Last Updated on 24 September 2023

Directors with the Most Awards for Best Director

4 Academy Awards

• John Ford
  • The Informer (1935)
  • The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
  • How Green Was My Valley (1941)
  • The Quiet Man (1952)

3 Academy Awards

• Frank Capra
  • You Can’t Take It with You (1938)
  • Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
  • It Happened One Night (1934)
• William Wyler
  • Mrs. Miniver (1942)
  • The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
  • Ben-Hur (1959)

2 Academy Awards

• Frank Borzage
  • 7th Heaven (1927)
  • Bad Girl (1931)
• Clint Eastwood
  • Million Dollar Baby (2004) 
  • Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
• Miloš Forman
  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
  • Amadeus (1984)
• Alejandro G. Iñárritu
  • Birdman (2014)
  • The Revenant (2015)
• Elia Kazan
  • Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)
  • On the Waterfront (1954)
• David Lean
  • The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
  • Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
• Ang Lee
  • Brokeback Mountain (2005)
  • Life of Pi (2012)
• Frank Lloyd
  • The Divine Lady (1929)
  • Cavalcade (1933)
• Joseph L. Mankiewicz
  • A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
  • All About Eve (1950)
• Leo McCarey
  • The Awful Truth (1937)
  • Going My Way (1944)
• Lewis Milestone
  • Two Arabian Knights (1927)
  • All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
• Steven Spielberg
  • Schindler’s List (1993)
  • Saving Private Ryan (1998)
• George Stevens
  • A Place in the Sun (1951)
  • Giant (1956)
• Oliver Stone
  • Platoon (1986)
  • Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
• Billy Wilder
  • The Lost Weekend (1945)
  • The Apartment (1960)
• Robert Wise
  • West Side Story (1961)
  • The Sound of Music (1965)
• Fred Zinnemann
  • From Here to Eternity (1953)
  • A Man for All Seasons (1966)