People Who Won Both a Pulitzer Prize and an Oscar

People Who Won Both a Pulitzer Prize and an Oscar

Winning either a Pulitzer Prize or an Academy Award is already a career‑defining achievement; winning both places you in one of the most exclusive clubs in arts and entertainment. This list highlights the rare creators who have conquered both American journalism/letters and Hollywood’s biggest night.

The Pulitzer–Oscar Club

Mstyslav Chernov

Won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature Film for 20 Days in Mariupol (2023).
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2023.

Chernov’s work combines frontline journalism and documentary filmmaking, turning real‑time reporting into harrowing cinematic testimony.

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Aaron Copland

Won an Oscar for Best Original Score for The Heiress (1949).
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1945.

Copland helped define the sound of American classical music and brought that same emotional clarity to the film score world.

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John Corigliano

Won an Oscar for Best Original Score for The Red Violin (1999).
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2001.

Corigliano’s lush, inventive compositions earned him top honours both on the concert stage and in cinema.

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Bob Dylan

Won an Oscar for Best Original Song for “Things Have Changed” from Wonder Boys (2000).
Received an additional citation in the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2006.

Dylan’s recognition bridges rock, literature and film, showing how songwriting can live comfortably in both Pulitzer and Oscar territory.

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Sidney Howard

Posthumously won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Gone With the Wind (1939).
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1925.

Howard’s work in theatre and film adaptation showed a rare command of epic melodrama and character detail.

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William Inge

Won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Splendor in the Grass (1961).
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1953.

Inge’s sensitive portraits of American life translated powerfully from stage to screen.

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Frank Loesser

Won an Oscar for Best Original Song for “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” from Neptune’s Daughter (1949).
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1962.

Loesser’s knack for unforgettable melodies and character‑driven lyrics made him a titan of both Broadway and Hollywood.

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Richard Rodgers

Won an Oscar for Best Original Song for “It Might as Well Be Spring” from State Fair (1945).
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1950, plus an additional citation in 1943.

Rodgers helped define 20th‑century musical theatre while also crafting film songs that became standards.

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William Saroyan

Won an Oscar for Best Story, Screenplay for The Human Comedy (1943).
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940.

Saroyan’s warm, humanistic storytelling carried over from the stage to the screen with ease.

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John Patrick Shanley

Won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Moonstruck (1987).
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2005.

Shanley’s range stretches from romantic comedy to intense moral drama, proving his versatility across mediums.

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Stephen Sondheim

Won an Oscar for Best Original Song for “Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)” from Dick Tracy (1990).
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1985.

Sondheim revolutionized musical theatre and still found time to write a sultry, Oscar‑winning song for the movies.

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Alfred Uhry

Won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Driving Miss Daisy (1989).
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the stage version (1988).

Uhry’s story of an evolving relationship in the American South resonated powerfully both on stage and on screen.

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Larry McMurtry

Won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Brokeback Mountain (2005).
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Lonesome Dove (1985).

McMurtry brought a novelist’s depth to both Western epics and contemporary love stories.

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Horton Foote

Won two Oscars: Best Adapted Screenplay for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and Best Original Screenplay for Tender Mercies (1983).
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1995.

Foote specialised in quiet, deeply observed stories of American life, honoured at the highest level in theatre and film.

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Marvin Hamlisch

Won three Oscars in 1973: Best Score – Adaptation or Treatment for The Sting, and Best Original Score and Best Original Song for The Way We Were.
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1976.

Hamlisch’s run in the 1970s made him one of the most decorated composers in entertainment history.

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Oscar Hammerstein II

Won two Oscars for Best Original Song:

“The Last Time I Saw Paris” (Lady Be Good, 1941)
“It Might as Well Be Spring” (State Fair, 1945)

Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1950, plus an additional citation in 1943.

Hammerstein’s lyrics helped shape the golden age of both Hollywood musicals and Broadway.

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Robert E. Sherwood

Won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).
Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1936, 1938 and 1941, and the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography in 1949.

Sherwood might be the most decorated Pulitzer–Oscar figure of all, with multiple Pulitzers and a landmark postwar film to his name.

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Why This Double Win Matters

Winning both a Pulitzer Prize and an Academy Award shows a rare ability to excel in two very different arenas: the world of letters and journalism, and the collaborative, commercial machine of cinema. These artists prove that powerful storytelling can cross formats—from stage to screen, page to picture, and even newsroom to documentary feature.

Which Pulitzer–Oscar winner impresses you the most, and whose work do you want to explore next? Share your pick in the comments and tell us which other awards crossovers you’d like covered on the channel.

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