Who Won the Oscar for Best Director Every Year Since the Oscars Began

Leo McCarey won his first Oscar for romantic comedy “The Awful Truth,” starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. McCarey would direct Grant again nearly 20 years later in the now-classic “An Affair to Remember” (1957).

Frank Capra won his third Oscar in four years for the romp “You Can’t Take It With You,” about a couple’s romance that crosses over class differences in 1930s America. The film starred James Stewart, Jean Arthur, and Lionel Barrymore.

Considered to be one of the greatest movies of all time, “Gone With the Wind” won eight Oscars in 1940, including Best Director for Victor Fleming. It was Fleming’s sole Oscar win, despite having directed other popular films including “Treasure Island” (1934), “The Wizard of Oz” (1939), and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (1941).

John Ford picked up the second of his four Academy Awards for his adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel about the struggles of an Oklahoma family bound for California during the Dust Bowl era. Henry Ford and Jane Darwell starred, with Darwell also winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

John Ford received his third of four lifetime Oscars in 1942 for “How Green Was My Valley.” The film — starring Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara, and Anna Lee — follows the tribulations of a mining family in Wales.

William Wyler won the first of his three Best Director Academy Awards for the story about an English family trying to withstand tragedy during World War II. The film, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, is credited by movie historians with helping to shift American opinion against Nazi Germany. Wyler was nominated for Best Director 12 times.

Director Michael Curtiz had been nominated for the Best Director award four times prior to 1944 for the films “Captain Blood” (1935), “Four Daughters” (1938), “Angels with Dirty Faces” (1938), and “Yankee Doodle Dandy” (1942). He finally won for “Casablanca,” which also took home awards for Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay.

Leo McCarey won Best Director for his breezy film about a young priest (Bing Crosby) who tries to help a financially struggling church. McCarey’s Oscar was one of seven won by the movie, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Crosby), and Best Music, Original Song (“Swinging on a Star”).

The Academy Awards were especially kind to Billy Wilder, awarding him six Oscars and the 1988 Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award during his career. His first Best Director win was in 1946 for “The Lost Weekend.” He had been nominated the year before for “Double Indemnity.”

“The Best Years of Our Lives,” a film that dramatized the difficulties World War II veterans faced adjusting to civilian life, won William Wyler his second Oscar. The movie starred Fredric March and Dana Andrews and won seven Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for disabled veteran Harold Russell.