List of posthumous Academy Award winners and nominees

This is a list of posthumous Academy Award winners and nominees. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences annually presents Academy Awards in both competitive and honorary categories. This list includes winners and nominees of the Academy's competitive awards, as well as posthumous winners of its honorary awards.

The list does not include people who were retrospectively honoured with an Academy Award and were dead at the time the Academy made the decision to make the retrospective award. For example: in 1993, seventeen years after his death, Dalton Trumbo was retrospectively awarded the 1953 Oscar for Best Writing - Motion Picture Story for "Roman Holiday". It had been previously awarded to Ian McLellan Hunter. However, Hunter was merely a front for Trumbo, because Trumbo was blacklisted at the time and it was not possible for his name to appear in either the film's credits or the Academy Award nomination (hence, it was not generally known that the real screenwriter was Trumbo). Trumbo did not die until 1976, and under normal circumstances he would have received this award in person in 1953; hence the Academy does not consider this a posthumous award but a correction of the record.

This list is current as of the 80th Academy Awards ceremony held on February 24, 2008.

Competitive awards

Notes:

#Howard Ashman's partner Bill Lauch accepted the award on his behalf.
#Peter Finch became the first winner in an acting category. His widow Eletha Finch and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky accepted the award on his behalf.
#Conrad L. Hall's son Conrad W. Hall accepted the award on his behalf.
#"Limelight", a 1952 film, won its award in 1972 because the blacklisting of Charlie Chaplin prevented it from being shown in Los Angeles until then. (The Academy subsequently changed its rules to prevent films more than two years old from receiving awards.)
#Geoffrey Unsworth died during the shooting of "Tess", and the cinematography was completed by Ghislain Cloquet. Unsworth and Cloquet were jointly nominated, successfully, for Best Cinematography.
#Sam Zimbalist died during the filming of "Ben-Hur". His widow Mary Zimbalist accepted the award on his behalf.

Honorary awards

Notes:

#Audrey Hepburn died eight days after the Academy voted to confer this award, but two months before the 65th Academy Awards ceremony. Her son Sean Hepburn Ferrer accepted the award on her behalf.
#Edward G. Robinson died after the Academy voted to confer this award, but two months before the 45th Academy Awards ceremony. His widow Jane Robinson accepted the award on his behalf.

Superlatives

Among the winners and nominees of Academy Awards in standard competitive categories, the following emerge.

* First posthumous nominee: Gerald Duffy (1927 / 1928)
* First posthumous winner: Sidney Howard (1939)
* Most recent posthumous nominee: Marit Allen (2007)
* Most recent posthumous winner: Conrad L. Hall (2002)
* Consecutive posthumous nominees: Jerome Kern (1945 and 1946), Gile Steele (1951 and 1952), James Dean (1955 and 1956), William A. Horning (1958 and 1959), and Howard Ashman (1991 and 1992)
* Consecutive posthumous winners: William A. Horning (1958 and 1959)
* Female posthumous nominees: Jeanne Eagels (Best Actress, 1929), Tess Slesinger (Best Writing, 1945), Carol Sobieski (Best Writing, 1991), Gretchen Rau (Best Art Direction, 2006), and Marit Allen (Best Costume Design, 2007)
* Female posthumous winners: none
* Individual with the most posthumous nominations: Howard Ashman (4 nominations)
* Individual with the most posthumous nominations in a single year: Howard Ashman (3 nominations in 1991)
* Individual with the most posthumous nominations without ever winning: Jerome Kern (3 nominations) and Gile Steele (3 nominations)
* Individual with the most posthumous awards: William A. Horning (2 awards)
* Ceremony with the most posthumous nominations: 18th Academy Awards (5 nominations) and 49th Academy Awards (5 nominations)
* Ceremony with the most posthumous awards: 32nd Academy Awards (2 awards) and 45th Academy Awards (1 award shared by 2 posthumous winners)
* Film with the most posthumous nominations: "Beauty and the Beast" (3 nominations for the same individual) and "Il Postino" (3 nominations for 2 different individuals)
* Film with the most posthumous nominees: "Ben-Hur", "The Greatest Story Ever Told", "Limelight", and "Il Postino" (2 posthumous nominees each)
* Film with the most posthumous awards: "Ben-Hur" (2 awards) and "Limelight" (1 award shared by 2 posthumous winners)

Statistics

For the purposes of the following statistics relating to posthumous winners and nominees of Academy Awards in standard competitive categories:
* Where a nomination is in more than one name, it counts as a posthumous nomination if at least one of the people was dead at the time of nomination.
* Where such a nomination is successful, it counts as a posthumous award.
* Where a living (joint or single) nominee dies before the awards ceremony, and the nomination is successful, it counts as a posthumous award but not a posthumous nomination.
* Where a person wins more than one (joint or single) award posthumously, each award is counted separately but the person is counted only once as a winner.

*Individuals - To date, 53 individuals received a total of 70 posthumous nominations:
** 1 individual received 4 posthumous nominations (Howard Ashman);
** 3 individuals received 3 posthumous nominations;
** 8 individuals received 2 posthumous nominations; and
** 41 individuals received 1 posthumous nomination.

*Ceremonies - To date, 40 ceremonies produced a total of 70 posthumous nominations:
** 2 ceremonies produced 5 posthumous nominations (18th Academy Awards and 49th Academy Awards);
** 2 ceremonies produced 4 posthumous nominations (32nd Academy Awards and 64th Academy Awards);
** 5 ceremonies produced 3 posthumous nominations;
** 6 ceremonies produced 2 posthumous nominations;
** 25 ceremonies produced 1 posthumous nomination; and
** 40 ceremonies produced no posthumous nominations.

*Films - To date, 60 films received a total of 70 posthumous nominations:
** 2 films received 3 posthumous nominations ("Beauty and the Beast" and "Il Postino");
** 6 films received 2 posthumous nominations; and
** 52 films received 1 posthumous nomination.

* Number of posthumous nominations: 70
* Number of posthumous nominees: 53
* Number of posthumous awards: 13
* Number of posthumous winners: 13
* Number of individuals with consecutive posthumous nominations: 5
* Number of individuals with consecutive posthumous awards: 1 (William A. Horning)
* Number of individuals with multiple posthumous nominations: 12
* Number of individuals with multiple posthumous awards: 1 (William A. Horning)
* Number of ceremonies with multiple posthumous nominations: 15
* Number of ceremonies with multiple posthumous awards: 2 (one ceremony includes a shared award)
* Number of films with multiple posthumous nominations: 8
* Number of films with multiple posthumous awards: 2 (one film includes a shared award)

External links

* [http://www.oscars.org/ Oscars.org] (official website for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
* [http://www.oscars.org/awardsdatabase/index.html The Academy Awards Database] (official database of Academy Award winners and nominees)
* [http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Academy_Awards_USA/ Academy Awards, USA] (Academy Awards information at the Internet Movie Database)
* [http://www.filmsite.org/oscars.html Filmsite.org] (comprehensive Academy Awards history)