Sondheim circa 1970 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Totals [a] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Wins | 44 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nominations | 75 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Note
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This article is a list of awards and nominations received by Stephen Sondheim.
Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021) was an American composer and lyricist known for his work in musical theatre and film. He has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, eight Grammy Awards, five Laurence Olivier Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and eight Tony Awards. Sondheim has received several honorary awards including an induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1983, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1993, the National Medal of Arts in 1996, a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2008, and the Society of London Theatre Special Award in 2011, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2015). Theaters were named in his honor on Broadway in 2010 and London's West End in 2019.
Known primarily for his work on the Broadway stage, he started his career as a lyricist for the musicals West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959), and Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965), the later of which earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Original Score. He wrote A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), his first musical as both a composer and lyricist, followed by Anyone Can Whistle (1964) and Evening Primrose (1965). He earned critical acclaim for his musical Company (1970) earning Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Lyricist of a Musical. He won further Tony Awards for Best Original Score for Follies (1972), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Into the Woods (1986), and Passion (1994). For his musical Sunday in the Park with George (1984) he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
For his work on the West End he won two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best New Musical for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in 1980 and Follies in 1987. He won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical twice for Sunday in the Park with George in 1991 and Merrily We Roll Along in 2001. He was Olivier-nominated for Side by Side by Sondheim in 1976, Into the Woods in 1991, Assassins in 1993, and Passion in 1997. He was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Contribution for Follies in 2018.
On film, he wrote three songs for the Warren Beatty directed crime action film Dick Tracy (1990), "More", What Can You Lose?", and "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)", the later of which earned him the Academy Award for Best Original Song. He was also nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for Best Original Song and two Grammy Awards for Best Song Written for Visual Media. He won six Grammy Awards for Best Musical Theater Album for Company (1971), A Little Night Music (1974), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1980), Sunday in the Park with George (1985), Into the Woods (1989) and Passion (1995). He won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "Send in the Clowns" (1976).
Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1990 | Best Original Song | "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)" (from Dick Tracy ) | Won | [1] |
Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1990 | Best Original Song | "Sooner or Later" (from Dick Tracy ) | Nominated | [2] |
"What Can You Lose?" (from Dick Tracy) | Nominated |
Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1960 | Song of the Year | "Small World" | Nominated | [3] |
1963 | Best Original Cast Show Album | A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum | Nominated | [4] |
1966 | Best Score from an Original Cast | Do I Hear a Waltz? | Nominated | [5] |
1971 | Company | Won | [6] | |
1972 | Follies | Nominated | [7] | |
1974 | Best Score from the Original Cast Show Album | A Little Night Music | Won | [8] |
1976 | Best Cast Show Album | Nominated | [9] | |
Song of the Year | "Send In the Clowns" | Won | ||
1977 | Best Cast Show Album | Pacific Overtures | Nominated | [10] |
1980 | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Won | [11] | |
1983 | Merrily We Roll Along | Nominated | [12] | |
1985 | Sunday in the Park with George | Won | [13] | |
1989 | Best Musical Cast Show Album | Into the Woods | Won | [14] |
1991 | Best Song Written for a Visual Media | "More" (from Dick Tracy ) | Nominated | [15] |
"Sooner or Later" (from Dick Tracy) | Nominated | |||
1992 | Best Musical Theater Album | Assassins | Nominated | [16] |
1995 | Passion | Won | [17] | |
2008 | Trustees Award | Himself | Honored | [18] |
Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1976 | Musical of the Year | Side by Side by Sondheim | Nominated | [19] |
1980 | Sweeney Todd | Won | [20] | |
1987 | Follies | Won | [21] | |
1991 | Best New Musical | Sunday in the Park with George | Won | [22] |
Into the Woods | Nominated | |||
1993 | Assassins | Nominated | [23] | |
1997 | Passion | Nominated | [24] | |
2001 | Merrily We Roll Along | Won | [25] | |
2011 | Society of London Theatre Special Award | Himself | Honored | [26] |
2018 | Best Original Score or New Orchestrations | Follies | Nominated | [27] |
Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1985 | Pulitzer Prize for Drama | Sunday in the Park with George | Won | [28] |
Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1965 | Best Original Score (with Richard Rodgers) | Do I Hear a Waltz? | Nominated | [29] |
1971 | Best Original Musical Score | Company | Won | [30] |
Best Lyricist of a Musical | Won | |||
1972 | Best Original Score | Follies | Won | [31] |
1973 | A Little Night Music | Won | [32] | |
1976 | Pacific Overtures | Nominated | [33] | |
1979 | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Won | [34] | |
1982 | Merrily We Roll Along | Nominated | [35] | |
1984 | Sunday in the Park with George | Nominated | [36] | |
1988 | Into the Woods | Won | [37] | |
1994 | Passion | Won | [38] | |
2008 | Special Tony Award | Himself | Honored | [39] |
Organizations | Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Drama Desk Awards | 1970 | Outstanding Musical | Company | Won | [40] |
Outstanding Music | Won [a] | ||||
Outstanding Lyrics | Won [b] | ||||
1971 | Outstanding Music | Follies | Won | [41] | |
Outstanding Lyrics | Won | ||||
1973 | Outstanding Music | A Little Night Music | Won | [42] | |
Outstanding Lyrics | Won | ||||
1976 | Outstanding Music | Pacific Overtures | Nominated | [43] | |
Outstanding Lyrics | Nominated | ||||
1979 | Outstanding Music | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Won | [44] | |
Outstanding Lyrics | Won | ||||
1982 | Outstanding Music | Merrily We Roll Along | Nominated | [45] | |
Outstanding Lyrics | Won [c] | ||||
1984 | Outstanding Music | Sunday in the Park with George | Nominated | [46] | |
Outstanding Lyrics | Won | ||||
1988 | Outstanding Music | Into the Woods | Nominated | [47] | |
Outstanding Lyrics | Won | ||||
1991 | Outstanding Music | Assassins | Nominated | [48] | |
Outstanding Lyrics | Nominated | ||||
1994 | Outstanding Music | Passion | Won | [49] | |
Outstanding Lyrics | Won | ||||
2000 | Outstanding Music | Saturday Night | Nominated | [50] | |
Outstanding Lyrics | Won | ||||
2009 | Outstanding Music | Road Show | Nominated | [51] | |
Outstanding Lyrics | Won | ||||
Edgar Awards | 1974 | Best Motion Picture | The Last of Sheila (Shared with Anthony Perkins) | Won | [52] |
IFMCA Awards | 2021 | Kyle Renick Special Award | West Side Story | Won | [53] |
Obie Awards | 2009 | Music and Lyrics | Road Show | Won | [54] |
OFTA Awards | 2007 | Best Adapted Song | "Johanna" (from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ) | Nominated | [55] |
2019 | "Being Alive" (from Marriage Story ) | Won | [56] | ||
2021 | "America" (for West Side Story ) | Runner-up | [57] | ||
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association | 2007 | Best Score | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Won | [58] |
Organization | Year | Honor | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Songwriters Hall of Fame | 1975 | Inductee | Honored | [59] |
American Theater Hall of Fame | 1982 | Inductee | Honored | [60] |
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts | 1993 | Kennedy Center Honors | Honored | [61] |
President Bill Clinton | 1996 | National Medal of Arts | Honored | [62] |
Tony Awards | 2008 | Special Tony Award | Honored | [63] |
The Recording Academy | 2008 | Trustees Award | Honored | [64] |
Laurence Olivier Awards | 2011 | Society of London Theatre Special Award | Honored | [65] |
MacDowell Artists' Residency | 2013 | Edward MacDowell Medal | Honored | [66] |
President Barack Obama | 2015 | Presidential Medal of Freedom | Honored | [67] |