Who Won the Oscar for Best Director the Year You Were Born

In the first year the golden statue was presented, two directors were honored in separate categories, the only time this has happened. Lewis Milestone won the first of his two Oscars as Best Director for the comedy film “Two Arabian Knights,” about the misadventures of two escaped American prisoners of war during World War I, starring William Boyd and Mary Astor.

Also in 1929, Frank Borzage won the Best Director Oscar for dramatic picture for the silent film “7th Heaven,” a romantic drama in which a Parisian sewer worker helps a homeless woman. It was the first of his two Best Director Academy Awards. Janet Gaynor won the Best Actress award for the film.

Scottish-born director Frank Lloyd won the first of his two Best Director Oscars for “The Divine Lady.” Lloyd was nominated five times. The last of the four nominations was for “Mutiny on the Bounty” in 1936.

Former child actor Norman Taurog found success on the other side of the camera by winning Best Director for “Skippy.” He would later be nominated for “Boys Town” in 1939.

Frank Borzage won his second Best Director Oscar for “Bad Girl,” a film that depicted how the working class lived during the Great Depression.

Frank Lloyd took home the Oscar in 1934 for “Cavalcade.” The film about two English families from different economic classes also won the awards for Best Picture and Best Art Direction.

Frank Capra, an immigrant from Sicily, won the first of his three Best Director Oscars for the screwball comedy that starred Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. “It Happened One Night” was the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay.

John Ford won his first of four Academy Awards in 1936 for “The Informer.” The film about an Irish rebel who must face the repercussions of double crossing an associate won a total of four Oscars, including Best Actor for British star Victor McLaglen.

Frank Capra captured his second Oscar for “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” — starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur — one of his paeans to small-town America.

Leo McCarey won his first Oscar for romantic comedy “The Awful Truth,” starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. McCarey would direct Grant again nearly 20 years later in the now-classic “An Affair to Remember” (1957).

Frank Capra won his third Oscar in four years for the romp “You Can’t Take It With You,” about a couple’s romance that crosses over class differences in 1930s America. The film starred James Stewart, Jean Arthur, and Lionel Barrymore.

Considered to be one of the greatest movies of all time, “Gone With the Wind” won eight Oscars in 1940, including Best Director for Victor Fleming. It was Fleming’s sole Oscar win, despite having directed other popular films including “Treasure Island” (1934), “The Wizard of Oz” (1939), and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (1941).

John Ford picked up the second of his four Academy Awards for his adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel about the struggles of an Oklahoma family bound for California during the Dust Bowl era. Henry Ford and Jane Darwell starred, with Darwell also winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

John Ford received his third of four lifetime Oscars in 1942 for “How Green Was My Valley.” The film — starring Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara, and Anna Lee — follows the tribulations of a mining family in Wales.

William Wyler won the first of his three Best Director Academy Awards for the story about an English family trying to withstand tragedy during World War II. The film, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, is credited by movie historians with helping to shift American opinion against Nazi Germany. Wyler was nominated for Best Director 12 times.

Director Michael Curtiz had been nominated for the Best Director award four times prior to 1944 for the films “Captain Blood” (1935), “Four Daughters” (1938), “Angels with Dirty Faces” (1938), and “Yankee Doodle Dandy” (1942). He finally won for “Casablanca,” which also took home awards for Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay.

Leo McCarey won Best Director for his breezy film about a young priest (Bing Crosby) who tries to help a financially struggling church. McCarey’s Oscar was one of seven won by the movie, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Crosby), and Best Music, Original Song (“Swinging on a Star”).

The Academy Awards were especially kind to Billy Wilder, awarding him six Oscars and the 1988 Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award during his career. His first Best Director win was in 1946 for “The Lost Weekend.” He had been nominated the year before for “Double Indemnity.”

“The Best Years of Our Lives,” a film that dramatized the difficulties World War II veterans faced adjusting to civilian life, won William Wyler his second Oscar. The movie starred Fredric March and Dana Andrews and won seven Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for disabled veteran Harold Russell.

Director Elia Kazan — responsible for films including “East of Eden” (1955), “On the Waterfront” (1954), and “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951) — won his first Oscar in 1948 for “Gentleman’s Agreement.” The movie about a journalist who goes undercover as Jewish to research anti-Semitism also won Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Celeste Holm.

“The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” a meditation on greed among gold prospectors in Mexico, is noteworthy not only because John Huston won his first Best Director Oscar, but because he directed his father, Walter, who also won an Academy Award for Best Actor. This is the only time in movie history that a father and son won Oscars for the same film. The younger Huston also won for Best Writing, Screenplay.

Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz won his first Oscars in 1950 for “A Letter to Three Wives” when he took home Best Director and a Best Writing award. The movie tells the story of a woman who sends three of her friends a letter declaring she is running off with one of their husbands, without identifying which husband it will be.

Joseph L. Mankiewicz made back-to-back Academy Award wins for Best Director with “A Letter to Three Wives” and the six-Oscar-winning “All About Eve,” the story of jealousy among the theater smart set. The film starred Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, and George Sanders.

George Stevens’ romance drama “A Place in the Sun” won six Oscars at the 1952 Academy Awards, including Best Writing, Best Cinematography, and Best Director for Stevens. The director would get nine Oscar nominations with two wins throughout his career.

John Ford’s valentine to his ancestral Irish home won him his fourth and final Oscar. The movie, about a retired American boxer who finds love in the village where he was born, stars John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara.

The World War II-era drama starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, and Deborah Kerr won a well above average number of Oscars, totaling eight. In addition to Fred Zinnemann winning Best Director, the film won Best Picture.

The gritty story about New Jersey longshoremen intimidated by mobsters and the man (Marlon Brando) who stands up to them won Turkish-born Elia Kazan his second Oscar. It was one of eight Oscars won by “On the Waterfront,” which also won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor (Brando), and Best Supporting Actress (Eva Marie Saint).

Delbert Mann’s unconventional love story about a homely butcher and school teacher who fall for one another won four Oscars: Best Director, Best Picture, Best Writing, and Best Actor for leading man Ernest Borgnine. The movie earned Mann his sole Oscar win and was the only time he was nominated for such an award.

George Stevens, the son of two actors, won the second of his two Academy Awards for “Giant,” a sprawling saga about the life of a cattle rancher played by Rock Hudson. The film, which was nominated for 10 Oscars, also starred Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. For Dean, it was his second posthumous nomination (the first was for “East of Eden” the year before). He was killed in a car crash in 1955.

British filmmaker David Lean, who directed “Doctor Zhivago” (1965), “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962), and numerous Charles Dickens adaptations, won his first Oscar in 1958 for “The Bridge on the River Kwai.” The movie follows a group of British POWs tasked with building a bridge by their Japanese captors.

Vincente Minnelli made some of the greatest American musicals, such as “Meet Me in St. Louis,” “An American in Paris,” and “The Band Wagon.” He only won one Academy Award, however, and that was for “Gigi.” The musical romantic comedy starring Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, and Louis Jourdan won nine Oscars, including for Best Music, Original Song and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.

Historical epic “Ben-Hur” is tied with “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” for the film with the most Oscar wins at 11. This count includes the Best Director Oscar awarded to director William Wyler. Wyler had won the award twice before for “Mrs. Miniver” in 1943 and “The Best Years of Our Lives” in 1947.

Billy Wilder, whose film career laughingly and poignantly examined the human condition, won his second Best Director Academy Award for “The Apartment,” a comedy about the questionable morals of corporate America. Wilder’s other Best Director Oscar was for “The Lost Weekend.”

The Oscar for Best Director was awarded to both Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, marking the first time the Oscar had been shared by two people. The musical won a total of 10 Oscars, including Best Picture.

David Lean, director of some of the greatest movie epics of all time (“Dr. Zhivago,” “The Bridge on the River Kwai”), won his second Best Director Academy Award for “Lawrence of Arabia.” Seven Oscars were awarded to the sprawling story of the British soldier who fought for Arab freedom from the Ottoman Empire in World War I. The huge cast included Peter O’Toole in the titular role, Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, and Anthony Quinn.

British director Tony Richardson won two Oscars for the cinematic adaptation “Tom Jones:” Best Director and Best Picture. Buoyed by Richardson’s well-directed ensemble cast, the film was nominated for 10 Oscars, winning four.

George Cukor’s long and distinguished film career was rewarded in 1965 when he won the Best Director Oscar for “My Fair Lady,” the movie adaptation of the George Bernard Shaw play “Pygmalion.” “My Fair Lady” won eight Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Rex Harrison. Cukor had been nominated four previous times for Best Director, starting in 1934 for “Little Women.”

Robert Wise won two Oscars for “The Sound of Music” four years after he won those same Oscars — Best Director and Best Picture — for “West Side Story.” Actress Julie Andrews accepted the awards for Wise, as he was on location filming “The Sand Pebbles” (1966).

Fred Zinnemann made movies about characters who wrestled with moral and ethical dilemmas. He won his second and final Best Director Academy Award (as well as Best Picture Award) for “A Man for All Seasons,” based on the story of Thomas More, lord high chancellor of England, who opposed King Henry VIII’s demand to get a divorce and remarry. Paul Scofield, who played the title role, was one of six actors who won an Academy Award under Zinnemann’s direction.

Nominated for a total of seven Oscars, “The Graduate” only won one — Best Director for Mike Nichols. It was Nichols’ sole Academy Award win, despite five total nominations throughout his career, including Best Director nominations for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” in 1967, “Silkwood” in 1984, and “Working Girl” in 1989.

British director Carol Reed, whose credits include the cynical post-war film “The Third Man,” won his lone Academy Award for the exuberant musical “Oliver!” based on the Charles Dickens novel “Oliver Twist.” The film won five Academy Awards including Best Picture.

“Midnight Cowboy,” about an unlikely friendship between two hustlers in New York City, is the only X-rated film to ever win Best Picture. It also won director John Schlesinger his sole Oscar. He would be nominated for Best Director one more time in 1971 for “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”

Franklin J. Schaffner was nominated for just one Academy Award and won for “Patton,” a biopic about the combustible and eccentric American general who played a pivotal role in helping defeat Germany in World War II. The film won seven Oscars, including the Best Actor statue famously turned down by George C. Scott.

The police drama about NYC cops trying to head off a heroin shipment from France won five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for star Gene Hackman. It was the only win for director William Friedkin, whose filmography includes “The Exorcist” (1973) and “To Live and Die in L.A.” (1985).

“Cabaret,” about a female entertainer in a love triangle in Berlin in the years leading up to the Nazi takeover of Germany, won eight Oscars, including Best Director for Bob Fosse. “Cabaret” also garnered Academy Awards for Liza Minnelli (Best Actress) and Joel Grey (Best Supporting Actor). Fosse was also Oscar-nominated for the films “Lenny” and “All That Jazz.”

Crime flick “The Sting” won director George Roy Hill his sole Oscar. Four years prior he was nominated for the award for his film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” which like “The Sting” starred actors Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

Francis Ford Coppola, denied the Best Director statue for the gangster epic “The Godfather” in 1973, won the award in 1975 for the sequel, “The Godfather: Part II.” The film picked up six Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Robert De Niro.

In addition to winning the award for Best Director for Milos Forman, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” won Best Picture, Best Writing, Best Actor for Jack Nicholson, and Best Actress for Louise Fletcher, who played Nurse Ratched. Forman won again in 1985 for “Amadeus” and was nominated in 1997 for “The People vs. Larry Flynt.”

John G. Avildsen won his lone Best Director Academy Award for “Rocky,” the story of the ultimate underdog who gets a chance to fight for the world heavyweight championship. It was a box-office smash, winning three Oscars including Best Picture, and made a star out of Sylvester Stallone.

Woody Allen won Best Director in 1978 for his comedy “Annie Hall,” though the director was not present at the actual awards ceremony. Other nominees that year included George Lucas for “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” and Steven Spielberg for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

Michael Cimino won his single Best Director Oscar for the searing film “The Deer Hunter,” about the emotional and psychological damage suffered by Vietnam War veterans who are from a small town in Pennsylvania. “The Deer Hunter” received five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Walken.

Robert Benton won his only Best Director Oscar for “Kramer vs. Kramer,” the story about a divorced couple’s legal battle over custody of their son. Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep won the Oscar for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively, the first Academy Awards for each. Benton has been nominated for seven Academy Awards.

Robert Redford, already a major star in Hollywood, went behind the camera to direct “Ordinary People,” a story about the emotional toll the accidental death of a boy takes on a family. Besides Best Director for Redford, the film won three other Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Timothy Hutton. Redford was also nominated for Best Director for “Quiz Show” in 1994.

This sweeping epic about communist-sympathizing American expats in Russia during the Russian Revolution was based on journalist John Reed’s book “Ten Days That Shook the World.” Warren Beatty co-wrote, produced, starred in, and directed the film. Maureen Stapleton won for Best Supporting Actress.

Richard Attenborough, a noted actor in his own right, added to the British epic movie-making tradition with “Gandhi,” which won him Best Director. The biopic about the founder of modern India dominated the 1983 Academy Awards, winning eight, among them Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Actor for Ben Kingsley in the title role.

James L. Brooks, who received 20 Emmys for shows such as “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Taxi,” and “The Simpsons,” won his Best Director Oscar for “Terms of Endearment.” The film also won for Best Picture and Oscars went as well to Shirley MacLaine (Best Actress) and Jack Nicholson (Best Supporting Actor).

Czechoslovakian-born Milos Forman won the second of his two Best Director Oscars for “Amadeus,” the story of the genius of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as told by his main rival, Antonio Salieri. “Amadeus” won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Costume Design, and Best Actor for F. Murray Abraham.

“Out of Africa,” the story of a romance between a plantation owner in Kenya and a big-game hunter, starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, took home seven Academy Awards, including Best Director for Sydney Pollack. Pollack has been nominated for Best Director three times.

Oliver Stone, who’s made a career out of addressing controversial subjects in his films (“JFK,” “Salvador”) won the first of his two Best Director Academy Awards for “Platoon,” about the moral ambiguity and chaos of the Vietnam War. The film also won Best Picture.

Acclaimed Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci (“The Conformist,” “1900”) won the Best Director Academy Award for the epic about China’s last emperor. The film starred John Lone, Joan Chen, and Peter O’Toole, and won nine Oscars, including Best Picture.

Barry Levinson has had a distinguished career as a film director and screenwriter, whose credits include “Bugsy” and “Diner.” Levinson won his lone Best Director Academy Award for “Rain Man,” which starred Dustin Hoffman in his Oscar-winning role as an autistic man cared for by his younger brother (Tom Cruise). The film also won Best Picture in 1989.

“Born on the Fourth of July,” starring Tom Cruise as a paralyzed Vietnam War veteran who becomes an anti-war activist, brought Oliver Stone his second Best Director Academy Award. Stone has been nominated for Best Director three times.

Kevin Costner won the Best Director Academy Award and starred in this story about a soldier in the American West who makes peace with wolves and Native Americans and is eventually shunned by his peers. “Dances with Wolves” won seven Oscars, including Best Music, Original Score by John Barry.

Jonathan Demme won his lone Academy Award for the story of a jailed cannibal who is asked by the FBI to help find a serial killer. Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar for the role of the charismatic and controlling cannibal and Jodie Foster took the Best Actress statue.

Clint Eastwood won the Best Director Academy Award for “Unforgiven,” in which he starred as an aging gunslinger turned pig farmer who comes out of retirement for one last job. The strong supporting cast included Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris, and Gene Hackman, who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

“Schindler’s List,” the story of an Austrian industrialist who uses his connections and business acumen to save the lives of Jews during the Holocaust, won Steven Spielberg his first Best Director Academy Award after three prior nominations. It was one of seven Oscars won by the film, including Best Picture and Best Music, Original Score by the prolific John Williams.

Robert Zemeckis won his lone Best Director Oscar for “Forrest Gump,” a film journey through many of America’s most important events beginning in the 1960s as experienced by one man from Alabama. Six Academy Awards went to the film, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Tom Hanks.

Mel Gibson won the Best Director Academy Award and starred in the story about Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace battling the English during the reign of King Edward I. The film also won for Best Picture. Gibson was later nominated for Best Director for the film “Hacksaw Ridge.”

Anthony Minghella, born in England to Italian immigrants, won his lone Best Director Oscar for “The English Patient,” the story of a mysterious wounded Allied soldier in World War II. The film held sway over the 1997 Academy Awards, winning nine, among them Best Supporting Actress for Juliette Binoche.

“Titanic” won a record-equaling 11 Academy Awards (along with “Ben-Hur” and later “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”), including Best Director for Canadian-born James Cameron, who also shared the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Film Editing. James Horner picked up two music Oscars for “Titanic.” Cameron was also nominated for “Avatar.”

“Saving Private Ryan,” Steven Spielberg’s homage to the generation that won World War II, earned him his second Best Director Academy Award. The film won five Oscars, including Best Cinematography for Janusz Kaminski. Spielberg has been nominated for Best Director five times, starting with “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” in 1978.

Sam Mendes, nominated for Best Director in 2020 for “1917,” won his first Academy Award for the comedic drama about disillusionment in suburban America. Kevin Spacey won the Best Actor Oscar, one of five Academy Awards won by the film.

Steven Soderbergh was nominated for a Best Director Academy Award for two films in 2001 — “Erin Brockovich” and “Traffic,” and won for the latter film, a story about America’s war on drugs told along several plot lines. Benicio Del Toro won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, one of four Academy Awards received by the film.

Ron Howard, a familiar face on television sitcoms (“The Andy Griffith Show,” “Happy Days”), won Best Director Academy Award (and shared Best Picture Award) for “A Beautiful Mind,” the story about a brilliant, but mentally tortured, mathematician. Jennifer Connelly won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, among the four Academy Awards bestowed on the film.

Controversial director Roman Polanski tapped into his experience of the horrors of the Nazi occupation of his native Poland to win Best Director for “The Pianist.” The film is about a Jewish musician trying to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. Adrien Brody won Best Actor, one of the three Oscars won by the film. Polanski has been nominated for Best Director three times.

“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel, won a record-tying 11 Oscars and earned New Zealand-born Peter Jackson the Best Director Academy Award. Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, and Ian McKellen starred. Jackson also shared Best Picture and Best Writing Awards.

“Million Dollar Baby” won Clint Eastwood his second Best Director Academy Award. He’s been nominated four times for Best Director. Best Supporting Actor and Best Actress Oscars went to Morgan Freeman and Hillary Swank, respectively.

The Taiwanese director Ang Lee won his first Best Director Academy Award for the story about two cowboys who keep their homosexual relationship a secret. Lee has been nominated for Best Director three times.

After five Oscar nominations for Best Director, Martin Scorsese finally won for the Irish mob film “The Departed.” The star-studded cast included Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack Nicholson. Scorsese has been nominated for Best Director in 2020 for “The Irishman.”

The highly regarded Coen brothers, who won their first Oscar for Best Writing for “Fargo” in 1997, won their first Best Director Academy Award for “No Country for Old Men,” about the chaos that follows when a drug deal goes awry. The movie starred Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin, with Bardem winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

English director Danny Boyle, who gained international acclaim for his film “Trainspotting,” about the impact of drug addiction on Edinburgh, Scotland, won his lone Best Director Oscar for “Slumdog Millionaire.” The movie, about a teen from Mumbai accused of cheating on an Indian television game show, won eight Oscars in 2009, including Best Picture and two music awards for A.R. Rahman.

Kathryn Bigelow made Oscar history by becoming the first woman to win the Best Director Academy Award. “The Hurt Locker” is a war drama about a bomb squad in Iraq. The film starred Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty, and won six Oscars.

“The King’s Speech,” a historical drama depicting the relationship between the future King George VI of Great Britain and his speech therapist in the 1930s, won Tom Hooper his Best Director Academy Award. Colin Firth received the Best Actor Oscar, one of four won by the movie.

French director Michel Hazanavicius won the award in 2012 for his film “The Artist,” which is set during Hollywood’s silent era. Hazanavicius beat more prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese, Terrence Malick, and Woody Allen. “The Artist” also won Best Picture, becoming the first silent film to do so since “Wings” in 1929.

Ang Lee’s sometimes surrealistic journey of a man who survives a disaster at sea won him his second Academy Award, after “Brokeback Mountain.” The Taiwanese director has been nominated for Best Director three times. “Life of Pi” won four Oscars, including the Academy Award for Best Achievement in Visual Effects.

Filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón had previously been nominated for Oscars related to his work on films “Y Tu Mamá También” (2001) and “Children of Men” (2006) before winning the Best Director award for “Gravity.” The award marked the first time in Academy history that a Mexican filmmaker won Best Director.

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the Mexican director whose films have a dream-like quality, won his first Best Director Oscar for “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” which starred Michael Keaton and Zach Galifianakis. Iñárritu also shared Oscars for Best Picture and Best Writing.

Alejandro G. Iñárritu won his second directing Oscar — after winning for “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” in 2015 — for “The Revenant,” which starred Leonardo DiCaprio as 19th-century frontiersman Hugh Glass, struggling to survive in the frigid outdoors. The film was nominated for Best Picture but lost to “Spotlight.”

“La La Land” took home six Oscars in 2017, including a Best Director statue for Damien Chazelle. He was the youngest director ever to win the award, taking the Oscar at the age of 32 years and 38 days. Emma Stone won for Best Actress and Justin Hurwitz won two music Academy Awards.

Though nominated for an Oscar prior to 2018, Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro did not win until 2018 when he took home Best Director and Best Picture for sci-fi fable “The Shape of Water.” Del Toro bested industry giants including Paul Thomas Anderson and Christopher Nolan, as well as newer talents Jordan Peele and Greta Gerwig, to win the directing award.

Alfonso Cuarón, who had already made history by becoming the first Mexican-born filmmaker to win an Oscar for Best Director in 2014 for “Gravity,” burnished his cinematic credentials by winning for Best Director in 2019 for the film “Roma,” an autobiographical movie about a middle class family in Mexico City. The motion picture was also the first Mexican film to win a foreign-language Oscar.