Paddy Chayefsky
![](/Images/godic/202501/04/Still_photo4219.jpg")
![Chayefsky as a senior in high school, 1939.](/Images/godic/202501/04/Paddy_Chayefsky_HS_Yearbook4219.jpg")
![Chayefsky in 1958](/Images/godic/202501/04/Paddy_Chayefsky_NYWTS_edited4219.jpg")
![Paddy Chayefsky's monument in Sharon Gardens Division of Kensico Cemetery](/Images/godic/202501/04/Paddy_Chayefsky_Monument_November_20114219.JPG")
Sidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky (January 29, 1923 –August 1, 1981) was an American playwright, screenwriter and novelist. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for Best Screenplay (the other three-time winners, Francis Ford Coppola, Charles Brackett, Woody Allen and Billy Wilder, have all shared their awards with co-writers).