National Board of Review Award for Best Director

## Winners

Names and titles in **bold** indicate directors that won the Academy Award for Best Director. Names with an asterisk (\*) indicate directors that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, but did not win.

* 1945 - Jean Renoir\*, *The Southerner*
* **1946 - William Wyler, *The Best Years of Our Lives***
* **1947 - Elia Kazan, *Gentleman's Agreement*** / *Boomerang*
* 1948 - Roberto Rossellini, *Paisan*
* 1949 - Vittorio De Sica, *Bicycle Thieves*
* 1950 - John Huston\*, *The Asphalt Jungle*
* 1951 - Akira Kurosawa, *Rashomon*
* 1952 - David Lean, *The Sound Barrier*
* 1953 - George Stevens\*, *Shane*
* 1954 - Renato Castellani, *Romeo and Juliet*
* 1955 - William Wyler, *The Desperate Hours*
* 1956 - John Huston, *Moby Dick*
* **1957 - David Lean, *The Bridge on the River Kwai***
* 1958 - John Ford, *The Last Hurrah*
* 1959 - Fred Zinnemann\*, *The Nun's Story*
* 1960 - Jack Cardiff\*, *Sons and Lovers*
* 1961 - Jack Clayton, *The Innocents*
* **1962 - David Lean, *Lawrence of Arabia***
* **1963 - Tony Richardson, *Tom Jones***
* 1964 - Desmond Davis, *Girl with Green Eyes*
* 1965 - John Schlesinger\*, *Darling*
* **1966 - Fred Zinnemann, *A Man for All Seasons***
* 1967 - Richard Brooks\*, *In Cold Blood*
* 1968 - Franco Zeffirelli\*, *Romeo and Juliet*
* 1969 - Alfred Hitchcock, *Topaz*
* 1970 - François Truffaut, *The Wild Child*
* 1971 - Ken Russell, *The Boy Friend*/ *The Devils*
* **1972 - Bob Fosse, *Cabaret***
* 1973 - Ingmar Bergman\*, *Cries and Whispers*
* 1974 - Francis Ford Coppola, *The Conversation*
* 1975 - Stanley Kubrick\*, *Barry Lyndon* / Robert Altman\*, *Nashville*
* 1976 - Alan J. Pakula\*, *All the President's Men*
* 1977 - Luis Buñuel, *That Obscure Object of Desire*
* 1978 - Ingmar Bergman, *Autumn Sonata*
* 1979 -John Schlesinger, *Yanks*
* **1980 - Robert Redford, *Ordinary People***
* **1981 - Warren Beatty, *Reds***
* 1982 - Sidney Lumet\*, *The Verdict*
* **1983 - James L. Brooks, *Terms of Endearment***
* 1984 - David Lean\*, *A Passage to India*
* 1985 - Akira Kurosawa\*, *Ran*
* 1986 - Woody Allen\*, *Hannah and Her Sisters*
* 1987 - Steven Spielberg, *Empire of the Sun*
* 1988 - Alan Parker, *Mississippi Burning\**
* 1989 - Kenneth Branagh\*, *Henry V*
* **1990 - Kevin Costner, *Dances with Wolves***
* **1991 - Jonathan Demme, *The Silence of the Lambs***
* 1992 - James Ivory\*, *Howards End*
* 1993 - Martin Scorsese, *The Age of Innocence*
* 1994 - Quentin Tarantino\*, *Pulp Fiction*
* 1995 - Ang Lee, *Sense and Sensibility*
* 1996 - Joel Coen\*, *Fargo*
* 1997 - Curtis Hanson\*, *L.A. Confidential*
* 1998 - Shekhar Kapur, *Elizabeth*
* 1999 - Anthony Minghella, *The Talented Mr. Ripley*
* **2000 - Steven Soderbergh, *Traffic***/ *Erin Brockovich*
* 2001 - Todd Field, *In the Bedroom*
* 2002 - Phillip Noyce, *The Quiet American*/ *Rabbit-Proof Fence*
* 2003 - Edward Zwick, *The Last Samurai*
* 2004 - Michael Mann, *Collateral*
* **2005 - Ang Lee, *Brokeback Mountain***
* **2006 - Martin Scorsese, *The Departed***
* 2007 - Tim Burton, *Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street*
* 2008 - David Fincher\*, *The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*
* 2009 - Clint Eastwood, *Invictus*
* 2010 - David Fincher\*, *The Social Network*
* 2011 - Martin Scorsese\*, *Hugo*
* 2012 - Kathryn Bigelow, *Zero Dark Thirty*
* 2013 - Spike Jonze, *Her*
* 2014 - Clint Eastwood, *American Sniper*
* 2015 - Ridley Scott, *The Martian*
* 2016 - Barry Jenkins\*, *Moonlight*
* 2017 - Greta Gerwig\*, *Lady Bird*
* 2018 - Bradley Cooper, *A Star is Born*

## Most wins

* **4**- David Lean
* **3** - Martin Scorsese
* **2** - Ingmar Bergman, Clint Eastwood, David Fincher, John Huston, Akira Kurosawa, Ang Lee, John Schlesinger, Fred Zinnemann, William Wyler