Best Director

This page lists all Oscar nominees for Best Director. Reviews of films on the original 1001 Films list are linked here.
As I finish each set of films for a given year and category, I will revisit those films and determine which film I think should have won and why. Those posts will be linked here as well.

Best Director
1928
Frank Borzage: Seventh Heaven (winner)
Herbert Brenon: Sorrell and Son
Lewis Milestone: Two Arabian Knights (winner)
King Vidor: The Crowd
Ted Wilde: Speedy

1929
Lionel Barrymore: Madame X
Harry Beaumont: The Broadway Melody
Irving Cummings: In Old Arizona
Frank Lloyd: The Divine Lady (winner)
Frank Lloyd: Drag
Frank Lloyd: Weary River
Ernst Lubitsch: The Patriot

1930
Clarence Brown: Anna Christie
Clarence Brown: Romance
Robert Z. Leonard: The Divorcee
Ernst Lubitsch: The Love Parade
Lewis Milestone: All Quiet on the Western Front (winner)
King Vidor: Hallelujah

1931
Clarence Brown: A Free Soul
Lewis Milestone: The Front Page
Wesley Ruggles: Cimarron
Norman Taurog: Skippy (winner)
Josef von Sternberg: Morocco

1932
Frank Borzage: Bad Girl (winner)
King Vidor: The Champ
Josef von Sternberg: Shanghai Express

1933
Frank Capra: Lady for a Day
George Cukor: Little Women
Frank Lloyd: Cavalcade (winner)

1934
Frank Capra: It Happened One Night (winner)
Victor Schertzinger: One Night of Love
W.S. Van Dyke: The Thin Man

1935
John Ford: The Informer (winner)
Henry Hathaway: The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
Frank Lloyd: Mutiny on the Bounty

1936
Frank Capra: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (winner)
Gregory La Cava: My Man Godfrey
Robert Z. Leonard: The Great Ziegfeld
W.S. Van Dyke: San Francisco
William Wyler: Dodsworth

1937
William Dieterle: The Life of Emile Zola
Sidney Franklin: The Good Earth
Gregory La Cava: Stage Door
Leo McCarey: The Awful Truth (winner)
William A. Wellman: A Star is Born

1938
Frank Capra: You Can’t Take It with You (winner)
Michael Curtiz: Angels with Dirty Faces
Michael Curtiz: Four Daughters
Norman Taurog: Boys Town
King Vidor: The Citadel

1939
Frank Capra: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Victor Fleming: Gone with the Wind (winner)
John Ford: Stagecoach
Sam Wood: Goodbye, Mr. Chips
William Wyler: Wuthering Heights

1940
George Cukor: The Philadelphia Story
John Ford: The Grapes of Wrath (winner)
Alfred Hitchcock: Rebecca
Sam Wood: Kitty Foyle
William Wyler: The Letter

1941
John Ford: How Green was My Valley
Alexander Hall: Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Howard Hawks: Sergeant York
Orson Welles: Citizen Kane
William Wyler: The Little Foxes

1942
Michael Curtiz: Yankee Doodle Dandy
John Farrow: Wake Island
Mervyn LeRoy: Random Harvest
Sam Wood: Kings Row
William Wyler: Mrs. Miniver (winner)

1943
Clarence Brown: The Human Comedy
Michael Curtiz: Casablanca (winner)
Henry King: The Song of Bernadette
Ernst Lubitsch: Heaven Can Wait
George Stevens: The More the Merrier

1944
Alfred Hitchcock: Lifeboat
Henry King: Wilson
Leo McCarey: Going My Way (winner)
Otto Preminger: Laura
Billy Wilder: Double Indemnity

1945
Clarence Brown: National Velvet
Alfred Hitchcock: Spellbound
Leo McCarey: The Bells of St. Mary’s
Jean Renoir: The Southerner
Billy Wilder: The Lost Weekend (winner)

1946
Clarence Brown: The Yearling
Frank Capra: It’s a Wonderful Life
David Lean: Brief Encounter
Robert Siodmak: The Killers
William Wyler: The Best Years of Our Lives (winner)

1947
George Cukor: A Double Life
Edward Dmytryk: Crossfire
Elia Kazan: Gentleman’s Agreement (winner)
Henry Koster: The Bishop’s Wife
David Lean: Great Expectations

1948
John Huston: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (winner)
Anatole Litvak: The Snake Pit
Laurence Olivier: Hamlet
Jean Negulesco: Johnny Belinda
Fred Zinnemann: The Search

1949
Joseph L. Mankeiwicz: A Letter to Three Wives (winner)
Carol Reed: The Fallen Idol
Robert Rossen: All the King’s Men
William A. Wellman: Battleground
William Wyler: The Heiress

1950
George Cukor: Born Yesterday
John Huston: The Asphalt Jungle
Joseph L. Mankeiwicz: All About Eve (winner)
Carol Reed: The Third Man
Billy Wilder: Sunset Boulevard

1951
John Huston: The African Queen
Elia Kazan: A Streetcar Named Desire
Vincente Minnelli: An American in Paris
George Stevens: A Place in the Sun (winner)
William Wyler: Detective Story

1952
Cecil B. DeMille: The Greatest Show on Earth
John Ford: The Quiet Man (winner)
John Huston: Moulin Rouge
Joseph L. Mankiewicz: 5 Fingers
Fred Zinnemann: High Noon

1953
George Stevens: Shane
Charles Walters: Lili
Billy Wilder: Stalag 17
William Wyler: Roman Holiday
Fred Zinnemann: From Here to Eternity (winner)

1954
Alfred Hitchcock: Rear Window
Elia Kazan: On the Waterfront (winner)
George Seaton: The Country Girl
William A. Wellman: The High and the Mighty
Billy Wilder: Sabrina

1955
Elia Kazan: East of Eden
David Lean: Summertime
Joshua Logan: Picnic
Delbert Mann: Marty
John Sturges: Bad Day at Black Rock

1956
Michael Anderson: Around the World in 80 Days
Walter Lang: The King and I
George Stevens: Giant (winner)
King Vidor: War and Peace
William Wyler: Friendly Persuasion

1957
David Lean: The Bridge on the River Kwai (winner)
Joshua Logan: Sayonara
Sidney Lumet: 12 Angry Men
Mark Robson: Peyton Place
Billy Wilder: Witness for the Prosecution

1958
Richard Brooks: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Stanley Kramer: The Defiant Ones
Vincente Minnelli: Gigi (winner)
Mark Robson: Inn of the Sixth Happiness
Robert Wise: I Want to Live!

1959
Jack Clayton: Room at the Top
George Stevens: Diary of Anne Frank
Billy Wilder: Some Like it Hot
William Wyler: Ben-Hur (winner)
Fred Zinnemann: The Nun’s Story

1960
Jack Cardiff: Sons and Lovers
Jules Dassin: Never on Sunday
Alfred Hitchcock: Psycho
Billy Wilder: The Apartment (winner)
Fred Zinnemann: The Sundowners

1961
Federico Fellini: La Dolce Vita
Stanley Kramer: Judgment at Nuremberg
Robert Rossen: The Hustler
J. Lee Thompson: Guns of Navarone
Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins: West Side Story (winner)

1962
Pietro Germi: Divorce, Italian Style
David Lean: Lawrence of Arabia (winner)
Robert Mulligan: To Kill a Mockingbird
Arthur Penn: The Miracle Worker
Frank Perry: David and Lisa

1963
Federico Fellini: 8 1/2
Elia Kazan: America, America
Otto Preminger: The Cardinal
Tony Richardson: Tom Jones (winner)
Martin Ritt: Hud

1964
Michael Cacoyannis: Zorba the Greek
George Cukor: My Fair Lady (winner)
Peter Glenville: Becket
Stanley Kubrick: Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Robert Stevenson: Mary Poppins

1965
David Lean: Doctor Zhivago
John Schlesinger: Darling
Hiroshi Teshigahara: The Woman in the Dunes
Robert Wise: The Sound of Music (winner)
William Wyler: The Collector

1966
Michaelangelo Antonioni: Blowup
Richard Brooks: The Professionals
Claude Lelouch: A Man and a Woman
Mike Nichols: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Fred Zinnemann: A Man for All Seasons (winner)

1967
Richard Brooks: In Cold Blood
Norman Jewison: In the Heat of the Night
Stanley Kramer: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Mike Nichols: The Graduate (winner)
Arthur Penn: Bonnie and Clyde

1968
Anthony Harvey: The Lion in Winter
Stanley Kubrick: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Gillo Pontecorvo: The Battle of Algiers
Carol Reed: Oliver! (winner)
Franco Zeffirelli: Romeo and Juliet

1969
Costa Gavras: Z
George Roy Hill: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Arthur Penn: Alice’s Restaurant
Sydney Pollack: They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
John Schlesinger: Midnight Cowboy (winner)

1970
Robert Altman: M*A*S*H
Federico Fellini: Satyricon
Arthur Hiller: Love Story
Ken Russell: Women in Love
Franklin J. Schaffner: Patton (winner)

1971
Peter Bogdanovich: The Last Picture Show
William Friedkin: The French Connection (winner)
Norman Jewison: Fiddler on the Roof
Stanley Kubrick: A Clockwork Orange
John Schlesinger: Sunday Bloody Sunday

1972
John Boorman: Deliverance
Francis Ford Coppola: The Godfather
Bob Fosse: Cabaret (winner)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz: Sleuth
Jan Troell: The Emigrants

1973
Ingmar Bergman: Cries and Whispers
Bernardo Bertolucci: Last Tango in Paris
William Friedkin: The Exorcist
George Roy Hill: The Sting (winner)
George Lucas: American Graffiti

1974
John Cassavetes: A Woman Under the Influence
Francis Ford Coppola: The Godfather Part II (winner)
Bob Fosse: Lenny
Roman Polanski: Chinatown
Francois Truffaut: Day for Night

1975
Robert Altman: Nashville
Federico Fellini: Amarcord
Milos Forman: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (winner)
Stanley Kubrick: Barry Lyndon
Sidney Lumet: Dog Day Afternoon

1976
John G. Avildsen: Rocky (winner)
Ingmar Bergman: Face to Face
Sidney Lumet: Network
Alan J. Pakula: All the President’s Men
Lina Wertmuller: Seven Beauties

1977
Woody Allen: Annie Hall (winner)
George Lucas: Star Wars
Herbert Ross: The Turning Point
Steven Spielberg: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Fred Zinnemann: Julia

1978
Woody Allen: Interiors
Hal Ashby: Coming Home
Warren Beatty and Buck Henry: Heaven Can Wait
Michael Cimino: The Deer Hunter (winner)
Alan Parker: Midnight Express

1979
Robert Benton: Kramer vs. Kramer (winner)
Francis Ford Coppola: Apocalypse Now
Bob Fosse: All That Jazz
Edouard Molinaro: La Cage aux Folles
Peter Yates: Breaking Away

1980
David Lynch: The Elephant Man
Roman Polanski: Tess
Robert Redford: Ordinary People (winner)
Richard Rush: The Stunt Man
Martin Scorsese: Raging Bull

1981
Warren Beatty: Reds (winner)
Hugh Hudson: Chariots of Fire
Louis Malle: Atlantic City
Mark Rydell: On Golden Pond
Steven Spielberg: Raiders of the Lost Ark

1982
Richard Attenborough: Gandhi (winner)
Sidney Lumet: The Verdict
Wolfgang Petersen: Das Boot
Sydney Pollack: Tootsie
Steven Spielberg: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

1983
Bruce Beresford: Tender Mercies
Ingmar Bergman: Fanny and Alexander
James L. Brooks: Terms of Endearment (winner)
Mike Nichols: Silkwood
Peter Yates: The Dresser

1984
Woody Allen: Broadway Danny Rose
Robert Benton: Places in the Heart
Milos Forman: Amadeus (winner)
Roland Joffe: The Killing Fields
David Lean: A Passage to India

1985
Akira Kurosawa: Ran
Hector Babenco: Kiss of the Spider Woman
John Huston: Prizzi’s Honor
Sydney Pollack: Out of Africa (winner)
Peter Weir: Witness

1986
Woody Allen: Hannah and Her Sisters
James Ivory: A Room with a View
Roland Joffe: The Mission
David Lynch: Blue Velvet
Oliver Stone: Platoon (winner)

1987
Bernardo Bertolucci: The Last Emperor (winner)
John Boorman: Hope and Glory
Lasse Hallstrom: My Live as a Dog
Norman Jewison: Moonstruck
Adrian Lyne: Fatal Attaction

1988
Charles Crichton: A Fish Called Wanda
Barry Levinson: Rain Man (winner)
Mike Nichols: Working Girl
Alan Parker: Mississippi Burning
Martin Scorsese: The Last Temptation of Christ

1989
Woody Allen: Crimes and Misdemeanors
Kenneth Branagh: Henry V
Jim Sheridan: My Left Foot
Oliver Stone: Born on the Fourth of July (winner)
Peter Weir: Dead Poets Society

1990
Kevin Costner: Dances with Wolves (winner)
Francis Ford Coppola: The Godfather Part III
Stephen Frears: The Grifters
Barbet Schroeder: Reversal of Fortune
Martin Scorsese: Goodfellas

1991
Jonathan Demme: The Silence of the Lambs (winner)
Barry Levinson: Bugsy
Ridley Scott: Thelma & Louise
John Singleton: Boyz n the Hood
Oliver Stone: JFK

1992
Robert Altman: The Player
Martin Brest: Scent of a Woman
Clint Eastwood: Unforgiven (winner)
James Ivory: Howard’s End
Neil Jordan: The Crying Game

1993
Robert Altman: Short Cuts
Jane Campion: The Piano
James Ivory: The Remains of the Day
Jim Sheridan: In the Name of the Father
Steven Spielberg: Schindler’s List (winner)

1994
Woody Allen: Bullets Over Broadway
Krzysztof Kieslowski: Three Colors: Red
Robert Redford: Quiz Show
Quentin Tarantino: Pulp Fiction
Robert Zemeckis: Forrest Gump (winner)

1995
Mike Figgis: Leaving Las Vegas
Mel Gibson: Braveheart (winner)
Chris Noonan: Babe
Michael Radford: Il Postino
Tim Robbins: Dead Man Walking

1996
Joel Coen: Fargo
Milos Forman: The People vs. Larry Flynt
Scott Hicks: Shine
Mike Leigh: Secrets & Lies
Anthony Minghella: The English Patient (winner)

1997
James Cameron: Titanic
Peter Cattaneo: The Full Monty
Atom Egoyan: The Sweet Hereafter
Curtis Hanson: L.A. Confidential
Gus Van Sant: Good Will Hunting

1998
Roberto Benigni: Life is Beautiful
John Madden: Shakespeare in Love
Terrence Malick: The Thin Red Line
Steven Spielberg: Saving Private Ryan (winner)
Peter Weir: The Truman Show

1999
Lasse Hallstrom: The Cider House Rules
Spike Jonze: Being John Malkovich
Michael Mann: The Insider
Sam Mendes: American Beauty (winner)
M. Night Shyamalan: The Sixth Sense

2000
Stephen Daldry: Billy Elliot
Ang Lee: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Ridley Scott: Gladiator
Steven Soderbergh: Erin Brockovich
Steven Soderbergh: Traffic (winner)

2001
Robert Altman: Gosford Park
Ron Howard: A Beautiful Mind (winner)
Peter Jackson: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
David Lynch: Mulholland Drive
Ridley Scott: Black Hawk Down

2002
Pedro Almodovar: Talk to Her
Stephen Daldry: The Hours
Rob Marshall: Chicago
Roman Polanski: The Pianist (winner)
Martin Scorsese: Gangs of New York

2003
Sofia Coppola: Lost in Translation
Clint Eastwood: Mystic River
Peter Jackson: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (winner)
Fernando Meirelles: City of God
Peter Weir: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

2004
Clint Eastwood: Million Dollar Baby (winner)
Taylor Hackford: Ray
Mike Leigh: Vera Drake
Alexander Payne: Sideways
Martin Scorsese: The Aviator

2005
George Clooney: Good Night and Good Luck
Paul Haggis: Crash
Ang Lee: Brokeback Mountain (winner)
Bennett Miller: Capote
Steven Spielberg: Munich

2006
Clint Eastwood: Letters from Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears: The Queen
Paul Greengrass: United 93
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu: Babel
Martin Scorsese: The Departed (winner)

2007
Paul Thomas Anderson: There Will Be Blood
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen: No Country for Old Men (winner)
Tony Gilroy: Michael Clayton
Jason Reitman: Juno
Julian Schnabel: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

2008
Danny Boyle: Slumdog Millionaire (winner)
Stephen Daldry: The Reader
David Fincher: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard: Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant: Milk

2009
Kathryn Bigelow: The Hurt Locker (winner)
James Cameron: Avatar
Lee Daniels: Precious
Jason Reitman: Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino: Inglourious Basterds

2010
Darren Aronofsky: Black Swan
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen: True Grit
David Fincher: The Social Network
Tom Hooper: The King’s Speech (winner)
David O. Russell: The Fighter

2011
Woody Allen: Midnight in Paris
Michel Hazanavicius: The Artist (winner)
Terrence Malick: The Tree of Life
Alexander Payne: The Descendants
Martin Scorsese: Hugo

2012
Michael Haneke: Amour
Ang Lee: Life of Pi (winner)
David O. Russell: Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg: Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin: Beasts of the Southern Wild