[updated 3.11.11]
* = Director also won an Oscar
2010 The King's Speech Directed by Tom Hooper*2009 The Hurt Locker Directed by Kathryn Bigelow*
2008 Slumdog Millionaire Directed by Danny Boyle*
2007 No Country for Old Men Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen*
2006 The Departed Directed by Martin Scorcese*
2005 Crash Directed by Paul Haggis
2004 Million Dollar Baby Directed by Clint Eastwood*
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Directed by Peter Jackson*
2002 Chicago Directed by Rob Marshall
2001 A Beautiful Mind Directed by Ron Howard*
2000 Gladiator Directed by Ridley Scott
1999 American Beauty Directed by Sam Mendes*
1998 Shakespeare in Love Directed by John Madden
1997 Titanic Directed by James Cameron*
1996 The English Patient Directed by Anthony Minghella*
1995 Braveheart Directed by Mel Gibson*
1994 Forrest Gump Directed by Robert Zemeckis*
1993 Schindler's List Directed by Steven Spielberg*
1992 Unforgiven Directed by Clint Eastwood*
1991 Silence of the Lambs Directed by Jonathan Demme* [photo rt: Best Actor winner Anthony Hopkins]1990 Dances with Wolves Directed by Kevin Costner*
1989 Driving Miss Daisy Directed by Bruce Beresford
1988 Rain Man Directed by Barry Levinson*
1987 The Last Emperor Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci*
1986 Platoon Directed by Oliver Stone*
1985 Out of Africa Directed by Sydney Pollack*
1984 Amadeus Directed by Milos Forman*
1983 Terms of Endearment Directed by James L. Brooks*
1982 Gandhi Directed by Richard Attenborough*
1981 Chariots of Fire Directed by Hugh Hudson
1980 Ordinary People Directed by Robert Redford*
1979 Kramer vs Kramer Directed by Robert Benton*
1978 The Deer Hunter Directed by Michael Cimino*
1977 Annie Hall Directed by Woody Allen*
1976 Rocky Directed by John G. Avildsen*
1975 One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest Directed by Milos Forman*
1974 The Godfather Part II Directed by Francis Ford Coppola*
1973 The Sting Directed by George Roy Hill*
1972 The Godfather Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
1971 The French Connection* Directed by William Friedkin*
1970 Patton Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner*
1969 Midnight Cowboy Directed by John Schlesinger*
1968 Oliver! Directed by Carol Reed*
1967 In the Heat of the Night Directed by Norman Jewison
1966 A Man for All Seasons Directed by Fred Zinnemann*
1965 The Sound of Music Directed by Robert Wise*
1964 My Fair Lady Directed by George Cukor*
1963 Tom Jones Directed by Tony Richardson*
1962 Lawrence of Arabia Directed by David Lean*1961 West Side Story Directed by Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise*
1960 The Apartment Directed by Billy Wilder*
1959 Ben-Hur Directed by William Wyler*
1958 Gigi Directed by Vincente Minnelli*
1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai Directed by David Lean*
1956 Around the World in Eighty Days Directed by Michael Anderson
1955 Marty Directed by Delbert Mann*
1954 On the Waterfront Directed by Elia Kazan*
1953 From Here to Eternity Directed by Fred Zinnemann*
1952 The Greatest Show on Earth Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
1951 An American in Paris Directed by Vincente Minnelli
1950 All About Eve Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz*
1949 All the King's Men Directed by Robert Rossen
1948 Hamlet Directed by Laurence Olivier
1947 Gentleman's Agreement Directed by Elia Kazan*
1946 The Best Years of Our Lives Directed by William Wyler*
1945 The Lost Weekend Directed by Billy Wilder*
1944 Going My Way Directed by Leo McCarey*
1943 Casablanca Directed by Michael Curtiz*
1942 Mrs. Miniver Directed by William Wyler* [photo rt: Greer Garson, Best Actress winner for Miniver]1941 How Green Was My Valley Directed by John Ford*
1940 Rebecca Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
1939 Gone with the Wind Directed by Victor Fleming*
1938 You Can't Take It with You Directed by Frank Capra*
1937 The Life of Emile Zola Directed by William Dieterle
1936 The Great Ziegfeld Directed by Robert Z. Leonard
1935 Mutiny on the Bounty Directed by Frank Lloyd
1934 It Happened One Night Directed by Frank Capra*
1933 Cavalcade Directed by Frank Lloyd*
1932 Grand Hotel Directed by Edmund Goulding
1931 Cimarron Directed by Wesley Ruggles
1930 All Quiet on the Western Front Directed by Lewis Milestone*
1929 The Broadway Melody Directed by Harry Beaumont
1928 Wings Directed by William A. Wellman
Best Directors for non-Winning Pictures (22 of 82)
2005: Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain)
2002: Roman Polanski (The Pianist)
2000: Steven Soderbergh (Traffic)
1998: Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan)
1989: Oliver Stone (Born on the Fourth of July)
1981: Warren Beatty (Reds)
1972: Bob Fosse (Cabaret)
1967: Mike Nichols (The Graduate)
1956: George Stevens (Giant)
1952: John Ford (The Quiet Man)
1951: George Stevens (A Place in the Sun)
1949: Joseph L. Mankiewicz (A Letter to Three Wives)
1948: John Huston (Treasure of the Sierra Madre)
1940: John Ford (The Grapes of Wrath)
1937: Leo McCarey (The Awful Truth)
1936: Frank Capra (Mr. Deeds Goes to Town)
1935: John Ford (The Informer)
1932: Frank Borzage (Bad Girl)
1931: Norman Taurog (Skippy)
1929: Frank Lloyd (The Divine Lady)
1928: Lewis Milestone (comedy – Two Arabian Knights)
1928: Frank Borzage (drama – 7th Heaven)
Multiple wins by directors: John Ford (4), Frank Capra (3), William Wyler (3)
Two each: Frank Lloyd, Steven Spielberg, Frank Borzage, Lewis Milestone, Leo McCarey, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Robert Wise, David Lean, Billy Wilder, George Stevens, Milos Forman, Oliver Stone, Clint Eastwood.
Alfred Hitchcock never won, but his film Rebecca won Best Picture. Other notables who have never won: Sergei Eisenstein, Lena Wertmuller, Frederico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Zhang Yimou, Luis Bunuel, Pedro Almodovar, Alejandro Innaritu, Gillian Anderson, Peter Weir, Cecil B. De Mille, John Frankenheimer, George Lucas, Martin Ritt, Robert Altman, John Sturges, Stanley Donen, and Howard Hawks.
All winning directors were nominated for Best Picture, but the only picture winners whose directors weren't nominated were:
Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, never nominated; Hotel only received ONE nomination and it was Picture)
Driving Miss Daisy (Bruce Beresford, nominated before for Tender Mercies) As someone quipped at the Oscars, "Driving Miss Daisy directed itself."
My Top 25 Winners
1. Lawrence of Arabia
2. Godfather Pt II
3. The Best Years of Our Lives
4. My Fair Lady
5. The Return of the King
6. Bridge On the River Kwai
7. All About Eve
8. Gandhi
9. Dances with Wolves
10. Silence of the Lambs
11. Chicago
12. Schindler’s List
13. Amadeus
14. The Godfather
15. Shakespeare in Love
16. Mrs. Miniver
17. Casablanca
18. Annie Hall
19. The Last Emperor
20. Platoon
21. Patton
22. Million Dollar Baby
23. The Hurt Locker
24. A Man for All Seasons
25. Midnight Cowboy; Terms of Endearment
Runners-Up: Out of Africa, The Deerhunter, The Departed, The Apartment, Driving Miss Daisy
The Worst Winners: Titanic, Broadway Melody, Rocky, Marty, Crash, How Green Was My Valley, Gigi, Braveheart, Kramer vs Kramer, Rain Man, Greatest Show on Earth, Ordinary People, Tom Jones, The Sting, The Lost Weekend, Going My Way, The Great Ziegfield
Best non-winning nominees:
The Best: The Shawshank Redemption, Babe, Dangerous Liaisons, Hannah and Her Sisters, Atonement, Babel, Finding Neverland, Gangs of New York, Traffic, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hope and Glory, Field of Dreams, Network, Doctor Strangelove, Sunset Blvd, Citizen Kane (!)
Best of the Rest: Goodfellas, Reds, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, Five Easy Pieces, A Clockwork Orange, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, To Kill a Mockingbird, The King and I, High Noon, The Caine Mutiny, Shane, Double Indemnity, Mister Roberts, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Pride of the Yankees, The Philadelphia Story, The Maltese Falcon, Miracle on 34th St., Treasure of the Sierra Madre, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Thin Man, Lost Horizon. (Yikes, there's some great stuff here!)
Now, aren’t these better than half the winners?
Some I picked simply because they were better than the winner, like The Thin Man, A Streetcar Named Desire, Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Some happened to be released in unfortunate years: To Kill a Mockingbird in Lawrence of Arabia’s year, The Conversation in Godfather II’s year, oddly both Francis Coppola films; had he held Conversation back a year, it would have certainly won some Oscars. Some just scared the Academy with X or R ratings, like Clockwork Orange, given an X for violence, Virginia Woolf an R for language! What a farce, these days Halloween-type slasher films are getting PG-13. Sex is now more offensive than homicide...
"Everyone's armed but few have protection."
