
He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1985 and was honoured with the National Medal of Arts in 1992, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2009 and the Academy Honorary Award in 2011.
He received his fourth distinct award in 2011. Between 1969 and 2017, Jones received a total of eight EGOT‑related awards, two of which were special.
Emmy Awards
- 1991 – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series – Gabriel’s Fire
- 1991 – Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special – Heat Wave (1990)
- 2000 – Outstanding Performer – Children’s Special – Summer’s End (1999)
Grammy Awards
- 1977 – Best Spoken Word Recording – Great American Documents
Academy Awards
- 2011 – Academy Honorary Award (non‑competitive)
Tony Awards
- 1969 – Best Leading Actor in a Play – The Great White Hope
- 1987 – Best Leading Actor in a Play – Fences
- 2017 – Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre (non‑competitive)
Harry Belafonte (March 1st 1927 – April 25th 2023) was an American singer, actor and civil‑rights activist who popularised calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s.
His career‑breakthrough album Calypso (1956) became the first million‑selling LP by a single artist. He received his fourth distinct award in 2014. Between 1954 and 2014, Belafonte received a total of six EGOT‑related awards, including a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Oscar – all six counted as special or honorary.
Emmy Awards
- 1960 – Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program – Tonight with Belafonte – The Revlon Revue
Grammy Awards
- 1961 – Best Performance – Folk – Swing Dat Hammer
- 1966 – Best Folk Performance – An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba
- 2000 – Grammy Hall of Fame Award – Calypso
Academy Awards
- 2014 – Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (non‑competitive)
Tony Awards
- 1954 – Distinguished Supporting or Featured Musical Actor – John Murray Anderson’s Almanac
Frank Wilton Marshall (born September 13th 1946) is an American film producer and director. He often collaborates with his wife, producer Kathleen Kennedy, with whom he founded Amblin Entertainment alongside Steven Spielberg.
In 1991 he and Kennedy launched The Kennedy/Marshall Company, and since May 2012, with Kennedy serving as President of Lucasfilm, Marshall has been the company’s sole principal. He received his fourth distinct award in 2023. Between 2019 and 2023, Marshall received a total of four EGOT‑qualifying awards.
He is the only EGOT winner to have a Sports Emmy Award and to have received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. With only four years between his first award (a 2019 honorary Oscar), a long‑form TV sports documentary and competitive Grammy and Tony music awards, Marshall completed his eclectic EGOT in the shortest time of anyone to reach this status.
Emmy Awards
- 2023 – Outstanding Long Documentary – The Redeem Team (Sports Emmy)
Grammy Awards
- 2023 – Best Music Film – Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story
Academy Awards
- 2019 – Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (non‑competitive)
Tony Awards
- 2022 – Best Musical – A Strange Loop (as producer)
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14th 1933 – November 3rd 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter and bandleader.
He received his fourth distinct major award in 2016. Between 1964 and 2024, Jones collected a total of 33 EGOT‑related awards — the highest number so far for any EGOT winner.
He competed for and won 28 GRAMMY Awards, one Tony and one Emmy, and also received a special Grammy Legend Award and two special Oscars: the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Academy Honorary Award. Quincy’s final qualifying award was a fully competitive 2016 Tony for The Color Purple.
Emmy Awards
- 1977 – Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) – Roots
Academy Awards
- 1994 – Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (non‑competitive)
- 2024 – Academy Honorary Award (non‑competitive)
Tony Awards
- 2016 – Best Revival of a Musical – The Color Purple
Grammy Awards
- 1964 – Best Instrumental Arrangement – “I Can’t Stop Loving You”
- 1970 – Best Instrumental Jazz Performance – Large Group or Soloist with Large Group – Walking in Space
- 1972 – Best Pop Instrumental Performance – Smackwater Jack
- 1974 – Best Instrumental Arrangement – “Summer in the City”
- 1979 – Best Instrumental Arrangement – “The Wiz Main Title (Overture, Part One)”
- 1981 – Best Instrumental Arrangement – “Dinorah, Dinorah”
- 1982 – Producer of the Year (Non‑Classical)
- 1982 – Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s) – “Ai No Corrida” (with Jerry Hey)
- 1982 – Best Arrangement on an Instrumental Recording – “Velas”
- 1982 – Best Cast Show Album – Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music
- 1982 – Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal – “The Dude”
- 1984 – Producer of the Year (Non‑Classical)
- 1984 – Best Recording for Children – E.T. the Extra‑Terrestrial
- 1984 – Album of the Year – Thriller
- 1984 – Record of the Year – “Beat It”
- 1985 – Best Arrangement on an Instrumental – “Grace (Gymnastics Theme)” (with Jeremy Lubbock)
- 1986 – Best Music Video, Short Form – “We Are the World – The Video Event”
- 1986 – Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals; Record of the Year – “We Are the World”
- 1991 – Producer of the Year (Non‑Classical)
- 1991 – Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s) – “The Places You Find Love”
- 1991 – Best Arrangement on an Instrumental Recording; Best Jazz Fusion Performance – “Birdland”
- 1991 – Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group – “Back on the Block”
- 1991 – Album of the Year – Back on the Block
- 1992 – Grammy Legend Award (non‑competitive)
- 1994 – Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance – Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux
- 2002 – Best Spoken Word Album – Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones
- 2019 – Best Music Film – Quincy
If you want to see this breakdown in video form, including clips and extra context, you can watch the full episode on my YouTube channel Cinema Awards Archive.
Which PEGOT achiever impresses you the most? Do you think the “P” should officially stand for Peabody or Pulitzer – or do both versions deserve to exist? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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