The Greatest Directors In Movie History
This is a list of the greatest directors in movie history, who are most deserving of Academy Awards and critical recognition. The list includes directors who have already won major awards, those who continue to have the potential to win Oscars, and filmmakers who were overlooked by the Academy during their lifetime.
Often, the greatest of these filmmakers will go unrecognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures, particularly during the most active, vital period of their careers. Alfred Hitchcock famously never took home a statue for best director, despite being perhaps the one of the most iconic film directors, and certainly one of the most significant contributors to contemporary film language and genre. Another one of the best film directors in history, Martin Scorsese, eventually did take home best director for his work on The Departed, but this film came long after the movies for which Scorsese will likely be best remembered - Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and so on.
Who is the best film director? Do you think Guillermo del Toro is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time? Some say David Lynch is one of the greatest Hollywood directors of all time. If you don’t agree that they are some of the best movie directors, here's your chance to make your opinion known.
The top 10 people on this list are perhaps the 10 best directors of all time. Vote up those you believe are the best filmmakers of all time. Then check back to see if your favorites topped the list!Â
- 121Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Credits (Film): Gone with the Wind, A Night at the Opera, The Pride of the Yankees, A Day at the Races, Goodbye
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), Kitty Foyle (1940), and Kings Row (1942)
- 122Kolkata, India
- Credits (Film): The Stranger, Panther Panchali, Charulata, The Chess Players
Won the Academy Honorary Oscar (1992)
- 123Rockville, Maryland, United States of America
- Credits (Film): Her, Where The Wild Things Are, Being John Malkovich, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for Being John Malkovich (1999)
Nominated for Best Director Golden Globe for Adaptation (2002)
- 124Hell's Kitchen, New York City, New York
- Credits (Film): It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, High Noon
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for The Defiant Ones (1958), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
Won for Best Director Golden Globe for Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Nominated for Best Director Golden Globe for The Defiant Ones (1958), On the Beach (1959), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), and The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969)
Winner of the Irving G. Thalberg Award (1962)
Winner of the Golden Globe Artistic Integrity Award (1961)
- 125Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
- Credits (Film): Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, Cars
- 126New York City, New York, USA
- Credits (Film): To Kill a Mockingbird, Summer of '42, Kiss Me Goodbye, The Pursuit of Happiness, The Man in the Moon
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Nominated for Best Director Golden Globe for To Kill A Mockingbird (1962), and Summer of '42 (1971)
- 127Paris, France
- Credits (Film): Léon: The Professional, Atlantis, The Fifth Element, Taken 2
- 128
Michael Mann
Chicago, Illinois, USA- Credits (Film): Collateral, The Keep, The Jericho Mile, Ali, Miami Vice
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for The Insider (1999)
Nominated for Best Director Golden Globe for The Insider (1999)
- 129South East England, Eurasia, Reading
- Credits (Film): Skyfall, Jarhead, Road to Perdition, American Beauty, Cabaret
Won for Best Director Oscar for American Beauty (1999)
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for 1917 (2019)
Won for Best Director Golden Globe for American Beauty (1999), and 1917 (2019)
Nominated for Best Director Golden Globe for Revolutionary Road (2008)
- 130Canada, Ontario, Toronto
- Credits (Film): In the Heat of the Night, Moonstruck, The Hurricane, Fiddler on the Roof, Rollerball
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for In the Heat of the Night (1967), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), and Moonstruck (1987)
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for In the Heat of the Night (1967), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), and The Hurricane (1999)
Winner of the Irving G. Thalberg Award (1999)
- 131New York City, New York, United States of America
- Credits (Film): The Bling Ring, Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette, Virgin Suicides
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for Lost in Translation (2003)
- 132Shepperton, United Kingdom
- Credits (Film): Excalibur, Deliverance, Hope and Glory, The Tailor of Panama
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for Deliverance (1972), and Hope and Glory (1987)
Nominated for Best Director Golden Globe for Deliverance (1972), and Hope and Glory (1987)
- 133Kingston, New York, USA
- Credits (Film): The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, Targets, What's up, Doc?
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for The Last Picture Show (1971)
Nominated for Best Director Golden Globe for The Last Picture Show (1971), and Paper Moon (1973)
- 134New York City, New York, United States of America
- Credits (Film): White Heat, The Roaring Twenties, High Sierra, Objective, Burma!
- 135Italy, Sora
- Credits (Film): The Voyage, A Place For Lovers, Bicycle Theives, The Children Are Watching Us
- 136Emden, Germany
- Credits (Film): Troy, Das Boot, The NeverEnding Story, Air Force One
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for Das Boot (1981)
- 137Tokyo, Japan
- Credits (Film): Patton, Planet of the Apes, Papillon, The Boys from Brazil, Nicholas and Alexandra
Won for Best Director Oscar for Patton (1970)
Nominated for Best Director Golden Globe for Patton (1970)
- 138Putney, London, United Kingdom
- Credits (Film): The Third Man, Oliver!, The Fallen Idol, The Agony and the Ecstasy
Won for Best Director Oscar for Oliver! (1968)
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for The Fallen Idol (1948), and The Third Man (1949)
- 139New York City, New York, United States of America
- Credits (Film): Ronin, The Manchurian Candidate, Reindeer Games, The Island of Dr. Moreau
- 140Galesville, Wisconsin, United States of America
- Credits (Film): Rebel Without A Cause, Johnny Guitar, In A Lonely Place, King of Kings
- 141Cleveland, Ohio, USA
- Credits (Film): Scream 3, Scream 4, Red Eye, The Last House on the Left, Swamp Thing
- 142Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
- Credits (Film): Young Sherlock Holmes, Rain Man, Sphere, You Don't Know Jack, Tootsie
Won for Best Director Oscar for Rain Man (1988)
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for Bugsy (1991)
- 143Shanghai, China
- Credits (Film): 2046, In The Mood For Love, The Grandmaster, My Blueberry Nights
- 144Tokyo City
- Credits (Film): Ugetsu, The Life of Oharu, Sansho the Bailiff, Sisters of the Gion
- 145Spokane, Washington, United States of America
- Credits (Film): Merry Melodies: Starring Bugs Bunny and his Friends, Bugs Bunny's Overture to Disaster, The Bugs and Daffy Show
Winner of the Academy Honorary Oscar (1996)
- 146Oakland, California, USA
- Credits (Film): Shane, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Giant, The Diary of Anne Frank, A Place in the Sun
Won for Best Director Oscar for A Place in the Sun (1951), and Giant (1956)
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for The More The Merrier (1943), Shane (1953), and The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
Nominated for Best Director Golden Globe for A Place in the Sun (1951), Giant (1956), and The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
- 147North Shields, North East England, Eurasia
- Credits (Film): Top Gun, Enemy of the State, Beverly Hills Cop II, Romeo + Juliet
- 148London, England
- Credits (Film): Midnight Cowboy, Marathon Man, Pacific Heights, The Day of the Locust, Darling
Won for Best Director Oscar for Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for Darling (1965), and Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
Nominated for Best Director Golden Globe for Darling (1965), Midnight Cowboy (1969), and Marathon Man (1976)
- 149Christiansburg, Virginia, United States of America
- Credits (Film): Twelve O'Clock High, Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing, The Gunfighter, Carousel, The Song of Bernadette
Nominated for Best Director Oscar for The Song of Bernadette (1943), and Wilson (1944)
Nominated for Best Director Golden Globe for The Song of Bernadette (1943)
- 150Paris, France
- Credits (Film): Breathless, Le Samouraï, The Red Circle, Army of Shadows, Bob le flambeur
