The 42 Most Honored Directors in Cinema History

Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, John Ford, William Wyler, Billy Wilder, Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorsese are listed. Here are the 42 most honored directors in the history of motion pictures.

There are a few surprises. NOT on the list are such recent powerhouses as Quentin Tarantino (only three nominations), Joel Coen (only three nominations with one win), David Fincher (only three nominations), Paul Thomas Anderson (only three nominations) and Wes Anderson (only one nomination). Look for them to join the list sometime in the future.

Fellini

Federico Fellini (Four Wins: 8 Nominations)

La Strada 1955*

The Nights of Cabiria 1957*

La Dolce Vita 1961

81/2 1963*

81/2 1963

Satyricon 1970

Amarcord 1974*

Amaracord 1975

* For “Best International Film”.

Ford

John Ford (Four Wins: 5 Nominations)

The informer 1935

Stagecoach 1939

The Grapes of Wrath 1940

How Green is My Valley 1941

The Quiet Man 1952

De Sica

Vittorio De Sica (Four Awards: Two Wins: 3 Nominations)**

Shoe-Shine 1947**

Bicycle Thieves 1949**

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow 1964*

Marriage Italian Style 1965*

The Garden of the Finzi Cortinis 1971 *

*For “Best International Film”

** For “Best International Film”: Special award, no nominations.

Wyler

William Wyler (Three Wins: 12 Nominations)

Dodsworth 1936

Wuthering Heights 1939

The Letter 1940

The Little Foxes 1941

Mrs. Miniver 1942

The Best Years of Our Lives 1946

The Heiress 1949

Detective Story 1951

Roman Holiday 1953

Friendly Persuasion 1956

Ben Hur 1959

The Collector 1965

Bergman

Ingmar Bergman (Three Wins: 6 Nominations)

The Virgin Spring 1960*

Through a Glass Darkly 1961*

Cries and Whispers 1973

Face to Face 1976

Fanny and Alexander, 1983

Fanny and Alexander 1983*

*For “ Best International Film”

Lee

Ang Lee (Three Wins: 6 Nominations)

The Wedding Banquet 1993*

Eat Drink Man Woman 1994*

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2000

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon 2000*

Brokeback Mountain 2005

The Life of Pi 2012

*For “ Best International Film”

Capra

Frank Capra (Three Wins: 5 Nominations)

It Happened One Night 1934

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town 1936

You Can’t Take It With You 1938

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in 1939

It’s a Wonderful Life 1946

Cuaron

Alfonso Cuaron (Three Wins: 3 Nominations)

Gravity 2013

Roma 2018

Roma 2018*

*For “ Best International Film”

Spielberg

Steven Spielberg (Two Wins: 9 Nominations)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977

Riders of the Lost Arc 1981

ET 1982

Schindler’s List 1993

Saving Private Ryan 1998

Munich 2005

Lincoln 2012

West Side Story 2021

The Fabelmans 2022

Wilder

Billy Wilder (Two Wins: 8 Nominations)

Double Indemnity 1944

The Lost Weekend 1945

Sunset Boulevard 1950

Stalag 17 1953

Sabrina 1954

Witness for the Prosecution 1957

Some Like It Hot 1959

The Apartment 1960

Lean

David Lean ( Two Wins: 7 Nominations)

Brief Encounter 1946

Great Expectations 1947

Summertime 1955

The Bridge on the River Kwai 1957

Lawrence of Arabia 1962

Doctor Zhivago 1965

A Passage to India 1984

Zinnemann

Fred Zinnemann (Two Wins: 7 Nominations)

The Search 1948

High Noon 1952

From Here to Eternity 1953

The Nun’s Story 1959

The Sundowners 1960

A Man For All Seasons 1966

Julia 1977

Inaritu

Alejandro Gonzalez Inaritu (Two Wins: 5 Nominations)

Amores Perros 2000*

Babel 2006

Biutiful 2010*

Birdman 2014

The Revenant 2015

*For “Best International Film”

Kazan

Elia Kazan (Two Wins: 5 Nominations)

Gentleman’s Agreement 1947

A Streetcar Named Desire 1951

On the Waterfront 1954

East of Eden 1955

America America 1963

Stevens

George Stevens (Two Wins: 5 Nominations)

The More the Merrier 1943

A Place in the Sun 1951

Shane 1953

Giant 1956

The Diary of Anne Frank, 1959

Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola (Two Wins: 4 Nominations)

The Godfather 1972

The Godfather, Part II 1974

Apocalypse Now 1979

The Godfather, Part III, 1990

Eastwood

Clint Eastwood (Two Wins: 4 Nominations)

The Unforgiven 1992

Mystic River 2003

Million Dollar Baby 2004

Letters from Iwo Jima 2006

Foreman

Milos Foreman (Two Wins: 4 Nominations)

Loves of a Blonde 1966*

The Fireman’s Ball 1968*

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest 1975

Amadeus 1984

*For “Best International Film”

Mankiewicz

Joseph L. Mankiewicz (Two Wins: 4 Nominations)

A Letter to Three Wives 1949

All About Eve 1950

The Five Fingers 1952

Sleuth 1972

Kurasawa

Akira Kurosawa (Two Awards: One Win: 3 Nominations)**

Rashomon 1951**

Derzu Uzula 1975*

Kagemusha 1980*

Ran

*For Best International Film.

** For “Best International Film”: Special award, no nominations.

Lloyd

Frank Lloyd (Two Wins: 3 Nominations)

The Divine Lady 1928/1929

Cavalcade 1932/1933

Mutiny on the Bounty 1935

McCarey

Leo McCarey (Two Wins: 3 Nominations)

The Awful Truth 1937

Going My Way 1944

The Bells of Saint Mary’s 1945

Stone

Oliver Stone (Two Wins: 3 Nominations)

Platoon 1986

Born on the Fourth of July, 1989

JFK 1991

Wise

Robert Wise (Two Wins: 3 Nominations)

I Want to Live 1958

West Side Story 1961

The Sound of Music 1965

Borzage

Frank Borzage (Two Wins: 2 Nominations)

7th Heaven 1927/1928

Bad Girl 1931/1932

Clement

René Clément (Two Awards: 0 Nominations)

The Walls of Malapaga 1950**

Forbidden Games 1952**

For “Best International Film”: Special award, no nominations.

Farhadi

Asghar Farhadi ( Two Wins: 2 Nominations)

A Separation 2011*

The Salesman 2016*

* For “ Best International Film”

Lewis Milestone (Two Wins: 2 Nominations)

Two Arabian Nights 1927/1938

All Quiet on the Western Front 1929/1930

Scorsese

Martin Scorsese (One Win: 10 nominations)

Raging Bull 1980

The Last Temptation of Christ 1988

Goodfellas (1990)

Gangs of New York 2002

The Aviator 2004

The Departed 2006

Hugo 2011

The Wolf of Wall Street 2013

The Irishman 2019

Killers of the Flower Moon 2023

Allen

Woody Allen (One Win: 7 nominations)

Annie Hall 1977

Interiors 1978

Broadway Danny Rose 1984

Hannah and Her Sisters 1986

Crimes and Misdemeanors 1989

Bullets Over Broadway 1994

Midnight in Paris 2011

Cukor

George Cukor (One Win: 5 nominations)

Little Women 1933/1933

The Philadelphia Story 1940

A Double Life 1947

Born Yesterday 1950

My Fair Lady 1964

Huston

John Huston (One Win: 5 nominations)

The Treasure of the Sierra Madré 1948

The Asphalt Jungle 1950

The African Queen 1951

Moulin Rouge 1952

Prizzi’s Honor 1985

Almodovar

Pedro Almodovar (One Win: 4 Nominations)

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown 1988*

All About My Mother 1999*

Talk to Her 2002

Pain and Glory 2019*

*For “Best International Film”.

Nichols

Mike Nichols (One Win: 4 Nominations)

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf 1966

The Graduate 1967

Silkwood 1983

Working Girl 1988

Truffaut

Francois Truffaut (One Win: 4 Nominations)

Stolen Kisses 1968*

Day For Night 1973*

Day For Night 1974

The Last Metro 1980*

*For “Best International Film”.

Robert Altman

Robert Altman (Zero Wins: 5 nominations)

M*A*S*H 1970

Nashville 1975

The Player 1992

Shortcuts 1993

Gosford Park 2001

Brown

Clarence Brown (Zero Wins: 5 Nominations)

Anna Christie and Romance 1929/1930

A Free Soul 1930/1931

The Human Comedy 1943

The Yearling 1946

Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock (Zero Wins: 5 nominations)

Rebecca 1940

Lifeboat 1944

Spellbound 1945

Rear Window 1954

Psycho 1960

Vidor

King Vidor (Zero Wins: 5 nominations)

The Crowd 1927/1928

Hallelujah 1929/1930

The Champ 1931/1932

The Citadel 1938

War and Piece 1956

Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick (Zero Wins, 4 Nominations)

Dr. Strangelove 1964

2001: A Space Odyssey 1968

A Clockwork Orange 1971

Barry Lyndon 1975

Lumet

Sidney Lumet (Zero Wins: 4 Nominations)

Twelve Angry Men 1957

Dog Day Afternoon 1975

Network 1976

The Verdict 1982

Weir

Peter Weir (Zero Wins: 4 Nominations)

Witness 1985

Dead Poets Society 1989

The Truman Show 1998

Master and Commander of the World 2003

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