# Best director of actors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130 "2009-02-24T00:20:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130/21 "2009-02-24T16:56:25Z")
I’m obviously not saying “best” here, but Zach Braff seems to be really good at this. Everyone in _Garden State_ just nailed their roles, which is pretty much the whole reason (IMO) that the movie qualifies as above average. He got lots of great stuff from no-name character actors. The scene where he goes to see the [neurologist](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0500038/), in particular, was fantastic (sorry, YouTube doesn’t seem to have it). ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130/22 "2009-02-24T17:01:08Z")
It was a male actor (remember when that phrase was redundant?) on a fairly recent movie, too. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130/23 "2009-02-24T17:13:17Z")
Steven Spielberg anyone? Even in his bad movies that acting is good. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130/24 "2009-02-24T17:24:26Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > Yeah, I’m a little confused by the OP, too. It seems you’re saying that if a number of actors have gotten awards for work performed under a director, then it’s the director’s ability that got them those awards. You’re reading too much into it. I’m noting that certain directors have made a series of movies in which people have won Oscars for acting, and I’m wondering who those directors and actors are. No subtext at all about causality. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130/25 "2009-02-24T17:27:32Z")
> [@Rufus\_Xavier](#): > > George Cukor: 0 Support, 5 Lead > John Ford: 4 Support, 1 Lead > Elia Kazan: 7 Support, 2 Lead > Fred Zinneman: 3 Support, 2 Lead (and one special Oscar for a juvenile performance: Ivan Jandl in 1948’s _The Search_) > > So, if we used 2 pts for Lead and 1 pt for Support, we get: > > William Wyler, 19 pts > Elia Kazan, 11 pts > George Cukor, 10 pts > > If we just add total acting Oscars we get: > > Acting Oscars by Director: > Wyler, 13 > Kazan, 9 > Allen, 6 Again – would it be possible to list who the actors/what the films were? ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130/26 "2009-02-24T18:40:37Z")
So we can see them all together, here you go, **twickster** : In alphabetical order, by Director, with year, category, actor/actress name and film name (in quotes), for all credited Directors with 5 or more acting oscars: **Woody Allen** 1977 ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE – Diane Keaton {“Annie Hall”} 1986 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Michael Caine {“Hannah and Her Sisters”} 1986 ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Dianne Wiest {“Hannah and Her Sisters”} 1994 ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Dianne Wiest {“Bullets over Broadway”} 1995 ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Mira Sorvino {“Mighty Aphrodite”} 2008 ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Penélope Cruz {“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”} **George Cukor** 1940 ACTOR – James Stewart {“The Philadelphia Story”} 1944 ACTRESS – Ingrid Bergman {“Gaslight”} 1947 ACTOR – Ronald Colman {“A Double Life”} 1950 ACTRESS – Judy Holliday {“Born Yesterday”} 1964 ACTOR – Rex Harrison {“My Fair Lady”} **Clint Eastwood** 1992 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Gene Hackman {“Unforgiven”} 2003 ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE – Sean Penn {“Mystic River”} 2003 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Tim Robbins {“Mystic River”} 2004 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Morgan Freeman {“Million Dollar Baby”} 2004 ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE – Hilary Swank {“Million Dollar Baby”} **John Ford** 1935 ACTOR – Victor McLaglen {“The Informer”} 1939 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Thomas Mitchell {“Stagecoach”} 1940 ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Jane Darwell {“The Grapes of Wrath”} 1941 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Donald Crisp {“How Green Was My Valley”} 1955 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Jack Lemmon {“Mister Roberts”} **Elia Kazan** 1945 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – James Dunn {“A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”} 1947 ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Celeste Holm {“Gentleman’s Agreement”} 1951 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Karl Malden {“A Streetcar Named Desire”} 1951 ACTRESS – Vivien Leigh {“A Streetcar Named Desire”} 1951 ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Kim Hunter {“Streetcar Named Desire”} 1952 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Anthony Quinn {“Viva Zapata!”} 1954 ACTOR – Marlon Brando {“On the Waterfront”} 1954 ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Eva Marie Saint {“On the Waterfront”} 1955 ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Jo Van Fleet {“East of Eden”} **Martin Scorsese** 1974 ACTRESS – Ellen Burstyn {“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”} 1980 ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE – Robert De Niro {“Raging Bull”} 1986 ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE – Paul Newman {“The Color of Money”} 1990 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Joe Pesci {“Good Fellas”} 2004 ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Cate Blanchett {“The Aviator”} **William Wyler** 1936 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Walter Brennan {“Come and Get It”} 1938 ACTRESS – Bette Davis {“Jezebel”} 1938 ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Fay Bainter {“Jezebel”} 1940 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Walter Brennan {“The Westerner”} 1942 ACTRESS – Greer Garson {“Mrs. Miniver”} 1942 ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Teresa Wright {“Mrs. Miniver”} 1946 ACTOR – Fredric March {“The Best Years of Our Lives”} 1946 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Harold Russell {“The Best Years of Our Lives”} 1949 ACTRESS – Olivia de Havilland {“The Heiress”} 1953 ACTRESS – Audrey Hepburn {“Roman Holiday”} 1958 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Burl Ives {“The Big Country”} 1959 ACTOR – Charlton Heston {“Ben-Hur”} 1959 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Hugh Griffith {“Ben-Hur”} 1968 ACTRESS – Barbra Streisand {“Funny Girl”} [NOTE: A tie. The other winner in this category was Katharine Hepburn (‘The Lion in Winter’).] **Fred Zinnemann** 1948 SPECIAL AWARD To Ivan Jandl, for the outstanding juvenile performance of 1948, as “Karel Malik” in The Search. 1952 ACTOR – Gary Cooper {“High Noon”} 1953 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Frank Sinatra {“From Here to Eternity”} 1953 ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Donna Reed {“From Here to Eternity”} 1966 ACTOR – Paul Scofield {“A Man for All Seasons”} 1977 ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Jason Robards {“Julia”} 1977 ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – Vanessa Redgrave {“Julia”} On preview, I see that Wyler actually has 14, and Zinneman has either 6 or 7, depending on whether you want to count the special award, which is, after all, for an actor in a movie he directed. So, Zinneman is either tied with or ahead of Woody. I further note that Kazan got all those awards in just an 11-year span. No one else comes close to cramming so many acting Oscars in so short a time period. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130/27 "2009-02-24T18:47:31Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Steven Spielberg anyone? Even in his bad movies that acting is good. Interestingly, even though Spielberg ranks second on the all-time list of Most Oscars earned by his films (a whopping 31 total), none of them have been for acting. In fact, even though his films have earned a total of over 100 nominations across his career, the number of acting nods from his films are less than 10 (his contemporary Scorsese, by contrast, has helped his actors earn 20 nods total, despite having the total nods from his films be 2/3 of Spielberg’s total). ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130/28 "2009-02-24T18:49:40Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Didn’t Martin Landau win a Supporting Actor Oscar for “Crimes and Misdemeanors”? That would give Woody another point, if we’re keeping score. No, Landau won for playing Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton’s _Ed Wood_ (1994). For the record, I thought Landau was robbed in 1989. Not that Denzel Washington didn’t deserve the Oscar; he did do a truly excellent job in Ed Zwick’s _Glory_ that year, but _Crimes and Misdemeanors_ is one of Woody’s greatest films largely as a result of the strength Landau’s performance. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130/29 "2009-02-24T18:56:44Z")
As far as Director/Actor stats go, Honorable Mention should go to Sidney Lumet, who holds the all-time record for most Best Actor nominations from his films, with 8. Only one–Peter Finch–won; the others were Al Pacino (twice), William Holden, Albert Finney, Paul Newman, Rod Steiger, and Richard Burton. In fact, Lumet’s tied (w/George Stevens) for 6th in total acting nominations from his films, behind the already mentioned Wyler, Kazan, Cukor, Zinnemann, and Scorsese. 4 actors have won under Lumet (3 of them from _Network_). ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130/30 "2009-02-24T19:00:42Z")
> [@Rufus\_Xavier](#): > > On preview, I see that Wyler actually has 14, and Zinneman has either 6 or 7, depending on whether you want to count the special award, which is, after all, for an actor in a movie he directed. So, Zinneman is either tied with or ahead of Woody. Well, if you want to get technical, if you count Special Awards, then Wyler’s number goes up to 15, because Harold Russell not only won Supporting Actor for _TBYoOL_, but he also won a special award for his performance as well. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130/31 "2009-02-24T19:19:45Z")
> [@Rufus\_Xavier](#): > > So we can see them all together, here you go, **twickster** : Fabulous – thank you very much! That makes for some extremely interesting reading. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130/32 "2009-02-24T20:20:16Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Well, if you want to get technical, if you count Special Awards, then Wyler’s number goes up to 15, because Harold Russell not only won Supporting Actor for _TBYoOL_, but he also won a special award for his performance as well. Interesting point, but that’s more of a stretch, in my humble opinion. Harold Russel’s special award wasn’t for acting (he was already awarded for that) but for “bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance” in the film. Some might think I’m splitting hairs, but I am more inclined to give Zinneman credit than Wyler when the two situations are compared straight up. ---
**Author:** ![Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/48db29/32.png) [@Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Key_Lime_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130/33 "2009-02-24T20:42:35Z")
The awards aren’t there (I don’t think), but Mike Nichols deserves some mention in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130/34 "2009-02-24T20:58:20Z")
> [@Key\_Lime\_Guy](#): > > The awards aren’t there (I don’t think), but Mike Nichols deserves some mention in this thread. Nichols has an impressive 17 acting nominations from his films, but only the two winners (Liz Taylor, Sandy Dennis) from _Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?_ ever walked home with the Oscar. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130/35 "2009-02-24T21:28:52Z")
I think it would be worthwhile to sift through thoselists and try to see which director earned Oscars for the least likely performers! That is, Paul Newman had been making great movies and giving great performances for decades before he finally won the Oscar (for “The Color of Money,” which I don’t think was a very good film). He was widely seen as overdue for an Oscar, so I don’t give Martin Scorsese (a great director, of course) too much credit for getting Newman that Oscar. MOST of the winning actors and actresses on those lists are people who gave credible, acclaimed performances for many directors over the course of many years. It doesn’t necessarily take a great director to coax a good performance out of a capable actor working with a top notch script. Which names on those lists make you think, “Hmmm, I NEVER thought So-and-so could act his way out of a poaper bag, but he was GREAT whenever he worked with Director X…”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-director-of-actors/487130.md?page=1)