Best Cinematography Winners

Best Cinematography

This category has evolved over the history of the Academy Awards. The first statue was given to Charles Rosher and Karl Struss for their work on Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. The category would later split, allowing for separate awards for black-and-white and color films to be honored separately. These two categories merged again in 1967, and have remained one award since then. Perhaps no one has dominated this category like Leon Shamroy. This talented cinematographer has earned 18 nominations and won four times. Most recently, Emmanuel Lubezki took home the award for his stunning work on Gravity.

Here are the winners:

1927 – Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

1928 – White Shadows in the South Seas

1929 – With Byrd at the South Pole

1930 – Tabu: A Story of the South Seas

1931 – Shanghai Express

1932 – A Farewell to Arms

1934 – Cleopatra

1935 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

1936 (B&W) – Anthony Adverse

1936 (Color) – The Garden of Allah

1937 (B&W) – The Good Earth

1937 (Color) – A Star is Born

1938 (B&W) – The Great Waltz

1938 (Color) – Sweethearts

1939 (B&W) – Wuthering Heights

1939 (Color) – Gone with the Wind

1940 (B&W) – Rebecca

1940 (Color) – The Thief of Bagdad

1941 (B&W) – How Green Was My Valley

1941 (Color) – Blood and Sand

1942 (B&W) – Mrs. Miniver

1942 (Color) – The Black Swan

1943 (B&W) – The Song of Bernadette

1943 (Color) – Phantom of the Opera

1944 (B&W) – Laura

1944 (Color) – Wilson

1945 (B&W) – The Picture of Dorian Gray

1945 (Color) – Leave Her to Heaven

1946 (B&W) – Anna and the King of Siam

1946 (Color) – The Yearling

1947 (B&W) – Great Expectations

1947 (Color) – Black Narcissus

1948 (B&W) – The Naked City

1948 (Color) – Joan of Arc

1949 (B&W) – Battleground

1949 (Color) – She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

1950 (B&W) – The Third Man

1950 (Color) – King Solomon’s Mines

1951 (B&W) – A Place in the Sun

1951 (Color) – An American in Paris

1952 (B&W) – The Bad and the Beautiful

1952 (Color) – The Quiet Man

1953 (B&W) – From Here to Eternity

1953 (Color) – Shane

1954 (B&W) – On the Waterfront

1954 (Color) – Three Coins in the Fountain

1955 (B&W) – The Rose Tattoo

1955 (Color) – To Catch a Thief

1956 (B&W) – Somebody Up There Likes Me

1956 (Color) – Around the World in 80 Days

In 1957 only one award was given out in a combined category.

1957 – The Bridge on the River Kwai

1958 (B&W) – The Defiant Ones

1958 (Color) – Gigi

1959 (B&W) – The Diary of Anne Frank

1959 (Color) – Ben-Hur

1960 (B&W) – Sons and Lovers

1960 (Color) – Spartacus

1961 (B&W) – The Hustler

1961 (Color) – West Side Story

1962 (B&W) – The Longest Day

1962 (Color) – Lawrence of Arabia

1963 (B&W) – Hud

1963 (Color) – Cleopatra

1964 (B&W) – Zorba the Greek

1964 (Color) – My Fair Lady

1965 (B&W) – Ship of Fools

1965 (Color) – Doctor Zhivago

1966 (B&W) – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

1966 (Color) – A Man for All Seasons

Starting in 1967, the categories were permanently merged.

1967 – Bonnie and Clyde

1968 – Romeo and Juliet

1969 – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

1970 – Ryan’s Daughter

1971 – Fiddler on the Roof

1972 – Cabaret

1973 – Cries and Whispers

1974 – The Towering Inferno

1975 – Barry Lyndon

1976 – Bound for Glory

1977 – Close Encounters of the Third Kind

1978 – Days of Heaven

1979 – Apocalypse Now

1980 – Tess

1981 – Reds

1982 – Gandhi

1983 – Fanny and Alexander

1984 – The Killing Fields

1985 – Out of Africa

1986 – The Mission

1987 – The Last Emperor

1988 – Mississippi Burning

1989 – Glory

1990 – Dances with Wolves

1991 – JFK

1992 – A River Runs Through It

1993 – Schindler’s List

1994 – Legends of the Fall

1995 – Braveheart

1996 – The English Patient

1997 – Titanic

1998 – Saving Private Ryan

1999 – American Beauty

2000 – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

2001 – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2002 – Road to Perdition

2003 – Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

2004 – The Aviator

2005 – Memoirs of a Geisha

2006 – Pan’s Labyrinth

2007 – There Will Be Blood

2008 – Slumdog Millionaire

2009 – Avatar

2010 – Inception

2011 – Hugo

2012 – Life of Pi

2013 – Gravity

2014 – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

2015 – The Revenant

2016 – La La Land