Diane Warren has entered Oscar territory. On January 23, she was nominated for Best Original Song for the seventh consecutive year, for her song “The Fire Inside” from Flamin' Hot. This is the longest consecutive streak of nominations in this category since Sammy Cahn was nominated eight consecutive years from 1954-61.
Warren is one of only eight songwriters or composers to be nominated for an Academy Award seven years in a row. By adding composers, we expand the discussion to include nominations in scoring categories.
Some of the names on this list, like the legendary John Williams, you'll recognize right away. You probably also know Alfred Newman, the patriarch of the Newman family dynasty, and Max Steiner, one of the great composers of Hollywood's golden age. Other names probably won't ring a bell, but we've listed some of their more famous credits from their string of nominations that you're more likely to recognize.
Notably, Warren has yet to win a competitive Oscar, and this doesn't seem to be her year to finally bring one home. “Why was I made?” from Barbie seems to be headed for victory. The other nominees in the category are “I'm Just Ken,” also from Barbie; “He never left”, by American Accord; and “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People),” by Killers of the Flower Moon. The 96th Academy Awards will be presented on March 10.
Here are all the songwriters or composers who received Oscar nominations in seven or more consecutive years. The years shown are the year the film was released.
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Diane Warren
7 consecutive years (2017-23)
Warren worked with a female collaborator – something she does relatively rarely – on two of those seven nominated songs. He collaborated with Common on “Stand Up for Something” by Marshalland with Laura Pausini in “”Io sì (Seen) from (The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se).
Warren is one of only six people in Oscar history to receive 15 or more nods for Best Original Song. She is one of only two women to achieve this feat, along with the late Marilyn Bergman. Warren has yet to win a competitive Oscar, but in 2022 she received the Governors Award from the Academy “for her genius, generosity and passionate commitment to the power of song in film.”
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Robert Emmett Dolan
7 consecutive years (1941-47)
Dolan was a scoring candidate Holiday Inn, Blue Skies, The Bells of St. Mary's and Road to Rio, including. He died in 1972.
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John Williams
8 consecutive years (1995-2002)
Williams' nominations during this run include Best Original Musical or Comedy for the Sydney Pollack remake Sabrina, and Best Original Song for “Moonlight” from that film. (Williams has received just five song nominations during his storied career. His other 49 nods are in scoring categories.) His other nods during that streak were for scoring Nixon, Amistad, Saving Private Ryan and Catch Me If You Canincluding.
Williams is 91. His nomination for best original score this year Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny making him the oldest Oscar nominee ever in a competitive category.
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Sami Khan
8 consecutive nods (1954-61)
Cahn won three of the four Best Original Song Oscars during that streak — for “Three Coins in the Fountain” from the film of the same name, “All the Way” from The Joker is wild and “High Hopes” by A hole in the head. He co-wrote that first song with Jule Styne and the next two with James Van Heusen. On winning his first Oscar, the witty Kahn said: “I took 27 steps from my seat to the podium. It took us 14 years to get here. Thank you very much.”
Cahn had 26 Best Original Song nominations during his career, more than anyone else in Academy Award history. (Diane Warren needs 11 more nods to tie, 12 to set a new record — and I wouldn't put it past her.) Kahn has won four Best Original Song Oscars, which puts him in a tie for the lead with Alan Menken, Johnny Mercer and Van Heusen. Kahn died in 1993.
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Herbert Stothart
8 consecutive nods (1938-45)
Stothart won for the immortal's goal The Wizard of Oz. He was also recommended for scoring Marie Antoinette and Madame Curie, including. He died in 1949.
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Ray Heindorf
9 consecutive years (1942-50)
Heindorf won back-to-back Academy Awards Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and This is the Army (1943). He was also nominated in that streak for scoring Night and day and Romance on the high seas, including. He received a Best Original Song nod for “Some Sunday Morning.” San Antonio. He died in 1980.
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Max Steiner
13 consecutive years (1938-50)
Steiner won during that hitting streak Since you left and the Bette Davis classic Now, Voyager. He was also nominated for two of the most famous and beloved films ever – Gone With the Wind and Casablanca.
Steiner received 20 career nods, trailing only John Williams and Alfred Newman. He died in 1971.
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Alfred Newman
19 consecutive years (1938-56)
Newman won eight of his record nine Academy Awards during that streak – for Alexander's Ragtime Band, Tin Pan Alley, The Song of Bernadette, Mother We Wet Tights, With a Song in My Heart, Call Me Madam, Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing and The King and I. Newman received 41 nods, second only to John Williams. Newman was the brother of Emil Newman and Lionel Newman, Randy Newman's uncle. He died in 1970.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/lists/songwriters-composers-oscar-nominations-7-consecutive-years-full-list/
