Academy Award for Best Cinematography

Academy Award for Best Cinematography
Presented by	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Country	United States
Official website	http://www.oscars.org

The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.

History

Charles Rosher, the first recipient in 1928

In its first film season, 1927–28, this award (like others such as the acting awards) was not tied to a specific film; all of the work by the nominated cinematographers during the qualifying period was listed after their names. The problem with this system became obvious the first year, since Karl Struss and Charles Rosher were nominated for their work together on Sunrise but three other films shot individually by either Rosher or Struss were also listed as part of the nomination. The second year, 1929, there were no nominations at all, although the Academy has a list of unofficial titles which were under consideration by the Board of Judges. In the third year, 1930, films, not cinematographers, were nominated, and the final award did not show the cinematographer's name.

Finally, for the 1931 awards, the modern system in which individuals are nominated for a single film each was adopted in all profession-related categories. From 1939 to 1967 (with the single exception of 1957), there were also separate awards for color and for black-and-white cinematography. Since then, the only black-and-white film to win is Schindler's List (1993).

Floyd Crosby won the last Academy Award to go to a silent film for Tabu in 1931. Hal Mohr won the only write-in Academy Award ever, in 1935 for A Midsummer Night's Dream. Mohr was also the first person to win for both black-and-white and color cinematography.

No winners are lost, although some of the earliest nominees (and of the unofficial nominees of 1928-29) are lost, including The Devil Dancer (1927), The Magic Flame (1927), and Four Devils (1928). The Right To Love (1930) is incomplete, and Sadie Thompson (1927) is incomplete and partially reconstructed with stills.

Superlatives

Category	Name	Superlative	Year	Notes
Most Awards	Leon Shamroy	4 awards	1942	Awards resulted from 18 nominations
	Joseph Ruttenberg		1958	Awards resulted from 10 nominations
Most Nominations	Leon Shamroy	18 nominations	1965	Nominations resulted in 4 awards
	Charles B. Lang, Jr.		1972	Nominations resulted in 1 award
Oldest Winner	Conrad L. Hall	Award at 76	2002	Hall died just 2 months before the awards ceremony. Hall is also the oldest non-posthumous winner, at age 73, in 1999.
Oldest Nominee	Asakazu Nakai	Nomination at 84	1985	Shared nomination with two others
Youngest Winner	Charles B. Lang, Jr.	Award at 30	1932/33	First nomination, age 28
Youngest Nominee
Most nominations without a win (deceased)	George Folsey	13 nominations
Most nominations without a win (living)	Roger Deakins	9 nominations

Winners and nominees

1920s

• 1927-1928: Charles Rosher and Karl Struss – Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
  • George Barnes – The Devil Dancer
  • George Barnes – The Magic Flame
  • George Barnes – Sadie Thompson
• 1928-1929: Clyde De Vinna – White Shadows in the South Seas
  • John F. Seitz – The Divine Lady
  • Ernest Palmer – 4 Devils
  • Arthur Edeson – In Old Arizona
  • George Barnes – Our Dancing Daughters
  • Ernest Palmer – Street Angel

1930s

• 1929-1930: Joseph T. Rucker and Willard Van der Veer – With Byrd at the South Pole
  • Arthur Edeson – All Quiet on the Western Front
  • William H. Daniels – Anna Christie
  • Tony Gaudio and Harry Perry – Hell's Angels
  • Victor Milner – The Love Parade
• 1930-1931: Floyd Crosby – Tabu: A Story of the South Seas
  • Edward Cronjager – Cimarron
  • Lee Garmes – Morocco
  • Charles Lang – The Right to Love
  • Barney McGill – Svengali
• 1931-1932: Lee Garmes – Shanghai Express
  • Ray June – Arrowsmith
  • Karl Struss – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• 1932-1933: Charles Lang – A Farewell to Arms
  • George J. Folsey – Reunion in Vienna
  • Karl Struss – The Sign of the Cross
• 1934: Victor Milner – Cleopatra
  • Charles Rosher – The Affairs of Cellini
  • George J. Folsey – Operator 13
• 1935: Hal Mohr – A Midsummer Night's Dream (the only competitive Academy Award ever given to an unnominated, write-in candidate)
  • Ray June – Barbary Coast
  • Victor Milner – The Crusades
  • Gregg Toland – Les Misérables
• 1936: Tony Gaudio – Anthony Adverse
  • Victor Milner – The General Died at Dawn
  • George J. Folsey – The Gorgeous Hussy

(Special Award presented to W. Howard Greene and Harold Rosson for the color cinematography of The Garden of Allah)

• 1937: Karl Freund – The Good Earth
  • Gregg Toland – Dead End
  • Joseph A. Valentine – Wings Over Honolulu

(Upon recommendation of a committee of cinematographers, a Special Award is presented to W. Howard Greene for the color cinematography of A Star is Born)

• 1938: Joseph Ruttenberg – The Great Waltz
  • James Wong Howe – Algiers
  • Ernest Miller and Harry J. Wild – Army Girl
  • Victor Milner – The Buccaneer
  • Ernest Haller – Jezebel
  • Joseph A. Valentine – Mad About Music
  • Norbert Brodine – Merrily We Live
  • J. Peverell Marley – Suez
  • Robert De Grasse – Vivacious Lady
  • Joseph Walker – You Can't Take It With You
  • Leon Shamroy – The Young in Heart

(Special Award presented to Oliver Marsh and Allen Davey for the color cinematography of Sweethearts)
From 1939, there were separate awards for Black and White and for Color:

• 1939 (Black-and-White): Gregg Toland – Wuthering Heights
  • Joseph A. Valentine – First Love
  • Victor Milner – The Great Victor Herbert
  • Joseph H. August – Gunga Din
  • Gregg Toland – Intermezzo: A Love Story
  • Tony Gaudio – Juarez
  • Norbert Brodine – Lady of the Tropics
  • Joseph Walker – Only Angels Have Wings
  • Bert Glennon – Stagecoach
  • Arthur C. Miller – The Rains Came
• 1939 (Color): Ernest Haller and Ray Rennahan – Gone with the Wind
  • Ray Rennahan and Bert Glennon – Drums Along the Mohawk
  • Georges Périnal and Osmond Borradaile – The Four Feathers
  • William V. Skall – The Mikado
  • Sol Polito and W. Howard Greene – The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
  • Harold Rosson – The Wizard of Oz

1940s

• 1940 (Black-and-White): George Barnes – Rebecca
  • James Wong Howe – Abe Lincoln in Illinois
  • Ernest Haller – All This, and Heaven Too
  • Charles Lang – Arise, My Love
  • Harold Rosson – Boom Town
  • Rudolph Maté – Foreign Correspondent
  • Tony Gaudio – The Letter
  • Gregg Toland – The Long Voyage Home
  • Joseph A. Valentine – Spring Parade
  • Tony Gaudio – Waterloo Bridge
• 1940 (Color): Georges Périnal – The Thief of Bagdad
  • Oliver T. Marsh and Allen M. Davey – Bitter Sweet
  • Arthur C. Miller and Ray Rennahan – The Blue Bird
  • Leon Shamroy and Ray Rennahan – Down Argentine Way
  • Victor Milner and W. Howard Greene – North West Mounted Police
  • Sidney Wagner and William V. Skall – Northwest Passage
• 1941 (Black-and-White): Arthur C. Miller – How Green Was My Valley
  • Karl Freund – The Chocolate Soldier
  • Gregg Toland – Citizen Kane
  • Joseph Ruttenberg – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
  • Joseph Walker – Here Comes Mr. Jordan
  • Leo Tover – Hold Back the Dawn
  • Sol Polito – Sergeant York
  • Edward Cronjager – Sun Valley Serenade
  • Charles Lang – Sundown
  • Rudolph Maté – That Hamilton Woman
• 1941 (Color): Ernest Palmer and Ray Rennahan – Blood and Sand
  • Wilfred M. Cline, Karl Struss and William E. Snyder – Aloma of the South Seas
  • William V. Skall and Leonard Smith – Billy the Kid
  • Karl Freund and W. Howard Greene – Blossoms in the Dust
  • Bert Glennon – Dive Bomber
  • Harry Hallenberger and Ray Rennahan – Louisiana Purchase
• 1942 (Black-and-White): Joseph Ruttenberg – Mrs. Miniver
  • James Wong Howe – Kings Row
  • Stanley Cortez – The Magnificent Ambersons
  • Charles G. Clarke – Moontide
  • Edward Cronjager – The Pied Piper
  • Rudolph Maté – The Pride of the Yankees
  • John J. Mescall – Take a Letter, Darling
  • Ted Tetzlaff – The Talk of the Town
  • Leon Shamroy – Ten Gentlemen from West Point
  • Arthur C. Miller – This Above All
• 1942 (Color): Leon Shamroy – The Black Swan
  • Milton R. Krasner, William V. Skall and W. Howard Greene – Arabian Nights
  • Sol Polito – Captains of the Clouds
  • W. Howard Greene – Jungle Book
  • Victor Milner and William V. Skall – Reap the Wild Wind
  • Edward Cronjager and William V. Skall – To the Shores of Tripoli
• 1943 (Black-and-White): Arthur C. Miller – The Song of Bernadette
  • James Wong Howe, Elmer Dyer and Charles A. Marshall – Air Force
  • Arthur Edeson – Casablanca
  • Tony Gaudio – Corvette K-225
  • John F. Seitz – Five Graves to Cairo
  • Harry Stradling – The Human Comedy
  • Joseph Ruttenberg – Madame Curie
  • James Wong Howe – The North Star
  • Rudolph Maté – Sahara
  • Charles Lang – So Proudly We Hail!
• 1943 (Color): Hal Mohr and W. Howard Greene – Phantom of the Opera
  • Ray Rennahan – For Whom the Bell Tolls
  • Edward Cronjager – Heaven Can Wait
  • Charles G. Clarke and Allen M. Davey – Hello, Frisco, Hello
  • Leonard Smith – Lassie Come Home
  • George J. Folsey – Thousands Cheer
• 1944 (Black-and-White): Joseph LaShelle – Laura
  • John F. Seitz – Double Indemnity
  • Sidney Wagner – Dragon Seed
  • Joseph Ruttenberg – Gaslight
  • Lionel Lindon – Going My Way
  • Glen MacWilliams – Lifeboat
  • Stanley Cortez and Lee Garmes – Since You Went Away
  • Robert Surtees and Harold Rosson – Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
  • Charles Lang – The Uninvited
  • George J. Folsey – The White Cliffs of Dover
• 1944 (Color): Leon Shamroy – Wilson
  • Rudolph Maté and Allen M. Davey – Cover Girl
  • Edward Cronjager – Home in Indiana
  • Charles Rosher – Kismet
  • Ray Rennahan – Lady in the Dark
  • George J. Folsey – Meet Me in St. Louis
• 1945 (Black-and-White): Harry Stradling – The Picture of Dorian Gray
  • Arthur C. Miller – The Keys of the Kingdom
  • John F. Seitz – The Lost Weekend
  • Ernest Haller – Mildred Pierce
  • George Barnes – Spellbound
• 1945 (Color): Leon Shamroy – Leave Her to Heaven
  • Robert H. Planck and Charles P. Boyle – Anchors Aweigh
  • Leonard Smith – National Velvet
  • Tony Gaudio and Allen M. Davey – A Song to Remember
  • George Barnes – The Spanish Main
• 1946 (Black-and-White): Arthur C. Miller – Anna and the King of Siam
  • George J. Folsey – The Green Years
• 1946 (Color): Charles Rosher, Leonard Smith and Arthur E. Arling – The Yearling
  • Joseph Walker – The Jolson Story
• 1947 (Black-and-White): Guy Green – Great Expectations
  • George J. Folsey – Green Dolphin Street
  • Charles Lang – The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
• 1947 (Color): Jack Cardiff – Black Narcissus
  • J. Peverell Marley and William V. Skall – Life with Father
  • Harry Jackson – Mother Wore Tights
• 1948 (Black-and-White): William H. Daniels – The Naked City
  • Charles Lang – A Foreign Affair
  • Nicholas Musuraca – I Remember Mama
  • Ted D. McCord – Johnny Belinda
  • Joseph H. August – Portrait of Jennie (posthumous nomination)
• 1948 (Color): Joseph A. Valentine, William V. Skall and Winton Hoch – Joan of Arc
  • Charles G. Clarke – Green Grass of Wyoming
  • William E. Snyder – The Loves of Carmen
  • Robert H. Planck – The Three Musketeers
• 1949 (Black-and-White): Paul C. Vogel – Battleground
  • Franz Planer – Champion
  • Joseph LaShelle – Come to the Stable
  • Leo Tover – The Heiress
  • Leon Shamroy – Prince of Foxes
• 1949 (Color): Winton Hoch – She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
  • Harry Stradling – The Barkleys of Broadway
  • William E. Snyder – Jolson Sings Again
  • Robert H. Planck and Charles Schoenbaum – Little Women
  • Charles G. Clarke – Sand

1950s

• 1950 (Black-and-White): Robert Krasker – The Third Man
  • Milton R. Krasner – All About Eve
  • Harold Rosson – The Asphalt Jungle
  • Victor Milner – The Furies
  • John F. Seitz – Sunset Boulevard
• 1950 (Color): Robert Surtees – King Solomon's Mines
  • Charles Rosher – Annie Get Your Gun
  • Ernest Palmer – Broken Arrow
  • Ernest Haller – The Flame and the Arrow
  • George Barnes – Samson and Delilah
• 1951 (Black-and-White): William C. Mellor – A Place in the Sun
  • Franz Planer – Death of a Salesman
  • Norbert Brodine – The Frogmen
  • Robert Burks – Strangers on a Train
  • Harry Stradling – A Streetcar Named Desire
• 1951 (Color): Alfred Gilks and John Alton – An American in Paris
  • Leon Shamroy – David and Bathsheba
  • Robert Surtees and William V. Skall – Quo Vadis
  • Charles Rosher – Show Boat
  • John F. Seitz and W. Howard Greene – When Worlds Collide
• 1952 (Black-and-White): Robert Surtees – The Bad and the Beautiful
  • Russell Harlan – The Big Sky
  • Joseph LaShelle – My Cousin Rachel
  • Virgil Miller – Navajo
  • Charles Lang – Sudden Fear
• 1952 (Color): Winton Hoch and Archie Stout – The Quiet Man
  • Harry Stradling – Hans Christian Andersen
  • Freddie Young – Ivanhoe
  • George J. Folsey – Million Dollar Mermaid
  • Leon Shamroy – The Snows of Kilimanjaro
• 1953 (Black-and-White): Burnett Guffey – From Here to Eternity
  • Hal Mohr – The Four Poster
  • Joseph Ruttenberg – Julius Caesar
  • Joseph C. Brun – Martin Luther
  • Franz Planer and Henri Alekan – Roman Holiday
• 1953 (Color): Loyal Griggs – Shane
  • George J. Folsey – All the Brothers Were Valiant
  • Edward Cronjager – Beneath the 12-Mile Reef
  • Robert H. Planck – Lili
  • Leon Shamroy – The Robe
• 1954 (Black-and-White): Boris Kaufman – On the Waterfront
  • John F. Warren – The Country Girl
  • George J. Folsey – Executive Suite
  • John F. Seitz – Rogue Cop
  • Charles Lang – Sabrina
• 1954 (Color): Milton R. Krasner – Three Coins in the Fountain
  • Leon Shamroy – The Egyptian
  • Robert Burks – Rear Window
  • George J. Folsey – Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
  • William V. Skall – The Silver Chalice
• 1955 (Black-and-White): James Wong Howe – The Rose Tattoo
  • Russell Harlan – Blackboard Jungle
  • Arthur E. Arling – I'll Cry Tomorrow
  • Joseph LaShelle – Marty
  • Charles Lang – Queen Bee
• 1955 (Color): Robert Burks – To Catch a Thief
  • Harry Stradling – Guys and Dolls
  • Leon Shamroy – Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
  • Harold Lipstein – A Man Called Peter
  • Robert Surtees – Oklahoma!
• 1956 (Black-and-White): Joseph Ruttenberg – Somebody Up There Likes Me
  • Boris Kaufman – Baby Doll
  • Harold Rosson – The Bad Seed
  • Burnett Guffey – The Harder They Fall
  • Walter Strenge – Stagecoach to Fury
• 1956 (Color): Lionel Lindon – Around the World in 80 Days
  • Harry Stradling – The Eddy Duchin Story
  • Leon Shamroy – The King and I
  • Loyal Griggs – The Ten Commandments
  • Jack Cardiff – War and Peace

For 1957, there was a single award:

• 1957: Jack Hildyard – The Bridge on the River Kwai
  • Milton R. Krasner – An Affair to Remember
  • Ray June – Funny Face
  • William C. Mellor – Peyton Place
  • Ellsworth Fredericks – Sayonara

From 1958, there were separate awards for Black and White and for Color again:

• 1958 (Black-and-White): Sam Leavitt – The Defiant Ones
  • Daniel L. Fapp – Desire Under the Elms
  • Lionel Lindon – I Want to Live!
  • Charles Lang – Separate Tables
  • Joseph MacDonald – The Young Lions
• 1958 (Color): Joseph Ruttenberg – Gigi
  • Harry Stradling – Auntie Mame
  • William H. Daniels – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
  • James Wong Howe – The Old Man and the Sea
  • Leon Shamroy – South Pacific
• 1959 (Black-and-White): William C. Mellor – The Diary of Anne Frank
  • Sam Leavitt – Anatomy of a Murder
  • Joseph LaShelle – Career
  • Charles Lang – Some Like It Hot
  • Harry Stradling – The Young Philadelphians
• 1959 (Color): Robert Surtees – Ben-Hur
  • Lee Garmes – The Big Fisherman
  • Daniel L. Fapp – The Five Pennies
  • Franz Planer – The Nun's Story
  • Leon Shamroy – Porgy and Bess

1960s

• 1960 (Black-and-White): Freddie Francis – Sons and Lovers
  • Joseph LaShelle – The Apartment
  • Charles Lang – The Facts of Life
  • Ernest Laszlo – Inherit the Wind
  • John L. Russell – Psycho
• 1960 (Color): Russell Metty – Spartacus
  • William H. Clothier – The Alamo
  • Joseph Ruttenberg and Charles Harten – BUtterfield 8
  • Sam Leavitt – Exodus
  • Joseph MacDonald – Pepe
• 1961 (Black-and-White): Eugen Schüfftan – The Hustler
  • Edward Colman – The Absent-Minded Professor
  • Franz Planer – The Children's Hour
  • Ernest Laszlo – Judgment at Nuremberg
  • Daniel L. Fapp – One, Two, Three
• 1961 (Color): Daniel L. Fapp – West Side Story
  • Jack Cardiff – Fanny
  • Russell Metty – Flower Drum Song
  • Harry Stradling – A Majority of One
  • Charles Lang – One-Eyed Jacks
• 1962 (Black-and-White): Jean Bourgoin and Walter Wottitz – The Longest Day
  • Burnett Guffey – Birdman of Alcatraz
  • Russell Harlan – To Kill a Mockingbird
  • Ted D. McCord – Two for the Seesaw
  • Ernest Haller – What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
• 1962 (Color): Freddie Young – Lawrence of Arabia
  • Harry Stradling – Gypsy
  • Russell Harlan – Hatari!
  • Robert Surtees – Mutiny on the Bounty
  • Paul Vogel – The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
• 1963 (Black-and-White): James Wong Howe – Hud
  • George J. Folsey – The Balcony
  • Lucien Ballard – The Caretakers
  • Ernest Haller – Lilies of the Field
  • Milton R. Krasner – Love with the Proper Stranger
• 1963 (Color): Leon Shamroy – Cleopatra
  • Leon Shamroy – The Cardinal
  • William H. Daniels, Milton R. Krasner, Charles Lang and Joseph LaShelle – How the West Was Won
  • Joseph LaShelle – Irma la Douce
  • Ernest Laszlo – It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
• 1964 (Black-and-White): Walter Lassally – Zorba the Greek
  • Philip H. Lathrop – The Americanization of Emily
  • Milton R. Krasner – Fate Is the Hunter
  • Joseph F. Biroc – Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
  • Gabriel Figueroa – The Night of the Iguana
• 1964 (Color): Harry Stradling – My Fair Lady
  • Geoffrey Unsworth – Becket
  • William H. Clothier – Cheyenne Autumn
  • Edward Colman – Mary Poppins
  • Daniel L. Fapp – The Unsinkable Molly Brown
• 1965 (Black-and-White): Ernest Laszlo – Ship of Fools
  • Loyal Griggs – In Harm's Way
  • Burnett Guffey – King Rat
  • Conrad Hall – Morituri
  • Robert Burks – A Patch of Blue
• 1965 (Color): Freddie Young – Doctor Zhivago
  • Leon Shamroy – The Agony and the Ecstasy
  • Russell Harlan – The Great Race
  • William C. Mellor and Loyal Griggs – The Greatest Story Ever Told
  • Ted D. McCord – The Sound of Music
• 1966 (Black-and-White): Haskell Wexler – Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
  • Joseph LaShelle – The Fortune Cookie
  • Kenneth Higgins – Georgy Girl
  • Marcel Grignon – Is Paris Burning?
  • James Wong Howe – Seconds
• 1966 (Color): Ted Moore – A Man for All Seasons
  • Ernest Laszlo – Fantastic Voyage
  • Russell Harlan – Hawaii
  • Conrad Hall – The Professionals
  • Joseph MacDonald – The Sand Pebbles

From 1967, there was a single award again:

• 1967: Burnett Guffey – Bonnie and Clyde
  • Richard H. Kline – Camelot
  • Robert Surtees – Doctor Dolittle
  • Robert Surtees – The Graduate
  • Conrad Hall – In Cold Blood
• 1968: Pasqualino De Santis – Romeo and Juliet
  • Harry Stradling – Funny Girl
  • Daniel L. Fapp – Ice Station Zebra
  • Oswald Morris – Oliver!
  • Ernest Laszlo – Star!
• 1969: Conrad Hall – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  • Arthur Ibbetson – Anne of the Thousand Days
  • Charles Lang – Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
  • Harry Stradling – Hello, Dolly! (posthumous nomination)
  • Daniel L. Fapp – Marooned

1970s

• 1970: Freddie Young – Ryan's Daughter
  • Fred J. Koenekamp – Patton
  • Ernest Laszlo – Airport
  • Osami Furuya, Sinsaku Himeda, Masamichi Satoh and Charles F. Wheeler – Tora! Tora! Tora!
  • Billy Williams – Women in Love
• 1971: Oswald Morris – Fiddler on the Roof
  • Owen Roizman – The French Connection
  • Robert Surtees – The Last Picture Show
  • Freddie Young – Nicholas and Alexandra
  • Robert Surtees – Summer of '42
• 1972: Geoffrey Unsworth – Cabaret
  • Harry Stradling, Jr. – 1776
  • Charles Lang – Butterflies Are Free
  • Harold E. Stine – The Poseidon Adventure
  • Douglas Slocombe – Travels with My Aunt
• 1973: Sven Nykvist – Cries and Whispers
  • Owen Roizman – The Exorcist
  • Jack Couffer – Jonathan Livingston Seagull
  • Robert Surtees – The Sting
  • Harry Stradling, Jr. – The Way We Were
• 1974: Fred J. Koenekamp and Joseph F. Biroc – The Towering Inferno
  • John A. Alonzo – Chinatown
  • Philip H. Lathrop – Earthquake
  • Bruce Surtees – Lenny
  • Geoffrey Unsworth – Murder on the Orient Express
• 1975: John Alcott – Barry Lyndon
  • Conrad Hall – The Day of the Locust
  • James Wong Howe – Funny Lady
  • Robert Surtees – The Hindenburg
  • Haskell Wexler and Bill Butler – One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
• 1976: Haskell Wexler – Bound for Glory
  • Richard H. Kline – King Kong
  • Ernest Laszlo – Logan's Run
  • Owen Roizman – Network
  • Robert Surtees – A Star Is Born
• 1977: Vilmos Zsigmond – Close Encounters of the Third Kind
  • Fred J. Koenekamp – Islands in the Stream
  • Douglas Slocombe – Julia
  • William A. Fraker – Looking for Mr. Goodbar
  • Robert Surtees – The Turning Point
• 1978: Néstor Almendros – Days of Heaven
  • Vilmos Zsigmond – The Deer Hunter
  • William A. Fraker – Heaven Can Wait
  • Robert Surtees – Same Time, Next Year
  • Oswald Morris – The Wiz
• 1979: Vittorio Storaro – Apocalypse Now
  • William A. Fraker – 1941
  • Giuseppe Rotunno – All That Jazz
  • Frank Phillips – The Black Hole
  • Néstor Almendros – Kramer vs. Kramer

1980s

• 1980: Geoffrey Unsworth (posthumous award) and Ghislain Cloquet – Tess
  • Néstor Almendros – The Blue Lagoon
  • Ralf D. Bode – Coal Miner's Daughter
  • James Crabe – The Formula
  • Michael Chapman – Raging Bull
• 1981: Vittorio Storaro – Reds
  • Alex Thomson – Excalibur
  • Billy Williams – On Golden Pond
  • Miroslav Ondříček – Ragtime
  • Douglas Slocombe – Raiders of the Lost Ark
• 1982: Billy Williams and Ronnie Taylor – Gandhi
  • Jost Vacano – Das Boot
  • Allen Daviau – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
  • Néstor Almendros – Sophie's Choice
  • Owen Roizman – Tootsie
• 1983: Sven Nykvist – Fanny and Alexander
  • Don Peterman – Flashdance
  • Caleb Deschanel – The Right Stuff
  • William A. Fraker – WarGames
  • Gordon Willis – Zelig
• 1984: Chris Menges – The Killing Fields
  • Miroslav Ondříček – Amadeus
  • Caleb Deschanel – The Natural
  • Ernest Day – A Passage to India
  • Vilmos Zsigmond – The River
• 1985: David Watkin – Out of Africa
  • Allen Daviau – The Color Purple
  • William A. Fraker – Murphy's Romance
  • Takao Saito, Masaharu Ueda and Asakazu Nakai – Ran
  • John Seale – Witness
• 1986: Chris Menges – The Mission
  • Jordan Cronenweth – Peggy Sue Got Married
  • Robert Richardson – Platoon
  • Tony Pierce-Roberts – A Room with a View
  • Don Peterman – Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• 1987: Vittorio Storaro – The Last Emperor
  • Michael Ballhaus – Broadcast News
  • Allen Daviau – Empire of the Sun
  • Philippe Rousselot – Hope and Glory
  • Haskell Wexler – Matewan
• 1988: Peter Biziou – Mississippi Burning
  • John Seale – Rain Man
  • Conrad Hall – Tequila Sunrise
  • Sven Nykvist – The Unbearable Lightness of Being
  • Dean Cundey – Who Framed Roger Rabbit
• 1989: Freddie Francis – Glory
  • Mikael Salomon – The Abyss
  • Haskell Wexler – Blaze
  • Robert Richardson – Born on the Fourth of July
  • Michael Ballhaus – The Fabulous Baker Boys

1990s

• 1990: Dean Semler – Dances with Wolves
  • Allen Daviau – Avalon
  • Vittorio Storaro – Dick Tracy
  • Gordon Willis – The Godfather Part III
  • Philippe Rousselot – Henry & June
• 1991: Robert Richardson – JFK
  • Allen Daviau – Bugsy
  • Stephen Goldblatt – The Prince of Tides
  • Adam Greenberg – Terminator 2: Judgment Day
  • Adrian Biddle – Thelma & Louise
• 1992: Philippe Rousselot – A River Runs Through It
  • Stephen H. Burum – Hoffa
  • Tony Pierce-Roberts – Howards End
  • Robert Fraisse – The Lover
  • Jack N. Green – Unforgiven
• 1993: Janusz Kamiński – Schindler's List
  • Gu Changwei – Farewell My Concubine
  • Michael Chapman – The Fugitive
  • Stuart Dryburgh – The Piano
  • Conrad Hall – Searching for Bobby Fischer
• 1994: John Toll – Legends of the Fall
  • Don Burgess – Forrest Gump
  • Roger Deakins – The Shawshank Redemption
  • Piotr Sobociński – Three Colors: Red
  • Owen Roizman – Wyatt Earp
• 1995: John Toll – Braveheart
  • Stephen Goldblatt – Batman Forever
  • Emmanuel Lubezki – A Little Princess
  • Michael Coulter – Sense and Sensibility
  • Lü Yue – Shanghai Triad
• 1996: John Seale – The English Patient
  • Darius Khondji – Evita
  • Roger Deakins – Fargo
  • Caleb Deschanel – Fly Away Home
  • Chris Menges – Michael Collins
• 1997: Russell Carpenter – Titanic
  • Janusz Kamiński – Amistad
  • Roger Deakins – Kundun
  • Dante Spinotti – L.A. Confidential
  • Eduardo Serra – The Wings of the Dove
• 1998: Janusz Kamiński – Saving Private Ryan
  • Conrad Hall – A Civil Action
  • Remi Adefarasin – Elizabeth
  • Richard Greatrex – Shakespeare in Love
  • John Toll – The Thin Red Line
• 1999: Conrad Hall – American Beauty
  • Roger Pratt – The End of the Affair
  • Dante Spinotti – The Insider
  • Emmanuel Lubezki – Sleepy Hollow
  • Robert Richardson – Snow Falling on Cedars

2000s

• 2000: Peter Pau – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  • John Mathieson – Gladiator
  • Lajos Koltai – Malèna
  • Roger Deakins – O Brother, Where Art Thou?
  • Caleb Deschanel – The Patriot
• 2001: Andrew Lesnie – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
  • Bruno Delbonnel – Amélie
  • Sławomir Idziak – Black Hawk Down
  • Roger Deakins – The Man Who Wasn't There
  • Donald McAlpine – Moulin Rouge!
• 2002: Conrad Hall – Road to Perdition (posthumous award)
  • Dion Beebe – Chicago
  • Edward Lachman – Far from Heaven
  • Michael Ballhaus – Gangs of New York
  • Paweł Edelman – The Pianist
• 2003: Russell Boyd – Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
  • César Charlone – City of God
  • John Seale – Cold Mountain
  • Eduardo Serra – Girl with a Pearl Earring
  • John Schwartzman – Seabiscuit
• 2004: Robert Richardson – The Aviator
  • Zhao Xiaoding – House of Flying Daggers
  • Caleb Deschanel – The Passion of the Christ
  • John Mathieson – The Phantom of the Opera
  • Bruno Delbonnel – A Very Long Engagement
• 2005: Dion Beebe – Memoirs of a Geisha
  • Wally Pfister – Batman Begins
  • Rodrigo Prieto – Brokeback Mountain
  • Robert Elswit – Good Night, and Good Luck
  • Emmanuel Lubezki – The New World
• 2006: Guillermo Navarro – Pan's Labyrinth
  • Vilmos Zsigmond – The Black Dahlia
  • Emmanuel Lubezki – Children of Men
  • Dick Pope – The Illusionist
  • Wally Pfister – The Prestige
• 2007: Robert Elswit – There Will Be Blood
  • Roger Deakins – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
  • Seamus McGarvey – Atonement
  • Janusz Kamiński – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
  • Roger Deakins – No Country for Old Men
• 2008: Anthony Dod Mantle – Slumdog Millionaire
  • Tom Stern – Changeling
  • Claudio Miranda – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
  • Wally Pfister – The Dark Knight
  • Roger Deakins and Chris Menges – The Reader
• 2009: Mauro Fiore – Avatar
  • Bruno Delbonnel – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
  • Barry Ackroyd – The Hurt Locker
  • Robert Richardson – Inglourious Basterds
  • Christian Berger – The White Ribbon

2010s

• 2010: Wally Pfister – Inception
  • Matthew Libatique – Black Swan
  • Danny Cohen – The King's Speech
  • Jeff Cronenweth – The Social Network
  • Roger Deakins – True Grit

• 2011: TBD
  • Guillaume Schiffman - The Artist
  • Jeff Cronenweth - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
  • Robert Richardson - Hugo
  • Emmanuel Lubezki - The Tree of Life
  • Janusz Kaminski - War Horse

External links

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences official site
• The Official Academy Awards Database, listing all past nominees and winners