Research in Progress, Jan 25, 2024 (J. Campion, the Daniels, Nolan)
Age at getting peer recognition via the Oscar Award?
Oldest-winning Oscar directors?
Roman Polanski, winner for The Pianist, in 2002
In 2006, when Martin Scorsese finally won the Best Director Oscar, at his sixth nomination (for The Departed), he became one of the five oldest filmmakers to be recognized by the voters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
When Kathryn Bigelow won the Best Director three years later, for The Hurt Locker, she became the only fourth female to be ever nominated by the Academy. But in terms of age, Bigelow, 58, was one of the vet winners.
Three Oldest Winners
The three oldest winners are Roman Polanski, 69, who won the Directing Oscar at his third nomination, for The Pianist, in 2002; Jane Campion, who was 67, when she won for The Power of the Dog in 2021 at her second nomination; and George Cukor, who was 65, when he won the Oscar for My Fair Lady, at his fifth nomination.
My Oscar Book
Oscar-winning Directors: 7523 directors were in their 30s (including Chloe Zhao, the 2 Daniels)
31 in their 40s
15 in their 50s (including Nolan)
6 in their 60s (including Jane Campion)
Hence, if you want to predict the most prevalent age at winning the Best Director Oscar, stick close to the 45-49 category: Half of the winning directors were in their 40s upon winning.
Youngest Directors
The youngest winners in the Academy annals are Norman Taurog, 32, for Skippy, and Damien Chazelle, also 32, for La La Land.
Lewis Milestone, 33, who won the Best Comedy Director in the first year of the Oscars, for Two Arabian Nights, follows them.
Joining him that year was Frank Borzage, who was 35, recognized for Seventh Heaven.
Other young achievers include Sam Mendes, 34, for American Beauty in 1999.
Oldest Winners
The oldest winners are atypical in many ways: Roman Polanski began his career in Poland and foreign-born director tend to get recognition from their peers at a later age than their American counterparts.
Ditto for British-born Carol Reed, who was nominated twice, back-to-back, in 1949 for “The Fallen Idol,” and in 1950 for “The Third Man.” Reed finally won the award for an uncharacteristic movie genre, a musical, “Oliver!” at his third nomination.
George Cukor was one of most nominated directors in the Academy’s history, having been nominated five times, the first in 1933, at age 34, for “Little Women,” starring Katharine Hepburn. His other nominations are for “The Philadelphia Story” (1940), also starring Hepburn, “A Double Life (1947), and “Born Yesterday,” in 1950.
Clint Eastwood
For Clint Eastwood, who’s 92, directing is sort of a second career, having begun his work in the industry as a screen and TV (“Rawhide”) actor. Eastwood made his directing debut in 1973, at the age of 43 with Play Misty for Me.
Oscar-winning Directors by Age
30 to 34: (4)
Lewis Milestone
Norman Taurog
Sam Mendes
Damien Chazelle (youngest ever)
Age 35 to 39: (18) (including Zhao and 2 Daniels)
Frank Borzage
Frank Capra
Leo McCarey
Billy Wilder
Elia Kazan
Delbert Mann
Tony Richardson
Mike Nichols
William Friedkin
Francis Ford Coppola
Michael Cimino
Kevin Costner
Mel Gibson
Steven Soderbergh
Tom Hooper
Chloe Zhao, 39
Daniel Kwan
Daniel Sch
Age 40 to 44: (18) Directors
Frank Lloyd
John Ford
William Wyler
John Huston
Joseph Mankiewicz
Jerome Robbins (co-winner with Robert Wise)
John Schlesinger
John Avildsen
Woody Allen
Robert Redford
Warren Beatty
James Brooks
Oliver Stone
Robert Zemeckis
Anthony Minghella
James Cameron
Peter Jackson
Michel Hazanavicius
Age 45 to 49: (13)
George Stevens
Fred Zinnemann
David Lean
Robert Wise
Bob Fosse
Milos Forman
Robert Benton
Bernardo Bertolucci
Barry Levinson
Jonathan Demme
Steven Spielberg
Ron Howard
Ethan Coen
Age 50 to 59: (15) Directors
Victor Fleming
Michael Curtiz
Vincente Minnelli
Franklin Schaffner
George Roy Hill
Richard Attenborough
Sydney Pollack
Ang Lee
Joel Coen
Ethan Coen
Danny Boyle
Kathryn Bigelow
Alfonso Cuaron
Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu
Christopher Nolan
Older than 60: 6 Directors
George Cukor (won at fifth nomination)
Carol Reed (British director, won at third nomination)
Clint Eastwood (began as actor, won at first nomination)
Roman Polanski (Polish director, won at third nomination)
Martin Scorsese (won at sixth nomination)
Jane Campion (won at her second nomination, first nod in 1993)
Five of the 6 directors won the Oscar after having been nominated before; some more than once.
Thus, Eastwood is the oldest director who got recognition/
Notes
Many directors, such as John Ford, Fred Zinnemann, Elia Kazan or Clint Eastwood, have won multiple Oscars.
Our study measures the directors’ age when they had first earned the competitive award.
Clint Eastwood
Eastwood was 62 when he first won the Best Director in 1992 for the Western Unforgiven. He was 74 when he received his second Oscar, for Million Dollar Baby.
In 93 years, there have been only two Oscar-winning movies that were credited to two helmers:
The first was “West Side Story,” co-directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, who choreographed and staged the theatrical production. Robbins was fired in the process of fillming, and by Oscar time, the duo was actually not on speaking terms!
The second co-helmed feature is the 2007 “No Country for Old Men,” by the brothers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen.
In 1978, both Warren Beatty and Buck Henry were Oscar nominated for co-directing Heaven Can Wait, which was nominated for but did not win the Best Picture.
As of now, Eastwood is the oldest winner of the Best Director Oscar. He was 74 when he won his second Oscar for Million Dollar Baby, in 2004.
