Every Best Director Winner In Oscar History
The ’40s
If the ’30s became the decade of Frank Capra, the ’40s belonged in part to John Ford and to William Wyler. Both men won two Oscars, accounting for a not-insignificant portion of the Best Director nods in the decade. However, director Leo McCarey also managed to snag his second Oscar, seven years after the first.
Most of the films listed below also won the Best Picture award, with just three exceptions.
1940: John Ford — The Grapes of Wrath
- We still haven’t reached a John Ford/John Wayne collaboration, and that pains me. The Grapes of Wrath didn’t win Best Picture.
1941: John Ford — How Green Was My Valley
- This isn’t even a Western from him! Shocking, really.
1942: William Wyler — Mrs. Miniver
- Wyler directed 73 films in total.
1943: Michael Curtiz — Casablanca
- Curtiz later directed Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce.
1944: Leo McCarey — Going My Way
- Near the end of McCarey’s career, he directed An Affair to Remember, which is another solid watch.
1945: Billy Wilder — The Lost Weekend
- In the ’50s, Wilder would go on to write for and direct Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot and The Seven Year Itch.
1946: William Wyler — The Best Years of Our Lives
- Wyler had an also-stellar ’50s, working on Roman Holiday with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn among other films.
1947: Elia Kazan — Gentleman’s Agreement
- Kazan’s perhaps better-known for his ’50s work, but Gentleman’s Agreement also features Gregory Peck.
1948: John Huston — The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- Huston won the Best Screenplay Oscar for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, but the movie didn’t win Best Picture.
1949: Joseph Mankiewicz — A Letter to Three Wives
- A Letter to Three Wives is the last of the three non-Best Picture winners of the ’40s.