The Record for the Most Oscars Ever Won Will Always Belong to One Person

With the annual 97th Academy Awards nearing, the film industry is buzzing about which of its nominees will receive bankable star status for work off or on-screen. But once upon a time, there was a creative who had no competition, outshone their contemporaries, and continues to hold the record for the most Oscar wins and nominations in Hollywood history. That star didn’t appear in a single frame their work was recognized for (though their voice was heard on occasion), but received accolades for their groundbreaking impact on the screen industry as a producer and master storyteller for some 40 years. Of course this person was none other than Walt Disney (1901-1966), and his posthumous glory seems deservedly eternal. With a total of 26 Oscar wins (four of which were Honorary Awards), and 59 nominations to his name today, Walt Disney is listed in the Guinness World Records book for this distinction.

It all began at the 5th Academy Awards in 1932, when Disney took home his first Honorary Academy Award and his first competitive Academy Award. In addition to winning the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoon) for Flowers and Trees, he was honoured with the Honorary Academy Award for creating Mickey Mouse. Three further Honorary Academy Awards were bestowed to Disney, including one for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1939. The Mouse House mogul won the Academy Award in each of the four categories for which he had nominations at the 26th Academy Awards in 1954: Best Short Subject (Cartoon), Best Short Subject (Two-reel), Best Documentary (Feature), and Best Documentary (Short Subject). Disney received his only Best Picture nomination in 1965 for the enduring Julie Andrews musical Mary Poppins.

[Related: Legendary Animator Don Bluth Reveals the Time He Literally Ran Into Walt Disney]

On the night of February 23, 1939, child star Shirley Temple presented Disney with a truly special Oscar for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The honorary award was given for Snow White’s “significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon.” According to his autobiography, Academy President and famed film director Frank Capra was the one who conceptualized the special prize, comprised of a full-sized Oscar statuette with seven smaller ones falling in a row.

Despite Disney’s insistence that he made films for the entire family and not just children, it was decided that the young Miss Temple, representing Disney’s younger fans, should deliver the presentation. Upon revealing the award, Temple exclaimed, “Isn’t it bright and shiny! Aren’t you proud of it, Mr Disney?” To which the bashful recipient replied, “Why, I’m so proud I think I’ll bust.”

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the highest-grossing feature film in history at the time, and it was universally praised.

Walt Disney’s Special Award acceptance speech

During the 14th Academy Awards in 1941, Walt received a special Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in honor of “creative producers, whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production.” Receiving the award, Walt began by saying, “I find myself speechless. I knew that there was something here tonight; this is way beyond my expectation. I’ve got a lot of thanking to do. First, for the little short subject award which we’re very proud of. My musicians for their music – it’s going to be hard to get along with them now, I know. ‘Fantasia’, in a way I feel like I should have a medal for bravery or something. We all make our mistakes, I know, but it was an honest mistake. But this, this is too much.”

“I’m well aware of the high ideals that this award symbolizes, and I sort of feel like I should rededicate myself to those ideals. I’ve been through a very trying year, the toughest year. I hope there’s never another one like it. And coming after that year, I sort of feel, I’d like to feel that it’s more than an award for past conscientious efforts, honest mistakes. I like to feel that it’s sort of a vote of a confidence for the future. And I want to thank the members of the Academy, my friends, everybody. Thank you.”

The Disney movie Lend a Paw had won in the Short Subject (Cartoon) category earlier that night, and Fantasia had received two Special Awards: one for music and one for sound innovations. To note, Fantasia‘s soundtrack was recorded using several audio channels and reproduced with Fantasound, a pioneering sound system invented by Disney and RCA that made Fantasia the first commercial picture exhibited in stereo and a precursor to surround sound.

All of Walt Disney’s Oscar wins

• 1932 – Best Short Subject (Cartoon): Flowers and Trees
• 1934 – Best Short Subject (Cartoon): Three Little Pigs
• 1935 – Best Short Subject (Cartoon): The Tortoise and the Hare
• 1936 – Best Short Subject (Cartoon): Three Orphan Kittens
• 1937 – Best Short Subject (Cartoon): The Country Cousin
• 1938 – Best Short Subject (Cartoon): The Old Mill
• 1939 – Best Short Subject (Cartoon): Ferdinand and the Bull
• 1940 – Best Short Subject (Cartoon): The Ugly Duckling
• 1942 – Best Short Subject (Cartoon): Lend a Paw
• 1943 – Best Short Subject (Cartoon): Der Fuehrer’s Face
• 1949 – Best Short Subject (Two-reel): Seal Island
• 1951 – Best Short Subject (Two-reel): In Beaver Valley
• 1952 – Best Short Subject (Two-reel): Nature’s Half Acre
• 1953 – Best Short Subject (Two-reel): Water Birds
• 1954 – Best Documentary (Feature): The Living Desert
• 1954 – Best Documentary (Short Subject): The Alaskan Eskimo
• 1954 – Best Short Subject (Cartoon): Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom
• 1954 – Best Short Subject (Two-reel): Bear Country
• 1955 – Best Documentary (Feature): The Vanishing Prairie
• 1956 – Best Documentary (Short Subject): Men Against the Arctic
• 1959 – Best Short Subject (Live Action): Grand Canyon
• 1969 – Best Short Subject (Cartoon): Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day

Hosted by Conan O’Brien, the 97th Academy Awards 2025 ceremony will be broadcast on ABC on Sunday, March 2nd.