Academy Award for Best Director

The Best Director Oscar honors the achievements of the directors of a film.

  • Eight directors were nominated for Best Director and Best Actor in a Leading Role for the same film: Warren Beatty for Heaven Must Wait and Reds, Clint Eastwood for Relentless and Million Dollar Baby, Orson Welles (Citizen Kane), Laurence Olivier (Hamlet), Woody Allen (The Urban Neurotic), Kenneth Branagh (Henry V. ), Kevin Costner (Dances With Wolves) and Roberto Benigni (Life Is Beautiful).
  • The only brothers to be nominated together were Ethan and Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men (2007) and True Grit (2010).
  • Steven Soderbergh is so far the only director to be nominated for two films in the same year: At the 2001 Oscars, he won for Traffic - Power of the Cartel, and was nominated for Erin Brockovich.
  • John Ford, Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Alejandro González Iñárritu are the only titleholders.
  • Since 2014, the Oscar has been awarded to Mexican directors 5 times in 6 award ceremonies: Alfonso Cuarón won in 2014 and 2019 for Gravity and Roma, Alejandro González Iñárritu won in 2015 and 2016 for Birdman and The Revenant - The Returnee, and Guillermo del Toro won in 2018 for Shape of Water - The Whisper of Water.
  • A total of 25 directors were nominated whose films are not in English. Only Alfonso Cuarón (Roma) and Bong Joon-ho (Parasite) were able to win.
  • Only 7 female directors were nominated for Best Director: Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties, Jane Campion for The Piano, Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation, Kathryn Bigelow for Deadly Command - The Hurt Locker (won), Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird, Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman and Chloe Zhao for Nomadland (won).

Films qualify for an Oscar in the year following their release. In the table below, the award winners are sorted by the year of the award.

1929–1930

Year

Laureate

for the film

Nominations

1929

Category: DramaFrank
Borzage

Happiness in the attic

Herbert Brenon for Captain Sorrell and His SonKing
Vidor for A Man of the Crowd

Category: ComedyLewis
Milestone

The Slaughterers

Ted Wilde for Street Hunting with Speedy

1930 (1)

Frank Lloyd

The uncrowned queen

Lionel Barrymore for Madame XHarry
Beaumont for
The Broadway MelodyIrving
Cummings for
In Old Arizona
Frank Lloyd for Drag
Frank Lloyd for Weary RiverErnst
Lubitsch for The Patriot

1930 (2)

Lewis Milestone

Nothing new in the West

Clarence Brown for Anna ChristieClarence
Brown for RomanceRobert
Z. Leonard for The Woman for AllErnst
Lubitsch for Love ParadeKing
Vidor for Hallelujah

1931–1940

Year

Laureate

for the film

Nominations

1931

Norman Taurog

Skippy

Wesley Ruggles for Pioneers of the Wild WestClarence
Brown for The Courage to HappinessLewis
Milestone for The Front PageJosef
von Sternberg for Morocco

1932

Frank Borzage

Bad Girl

King Vidor for The ChampJosef
von Sternberg for Shanghai Express

1933

Prize not awarded

1934

Frank Lloyd

Kavalkade

Frank Capra for Lady for a Day
George Cukor for Four Sisters

1935

Frank Capra

It happened one night

Victor Schertzinger for The Shining TargetW
. S. Van Dyke for The Thin Man

1936

John Ford

The Street Traitor

Michael Curtiz for Under a Pirate FlagHenry
Hathaway for Bengali
Frank Lloyd for Mutiny on the Bounty

1937

Frank Capra

Mr. Deeds goes to town

William Wyler for Time of Love, Time of GoodbyeRobert
Z. Leonard for The Great ZiegfeldGregory
La Cava for My Man GodfreyW
. S. Van Dyke for San Francisco

1938

Leo McCarey

The awful truth

Sidney Franklin for The Good EarthWilliam
Dieterle for
The Life of Emile ZolaGregory
La Cava for Stage EntranceWilliam
Wellman for A Star Rises

1939

Frank Capra

Lifelong

Michael Curtiz for Chicago - Angels with Dirty FacesNorman
Taurog for DaredevilsKing
Vidor for The CitadelMichael
Curtiz for Father Conducts

1940

Victor Fleming

Gone with the wind

Sam Wood for Goodbye, Mr. ChipsFrank
Capra for
Mr. Smith Goes to WashingtonJohn
Ford for RingoWilliam Wyler for Wuthering Heights

Questions and Answers

Q: What is the Academy Award for Best Director?


A: The Academy Award for Best Director is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to directors for a movie.

Q: What is the common name for the Best Director Oscar?


A: The Best Director Oscar is the common name for the Academy Award for Best Directing.

Q: Who nominates directors for the Best Director award?


A: Members of the academy's Directing branch nominate directors for the Best Director award.

Q: Who decides the winners of the Best Director award?


A: The academy membership as a whole is responsible for selecting the winners of the Best Director award.

Q: What type of award is the Best Director award?


A: The Best Director award is one of the Awards of Merit presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Q: What is the purpose of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences?


A: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is an organization that presents awards and promotes the art and science of filmmaking.

Q: Is the Best Director award given to directors of any type of movie?


A: Yes, the Best Director award is given to directors of movies.

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