From Ben-Hur to The Silence of the Lambs, movies rooted in literature have captivated audiences for decades. The Academy must be enthralled by these films as well, because two-thirds of Oscar Best Picture winners have been adapted from literary sources.
Moonlight’s dramatic win made it the 60th literary movie to earn the award, so we decided to list every winning title inspired by a book, short story, play or epic poem (here’s looking at you, Braveheart). Enjoy diving back in time through 80+ years of Oscar history.
Moonlight
Based on: “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue” (play) by Tarell Alvin McCraney
Directed by: Barry Jenkins
Starring: Trevante Rhodes, André Holland, Janelle Monáe, Naomie Harris, Mahershala Ali
Year Awarded Best Picture: 2017 (89th Academy Awards Ceremony)
12 Years a Slave
Based on: Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
Directed by: Steve McQueen
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong’o
Year Awarded Best Picture: 2014 (86th Ceremony)
Argo
Based on: The Master of Disguise by Antonio J. Mendez and “The Great Escape” (Wired article) by Joshuah Bearman
Directed by: Ben Affleck
Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin
Year Awarded Best Picture: 2013 (85th Ceremony)
Slumdog Millionaire
Based on: Q & A by Vikas Swarup
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Starring: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Irrfan Khan
Year Awarded Best Picture: 2009 (81st Ceremony)
No Country for Old Men
Based on: No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Directed by: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin
Year Awarded Best Picture: 2008 (80th Ceremony)
Million Dollar Baby
Based on: Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner by F.X. Toole
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman
Year Awarded Best Picture: 2005 (77th Ceremony)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Based on: The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen
Year Awarded Best Picture: 2004 (76th Ceremony)
Chicago
Based on: Chicago (musical) by Fred Ebb, Bob Foss and John Kander, which was based on Chicago (play) by Maurine Dallas Watkins
Directed by: Rob Marshall
Starring: Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere
Year Awarded Best Picture: 2003 (75th Ceremony)
A Beautiful Mind
Based on: A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
Directed by: Ron Howard
Starring: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly
Year Awarded Best Picture: 2002 (74th Ceremony)
The English Patient
Based on: The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Directed by: Anthony Minghella
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1997 (69th Ceremony)
Braveheart
Based on: The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace (epic poem) by Blind Harry
Directed by: Mel Gibson
Starring: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1996 (68th Ceremony)
Forrest Gump
Based on: Forrest Gump by Winston Groom
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1995 (67th Ceremony)
Schindler’s List
Based on: Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes
Year Awarded Best Picture:1994 (66th Ceremony)
The Silence of the Lambs
Based on: The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1992 (64th Ceremony)
Dances with Wolves
Based on: Dances with Wolves by Michael Blake
Directed by: Kevin Costner
Starring: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1991 (63rd Ceremony)
Driving Miss Daisy
Based on: Driving Miss Daisy (play) by Alfred Uhry
Directed by: Bruce Beresford
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy, Dan Aykroyd
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1990 (62nd Ceremony)
The Last Emperor
Based on: From Emperor to Citizen: The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi by Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi
Directed by: Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring: John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O’Toole
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1988 (60th Ceremony)
Out of Africa
Based on: Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen; Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Story Teller by Judith Thurman; Silence Will Speak: A Study of the Life of Denys Finch Hatton and His Relationship with Karen Blixen by Errol Trzebinski
Directed by: Sydney Pollack
Starring: Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1986 (58th Ceremony)
Amadeus
Based on: Amadeus (play) by Peter Shaffer
Directed by: Miloš Forman
Starring: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1985 (57th Ceremony)
Terms of Endearment
Based on: Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurty
Directed by: James L. Brooks
Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1984 (56th Ceremony)
Ordinary People
Based on: Ordinary People by Judith Guest
Directed by: Robert Redford
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1981 (53rd Ceremony)
Kramer vs. Kramer
Based on: Kramer vs. Kramer by Avery Corman
Directed by: Robert Benton
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1980 (52nd Ceremony)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Based on: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
Directed by: Miloš Forman
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1976 (48th Ceremony)
The Godfather Part II
Based on: The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1975 (47th Ceremony)
The Godfather
Based on: The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1973 (45th Ceremony)
The French Connection
Based on: The French Connection by Robin Moore
Directed by: William Friedkin
Starring: Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1972 (44th Ceremony)
Patton
Based on: Patton: Ordeal and Triumph by Ladislas Farago; A Soldier’s Story by Omar N. Bradley
Directed by: Franklin J. Schaffner
Starring: George C. Scott, Karl Malden
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1971 (43rd Ceremony)
Midnight Cowboy
Based on: Midnight Cowboy by James Leo Herlihy
Directed by: John Schlesinger
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1970 (42nd Ceremony)
Oliver!
Based on: Oliver! (musical) by Lionel Bart, which was based on Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Directed by: Carol Reed
Starring: Ron Moody, Oliver Reed, Harry Secombe
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1969 (41st Ceremony)
In the Heat of the Night
Based on: In the Heat of the Night by John Ball
Directed by: Norman Jewison
Starring: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1968 (40th Ceremony)
A Man for All Seasons
Based on: A Man for All Seasons (play) by Robert Bolt
Directed by: Fred Zinnemann
Starring: Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1967 (39th Ceremony)
The Sound of Music
Based on: The Sound of Music (musical) by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, which was based on The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp
Directed by: Robert Wise
Starring: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1966 (38th Ceremony)
My Fair Lady
Based on: My Fair Lady (musical) by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, which was based on Pygmalion (play) by George Bernard Shaw
Directed by: George Cukor
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1965 (37th Ceremony)
Tom Jones
Based on: The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
Directed by: Tony Richardson
Starring: Albert Finney, Susannah York, Hugh Griffith
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1964 (36th Ceremony)
Lawrence of Arabia
Based on: Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence
Directed by: David Lean
Starring: Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn
Year Awarded Best Picture: 1963 (35th Ceremony)
West Side Story
Based on: West Side Story (musical) by Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents, which was based on Romeo and Juliet (play) by William Shakespeare
Directed by: Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins
Starring: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno
Year Awarded Best Motion Picture*: 1962 (34th Ceremony)
*Award title change.
Ben-Hur
Based on: Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace
Directed by: William Wyler
Starring: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet
Year Awarded Best Motion Picture: 1960 (32nd Ceremony)
Gigi
Based on: Gigi (novella) by Colette
Directed by: Vincente Minnelli
Starring: Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan, Maurice Chevalier
Year Awarded Best Motion Picture: 1959 (31st Ceremony)
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Based on: The Bridge Over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle
Directed by: David Lean
Starring: William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Alec Guinness
Year Awarded Best Motion Picture: 1958 (30th Ceremony)
Around the World in 80 Days
Based on: Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Directed by: Michael Anderson
Starring: David Niven, Cantinflas, Shirley MacLaine
Year Awarded Best Motion Picture: 1957 (29th Ceremony)
From Here to Eternity
Based on: From Here to Eternity by James Jones
Directed by: Fred Zinnemann
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra
Year Awarded Best Motion Picture: 1954 (26th Ceremony)
All About Eve
Based on: “The Wisdom of Eve” (short story) by Mary Orr
Directed by: Joseph L Mankiewicz
Starring: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders
Year Awarded Best Motion Picture: 1951 (23rd Ceremony)
All the King’s Men
Based on: All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
Directed by: Robert Rossen
Starring: Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Mercedes McCambridge
Year Awarded Best Motion Picture: 1950 (22nd Ceremony)
Hamlet
Based on: Hamlet (play) by William Shakespeare
Directed by: Laurence Olivier
Starring: Laurence Olivier
Year Awarded Best Motion Picture: 1949 (21st Ceremony)
Gentleman’s Agreement
Based on: Gentleman’s Agreement by Laura Z. Hobson
Directed by: Elia Kazan
Starring: Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield
Year Awarded Best Motion Picture: 1948 (20th Ceremony)
The Best Years of Our Lives
Based on: Glory for Me (novella) by MacKinlay Kantor
Directed by: William Wyler
Starring: Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews
Year Awarded Best Motion Picture: 1947 (19th Ceremony)
The Lost Weekend
Based on: The Lost Weekend by Charles R. Jackson
Directed by: Billy Wilder
Starring: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman
Year Awarded Best Motion Picture: 1946 (18th Ceremony)
Casablanca
Based on: Everybody Comes to Rick’s (unproduced play) by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison
Directed by: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid
Year Awarded Outstanding Motion Picture*: 1944 (16th Ceremony)
*Award title change.
Mrs. Miniver
Based on: Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther
Directed by: William Wyler
Starring: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon
Year Awarded Outstanding Motion Picture: 1943 (15th Ceremony)
How Green Was My Valley
Based on: How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn
Directed by: John Ford
Starring: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara, Anna Lee
Year Awarded Outstanding Motion Picture: 1942 (14th Ceremony)
Rebecca
Based on: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine
Year Awarded Outstanding Production*: 1941 (13th Ceremony)
*Award title change.
Gone with the Wind
Based on: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Directed by: Victor Fleming
Starring:Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable
Year Awarded Outstanding Production: 1940 (12th Ceremony)
You Can’t Take It with You
Based on: You Can’t Take It with You (play) by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
Directed by: Frank Capra
Starring: Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Edward Arnold
Year Awarded Outstanding Production: 1939 (11th Ceremony)
The Life of Emile Zola
Based on: Zola and His Time by Matthew Josephson
Directed by: William Dieterle
Starring: Paul Muni, Gloria Holden, Gale Sondergaard
Year Awarded Outstanding Production: 1938 (10th Ceremony)
Mutiny on the Bounty
Based on: Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
Directed by: Frank Lloyd
Starring: Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone
Year Awarded Outstanding Production: 1936 (8th Ceremony)
It Happened One Night
Based on: “Night Bus” (short story) by Samuel Hopkins Adams
Directed by: Frank Capra
Starring: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert
Year Awarded Be Outstanding Production: 1935 (7th Ceremony)
Cavalcade
Based on: Cavalcade (play) by Noël Coward
Directed by: Frank Lloyd
Starring: Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O’Connor
Year Awarded Outstanding Production: 1934 (6th Ceremony)
Grand Hotel
Based on: Grand Hotel (play) by William A. Drake, which was based on Menschen im Hotel by Vicki Baum
Directed by: Edmund Goulding
Starring: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford
Year Awarded Outstanding Production: 1932 (5th Ceremony)
Cimarron
Based on: Cimarron by Edna Ferber
Directed by: Wesley Ruggles
Starring: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne
Year Awarded Outstanding Production: 1931 (4th Ceremony)
All Quiet on the Western Front
Based on: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Directed by: Lewis Milestone
Starring: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim
Year Awarded Outstanding Production: 1930 (3rd Ceremony)