Every Best Director Winner In Oscar History
The ’70s
Keeping in the trend of the ’60s, the ’70s only have one Best Director who didn’t direct that year’s Best Picture. (Granted, it was Bob Fosse for Cabaret, which is, you know, Caberet and deserves a watch.) Additionally, the ’70s favored new directors for each year’s — there are no repeating names here.
1970: Franklin Schaffner — Patton
- Schaffner had earlier directed The Planet of the Apes.
1971: William Friedkin — The French Connection
- If you don’t know The French Connection, you probably know The Exorcist. Friedkin directed both.
1972: Bob Fosse — Caberet
- Caberet did not win Best Picture, but it won basically everything else it was nominated for, racking up a total of eight Oscars.
1973: George Roy Hill — The Sting
- Hill started in TV, then directed movies like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
1974: Francis Ford Coppola — The Godfather, Part II
- This is the only Best Director Oscar Francis Ford Coppola has won, but he later received an honorary Academy Award for all his work.
1975: Milos Forman — One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest could have won nine awards, but took home five Oscars.
1976: John Avildsen — Rocky
- Avildsen also directed The Karate Kid, so he knew how to direct people to punch and sweep the leg!
1977: Woody Allen — Annie Hall
- Diane Keaton, who starred in this film (and won an Oscar for it), also featured in The Godfather series starting with Part II.
1978: Michael Cimino — The Deer Hunter
- Cimino later wrote and directed Year of the Dragon.
1979: Robert Benton — Kramer vs. Kramer
- Benton later wrote and directed Twilight, but not the one you’re probably thinking of. (No vampires.) He also directed Bonnie and Clyde.