Academy Award for Best Story

Last updated April 07, 2024

The Academy Award for Best Story was an Academy Award given from the beginning of the Academy Awards until 1956. This award can be a source of confusion for modern audiences, given its co-existence with the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The Oscar for Best Story most closely resembles the usage of modern film treatments, or prose documents that describe the entire plot and characters, but typically lack most dialogue. A separate screenwriter would convert the story into a full screenplay.

As an example, at the 1944 Academy Awards, producer and director Leo McCarey won Best Story for Going My Way while screenwriters Frank Butler and Frank Cavett won Best Screenplay. The elimination of this category in 1956 reflects the decline of Hollywood's studio system and the emergence of independent screenwriters.

Winners and nominees

1920s

Year	Film	Nominees
1927–1928 (1st)
	Underworld	Ben Hecht
	The Last Command	Lajos Bíró
	The Circus	Charlie Chaplin ^{[note 1]}

1930s

Year	Film	Nominees
1930–1931 (4th)
	The Dawn Patrol	John Monk Saunders
	Doorway to Hell	Rowland Brown
	Laughter	Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast, Douglas Doty, Donald Ogden Stewart
	The Public Enemy	John Bright, Kubec Glasmon
	Smart Money	Lucien Hubbard, Joseph Jackson
1931–1932 (5th)
	The Champ	Frances Marion
	Lady and Gent	Grover Jones, William Slavens McNutt
	The Star Witness	Lucien Hubbard
	What Price Hollywood?	Adela Rogers St. Johns, Jane Murfin
1932–1933 (6th)
	One Way Passage	Robert Lord
	The Prizefighter and the Lady	Frances Marion
	Rasputin and the Empress	Charles MacArthur
1934 (7th)
	Manhattan Melodrama	Arthur Caesar
	Hide-Out	Mauri Grashin
	The Richest Girl in the World	Norman Krasna
1935 (8th) ^{[lower-alpha 1]}
	The Scoundrel	Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur
	Broadway Melody of 1936	Moss Hart
	The Gay Deception	Stephen Morehouse Avery, Don Hartman
1936 (9th)
	The Story of Louis Pasteur	Pierre Collings, Sheridan Gibney
	Fury	Norman Krasna
	The Great Ziegfeld	William Anthony McGuire
	San Francisco	Robert Hopkins
	Three Smart Girls	Adele Comandini
1937 (10th)
	A Star Is Born	Robert Carson, William Wellman
	Black Legion	Robert Lord
	In Old Chicago	Niven Busch
	The Life of Emile Zola	Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg
	One Hundred Men and a Girl	Hans Kraly
1938 (11th)
	Boys Town	Eleanore Griffin, Dore Schary
	Alexander's Ragtime Band	Irving Berlin
	Angels with Dirty Faces	Rowland Brown
	Blockade	John Howard Lawson
	Mad About Music	Marcella Burke, Frederick Kohner
	Test Pilot	Frank Wead
1939 (12th)
	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington	Lewis R. Foster
	Bachelor Mother	Felix Jackson
	Love Affair	Mildred Cram, Leo McCarey
	Ninotchka	Melchior Lengyel
	Young Mr. Lincoln	Lamar Trotti

1940s

Year	Film	Nominees
1940 (13th)
	Arise, My Love	Benjamin Glazer, John Toldy
	Comrade X	Walter Reisch
	Edison, the Man	Hugo Butler, Dore Schary
	My Favorite Wife	Leo McCarey, Samuel Spewack and Bella Spewack
	The Westerner	Stuart N. Lake
1941 (14th)
	Here Comes Mr. Jordan	Harry Segall
	Ball of Fire	Thomas Monroe, Billy Wilder
	The Lady Eve	Monckton Hoffe
	Meet John Doe	Richard Connell, Robert Presnell, Jr.
	Night Train to Munich	Gordon Wellesley
1942 (15th)
	49th Parallel	Emeric Pressburger
	Holiday Inn	Irving Berlin
	The Pride of the Yankees	Paul Gallico
	The Talk of the Town	Sidney Harmon
	Yankee Doodle Dandy	Robert Buckner
1943 (16th)
	The Human Comedy	William Saroyan
	Action in the North Atlantic	Guy Gilpatric
	Destination Tokyo	Steve Fisher
	The More the Merrier	Frank Ross, Robert Russell
	Shadow of a Doubt	Gordon McDonell
1944 (17th)
	Going My Way	Leo McCarey
	A Guy Named Joe	David Boehm, Chandler Sprague
	Lifeboat	John Steinbeck
	None Shall Escape	Alfred Neumann, Joseph Than
	The Sullivans	Edward Doherty, Jules Schermer
1945 (18th)
	The House on 92nd Street	Charles G. Booth
	The Affairs of Susan	László Görög, Thomas Monroe
	A Medal for Benny	John Steinbeck, Jack Wagner
	Objective, Burma!	Alvah Bessie
	A Song to Remember	Ernst Marischka
1946 (19th)
	Vacation from Marriage	Clemence Dane
	The Dark Mirror	Vladimir Solomonovich Pozner
	The Strange Love of Martha Ivers	Jack Patrick
	The Stranger	Victor Trivas
	To Each His Own	Charles Brackett
1947 (20th)
	Miracle on 34th Street	Valentine Davies
	A Cage of Nightingales (French: La Cage aux rossignols)	Georges Chaperot, René Wheeler
	It Happened on Fifth Avenue	Herbert Clyde Lewis, Frederick Stephani
	Kiss of Death	Eleazar Lipsky
	Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman	Frank Cavett, Dorothy Parker
1948 (21st)
	The Search	Richard Schweizer, David Wechsler [ de ]
	Louisiana Story	Robert J. Flaherty, Frances H. Flaherty
	The Naked City	Malvin Wald
	Red River	Borden Chase
	The Red Shoes	Emeric Pressburger
1949 (22nd)
	The Stratton Story	Douglas Morrow
	Come to the Stable	Clare Boothe Luce
	It Happens Every Spring	Valentine Davies, Shirley Smith
	Sands of Iwo Jima	Harry Brown
	White Heat	Virginia Kellogg

1950s

Year	Film	Nominees
1950 (23rd)
	Panic in the Streets	Edna Anhalt, Edward Anhalt
	Bitter Rice	Giuseppe De Santis, Carlo Lizzani
	The Gunfighter	William Bowers, André de Toth
	Mystery Street	Leonard Spigelgass
	When Willie Comes Marching Home	Sy Gomberg
1951 (24th)
	Seven Days to Noon	James Bernard, Paul Dehn ^[1]
	Bullfighter and the Lady	Budd Boetticher, Ray Nazarro
	The Frogmen	Oscar Millard
	Here Comes the Groom	Liam O'Brien, Robert Riskin
	Teresa	Alfred Hayes, Stewart Stern
1952 (25th)
	The Greatest Show on Earth	Frank Cavett, Fredric M. Frank, Theodore St. John
	My Son John	Leo McCarey
	The Narrow Margin	Martin Goldsmith, Jack Leonard
	The Pride of St. Louis	Guy Trosper
	The Sniper	Edward Anhalt, Edna Anhalt
1953 (26th)
	Roman Holiday	Dalton Trumbo ^{[lower-alpha 2]}
	Above and Beyond	Beirne Lay, Jr.
	The Captain's Paradise	Alec Coppel
	Hondo	Louis L'Amour ^{[lower-alpha 3]}
	Little Fugitive	Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin
1954 (27th)
	Broken Lance	Philip Yordan
	Bread, Love and Dreams (Italian: Pane, amore e fantasia)	Ettore Margadonna
	Forbidden Games (French: Jeux interdits)	François Boyer
	Night People	Jed Harris, Tom Reed
	There's No Business Like Show Business	Lamar Trotti (posthumous nomination)
1955 (28th)
	Love Me or Leave Me	Daniel Fuchs
	The Private War of Major Benson	Joe Connelly, Bob Mosher
	Rebel Without a Cause	Nicholas Ray
	The Sheep Has Five Legs (French: Le Mouton à cinq pattes)	Jean Marsan, Henri Troyat, Jacques Perret, Henri Verneuil, Raoul Ploquin
	Strategic Air Command	Beirne Lay, Jr.
1956 (29th)
	The Brave One	Dalton Trumbo ^{[lower-alpha 4]}
	The Eddy Duchin Story	Leo Katcher
	High Society	Edward Bernds, Elwood Ullman ^{[lower-alpha 5]}
	The Proud and the Beautiful (French: Les Orgueilleux)	Jean-Paul Sartre
	Umberto D.	Cesare Zavattini

Notes

↑ G Men , story by Gregory Rogers (a pseudonym of Darryl F. Zanuck), was not officially nominated for this award, but appears in Academy records because it placed second in voting as a write-in candidate in 1935.
↑ The screen credit and award was originally credited to Ian McLellan Hunter, who was a front for Trumbo. On December 15, 1992, the Board of Governors voted to retroactively attribute the award to Trumbo. Hunter's name was removed. Although Trumbo had died some years earlier, he had been alive in 1954 and this is not considered a posthumous award.
↑ Originally announced on February 15, 1954, as a nominee in this category. On February 17, 1954, letters from the producer and nominee questioned its inclusion in the category, as it was based on the short story, "The Gift of Cochise", by the nominee, Mr. L'Amour, published in Collier's magazine on July 5, 1952. By waiver, the title of the short story was not included in the film's credits. The nomination was withdrawn, and only four nominees were included on the final ballot. The Academy thanked Mr. L'Amour and despite this incident, offered him a membership in the Academy.
↑ The name of the writer credited with authorship, Robert Rich, turned out to be an alias for Trumbo, who was being blacklisted at that time. On May 2, 1975, then-Academy president Walter Mirisch presented the Award to Trumbo.
↑ The authors of this Bowery Boys film respectfully withdrew their own names and the nomination. They were aware that voters had probably mistaken their film with the 1956 MGM musical of the same name starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra which was based on The Philadelphia Story . This nomination was not included on the final ballot.

↑ The Circus originally received a nomination for Best Director (Comedy Picture), as well as nominations for Best Actor and Best Writing (Original Story), all for Charles Chaplin. However, the Academy subsequently decided to remove Chaplin's name from the competitive award categories and instead to confer upon him a Special Award "for acting, writing, directing and producing The Circus". Chilton, Martin (May 16, 2016). "The first Oscars: what happened in 1929" . The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on May 19, 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2021.

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References

↑ "WRITING (MOTION PICTURE STORY)". THE 24TH ACADEMY AWARDS – 1952. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. March 20, 1952. Retrieved October 21, 2014.

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[2] G Men , story by Gregory Rogers (a pseudonym of Darryl F. Zanuck), was not officially nominated for this award, but appears in Academy records because it placed second in voting as a write-in candidate in 1935.

[4] The screen credit and award was originally credited to Ian McLellan Hunter, who was a front for Trumbo. On December 15, 1992, the Board of Governors voted to retroactively attribute the award to Trumbo. Hunter's name was removed. Although Trumbo had died some years earlier, he had been alive in 1954 and this is not considered a posthumous award.

[5] Originally announced on February 15, 1954, as a nominee in this category. On February 17, 1954, letters from the producer and nominee questioned its inclusion in the category, as it was based on the short story, "The Gift of Cochise", by the nominee, Mr. L'Amour, published in Collier's magazine on July 5, 1952. By waiver, the title of the short story was not included in the film's credits. The nomination was withdrawn, and only four nominees were included on the final ballot. The Academy thanked Mr. L'Amour and despite this incident, offered him a membership in the Academy.

[6] The name of the writer credited with authorship, Robert Rich, turned out to be an alias for Trumbo, who was being blacklisted at that time. On May 2, 1975, then-Academy president Walter Mirisch presented the Award to Trumbo.

[7] The authors of this Bowery Boys film respectfully withdrew their own names and the nomination. They were aware that voters had probably mistaken their film with the 1956 MGM musical of the same name starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra which was based on The Philadelphia Story . This nomination was not included on the final ballot.

[twenty-eight-1] The Circus originally received a nomination for Best Director (Comedy Picture), as well as nominations for Best Actor and Best Writing (Original Story), all for Charles Chaplin. However, the Academy subsequently decided to remove Chaplin's name from the competitive award categories and instead to confer upon him a Special Award "for acting, writing, directing and producing The Circus". Chilton, Martin (May 16, 2016). "The first Oscars: what happened in 1929" . The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on May 19, 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2021.

[oscar-seven-days-3] "WRITING (MOTION PICTURE STORY)". THE 24TH ACADEMY AWARDS – 1952. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. March 20, 1952. Retrieved October 21, 2014.

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