List of Best Director winners by age at win

This is a list of winners of the Academy Award of Merit for Achievement in Directing, presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to a director who has Delivered outstanding direction while working on a particular film within the industry. More popularly known as the Academy Award (or the Oscar) for Best Director, this award was initially presented at the 1st Academy Awards ceremony for 1927 and 1928 and was most recently presented at the 79th Academy Awards ceremony for 2006. Throughout the past 79 years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, AMPAS has presented a total of 81 Best Director awards to 59 different directors. This is a list of winners arranged in descending order by age of the director on the date of the award ceremony in which he was named Best Director.

List of winners

Rank	Name	Film	Annual	Year	Date of Birth	Date of Award	Notes
1	Clint Eastwood	Million Dollar Baby	77th	2004	May 31, 1930	February 27, 2005
2	Roman Polanski	The Pianist	75th	2002	August 18, 1933	March 23, 2003
3	George Cukor	My Fair Lady	37th	1964	July 7, 1899	April 5, 1965
4	Martin Scorsese	The Departed	79th	2006	November 17, 1942	February 25, 2007
5	Clint Eastwood	Unforgiven	65th	1992	May 31, 1930	March 29, 1993
6	Carol Reed	Oliver!	41st	1968	December 30, 1906	April 14, 1969
7	Fred Zinnemann	A Man for All Seasons	39th	1966	April 29, 1907	April 10, 1967
8	Richard Attenborough	Gandhi	55th	1982	August 29, 1923	April 11, 1983
9	John Ford	The Quiet Man	25th	1952	February 1, 1894	March 19, 1953
10	William Wyler	Ben-Hur	32nd	1959	July 1, 1902	April 4, 1960
11	Michael Curtiz	Casablanca	16th	1943	December 24, 1886	March 2, 1944
12	Vincente Minnelli	Gigi	31st	1958	February 28, 1903	April 6, 1959
13	David Lean	Lawrence of Arabia	35th	1962	March 25, 1908	April 8, 1963
14	Billy Wilder	The Apartment	33rd	1960	June 22, 1906	April 17, 1961
15	Miloš Forman	Amadeus	57th	1984	February 18, 1932	March 25, 1985
16	George Roy Hill	The Sting	46th	1973	December 20, 1921	April 2, 1974
17	George Stevens	Giant	29th	1956	December 18, 1904	March 27, 1957
18	Steven Spielberg	Saving Private Ryan	71st	1998	December 18, 1946	March 21, 1999
19	Sydney Pollack	Out of Africa	58th	1985	July 1, 1934	March 24, 1986
20	Robert Wise	The Sound of Music	38th	1965	September 10, 1914	April 18, 1966
21	Ang Lee	Brokeback Mountain	78th	2005	October 23, 1954	March 5, 2006
22	Victor Fleming	Gone with the Wind	12th	1939	February 23, 1889	February 29, 1940
23	Franklin Schaffner	Patton	43rd	1970	May 30, 1920	April 15, 1971
24	David Lean	The Bridge on the River Kwai	30th	1957	March 25, 1908	March 26, 1958
25	Frank Lloyd	Cavalcade	6th	1932 / 1933	February 2, 1886	March 16, 1934
26	Jonathan Demme	The Silence of the Lambs	64th	1991	February 22, 1944	March 30, 1992
27	Bernardo Bertolucci	The Last Emperor	60th	1987	March 16, 1940	April 11, 1988
28	John Ford	How Green Was My Valley	14th	1941	February 1, 1894	February 26, 1942
29	Ron Howard	A Beautiful Mind	74th	2001	March 1, 1954	March 24, 2002
30	Robert Wise	West Side Story	34th	1961	September 10, 1914	April 9, 1962	Debut
31	Robert Benton	Kramer vs. Kramer	52nd	1979	September 29, 1932	April 14, 1980
32	Steven Spielberg	Schindler's List	66th	1993	December 18, 1946	March 21, 1994
33	George Stevens	A Place in the Sun	24th	1951	December 18, 1904	March 20, 1952
34	John Ford	The Grapes of Wrath	13th	1940	February 1, 1894	February 27, 1941
35	Barry Levinson	Rain Man	61st	1988	April 6, 1942	March 29, 1989
36	Fred Zinnemann	From Here to Eternity	26th	1953	April 29, 1907	March 25, 1954
37	Leo McCarey	Going My Way	17th	1944	October 3, 1898	March 15, 1945
38	Bob Fosse	Cabaret	45th	1972	June 23, 1927	March 27, 1973
39	Elia Kazan	On the Waterfront	27th	1954	September 7, 1909	March 30, 1955
40	Warren Beatty	Reds	54th	1981	March 30,1937	March 29, 1982
41	William Wyler	The Best Years of Our Lives	19th	1946	July 1, 1902	March 13, 1947
42	Robert Redford	Ordinary People	53rd	1980	August 18, 1936	March 31, 1981	Debut
43	Frank Lloyd	The Divine Lady	2nd	1928 / 1929	February 2, 1886	April 3, 1930
44	John Schlesinger	Midnight Cowboy	42nd	1969	February 16, 1926	April 7, 1970
45	Miloš Forman	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	48th	1975	February 18, 1932	March 29, 1976
46	James L. Brooks	Terms of Endearment	56th	1983	May 9, 1940	April 9, 1984	Debut
47	James Cameron	Titanic	70th	1997	August 16, 1954	March 23, 1998
48	Oliver Stone	Born on the Fourth of July	62nd	1989	September 15, 1946	March 26, 1990
49	Jerome Robbins	West Side Story	34th	1961	October 11, 1918	April 9, 1962	Debut
50	Anthony Minghella	The English Patient	69th	1996	January 6, 1954	March 24, 1997
51	Robert Zemeckis	Forrest Gump	67th	1994	May 14, 1952	March 27, 1995
52	John Huston	The Treasure of the Sierra Madre	21st	1948	August 5, 1906	March 24, 1949
53	Woody Allen	Annie Hall	50th	1977	December 1, 1935	April 3, 1978
54	Peter Jackson	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	76th	2003	October 31, 1961	February 29, 2004
55	Joseph L. Mankiewicz	All About Eve	23rd	1950	February 11, 1909	March 29, 1951
56	John Ford	The Informer	8th	1935	February 1, 1894	March 5, 1936
57	Frank Capra	You Can't Take It with You	11th	1938	May 18, 1897	February 23, 1939
58	John G. Avildsen	Rocky	49th	1976	December 21, 1935	March 28, 1977
59	Joseph L. Mankiewicz	A Letter to Three Wives	22nd	1949	February 11, 1909	March 23, 1950
60	William Wyler	Mrs. Miniver	15th	1942	July 1, 1902	March 4, 1943
61	Oliver Stone	Platoon	59th	1986	September 15, 1946	March 30, 1987
62	Mel Gibson	Braveheart	68th	1995	January 3, 1956	March 25, 1996
63	Michael Cimino	The Deer Hunter	51st	1978	February 3, 1939	April 9, 1979
64	Frank Capra	Mr. Deeds Goes to Town	9th	1936	May 18, 1897	March 4, 1937
65	Billy Wilder	The Lost Weekend	18th	1945	June 22, 1906	March 7, 1946
66	Leo McCarey	The Awful Truth	10th	1937	October 3, 1898	March 10, 1938
67	Frank Borzage	Bad Girl	5th	1931 / 1932	April 23, 1894	November 18, 1932
68	Elia Kazan	Gentleman's Agreement	20th	1947	September 7, 1909	March 20, 1948
69	Steven Soderbergh	Traffic	73rd	2000	January 14, 1963	March 25, 2001
70	Frank Capra	It Happened One Night	7th	1934	May 18, 1897	February 27, 1935
71	William Friedkin	The French Connection	44th	1971	August 29, 1935	April 10, 1972
72	Mike Nichols	The Graduate	40th	1967	November 6, 1931	April 10, 1968
73	Kevin Costner	Dances with Wolves	63rd	1990	January 18, 1955	March 25, 1991	Debut
74	Delbert Mann	Marty	28th	1955	January 30, 1920	March 21, 1956	Debut
75	Francis Ford Coppola	The Godfather Part II	47th	1974	April 7, 1939	April 8, 1975
76	Tony Richardson	Tom Jones	36th	1963	June 5, 1928	April 13, 1964
77	Lewis Milestone	All Quiet on the Western Front	3rd	1929 / 1930	September 30, 1895	November 5, 1930
78	Frank Borzage	7th Heaven	1st	1927 / 1928	April 23, 1894	May 16, 1929	Dramatic
79	Sam Mendes	American Beauty	72nd	1999	August 1, 1965	March 26, 2000	Debut
80	Lewis Milestone	Two Arabian Knights	1st	1927 / 1928	September 30, 1895	May 16, 1929	Comedy
81	Norman Taurog	Skippy	4th	1930 / 1931	February 23, 1899	November 10, 1931

External links

Oscars.org (official Academy site)
Oscar.com (official ceremony promotional site)
The Academy Awards Database (official site)

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List of Best Director winners by age at win

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List of Best Director winners by age at win

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List of Best Supporting Actress winners by age at win

List of Best Supporting Actor winners by age at win

List of Best Actress winners by age at win

List of Best Actor winners by age at win

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