List of awards and nominations received by Elaine May

List of accolades received by Elaine May

May in 1959
Accolades Award Wins Nominations Academy Awards 0 2 BAFTA Film Awards 1 1 Golden Globes 0 1 Grammy Awards 1 4 Tony Awards 1 41
Totals [a]
Wins	15
Nominations	29
Note Certain award groups do not simply award one winner. They acknowledge several different recipients, have runners-up, and have third place. Since this is a specific recognition and is different from losing an award, runner-up mentions are considered wins in this award tally. For simplification and to avoid errors, each award in this list has been presumed to have had a prior nomination.

Elaine May is an American comedian, writer, director, producer and actor. Known for her work on stage and screen she has received various accolades including a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, a Tony Award, and a Writers Guild of America Award as well as nominations for a competitive Academy Award and Golden Globe Award. She has received several honors including the National Medal of Arts in 2013, the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement in 2016, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2021.

May began her career as a improvisational comedian where she was a founding member of the Compass Players. She often collaborated with Mike Nichols during the 1960s and together, they performed onstage from clubs in Greenwich Village to the Broadway stage. They released several comedy albums and won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May (1962). They were also Grammy-nominated for their comedy albums Improvisations to Music (1958) and Mike Nichols & Elaine May Examine Doctors (1961).

On film, she started her career as a comedic actress in a string of films including her black comedy film A New Leaf (1971) for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. She expanded her career as a writer and directer and later received two Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nominations for her work on Warren Beatty's fantasy comedy-drama Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Mike Nichols' political satire Primary Colors (1998), the later of which earned the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. She received the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement in 2016 and the Academy Honorary Award in 2021.

On the Broadway stage, she portrayed an elderly woman with dementia in the revival of the Kenneth Lonergan memory play The Waverly Gallery (2019) for which she earned the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play as well as a nomination for the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. As a playwright and director, she previously won the Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Playwright and two Outer Critics Circle Awards for Special Theatrical Production and Best Direction for her play Adaptation (1969).

She was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 2013 from President Barack Obama in a ceremony in The White House. She was awarded for her "groundbreaking wit and a keen understanding of how humor can illuminate our lives, Ms. May has evoked untold joy, challenged expectations, and elevated spirits across our Nation." ^[1] May was awarded the In 2019, May's film A New Leaf was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". ^[2]

Major associations

Academy Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1978	Best Adapted Screenplay	Heaven Can Wait (shared with Warren Beatty)	Nominated	[3] [4]
1998		Primary Colors	Nominated	[3] [5]
2021	Academy Honorary Award	—	Honored	[3] [6]

BAFTA Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
British Academy Film Awards
1999	Best Adapted Screenplay	Primary Colors	Won	[7]

Golden Globe Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1971	Best Actress – Comedy or Musical	A New Leaf	Nominated	[8]

Grammy Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1959	Best Performance, Documentary or Spoken Word	Improvisations to Music	Nominated	[9]
	Best Comedy Album		Nominated
1962		An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May	Won	[10]
1963		Mike Nichols & Elaine May Examine Doctors	Nominated	[11]

Tony Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2019	Best Actress in a Play	The Waverly Gallery	Won	[12]

Miscellaneous awards

Award	Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
Chlotrudis Society	2001	Best Supporting Actress	Small Time Crooks	Nominated	[13]
National Society of Film Critics	2000	Best Supporting Actress	Small Time Crooks	Won	[14]
Online Film Critics Society	1998	Best Adapted Screenplay	Primary Colors	Nominated	[15]
	2000	Best Supporting Actress	Small Time Crooks	Nominated	[16]
Saturn Awards	1978	Best Writing	Heaven Can Wait (shared with Warren Beatty)	Won	[17]
USC Scripter Awards	1999	Primary Colors (based on the novel Primary Colors )	Elaine May (screenwriter), Joe Klein (author)	Nominated	[18]
Writers Guild of America	1971	Best Adapted Comedy	A New Leaf	Nominated	[19]
	1978		Heaven Can Wait (shared with Warren Beatty)	Won
	1996	Best Adapted Screenplay	The Birdcage	Nominated
	1998		Primary Colors	Nominated

Theatre awards

Award	Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
Drama Desk Award	1969	Most Promising Playwright	Adaptation	Won	[20]
	2019	Outstanding Actress in a Play	The Waverly Gallery	Won
Drama League Award	2019	Distinguished Performance Award	The Waverly Gallery	Nominated	[20]
Outer Critics Circle Award	1969	Special Theatrical Award	Adaptation / Next	Won	[20]
	Outstanding Direction of a Play	Won
	2019	Outstanding Actress in a Play	The Waverly Gallery	Won

Honorary awards

Organizations	Year	Award	Result	Ref.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences	2021	Academy Honorary Award	Honored	[21]
American Comedy Awards	1994	Lifetime Achievement Award	Honored	[19]
Los Angeles Film Critics Association	2019	Career Achievement Award	Honored	[22]
President Barack Obama	2013	National Medal of Arts	Honored	[23]
Writers Guild of America Awards	2016	Laurel Screenwriting Award	Honored	[24]

References

1. "President Obama to Award 2012 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal". whitehouse.gov . 3 July 2013. Retrieved February 1, 2016– via National Archives.
2. Chow, Andrew R. (December 11, 2019). "See the 25 New Additions to the National Film Registry, From Purple Rain to Clerks". Time. New York, NY. Archived from the original on December 11, 2019. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
3. "Academy Awards Database Search - Elaine May". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on October 19, 2023. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
4. "51st Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on April 28, 2024. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
5. "71st Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on April 9, 2024. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
6. Coyle, Jake (June 24, 2021). "Oscars to honor Elaine May, Danny Glover, Samuel L. Jackson". Associated Press . Archived from the original on November 24, 2023. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
7. "BAFTA Awards - Adapted Screenplay in 1999". British Academy of Film and Television Arts . Retrieved December 31, 2022.
8. "Golden Globes Awards - Elaine May". Hollywood Foreign Press Association . Retrieved December 31, 2022.
9. "Artist: Elaine May". The Recording Academy. Archived from the original on October 24, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
10. "4th Annual Grammy Awards". Grammy Awards . Retrieved August 3, 2025.
11. "5th Annual Grammy Awards". Grammy Awards . Retrieved August 3, 2025.
12. "Elaine May, a comedy great with Chicago roots, wins first Tony Award at 87". Chicago Sun-Times . June 10, 2019. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
13. "2001, 7th Annual Awards". Chlotrudis Society for Independent Films . Archived from the original on November 9, 2019. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
14. Cardwell, Diane (January 7, 2001). "Critics Group Honors Quirky List of Film Favorites". The New York Times . Archived from the original on January 9, 2023. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
15. "1998 Awards (2nd Annual)". Online Film Critics Society. January 3, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
16. "2000 Awards (4th Annual)". Online Film Critics Society. January 3, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
17. "Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films - 1979 Awards". IMDb . Retrieved June 10, 2024.
18. "Past Scripter Awards". USC Scripter Award . Retrieved June 27, 2024.
19. McNary, Dave (January 19, 2016). "Elaine May Honored by Writers Guild of America". Variety . Archived from the original on October 19, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
20. "Elaine May". Playbill . Retrieved May 10, 2020.
21. "Oscars: Academy To Honor Danny Glover, Samuel L. Jackson, Elaine May & Liv Ullmann At 2022 Governors Awards". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved August 3, 2025.
22. Ramos, Dino-Ray (October 31, 2019). "LAFCA To Honor Elaine May With Career Achievement Award". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on June 30, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
23. "George Lucas, Tony Kushner, Elaine May Among National Medal Of Arts Honorees". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved August 3, 2025.
24. "WGA Awards: Elaine May to be Honored for Screenwriting Achievement". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved August 3, 2025.

External links

• Awards for Elaine May at IMDb