Nominees and winners of the Academy Awards for Best Directing (bold face indicates winner):

• 2007
  • The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Julian Schnabel
  • Juno - Jason Reitman
  • Michael Clayton - Tony Gilroy
  • No Country for Old Men - Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
  • There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson
• 2006
  • Babel - Alejandro González Ińárritu
  • The Departed - Martin Scorsese
  • Letters from Iwo Jima - Clint Eastwood
  • The Queen - Stephen Frears
  • United 93 - Paul Greengrass
• 2005
  • Brokeback Mountain - Ang Lee
  • Capote - Bennett Miller
  • Crash - Paul Haggis
  • Good Night, and Good Luck - George Clooney
  • Munich - Steven Spielberg
• 2004
  • The Aviator - Martin Scorsese
  • Million Dollar Baby - Clint Eastwood
  • Ray - Taylor Hackford
  • Sideways - Alexander Payne
  • Vera Drake -Mike Leigh
• 2003
  • City of God - Fernando Meirelles
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Peter Jackson
  • Lost in Translation - Sofia Coppola
  • Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Peter Weir
  • Mystic River - Clint Eastwood
• 2002
  • Rob Marshall - Chicago
  • Martin Scorsese - Gangs of New York
  • Stephen Daldry - The Hours
  • Roman Polanski - The Pianist
  • Pedro Almodóvar - Talk to Her
• 2001
  • Ron Howard - A Beautiful Mind
  • Ridley Scott - Black Hawk Down
  • Robert Altman - Gosford Park
  • Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
  • David Lynch - Mulholland Drive
• 2000
  • Stephen Daldry -Billy Elliot
  • Ang Lee -Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  • Steven Soderbergh -Erin Brockovich
  • Ridley Scott -Gladiator
  • Steven Soderbergh -Traffic
• 1999
  • Sam Mendes - American Beauty
  • Spike Jonze - Being John Malkovich
  • Lasse Hallstrom - The Cider House Rules
  • Michael Mann - The Insider
  • M. Night Shyamalan - The Sixth Sense
• 1998
  • Roberto Benigni - Life Is Beautiful
  • Steven Spielberg - Saving Private Ryan
  • John Madden - Shakespeare in Love
  • Terrence Malick - The Thin Red Line
  • Peter Weir - The Truman Show
• 1997
  • Peter Cattaneo - The Full Monty
  • Gus Van Sant - Good Will Hunting
  • Curtis Hanson - L.A. Confidential
  • Atom Egoyan - The Sweet Hereafter
  • James Cameron - Titanic (1997)
• 1996
  • Anthony Minghella - The English Patient
  • Joel Coen - Fargo
  • Milos Forman - The People vs. Larry Flynt
  • Mike Leigh - Secrets & Lies
  • Scott Hicks - Shine
• 1995
  • Chris Noonan - Babe
  • Mel Gibson - Braveheart
  • Tim Robbins - Dead Man Walking
  • Mike Figgis - Leaving Las Vegas
  • Michael Radford - The Postman (Il Postino)
• 1994
  • Woody Allen - Bullets over Broadway
  • Robert Zemeckis - Forrest Gump
  • Quentin Tarantino - Pulp Fiction
  • Robert Redford - Quiz Show
  • Krzysztof Kieslowski - Red
• 1993
  • Jim Sheridan - In the Name of the Father
  • Jane Campion - The Piano
  • James Ivory - The Remains of the Day
  • Steven Spielberg - Schindler's List
  • Robert Altman - Short Cuts
• 1992
  • Neil Jordan - The Crying Game
  • James Ivory - Howards End
  • Robert Altman - The Player
  • Martin Brest - Scent of a Woman (1992)
  • Clint Eastwood - Unforgiven
• 1991
  • John Singleton - Boyz N the Hood
  • Barry Levinson - Bugsy
  • Oliver Stone - JFK
  • Jonathan Demme - The Silence of the Lambs
  • Ridley Scott - Thelma & Louise
• 1990
  • Kevin Costner - Dances With Wolves
  • Francis Ford Coppola - The Godfather, Part III
  • Martin Scorsese - Good Fellas
  • Stephen Frears - The Grifters
  • Barbet Schroeder - Reversal of Fortune
• 1989
  • Oliver Stone - Born on the Fourth of July
  • Woody Allen - Crimes and Misdemeanors
  • Peter Weir - Dead Poets Society
  • Kenneth Branagh - Henry V (1989)
  • Jim Sheridan - My Left Foot
• 1988
  • Charles Crichton - A Fish Called Wanda
  • Martin Scorsese - The Last Temptation of Christ
  • Alan Parker - Mississippi Burning
  • Barry Levinson - Rain Man
  • Mike Nichols - Working Girl
• 1987
  • Adrian Lyne - Fatal Attraction
  • John Boorman - Hope and Glory
  • Bernardo Bertolucci - The Last Emperor
  • Norman Jewison - Moonstruck
  • Lasse Hallstrm - My Life As a Dog
• 1986
  • David Lynch - Blue Velvet
  • Woody Allen - Hannah and Her Sisters
  • Roland Joffé - The Mission
  • Oliver Stone - Platoon
  • James Ivory - A Room with a View
• 1985
  • Hector Babenco - Kiss of the Spider Woman
  • Sydney Pollack - Out of Africa
  • John Huston - Prizzi's Honor
  • Akira Kurosawa - Ran
  • Peter Weir - Witness
• 1984
  • Milos Forman - Amadeus
  • Woody Allen - Broadway Danny Rose
  • Roland Joffé - The Killing Fields
  • David Lean - A Passage to India
  • Robert Benton - Places in the Heart
• 1983
  • Peter Yates - The Dresser
  • Ingmar Bergman - Fanny & Alexander
  • Mike Nichols - Silkwood
  • Bruce Beresford - Tender Mercies
  • James L. Brooks - Terms of Endearment
• 1982
  • Wolfgang Petersen - Das Boot
  • Steven Spielberg - E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
  • Richard Attenborough - Gandhi
  • Sydney Pollack - Tootsie
  • Sidney Lumet - The Verdict
• 1981
  • Louis Malle - Atlantic City
  • Hugh Hudson - Chariots of Fire
  • Mark Rydell - On Golden Pond
  • Steven Spielberg - Raiders of the Lost Ark
  • Warren Beatty - Reds
• 1980
  • David Lynch - The Elephant Man
  • Robert Redford - Ordinary People
  • Martin Scorsese - Raging Bull
  • Richard Rush - The Stunt Man
  • Roman Polanski - Tess
• 1979
  • Bob Fosse - All That Jazz
  • Francis Coppola - Apocalypse Now
  • Peter Yates - Breaking Away
  • Edouard Molinaro - La Cage aux Folles
  • Robert Benton - Kramer vs. Kramer
• 1978
  • Hal Ashby - Coming Home
  • Michael Cimino - The Deer Hunter
  • Warren Beatty, Buck Henry - Heaven Can Wait (1978)
  • Woody Allen - Interiors
  • Alan Parker - Midnight Express
• 1977
  • Woody Allen - Annie Hall
  • Steven Spielberg - Close Encounters of the Third Kind
  • Fred Zinnemann - Julia
  • George Lucas - Star Wars
  • Herbert Ross - The Turning Point
• 1976
  • Alan J. Pakula - All the President's Men
  • Ingmar Bergman - Face to Face
  • Sidney Lumet - Network
  • John G. Avildsen - Rocky
  • Lina Wertmüller - Seven Beauties
• 1975
  • Federico Fellini - Amarcord
  • Stanley Kubrick - Barry Lyndon
  • Sidney Lumet - Dog Day Afternoon
  • Robert Altman - Nashville
  • Milos Forman - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
• 1974
  • Roman Polanski - Chinatown
  • Francois Truffaut - Day for Night
  • Francis Ford Coppola - The Godfather Part II
  • Bob Fosse - Lenny
  • John Cassavetes - A Woman under the Influence
• 1973
  • George Lucas - American Graffiti
  • Ingmar Bergman - Cries and Whispers
  • William Friedkin - The Exorcist
  • Bernardo Bertolucci - Last Tango in Paris
  • George Roy Hill - The Sting
• 1972
  • Bob Fosse - Cabaret
  • John Boorman - Deliverance
  • Jan Troell - The Emigrants
  • Francis Ford Coppola - The Godfather
  • Joseph L. Mankiewicz - Sleuth
• 1971
  • Stanley Kubrick - A Clockwork Orange
  • Norman Jewison - Fiddler on the Roof
  • William Friedkin - The French Connection
  • Peter Bogdanovich - The Last Picture Show
  • John Schlesinger - Sunday Bloody Sunday
• 1970
  • Federico Fellini - Fellini Satyricon
  • Arthur Hiller - Love Story
  • Robert Altman - M*A*S*H
  • Franklin J. Schaffner - Patton
  • Ken Russell - Women in Love
• 1969
  • Arthur Penn - Alice's Restaurant
  • George Roy Hill - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  • John Schlesinger - Midnight Cowboy
  • Sydney Pollack - They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
  • Costa-Gavras - Z
• 1968
  • Stanley Kubrick - 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • Gillo Pontecorvo - The Battle of Algiers
  • Anthony Harvey - The Lion in Winter
  • Carol Reed - Oliver!
  • Franco Zeffirelli - Romeo and Juliet (1968)
• 1967
  • Arthur Penn - Bonnie and Clyde
  • Mike Nichols - The Graduate
  • Stanley Kramer - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
  • Richard Brooks - In Cold Blood
  • Norman Jewison - In the Heat of the Night
• 1966
  • Michelangelo Antonioni - Blow-Up
  • Claude Lelouch - A Man and a Woman
  • Fred Zinnemann - A Man for All Seasons
  • Richard Brooks - The Professionals
  • Mike Nichols - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• 1965
  • William Wyler - The Collector
  • John Schlesinger - Darling
  • David Lean - Doctor Zhivago
  • Robert Wise - The Sound of Music
  • Hiroshi Teshigahara - Woman in the Dunes
• 1964
  • Peter Glenville - Becket
  • Stanley Kubrick - Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
  • Robert Stevenson - Mary Poppins
  • George Cukor - My Fair Lady
  • Michael Cacoyannis - Zorba the Greek
• 1963
  • Elia Kazan - America America
  • Otto Preminger - The Cardinal
  • Federico Fellini - Federico Fellini's 8-1/2
  • Martin Ritt - Hud
  • Tony Richardson - Tom Jones
• 1962
  • Frank Perry - David and Lisa
  • Pietro Germi - Divorce--Italian Style
  • David Lean - Lawrence of Arabia
  • Arthur Penn - The Miracle Worker
  • Robert Mulligan - To Kill a Mockingbird
• 1961
  • Federico Fellini - La Dolce Vita
  • J. Lee Thompson - The Guns of Navarone
  • Robert Rossen - The Hustler
  • Stanley Kramer - Judgment at Nuremberg
  • Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins - West Side Story
• 1960
  • Billy Wilder - The Apartment
  • Jules Dassin - Never on Sunday
  • Alfred Hitchcock - Psycho
  • Jack Cardiff - Sons and Lovers
  • Fred Zinnemann - The Sundowners
• 1959
  • William Wyler - Ben-Hur
  • George Stevens - The Diary of Anne Frank
  • Fred Zinnemann - The Nun's Story
  • Jack Clayton - Room at the Top
  • Billy Wilder - Some Like It Hot
• 1958
  • Richard Brooks - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
  • Stanley Kramer - The Defiant Ones
  • Vincente Minnelli - Gigi
  • Robert Wise - I Want To Live!
  • Mark Robson - The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
• 1957
  • Sidney Lumet - 12 Angry Men
  • David Lean - The Bridge on the River Kwai
  • Mark Robson - Peyton Place
  • Joshua Logan - Sayonara
  • Billy Wilder - Witness for the Prosecution
• 1956
  • Michael Anderson - Around the World in 80 Days
  • William Wyler - Friendly Persuasion
  • George Stevens - Giant
  • Walter Lang - The King and I
  • King Vidor - War and Peace (1956)
• 1955
  • John Sturges - Bad Day at Black Rock
  • Elia Kazan - East of Eden
  • Delbert Mann - Marty
  • Joshua Logan - Picnic
  • David Lean - Summertime
• 1954
  • George Seaton - The Country Girl
  • William Wellman - The High and the Mighty
  • Elia Kazan - On the Waterfront
  • Alfred Hitchcock - Rear Window
  • Billy Wilder - Sabrina (1954)
• 1953
  • Fred Zinnemann - From Here to Eternity
  • Charles Walters - Lili
  • William Wyler - Roman Holiday
  • George Stevens - Shane
  • Billy Wilder - Stalag 17
• 1952
  • Joseph L. Mankiewicz - Five Fingers
  • Cecil B. DeMille - The Greatest Show on Earth
  • Fred Zinnemann - High Noon
  • John Huston - Moulin Rouge
  • John Ford - The Quiet Man
• 1951
  • John Huston - The African Queen
  • Vincente Minnelli - An American in Paris
  • William Wyler - Detective Story
  • George Stevens - A Place in the Sun (1951)
  • Elia Kazan - A Streetcar Named Desire
• 1950
  • Joseph L. Mankiewicz - All about Eve
  • John Huston - The Asphalt Jungle
  • George Cukor - Born Yesterday
  • Billy Wilder - Sunset Blvd.
  • Carol Reed - The Third Man
• 1949
  • Robert Rossen - All the King's Men
  • William A. Wellman - Battleground
  • Carol Reed - The Fallen Idol
  • William Wyler - The Heiress
  • Joseph L. Mankiewicz - A Letter to Three Wives
• 1948
  • Laurence Olivier - Hamlet (1948)
  • Jean Negulesco - Johnny Belinda
  • Fred Zinnemann - The Search
  • Anatole Litvak - The Snake Pit
  • John Huston - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
• 1947
  • Henry Koster - The Bishop's Wife
  • Edward Dmytryk - Crossfire
  • George Cukor - A Double Life
  • Elia Kazan - Gentleman's Agreement
  • David Lean - Great Expectations
• 1946
  • William Wyler - The Best Years of Our Lives
  • David Lean - Brief Encounter
  • Frank Capra - It's a Wonderful Life
  • Robert Siodmak - The Killers
  • Clarence Brown - The Yearling
• 1945
  • Leo McCarey - The Bells of St. Mary's
  • Billy Wilder - The Lost Weekend
  • Clarence Brown - National Velvet
  • Jean Renoir - The Southerner
  • Alfred Hitchcock - Spellbound
• 1944
  • Billy Wilder - Double Indemnity
  • Leo McCarey - Going My Way
  • Otto Preminger - Laura
  • Alfred Hitchcock - Lifeboat
  • Henry King - Wilson
• 1943
  • Michael Curtiz - Casablanca
  • Ernst Lubitsch - Heaven Can Wait (1943)
  • Clarence Brown - The Human Comedy
  • George Stevens - The More the Merrier
  • Henry King - The Song of Bernadette
• 1942
  • Sam Wood - Kings Row
  • William Wyler - Mrs. Miniver
  • Mervyn LeRoy - Random Harvest
  • John Farrow - Wake Island
  • Michael Curtiz - Yankee Doodle Dandy
• 1941
  • Orson Welles - Citizen Kane
  • Alexander Hall - Here Comes Mr. Jordan
  • John Ford - How Green Was My Valley
  • William Wyler - The Little Foxes
  • Howard Hawks - Sergeant York
• 1940
  • John Ford - The Grapes of Wrath
  • Sam Wood - Kitty Foyle
  • William Wyler - The Letter (1940)
  • George Cukor - The Philadelphia Story
  • Alfred Hitchcock - Rebecca
• 1939
  • Victor Fleming - Gone with the Wind
  • Sam Wood - Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
  • Frank Capra - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
  • John Ford - Stagecoach
  • William Wyler - Wuthering Heights
• 1938
  • Michael Curtiz - Angels with Dirty Faces
  • Norman Taurog - Boys Town
  • King Vidor - The Citadel
  • Michael Curtiz - Four Daughters
  • Frank Capra - You Can't Take It with You
• 1937
  • Leo McCarey - The Awful Truth
  • Sidney Franklin - The Good Earth
  • William Dieterle - The Life of Emile Zola
  • Gregory La Cava - Stage Door
  • William Wellman - A Star Is Born (1937)
• 1936
  • William Wyler - Dodsworth
  • Robert Z. Leonard - The Great Ziegfeld
  • Frank Capra - Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
  • Gregory La Cava - My Man Godfrey
  • W. S. Van Dyke - San Francisco
• 1935
  • Michael Curtiz - Captain Blood
  • John Ford - The Informer
  • Henry Hathaway - The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
  • Frank Lloyd - Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
• 1934
  • Frank Capra - It Happened One Night
  • Victor Schertzinger - One Night of Love
  • W. S. Van Dyke - The Thin Man
• 1932/1933
  • Frank Lloyd - Cavalcade
  • Frank Capra - Lady for a Day
  • George Cukor - Little Women (1932/33)
• 1931/1932
  • Frank Borzage - Bad Girl
  • King Vidor - The Champ (1931/32)
  • Josef Von Sternberg - Shanghai Express
• 1930/1931
  • Wesley Ruggles - Cimarron (1930/31)
  • Clarence Brown - A Free Soul
  • Lewis Milestone - The Front Page
  • Josef Von Sternberg - Morocco
  • Norman Taurog - Skippy
• 1929/1930
  • Lewis Milestone - All Quiet on the Western Front
  • Clarence Brown - Anna Christie
  • Robert Leonard - The Divorcee
  • King Vidor - Hallelujah
  • Ernst Lubitsch - The Love Parade
  • Clarence Brown - Romance
• 1928/1929
  • Harry Beaumont - The Broadway Melody
  • Frank Lloyd - The Divine Lady
  • Frank Lloyd - Drag (1928/29)
  • Irving Cummings - In Old Arizona
  • Lionel Barrymore - Madame X
  • Ernst Lubitsch - The Patriot
  • Frank Lloyd - Weary River
• 1927/1928 (Comedy Picture)
  • Ted Wilde - Speedy
  • Lewis Milestone - Two Arabian Knights
• 1927/1928 (Dramatic Picture)
  • Frank Borzage - 7th Heaven
  • King Vidor - The Crowd
  • Herbert Brenon - Sorrell and Son