William Wyler, 12 Best Director Nominations, 3 Wins
My Oscar Book:
Wyler Directed 14 Oscar Winners (male, female, lead, supporting)
Master of every genre (dramas, historical epics, westerns, romantic comedies), pioneer of innovative uses of the camera (deep focus, in his collaborations with Gregg Toland), William Wyler is the filmmaker with the largest number of Best Director nominations at 12, of which he won three.
Impressively, he had directed an astounding 14 actors to Oscar wins. Even if the quality of these performances differs considerably, the fact remains that Wyler beats the second-place winner of this superlative by no less than five actors.
Wyler had directed the biggest number of actors to Oscar win–fourteen!
In order, they are as follows:
Walter Brennan for Come and Get It
Bette Davis and Fay Bainter for Jezebel
Brennan again for The Westerner
Greer Garson and Teresa Wright for Mrs. Miniver
Frederic March and Harold Russell for The Best Years of Our Lives
Olivia de Havilland for The Heiress
Audrey Hepburn for Roman Holiday
Burl Ives in The Big Country
Charlton Heston and Hugh Griffith for Ben-Hur
Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl
Wyler is one of the best and most important artists of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
