On this 26th day before Oscar, why not sing along to classic tunes co-written by Sam Cahn who received an incredible 26 Oscar nominations. He was so popular in his time that he even posed for pictures like this! Hee.
Yes, dear reader, there are people with more Oscar nominations than Meryl Streep. Not many of them, mind you, and the bulk of them seem to be from the sound or music branches...
MOST NOMINATIONS
- Walt Disney (producer) 56
- John Williams (composer) 50
- Alfred Newman (composer) 45
- Cedric Gibbons (art director) 40
- Edith Head (costume designer) 35
- Edwin B Willis (set decorator) 32
- Lyle Wheeler (art director) 29
- [tie] Sammy Cahn (composer), Max Steiner (composer), Sam Comer 26
- [tie] Hans Dreier (art director), Gordon Hollingshead (producer), Nathan Levinson (sound), Hal Pereira (art director), Dimitri Tiomkin (composer) 23
- Victor Young (composer) 22
- [tie] Woody Allen (writer/director), Thomas Little (set decorator), Andy Nelson (sound), Kevin O'Connell (sound), Walter M Scott, Billy Wilder (writer/director)
- [tie] Meryl Streep (actor), Richard Day (art director), Randy Newman (composer), Douglas Shearer (sound)
Sammy Cahn's most famous song is undoubtedly "Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!" but he had many hits with people like Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, and so on. He won four Oscars for the following movie songs.
"Three Coins in the Fountain" from Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
"All the Way" from The Joker is Wild (1957)
"High Hopes" from A Hole in the Head (1959) - I didn't think I knew this song but I do. It definitely lasted well beyond the 50s.
"Call Me Irresponsible" from Papa's Delicate Condition (1963) - There are so many versions of this online so why not a little Dusty Springfield?
But he was also nominated for two of the all time best opening credit song sequences from Written on the Wind (1956) and Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
And yes we will be celebrating Thoroughly Modern Millie's 50th anniversary next month.