Elton John Becomes the Newest EGOT Winner
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Elton John just became the next member of entertainment's most exclusive club, the EGOT winners. Named for four of the entertainment world's biggest awards, the EGOTs are made up of individuals who have achieved the extremely rare honor of winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award in competitive categories (i.e. without special or honorary awards).
John now joins the ranks of just 19 total people who have ever pulled off an award show superfecta. Here, take a look at every composer, musician, actor, and director to attain the title of EGOT.
Elton John
At the delayed 2023 Emmys, Elton John became the latest to join the club of EGOT winners, winning for Best Variety Special (Live) for Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium.
"It's an honor for my Special to be recognized by the Academy," John said in a statement after his nomination. "My final Dodger Stadium performance was bittersweet and an evening that I will never forget. My team at Rocket Entertainment, the talented Fulwell 73, and everyone at Disney+ went above and beyond to create a magical production, not only for me as I said goodbye to North America, but for my fans all over the world to enjoy for years to come."
He's won five Grammy awards, an Oscar for Best Original Song for "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," and a Tony Award for his Aida score.
Viola Davis
Davis, who already holds the rarified honor of being the first Black woman to receive the trifecta of an Academy Award (for her role in 2016's Fences), an Emmy (in 2015 for How to Get Away With Murder), and a Tony (in Davis's case, two: in the 2001 production of King Hedley II, and in the 2010 production of Fences) won a Grammy for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording.
Davis won for the audio performance of her memoir Finding Me, became the 18th EGOT winner in history. "I wrote this book to honor the 6-year-old Viola — to honor her life, her joy, her trauma, her everything," she said in her acceptance speech. "And it has been such a journey. I just EGOT!"
Jennifer Hudson
Before Davis, the most recent EGOT winner was actress, singer, producer Jennifer Hudson. She made history at the 2022 Tony Awards with her role as a co-producer of A Strange Loop, which took home the trophy for Best Musical. Previously, in 2007, Hudson won an Oscar for her role in Dreamgirls. She has also received two Grammys, one for best R&B album in 2009, and another for best musical theater album for The Color Purple in 2017. And just last year, she won a Daytime Emmy for an animated short called Baba Yag.
Rita Moreno
In 1977, Rita Moreno became the third person ever (and the second woman) to earn a set of EGOTs. She managed it with an Emmy Award for her appearance on The Muppet Show—she would take home a second for The Rockford Files the following year. Two years earlier, in 1975, she had won a Tony for her turn as Googie Gomez in The Ritz, and three years before that had picked up a Grammy for Best Recording for Children with The Electric Company. She won a 1961 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in West Side Story. All told it took her just 16 years to earn all four awards.
Alan Menken
While many remember the composer and songwriter for his contributions to the Disney songbook, Oscar-winning scores for animated classics like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, Menken is also an 11 time Grammy award winner for many of those same, beloved songs, as well as a Tony winner for his score for 2012's Newsies. He completed his EGOT collection in 2020 with an Emmy for Outstanding Original Song in a Children's, Young Adult or Animated Program for Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure.
John Legend
This musician has more than lived up to his stage name, filling out his EGOT collection in 2018 by becoming the first African American man ever to snag all four major creative awards. In addition to his 12 Grammy Awards, including his 2006 win for Best New Artist, Legend added an Oscar to his resume in 2015 for his song "Glory" which was featured in the movie Selma, and a Tony in 2017 as co-producer for the Broadway production of Jitney. His 2018 Emmy came after his work on Jesus Christ Superstar won for outstanding variety special.
Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber
Perhaps best known for his work on smash hit musicals like The Phantom of the Opera and Cats, Webber shares several of his EGOTs with collaborator and fellow EGOT winner Tim Rice, including his 1980 Grammy, 1980 Tony, and 1997 Oscar, all for their work on Evita. Webber has two additional Grammys as well as a Grammy Legend award and a Tony. His most recent trophy, the Emmy, came from his position as a producer on the live, televised Jesus Christ Superstar starring John legend. He was also knighted by the Queen in 1992, which technically makes him Sir EGOT.
Sir Tim Rice
Another knighted EGOT winner, songwriter Rice is responsible for some iconic Disney favorites. Along with his Academy Award, Grammy, and Tony for Evita with Webber, Rice also has an Oscar and a Grammy for his work on Disney's Aladdin, a Grammy and a Tony for his collaboration with Sir Elton John on Aida, and an Academy Award for his contribution to "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from The Lion King. Like Webber and Legend, his Emmy came from his work as a producer for 2018's Jesus Christ Superstar.
Robert Lopez
When Lopez earned his EGOT status with a 2014 Oscar for Frozen's "Let It Go," the then-39 year old was the youngest person ever to earn all four awards. He's since racked up an additional Oscar for his work on the movie Coco, which earned him status as the only person in history ever to hold dual EGOTs, holding at least two awards in each category. His contribution to the children's show Wonder Pets has received two Daytime Emmys, while he received a Grammy in 2012 for The Book of Mormon and another two in 2015 for Frozen. He has also run an impressive streak at the Tonys, taking home Best Original Score awards in 2004 for Avenue Q and in 2011 for The Book of Mormon.
Scott Rudin
Before Rudin, no one had ever earned an EGOT suite for producing. He got his start on the set in 1984 with the Emmy-winning He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin'. It would be another ten years before he would win the next of the EGOT awards with a Tony for 1994's Passion, but from then on there was little stopping this Tony-winning machine, who has garnered a stunning 15 of the statues for his work as a producer on shows including Doubt, the revivals of Fences and Hello, Dolly!, and The Book of Mormon for which he would also earn his Grammy. His Oscar came with 2008's No Country for Old Men.
Whoopi Goldberg
The popular use of the term EGOT owes a lot to Goldberg, who inspired the return of the phrase with a role on the TV show 30 Rock where she joked about whether her Daytime Emmy awards from 2002 and 2009 should count toward the EGOT set. Perhaps surprisingly for such a well known actresss, Goldberg's first of the awards was actually her Grammy in 1985, which she won for Best Comedy Recording. In 1990 she took home a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Ghost. In 2002 she earned a Daytime Emmy for Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel (she'd win her second seven years later as a host on The View) as well as a Tony as co-producer of the Best Musical-winning Thoroughly Modern Millie, making her the first African American ever to complete an EGOT win.
Mike Nichols
Nichols started his EGOT streak with a 1961 Best Comedy Performance Grammy for An Evening With Mike Nichols And Elaine May, but his ensuing awards would come courtesy of his skill as a director. Of his nine Tony awards, eight of them would come for Best Direction including his work on hits like Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple. By 1967, his keen eye earned him an Oscar for Best Director on The Graduate. In 2001 he won his first of four Emmys for his work on Wit, and then in 2004, Angels in America.
Mel Brooks
In 2001, at the age of 74, this legendary comic writer, actor, and director made his way onto the EGOT list with three Tony awards for his musical adaptation of his 1967 film The Producers, which had previously garnered him an Academy Award. The musical would also receive a Grammy, but Brooks already had one of those laying around thanks to his 1999 comedy album The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000. As for Emmys, Brooks has been at it for a while, winning his first in 1967 for writing on The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special and three more in '97, '98, and '99 as a guest actor on Mad About You.
Jonathan Tunick
Clearly a man who enjoys symmetry, Tunick joined the EGOT ranks in 1997 with a Tony award for Best Orchestrations for Titanic—precisely 20 years after he received his first award of the set, a 1977 Oscar for Best Original Song on the film A Little Night Music. Between the two, he earned an Emmy for Music Direction for 1982's Night of 100 Stars and a 1988 Grammy for Best Arrangement on the song “No One is Alone.”
Marvin Hamlisch
Not only does Hamlisch boast more Oscars to his name than anyone else on the EGOT winner list (he has three), in an especially impressive move, he managed to win all three of them in the same year. In 1974 Hamlisch took home two Academy Awards for The Way We Were and an additional one for The Sting; that same year he won his four Grammys. In 1995 his continued work with Barbara Streisand snagged two Emmy awards for Barbra: The Concert. However, it was his earlier work on 1976's A Chorus Line that would earn him not only an EGOT-making Tony award, but also a Pulitzer Prize.
Audrey Hepburn
Sadly, half of Hepburn's EGOTs were awarded posthumously to the iconic actress, but that doesn't make her wins any less impressive. After her Oscar-winning turn in 1953's Roman Holiday, Hepburn swiftly followed up with a Tony for her role in Ondine just a year later. Her Emmy would come in 1993, months after her passing, for her work on the educational program Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn. In 1994 she received a Grammy for her children's album Audrey Hepburn’s Enchanted Tales.
Sir John Gielgud
This famous British actor hold the distinction of being the oldest EGOT winner to complete his award set, getting his Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in Summer’s Lease in 1991 when he was 87. He started his EGOT quest much earlier, winning the first of his two Tonys in 1948 for The Importance of Being Earnest. In 1979 he took home a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Documentary or Drama Recording for Ages of Man, followed by a Best Supporting Actor win in 1981 for the Dudley Moore classic Arthur.
Helen Hayes
The same year that Moreno got her EGOTs, Hayes became the first woman ever to receive the honor (she beat out Moreno by a matter of months.) She started out with the first of two Oscars in 1932 for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (her second would come for Airport in 1970). She earned a Tony in 1947 for her performance in Happy Birthday; another would follow in 1958 for Time Remembered. In 1953 she received an Emmy for Best Actress, but it would take until 1977 for her to win a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for Great American Documents.
Richard Rodgers
Long before there was a term for EGOTs, Rodgers had already earned his, becoming the first person in history to do so in 1962 with his Emmy award for Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years. The acclaimed composer (of Rodgers and Hammerstein fame) began his run with his 1945 Oscar for Best Original Song for "It Might As Well Be Spring" from State Fair. Between 1950 and his death in 1979 he would win eight Tony awards for his work on musicals like South Pacific and The King and I, as well as two Grammy awards—one for The Sound of Music in 1960 and one for No Strings two years later. South Pacific would also win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1950, making Rodgers one of only two people to ever achieve the honor of adding a P to his EGOTs.
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