Actress Viola Davis became the 18th person to join the EGOT club with a win at the Grammy Awards for best audiobook, narration and storytelling from her memoir "Finding Me." The award show aired Feb. 5 on CBS, a unit of Paramount Global PARAPARAA.
What Is EGOT?: The EGOT club is reserved for members who have won awards from four major award shows. The awards needed to join the club are:
- Emmy Award
- Grammy Award
- Oscar (Academy Award)
- Tony Award
The club winners have won awards that cover television, film, recording and theater, which is said to give them a “grand slam” in show business.
The acronym and club was created by Philip Michael Thomas in 1984, though he never won awards in any of the four categories. EGOT also became a plot point of the show “30 Rock,” which helped bring attention to the club.
Other variations for award acronym clubs include PEGOT (adding in Pulitzer Prizes or Peabody Awards), REGOT (adding in Razzie) and EGOAT (adding in Annie Awards).
Davis Joins Club: Davis took home the Grammy Award for the best audio book, narration and storytelling category. The win came over four previous Grammy Award winners in Mel Brooks, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Questlove and Jamie Foxx.
The best audiobook narration category has previously seen names like Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Betty White, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Jimmy Carter as winners, often for narrating memoirs they have written.
The win comes for Davis' narration of her memoir "Finding Me." She referenced joining the famous club as part of her acceptance speech.
"I wrote this book to honor the 6-year-old Viola — to honor her life, her joy, her trauma, her everything," Davis said in her speech. "And it has been such a journey. I just EGOT!"
Davis won her Emmy Award in 2015 for "How to Get Away With Murder." Davis won an Academy Award in 2017 for "Fences." Davis previoulsy won Tony Awards in 2001 and 2010 for "King Hedley" and "Fences."
The EGOT Club Members: With the win by Davis, there are currently only 18 members of the EGOT club. Here are the current members of the club with the years they won the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards respectively.
- Richard Rodgers: 1962, 1960, 1945, 1950, completed in 1962
- Helen Hayes: 1953, 1977, 192, 1947, completed 1977
- Rita Moreno: 1977, 1972, 1961, 1975, completed 1977
- John Gielgud: 1991, 1979, 1981, 1961, completed 1991
- Audrey Hepburn: 1993, 1994, 1953, 1954, completed 1994
- Marvin Hamlisch: 1995, 1974, 1973, 1976, completed 1995
- Jonathan Tunick: 1982, 1988, 1977, 1997, completed 1997
- Mel Brooks: 1967, 1998, 1968, 2001, completed 2001
- Mike Nichols: 2001, 1961, 1967, 1964, completed 2001
- Whoopi Goldberg: 2002, 1986, 1990, 2002, completed 2002
- Scott Rudin: 1984, 2012, 2007, 1994, completed 2012
- Robert Lopez: 2008, 2012, 2013, 2004, completed 2013
- Andrew Lloyd Weber: 2018, 1980, 1996, 1980, completed 2018
- Tim Rice: 2018, 1980, 1992, 1980, completed 2018
- John Legend: 2018, 2006, 2015, 2017, completed 2018
- Alan Menken: 2020, 1992, 1989, 2012, completed 2020
- Jennifer Hudson: 2021, 2009, 2007, 2022, completed 2022
Rodgers was the first to join the EGOT club in 1962 and did so in a 17-year time span.
Legend is the youngest to join the club at the age of 39 years and 8 months.
It took Hayes 45 years between her first award and last to join the club, which is currently the longest period of time to join the club from start to finish.
Lopez joined the club in 10 years from first award to last award.
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