John Schlesinger

This article is about the director. For the attorney, see Marilyn Milian.

English film and stage director (1926–2003)

John Schlesinger

CBE

Schlesinger in 1974

Born|

John Richard Schlesinger

(1926-02-16)16 February 1926

London, England

Died| 25 July 2003(2003-07-25) (aged 77)

Palm Springs, California, U.S.

Alma mater| Balliol College, Oxford
Occupations|

* Director
* actor

Partner| Michael Childers

John Richard Schlesinger[1] (/ˈʃlɛsɪndʒər/ SHLESS-in-jər; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director, and actor. He emerged in the early 1960s as a leading light of the British New Wave, before embarking on a successful career in Hollywood, often directing films dealing frankly in provocative subject matter, combined with his status as one of the rare openly gay directors working in mainstream films.[2][3]

Schlesinger started his career making British dramas A Kind of Loving (1962), Billy Liar (1963), and Far from the Madding Crowd (1967). He won the Academy Award for Best Director for Midnight Cowboy (1969) and was Oscar-nominated for Darling (1965) and Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971). He gained acclaim for his Hollywood films The Day of the Locust (1975), and Marathon Man (1976). His later films include Madame Sousatzka (1988) and Cold Comfort Farm (1995). He also served as an associate director of the Royal National Theatre.

Over his career he received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, and four BAFTA Awards as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards. In 1970, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1970 Birthday Honours for services to film, and in 2002, he was made a BAFTA Fellow. Four of Schlesinger's films are on the British Film Institute's Top 100 British films.[4]

## Early life

[edit]

Schlesinger was born and raised in Hampstead, London,[5] in a Jewish family,[6] the eldest of five children[7] of distinguished Emmanuel College, Cambridge–educated paediatrician and physician Bernard Edward Schlesinger OBE FRCP (1896–1984), who had also served in the Royal Army Medical Corps as a brigadier,[8] and his wife Winifred Henrietta, daughter of Hermann Regensburg, a stockbroker from Frankfurt.[9] She had left school at 14 to study at the Trinity College of Music, and later studied languages at the University of Oxford for three years.[10][11] Bernard Schlesinger's father Richard, a stockbroker, had come to England in the 1880s from Frankfurt.[12]

After St Edmund's School, Hindhead and Uppingham School (where his father had also been),[13] Schlesinger enlisted in the British Army during World War II. While serving with the Royal Engineers, he made films on the war's front line. He also entertained his fellow troops by performing magic tricks.[14] After his tour of duty, he continued making short films and acted in stage productions while studying at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was involved in the Oxford University Dramatic Society.[15]

## Career

[edit]

Schlesinger's acting career began in the 1950s and consisted of supporting roles in British films such as The Divided Heart and Oh... Rosalinda!!, and British television productions such as BBC Sunday Night Theatre, The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Vise. He began his directorial career in 1956 with the short documentary Sunday in the Park about London's Hyde Park. In 1958, Schlesinger created a documentary on Benjamin Britten and the Aldeburgh Festival for the BBC's Monitor TV programme, including rehearsals of the children's opera Noye's Fludde featuring a young Michael Crawford.[16][17] In 1959, Schlesinger was credited as exterior or second unit director on 23 episodes of the TV series The Four Just Men and four 30-minute episodes of the series Danger Man.[18] He also appeared in Col March of Scotland Yard as "Dutch cook" in "Death and the Other Monkey" 1956.

By the 1960s, he had virtually given up acting to concentrate on a directing career, and another of his earlier directorial efforts, the British Transport Films' documentary Terminus (1961), gained a Venice Film Festival Gold Lion and a British Academy Award. His first two fiction films, A Kind of Loving (1962) and Billy Liar (1963) were set in the North of England. Both were produced by Joseph Janni and financed by Nat Cohen.[19] A Kind of Loving won the Golden Bear award at the 12th Berlin International Film Festival in 1962.[20] His third feature film, Darling (1965), tartly described the modern way of life in London and was one of the first films about 'swinging London'. Schlesinger's next film was the period drama Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's popular novel accentuated by beautiful English country locations. Both films (and Billy Liar) featured Julie Christie as the female lead.

Schlesinger's next film, Midnight Cowboy (1969), was internationally acclaimed. A story of two hustlers living on the fringe in the bad side of New York City, it was Schlesinger's first film shot in the US, and it won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture. The film was one of the earliest mainstream American films to deal explicitly with homosexual relationships, and is considered a groundbreaking work of queer cinema.[21][22][23] During the 1970s, he made an array of films that were mainly about loners, losers and people outside the mainstream world, such as Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), The Day of the Locust (1975), Marathon Man (1976) and Yanks (1979). Later, came the major box office and critical failure of Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), followed by films that attracted mixed responses from the public, and low returns, although The Falcon and the Snowman (1985) made money and Pacific Heights (1990) was a box-office hit. In Britain, he did better with films like Madame Sousatzka (1988) and Cold Comfort Farm (1995). Other later works include plays for television An Englishman Abroad (1983) and A Question of Attribution (1991), both with scripts by Alan Bennett, The Innocent (1993) and The Next Best Thing (2000).

Schlesinger directed on stage Timon of Athens (1965) for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the musical I and Albert (1972) at London's Piccadilly Theatre. From 1973, he was an associate director of the Royal National Theatre, where he produced George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House (1975). He directed several operas, including Les contes d'Hoffmann (1980) and Der Rosenkavalier (1984), both at Covent Garden.[24]

Schlesinger directed a party political broadcast for the Conservative Party in the general election of 1992, which featured Prime Minister John Major returning to Brixton in south London, thus highlighting Major's humble background, something atypical for a Conservative politician at that time. Schlesinger said he had voted for all three main political parties in the UK at one time or another.

## Later life and death

[edit]

In 1991, Schlesinger made a brief return to acting, portraying the gay character 'Derek' in the TV adaptation of The Lost Language of Cranes for the BBC. Schlesinger had himself come out during the making of Midnight Cowboy.[25]

Schlesinger was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1970 Birthday Honours for services to film.[26][27] Maintaining a flat in London and house at Palm Springs, California[28] Schlesinger had a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars dedicated to him in January 2003, which was his final public appearance.[29][30]

Schlesinger underwent a quadruple heart bypass in 1998, before suffering a stroke on New Year's Day 2001, which substantially diminished his faculties.[31] He died at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs on the morning of 25 July 2003, at the age of 77.[32][2]

Schlesinger was survived by his partner of over 30 years, photographer Michael Childers. A memorial service was held on 30 September 2003.[27] He was cremated, with most of his ashes interred next to his parents, and the remainder left to be interred with Childers.[32]

## Filmography

[edit]

### Film

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Director  | Writer  | Producer

|
|
|
|

1952  | The Starfish | Yes[a] | Yes  | Uncredited
1962  | A Kind of Loving | Yes  | No  | No
1963  | Billy Liar | Yes  | No  | No
1965  | Darling | Yes  | Story  | No
1967  | Far From the Madding Crowd | Yes  | No  | No
1969  | Midnight Cowboy | Yes  | No  | No
1971  | Sunday Bloody Sunday | Yes  | Uncredited  | No
1975  | The Day of the Locust | Yes  | No  | No
1976  | Marathon Man | Yes  | No  | No
1979  | Yanks | Yes  | No  | No
1981  | Honky Tonk Freeway | Yes  | No  | No
1985  | The Falcon and the Snowman | Yes  | No  | Yes
1987  | The Believers | Yes  | No  | Yes
1988  | Madame Sousatzka | Yes  | Yes  | No
1990  | Pacific Heights | Yes  | No  | No
1993  | The Innocent | Yes  | No  | No
1996  | Eye for an Eye | Yes  | No  | No
2000  | The Next Best Thing | Yes  | No  | No

1. ^ Co-directed with Alan Cooke

Documentary film

* Israel: A Right to Live (1967)

Documentary short

Year  | Title  | Director  | Writer  | Producer  | Notes

|
|
|
|
|

1956  | Sunday in the Park | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Also cinematographer
1961  | Terminus | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Also appeared as a passenger (Uncredited)
1973  | The Longest | Yes  | No  | No  | Segment of Visions of Eight

### Television

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Notes

|
|

1960–1963  | The Valiant Years |
1958–1961  | Monitor | 4 episodes
1967  | The Wednesday Play | Episode "Days in the Trees" (Original Royal Shakespeare Company stage production)
1991  | Screen One | Episode "A Question of Attribution"

TV movies

* Separate Tables (1983)
* An Englishman Abroad (1983)
* Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
* The Tale of Sweeney Todd (1997)[33][34]

## Awards and honours

[edit]

He was twice nominated for the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion, and was recipient of the Directors Guild of Great Britain's Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1970, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1970 Birthday Honours for services to film. In 1981, the Hamburg-based Alfred Toepfer Foundation awarded Schlesinger its annual Shakespeare Prize in recognition of his life's work. In 2002 he was made a BAFTA Fellow.

Academy Awards

Year  | Title  | Category  | Result

|
|
|

1965  | Darling | Best Director | Nominated
1969  | Midnight Cowboy | Won
1971  | Sunday Bloody Sunday | Nominated

BAFTA Awards

Year  | Title  | Category  | Result

|
|
|

1961  | Terminus | Best Short Film | Won
1965  | Darling | Best British Film | Nominated
1969  | Midnight Cowboy | Best Direction | Won
1971  | Sunday Bloody Sunday | Won
1979  | Yanks | Nominated
1983  | An Englishman Abroad | Best Single Drama | Won
1991  | A Question of Attribution | Won
1996  | BAFTA Fellowship | Won

Golden Globe Awards

Year  | Title  | Category  | Result

|
|
|

1965  | Darling | Best Director | Nominated
1969  | Midnight Cowboy | Won
1976  | Marathon Man | Nominated
Awards and nominations received by Schlesinger's films  Year  | Title  | Academy Awards | BAFTA Awards | Golden Globe Awards

|
|
|
|

Nominations  | Wins  | Nominations  | Wins  | Nominations  | Wins
1962  | A Kind of Loving |  |  | 4  |  |  |
1963  | Billy Liar |  |  | 6  |  |  |
1965  | Darling | 5  | 3  | 6  | 4  | 3  | 1
1967  | Far from the Madding Crowd | 1  |  | 2  |  | 3  |
1969  | Midnight Cowboy | 7  | 3  | 7  | 6  | 7  | 1
1971  | Sunday Bloody Sunday | 4  |  | 8  | 5  | 2  | 1
1975  | The Day of the Locust | 2  |  | 3  | 1  | 2  |
1976  | Marathon Man | 1  |  | 2  |  | 5  | 1
1979  | Yanks |  |  | 7  | 2  | 2  |
1988  | Madame Sousatzka |  |  | 1  |  | 2  | 1
Total  | 20  | 6  | 46  | 18  | 26  | 5

### Direction for Oscar-related Performances

[edit]

Year  | Performer  | Film  | Result

|
|
|

Academy Award for Best Actor
1970 | Dustin Hoffman | Midnight Cowboy | Nominated
Jon Voight | Nominated
1972 | Peter Finch | Sunday Bloody Sunday | Nominated
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1976 | Burgess Meredith | The Day of the Locust | Nominated
1977 | Laurence Olivier | Marathon Man | Nominated
Academy Award for Best Actress
1966 | Julie Christie | Darling | Won
1972 | Glenda Jackson | Sunday Bloody Sunday | Nominated
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1970 | Sylvia Miles | Midnight Cowboy | Nominated

## See also

[edit]

* List of Academy Award winners and nominees from Great Britain — Best Director
* List of LGBT Academy Award winners and nominees for Best Director

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Schlesinger, John Richard (1926–2003)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/92267. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. ^ a b Breznica, Anthony (26 July 2003). "Filmmaker John Schlesinger Dies at 77". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
3. ^ "Where to begin with John Schlesinger". BFI. 4 April 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
4. ^ "British Film Institute – Top 100 British Films – cinemarealm.com". Retrieved 25 October 2023.
5. ^ Mann, 2004, pp. 46, 179
6. ^ Bond, Paul (8 August 2003). "Obituary: John Schlesinger, filmmaker, 1926–2003". World Socialist Website. International Committee of the Fourth International. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
7. ^ John Schlesinger, Gene D. Phillips, Twayne Publishers, 1981, p. 17
8. ^ "Bernard Edward Schlesinger | RCP Museum".
9. ^ Their life through letters was later published by their grandson Ian Buruma as Their Promised Land (Penguin, 1917.)
10. ^ Mann, 2004, p. 54
11. ^ Current Biography Yearbook 1970, ed. Charles Moritz, The H. W. Wilson Co., 1971, p. 377
12. ^ Mann, 2004, p. 51
13. ^ Mann, 2004, p. 58
14. ^ John Schlesinger on Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
15. ^ Rhodes, Rachel (25 November 2005). "Jocelyn Page – interview transcript" (PDF). British Library. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
16. ^ Benjamin Britten on Camera Video from 10:01.
17. ^ Wiebe, Heather. Britten's Unquiet Pasts: Sound and Memory in Postwar Reconstruction. Cambridge University Press, 2012: p. 153
18. ^ End credits of episodes of both series.
19. ^ Vagg, Stephen (21 January 2025). "Forgotten British Moguls: Nat Cohen – Part Three (1962-68)". Filmink. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
20. ^ "Berlinale: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Archived from the original on 8 April 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
21. ^ Harris, Mark (29 May 2018). "Midnight Cowboy: On the Fringe". Criterion Collection.
22. ^ "50 Years After Midnight Cowboy, Gay Cinema Is Still a Work in Progress". LAmag - Culture, Food, Fashion, News & Los Angeles. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
23. ^ "X-Rated: Inside the Myths and Legends of Midnight Cowboy". Vanity Fair. 26 February 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
24. ^ Millington, Barry (2001). "John Schlesinger". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.‎
25. ^ Goldstein, Patrick (27 February 2005). "'Midnight Cowboy' and the very dark horse its makers rode in on". LA Times.
26. ^ "No. 45117". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 June 1970. p. 6373.
27. ^ a b "Diaries 1996–2004". Untold Stories. p. 335.
28. ^ Meeks, Eric G. (2014) [2012]. The Best Guide Ever to Palm Springs Celebrity Homes. Horatio Limburger Oglethorpe. pp. 41–43\. ISBN 978-1479328598.
29. ^ Mann, 2004, p. 559
30. ^ Palm Springs Walk of Stars by date dedicated
31. ^ Mann, 2004, p. 556
32. ^ a b Mann, 2004, p. 560
33. ^ "Diversions and Excursions Oct. 9-20". Wall Street Journal. 9 October 1997 - via www.wsj.com.
34. ^ Gussow, Mel (15 October 1997). "Hamptons Film Festival Just Keeps On Growing (Published 1997)". The New York Times - via NYTimes.com.

## Sources

[edit]

* Mann, William J. (2004). Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 978-0091794897

## External links

[edit]

* Biography portal

* John Schlesinger at IMDb
* John Schlesinger at the TCM Movie Database
* John Schlesinger at the BFI's Screenonline
* Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
* Literature on John Schlesinger
* Interview at the British Entertainment History Project

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by John Schlesinger

Feature films|

* A Kind of Loving (1962)
* Billy Liar (1963)
* Darling (1965)
* Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)
* Midnight Cowboy (1969)
* Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
* The Day of the Locust (1975)
* Marathon Man (1976)
* Yanks (1979)
* Honky Tonk Freeway (1981)
* The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
* The Believers (1987)
* Madame Sousatzka (1988)
* Pacific Heights (1990)
* The Innocent (1993)
* Eye for an Eye (1996)
* The Next Best Thing (2000)

Documentary|

* Terminus (1961)
* Israel: A Right to Live (1967)
* Visions of Eight (1973)

Television|

* An Englishman Abroad (1983)
* A Question of Attribution (1991)
* Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
* The Tale of Sweeney Todd (1997)

Awards for John Schlesinger

* v
* t
* e

Academy Award for Best Director

1927–1950|

* Frank Borzage (1927/28; Dramatic Picture)
* Lewis Milestone (1927/28; Comedy Picture)
* Frank Lloyd (1928/29)
* Lewis Milestone (1929/30)
* Norman Taurog (1930/31)
* Frank Borzage (1931/32)
* Frank Lloyd (1932/33)
* Frank Capra (1934)
* John Ford (1935)
* Frank Capra (1936)
* Leo McCarey (1937)
* Frank Capra (1938)
* Victor Fleming (1939)
* John Ford (1940)
* John Ford (1941)
* William Wyler (1942)
* Michael Curtiz (1943)
* Leo McCarey (1944)
* Billy Wilder (1945)
* William Wyler (1946)
* Elia Kazan (1947)
* John Huston (1948)
* Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1949)
* Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1950)

1951–1975|

* George Stevens (1951)
* John Ford (1952)
* Fred Zinnemann (1953)
* Elia Kazan (1954)
* Delbert Mann (1955)
* George Stevens (1956)
* David Lean (1957)
* Vincente Minnelli (1958)
* William Wyler (1959)
* Billy Wilder (1960)
* Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise (1961)
* David Lean (1962)
* Tony Richardson (1963)
* George Cukor (1964)
* Robert Wise (1965)
* Fred Zinnemann (1966)
* Mike Nichols (1967)
* Carol Reed (1968)
* John Schlesinger (1969)
* Franklin J. Schaffner (1970)
* William Friedkin (1971)
* Bob Fosse (1972)
* George Roy Hill (1973)
* Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
* Miloš Forman (1975)

1976–2000|

* John G. Avildsen (1976)
* Woody Allen (1977)
* Michael Cimino (1978)
* Robert Benton (1979)
* Robert Redford (1980)
* Warren Beatty (1981)
* Richard Attenborough (1982)
* James L. Brooks (1983)
* Miloš Forman (1984)
* Sydney Pollack (1985)
* Oliver Stone (1986)
* Bernardo Bertolucci (1987)
* Barry Levinson (1988)
* Oliver Stone (1989)
* Kevin Costner (1990)
* Jonathan Demme (1991)
* Clint Eastwood (1992)
* Steven Spielberg (1993)
* Robert Zemeckis (1994)
* Mel Gibson (1995)
* Anthony Minghella (1996)
* James Cameron (1997)
* Steven Spielberg (1998)
* Sam Mendes (1999)
* Steven Soderbergh (2000)

2001–present|

* Ron Howard (2001)
* Roman Polanski (2002)
* Peter Jackson (2003)
* Clint Eastwood (2004)
* Ang Lee (2005)
* Martin Scorsese (2006)
* Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (2007)
* Danny Boyle (2008)
* Kathryn Bigelow (2009)
* Tom Hooper (2010)
* Michel Hazanavicius (2011)
* Ang Lee (2012)
* Alfonso Cuarón (2013)
* Alejandro González Iñárritu (2014)
* Alejandro González Iñárritu (2015)
* Damien Chazelle (2016)
* Guillermo del Toro (2017)
* Alfonso Cuarón (2018)
* Bong Joon-ho (2019)
* Chloé Zhao (2020/21)
* Jane Campion (2021)
* Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (2022)
* Christopher Nolan (2023)
* Sean Baker (2024)

* v
* t
* e

BAFTA Award for Best Film

1940s

* The Best Years of Our Lives (1947)
* Hamlet (1948)
* Bicycle Thieves (1949)

1950s

* All About Eve (1950)
* La Ronde (1951)
* The Sound Barrier (1952)
* Forbidden Games (1953)
* The Wages of Fear (1954)
* Richard III (1955)
* Gervaise (1956)
* The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
* Room at the Top (1958)
* Ben-Hur (1959)

1960s

* The Apartment – Billy Wilder (1960)
* Ballad of a Soldier – Grigori Chukhrai / The Hustler – Robert Rossen (1961)
* Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
* Tom Jones (1963)
* Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
* My Fair Lady (1965)
* Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – Mike Nichols (1966)
* A Man for All Seasons – Fred Zinnemann (1967)
* The Graduate – Mike Nichols (1968)
* Midnight Cowboy – John Schlesinger (1969)

1970s

* Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1970)
* Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
* Cabaret (1972)
* Day for Night (1973)
* Lacombe, Lucien (1974)
* Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1975)
* One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1976)
* Annie Hall – Charles H. Joffe and Jack Rollins (1977)
* Julia – Richard Roth (1978)
* Manhattan (1979)

1980s

* The Elephant Man – David Lynch (1980)
* Chariots of Fire – David Puttnam (1981)
* Gandhi – Richard Attenborough (1982)
* Educating Rita – Lewis Gilbert (1983)
* The Killing Fields – David Puttnam (1984)
* The Purple Rose of Cairo – Woody Allen and Robert Greenhut (1985)
* A Room with a View – James Ivory and Ismail Merchant (1986)
* Jean de Florette – Claude Berri (1987)
* The Last Emperor – Bernardo Bertolucci and Jeremy Thomas (1988)
* Dead Poets Society – Peter Weir, Steven Haft, Paul Junger Witt, and Tony Thomas (1989)

1990s

* Goodfellas – Martin Scorsese, Robert Chartoff, and Irwin Winkler (1990)
* The Commitments – Alan Parker, Lynda Myles, and Roger Randall-Cutler (1991)
* Howards End – James Ivory and Ismail Merchant (1992)
* Schindler's List – Steven Spielberg, Branko Lustig, and Gerald R. Molen (1993)
* Four Weddings and a Funeral – Mike Newell and Duncan Kenworthy (1994)
* Sense and Sensibility – Ang Lee and Lindsay Doran (1995)
* The English Patient – Anthony Minghella and Saul Zaentz (1996)
* The Full Monty – Peter Cattaneo and Uberto Pasolini (1997)
* Shakespeare in Love – Donna Gigliotti, Marc Norman, David Parfitt, Harvey Weinstein, and Edward Zwick (1998)
* American Beauty – Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks (1999)

2000s

* Gladiator – David Franzoni, Branko Lustig, and Douglas Wick (2000)
* The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Peter Jackson, Barrie M. Osborne, Tim Sanders, and Fran Walsh (2001)
* The Pianist – Robert Benmussa, Roman Polanski, and Alain Sarde (2002)
* The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Peter Jackson, Barrie M. Osborne, and Fran Walsh (2003)
* The Aviator – Sandy Climan, Charles Evans Jr., Graham King, and Michael Mann (2004)
* Brokeback Mountain – Diana Ossana and James Schamus (2005)
* The Queen – Andy Harries, Christine Langan, and Tracey Seaward (2006)
* Atonement – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Paul Webster (2007)
* Slumdog Millionaire – Christian Colson (2008)
* The Hurt Locker – Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, and Greg Shapiro (2009)

2010s

* The King's Speech – Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Gareth Unwin (2010)
* The Artist – Thomas Langmann (2011)
* Argo – Ben Affleck, George Clooney, and Grant Heslov (2012)
* 12 Years a Slave – Dede Gardner, Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, and Brad Pitt (2013)
* Boyhood – Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland (2014)
* The Revenant – Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Arnon Milchan, Mary Parent, and Keith Redmon (2015)
* La La Land – Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz, and Marc Platt (2016)
* Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin, and Martin McDonagh (2017)
* Roma – Nicolás Celis, Alfonso Cuarón, and Gabriela Rodríguez (2018)
* 1917 – Pippa Harris, Callum McDougall, Sam Mendes, and Jayne-Ann Tenggren (2019)

2020s

* Nomadland – Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, and Chloé Zhao (2020)
* The Power of the Dog – Jane Campion, Iain Canning, Roger Frappier, Tanya Seghatchian, and Emile Sherman (2021)
* All Quiet on the Western Front – Malte Grunert (2022)
* Oppenheimer – Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, and Emma Thomas (2023)
* Conclave – Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, and Michael A. Jackman (2024)

* v
* t
* e

BAFTA Award for Best Direction

1968–2000|

* Mike Nichols (1968)
* John Schlesinger (1969)
* George Roy Hill (1970)
* John Schlesinger (1971)
* Bob Fosse (1972)
* François Truffaut (1973)
* Roman Polanski (1974)
* Stanley Kubrick (1975)
* Miloš Forman (1976)
* Woody Allen (1977)
* Alan Parker (1978)
* Francis Ford Coppola (1979)
* Akira Kurosawa (1980)
* Louis Malle (1981)
* Richard Attenborough (1982)
* Bill Forsyth (1983)
* Wim Wenders (1984)
* No Award (1985)
* Woody Allen (1986)
* Oliver Stone (1987)
* Louis Malle (1988)
* Kenneth Branagh (1989)
* Martin Scorsese (1990)
* Alan Parker (1991)
* Robert Altman (1992)
* Steven Spielberg (1993)
* Mike Newell (1994)
* Michael Radford (1995)
* Joel Coen (1996)
* Baz Luhrmann (1997)
* Peter Weir (1998)
* Pedro Almodóvar (1999)
* Ang Lee (2000)

2001–present|

* Peter Jackson (2001)
* Roman Polanski (2002)
* Peter Weir (2003)
* Mike Leigh (2004)
* Ang Lee (2005)
* Paul Greengrass (2006)
* Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (2007)
* Danny Boyle (2008)
* Kathryn Bigelow (2009)
* David Fincher (2010)
* Michel Hazanavicius (2011)
* Ben Affleck (2012)
* Alfonso Cuarón (2013)
* Richard Linklater (2014)
* Alejandro G. Iñárritu (2015)
* Damien Chazelle (2016)
* Guillermo del Toro (2017)
* Alfonso Cuarón (2018)
* Sam Mendes (2019)
* Chloé Zhao (2020)
* Jane Campion (2021)
* Edward Berger (2022)
* Christopher Nolan (2023)
* Brady Corbet (2024)

* v
* t
* e

BAFTA Fellowship

1971–2000|

* Alfred Hitchcock (1971)
* Freddie Young (1972)
* Grace Wyndham Goldie (1973)
* David Lean (1974)
* Jacques Cousteau (1975)
* Charlie Chaplin (1976)
* Laurence Olivier (1976)
* Denis Forman (1977)
* Fred Zinnemann (1978)
* Lew Grade (1979)
* Huw Wheldon (1979)
* David Attenborough (1980)
* John Huston (1980)
* Abel Gance (1981)
* Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (1981)
* Andrzej Wajda (1982)
* Richard Attenborough (1983)
* Hugh Greene (1984)
* Sam Spiegel (1984)
* Jeremy Isaacs (1985)
* Steven Spielberg (1986)
* Federico Fellini (1987)
* Ingmar Bergman (1988)
* Alec Guinness (1989)
* Paul Fox (1990)
* Louis Malle (1991)
* John Gielgud (1992)
* David Plowright (1992)
* Sydney Samuelson (1993)
* Colin Young (1993)
* Michael Grade (1994)
* Billy Wilder (1995)
* Jeanne Moreau (1996)
* Ronald Neame (1996)
* John Schlesinger (1996)
* Maggie Smith (1996)
* Woody Allen (1997)
* Steven Bochco (1997)
* Julie Christie (1997)
* Oswald Morris (1997)
* Harold Pinter (1997)
* David Rose (1997)
* Sean Connery (1998)
* Bill Cotton (1998)
* Eric Morecambe & Ernie Wise (1999)
* Elizabeth Taylor (1999)
* Michael Caine (2000)
* Stanley Kubrick (2000)
* Peter Bazalgette (2000)

2001–present|

* Albert Finney (2001)
* John Thaw (2001)
* Judi Dench (2001)
* Warren Beatty (2002)
* Merchant Ivory Productions (2002)
* Andrew Davies (2002)
* John Mills (2002)
* Saul Zaentz (2003)
* David Jason (2003)
* John Boorman (2004)
* Roger Graef (2004)
* John Barry (2005)
* David Frost (2005)
* David Puttnam (2006)
* Ken Loach (2006)
* Anne V. Coates (2007)
* Richard Curtis (2007)
* Will Wright (2007)
* Anthony Hopkins (2008)
* Bruce Forsyth (2008)
* Dawn French & Jennifer Saunders (2009)
* Terry Gilliam (2009)
* Nolan Bushnell (2009)
* Vanessa Redgrave (2010)
* Shigeru Miyamoto (2010)
* Melvyn Bragg (2010)
* Christopher Lee (2011)
* Peter Molyneux (2011)
* Trevor McDonald (2011)
* Martin Scorsese (2012)
* ~~Rolf Harris~~ (2012)
* Alan Parker (2013)
* Gabe Newell (2013)
* Michael Palin (2013)
* Helen Mirren (2014)
* Rockstar Games (2014)
* Julie Walters (2014)
* Mike Leigh (2015)
* David Braben (2015)
* Jon Snow (2015)
* Sidney Poitier (2016)
* John Carmack (2016)
* Ray Galton & Alan Simpson (2016)
* Mel Brooks (2017)
* Joanna Lumley (2017)
* Ridley Scott (2018)
* Tim Schafer (2018)
* Kate Adie (2018)
* Thelma Schoonmaker (2019)
* Joan Bakewell (2019)
* Kathleen Kennedy (2020)
* Hideo Kojima (2020)
* Ang Lee (2021)
* Siobhan Reddy (2021)
* Billy Connolly (2022)
* Sandy Powell (2023)
* Shuhei Yoshida (2023)
* Meera Syal (2023)
* Samantha Morton (2024)
* Floella Benjamin (2024)
* Warwick Davis (2025)
* Yoko Shimomura (2025)
* Kirsty Wark (2025)

* v
* t
* e

Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film

1948–1975|

* Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1948)
* Robert Rossen (1949)
* Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1950)
* George Stevens (1951)
* John Ford (1952)
* Fred Zinnemann (1953)
* Elia Kazan (1954)
* Delbert Mann (1955)
* George Stevens (1956)
* David Lean (1957)
* Vincente Minnelli (1958)
* William Wyler (1959)
* Billy Wilder (1960)
* Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise (1961)
* David Lean (1962)
* Tony Richardson (1963)
* George Cukor (1964)
* Robert Wise (1965)
* Fred Zinnemann (1966)
* Mike Nichols (1967)
* Anthony Harvey (1968)
* John Schlesinger (1969)
* Franklin J. Schaffner (1970)
* William Friedkin (1971)
* Francis Ford Coppola (1972)
* George Roy Hill (1973)
* Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
* Miloš Forman (1975)

1976–2000|

* John G. Avildsen (1976)
* Woody Allen (1977)
* Michael Cimino (1978)
* Robert Benton (1979)
* Robert Redford (1980)
* Warren Beatty (1981)
* Richard Attenborough (1982)
* James L. Brooks (1983)
* Miloš Forman (1984)
* Steven Spielberg (1985)
* Oliver Stone (1986)
* Bernardo Bertolucci (1987)
* Barry Levinson (1988)
* Oliver Stone (1989)
* Kevin Costner (1990)
* Jonathan Demme (1991)
* Clint Eastwood (1992)
* Steven Spielberg (1993)
* Robert Zemeckis (1994)
* Ron Howard (1995)
* Anthony Minghella (1996)
* James Cameron (1997)
* Steven Spielberg (1998)
* Sam Mendes (1999)
* Ang Lee (2000)

2001–present|

* Ron Howard (2001)
* Rob Marshall (2002)
* Peter Jackson (2003)
* Clint Eastwood (2004)
* Ang Lee (2005)
* Martin Scorsese (2006)
* Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (2007)
* Danny Boyle (2008)
* Kathryn Bigelow (2009)
* Tom Hooper (2010)
* Michel Hazanavicius (2011)
* Ben Affleck (2012)
* Alfonso Cuarón (2013)
* Alejandro G. Iñárritu (2014)
* Alejandro G. Iñárritu (2015)
* Damien Chazelle (2016)
* Guillermo del Toro (2017)
* Alfonso Cuarón (2018)
* Sam Mendes (2019)
* Chloé Zhao (2020)
* Jane Campion (2021)
* Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (2022)
* Christopher Nolan (2023)
* Sean Baker (2024)

* v
* t
* e

National Board of Review Award for Best Director

1945–1975|

* Jean Renoir (1945)
* William Wyler (1946)
* Elia Kazan (1947)
* Roberto Rossellini (1948)
* Vittorio De Sica (1949)
* John Huston (1950)
* Akira Kurosawa (1951)
* David Lean (1952)
* George Stevens (1953)
* Renato Castellani (1954)
* William Wyler (1955)
* John Huston (1956)
* David Lean (1957)
* John Ford (1958)
* Fred Zinnemann (1959)
* Jack Cardiff (1960)
* Jack Clayton (1961)
* David Lean (1962)
* Tony Richardson (1963)
* Desmond Davis (1964)
* John Schlesinger (1965)
* Fred Zinnemann (1966)
* Richard Brooks (1967)
* Franco Zeffirelli (1968)
* Alfred Hitchcock (1969)
* François Truffaut (1970)
* Ken Russell (1971)
* Bob Fosse (1972)
* Ingmar Bergman (1973)
* Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
* Robert Altman / Stanley Kubrick (1975)

1976–2000|

* Alan J. Pakula (1976)
* Luis Buñuel (1977)
* Ingmar Bergman (1978)
* John Schlesinger (1979)
* Robert Redford (1980)
* Warren Beatty (1981)
* Sidney Lumet (1982)
* James L. Brooks (1983)
* David Lean (1984)
* Akira Kurosawa (1985)
* Woody Allen (1986)
* Steven Spielberg (1987)
* Alan Parker (1988)
* Kenneth Branagh (1989)
* Kevin Costner (1990)
* Jonathan Demme (1991)
* James Ivory (1992)
* Martin Scorsese (1993)
* Quentin Tarantino (1994)
* Ang Lee (1995)
* Joel Coen (1996)
* Curtis Hanson (1997)
* Shekhar Kapur (1998)
* Anthony Minghella (1999)
* Steven Soderbergh (2000)

2001–present|

* Todd Field (2001)
* Phillip Noyce (2002)
* Edward Zwick (2003)
* Michael Mann (2004)
* Ang Lee (2005)
* Martin Scorsese (2006)
* Tim Burton (2007)
* David Fincher (2008)
* Clint Eastwood (2009)
* David Fincher (2010)
* Martin Scorsese (2011)
* Kathryn Bigelow (2012)
* Spike Jonze (2013)
* Clint Eastwood (2014)
* Ridley Scott (2015)
* Barry Jenkins (2016)
* Greta Gerwig (2017)
* Bradley Cooper (2018)
* Quentin Tarantino (2019)
* Spike Lee (2020)
* Paul Thomas Anderson (2021)
* Steven Spielberg (2022)
* Martin Scorsese (2023)
* Jon M. Chu (2024)

* v
* t
* e

New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director

1935–1950|

* John Ford (1935)
* Rouben Mamoulian (1936)
* Gregory La Cava (1937)
* Alfred Hitchcock (1938)
* John Ford (1939)
* John Ford (1940)
* John Ford (1941)
* John Farrow (1942)
* George Stevens (1943)
* Leo McCarey (1944)
* Billy Wilder (1945)
* William Wyler (1946)
* Elia Kazan (1947)
* John Huston (1948)
* Carol Reed (1949)
* Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1950)

1951–1975|

* Elia Kazan (1951)
* Fred Zinnemann (1952)
* Fred Zinnemann (1953)
* Elia Kazan (1954)
* David Lean (1955)
* John Huston (1956)
* David Lean (1957)
* Stanley Kramer (1958)
* Fred Zinnemann (1959)
* Jack Cardiff / Billy Wilder (1960)
* Robert Rossen (1961)
* No Award (1962)
* Tony Richardson (1963)
* Stanley Kubrick (1964)
* John Schlesinger (1965)
* Fred Zinnemann (1966)
* Mike Nichols (1967)
* Paul Newman (1968)
* Costa-Gavras (1969)
* Bob Rafelson (1970)
* Stanley Kubrick (1971)
* Ingmar Bergman (1972)
* François Truffaut (1973)
* Federico Fellini (1974)
* Robert Altman (1975)

1976–2000|

* Alan J. Pakula (1976)
* Woody Allen (1977)
* Terrence Malick (1978)
* Woody Allen (1979)
* Jonathan Demme (1980)
* Sidney Lumet (1981)
* Sydney Pollack (1982)
* Ingmar Bergman (1983)
* David Lean (1984)
* John Huston (1985)
* Woody Allen (1986)
* James L. Brooks (1987)
* Chris Menges (1988)
* Paul Mazursky (1989)
* Martin Scorsese (1990)
* Jonathan Demme (1991)
* Robert Altman (1992)
* Jane Campion (1993)
* Quentin Tarantino (1994)
* Ang Lee (1995)
* Lars von Trier (1996)
* Curtis Hanson (1997)
* Terrence Malick (1998)
* Mike Leigh (1999)
* Steven Soderbergh (2000)

2001–present|

* Robert Altman (2001)
* Todd Haynes (2002)
* Sofia Coppola (2003)
* Clint Eastwood (2004)
* Ang Lee (2005)
* Martin Scorsese (2006)
* Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (2007)
* Mike Leigh (2008)
* Kathryn Bigelow (2009)
* David Fincher (2010)
* Michel Hazanavicius (2011)
* Kathryn Bigelow (2012)
* Steve McQueen (2013)
* Richard Linklater (2014)
* Todd Haynes (2015)
* Barry Jenkins (2016)
* Sean Baker (2017)
* Alfonso Cuarón (2018)
* Joshua Safdie and Benjamin Safdie (2019)
* Chloé Zhao (2020)
* Jane Campion (2021)
* S. S. Rajamouli (2022)
* Christopher Nolan (2023)
* RaMell Ross (2024)

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Czech Republic
* Spain
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Korea
* Sweden
* Poland
* Israel
* Catalonia

Artists|

* FID

People|

* Trove
* Deutsche Biographie

Other|

* IdRef
* SNAC

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template