"Platoon" - The Films of Oliver Stone - Pictures - CBS News The Films of Oliver Stone Next The Films of Oliver Stone The movies of the American director Oliver Stone in many ways mirror the travails and transformation of a generation - studies in violence, hubris, greed, celebrity worship, and the power of media. Credit: Orion Pictures Born in New York City in 1946, Stone was raised in an affluent home (his father was a stockbroker) and attended Yale. He served in Vietnam and came home a decorated combat veteran, and a man who was, he says, forever changed. "How do you come back from the war? If you come back stone dead inside or do you come back with a heart still? That was the hardest thing for me. It was not fighting the enemy, although they were significant. But it was to try to keep your own humanity alive inside you. Believe me, that war is a curse, because it scars people for life." He overcame it, he told Katie Couric, through art. "I made three movies about it.

So, I was able to exorcise some of these devils." Credit: Cinema Libre Director Oliver Stone on location filming "Platoon." Credit: Orion Pictures "Midnight Express" Stone won his first Academy Award for his screenplay adaptation of Billy Hayes' book about his experience as an American imprisoned in Turkey for drug smuggling. The harrowing 1978 film starred Brad Davis and was directed by Alan Parker. Credit: Columbia Pictures "The Hand" One of Stone's first directorial efforts, this 1981 horror film stars Michael Caine as a comic artist who loses an appendage in a gruesome accident. But as the ads promise, "It lives. It crawls. And suddenly, it kills"  including Stone himself, who appears in a cameo as a vagrant who sadly encounters The Hand. It fared better than his debut feature, 1974's "Seizure," a horror flick that starred cult icons Martine Beswick and Jonathan Frid ("Dark Shadows"). Credit: Orion Pictures "Scarface" Following "Midnight Express," Stone worked on several screenplays for other directors.

He shared credit with John Milius for "Conan the Barbarian" and worked on the adaptations of "8 Million Ways to Die" and the musical "Evita." His most memorable writing assignment was the update of "Scarface" (1983), starring Al Pacino and directed by Brian De Palma, even if much of this highly-quoted film's dialogue is unprintable here. Credit: Universal "Year of the Dragon" Stone co-wrote with director Michael Cimino the screenplay for the 1985 gang war drama "Year of the Dragon." Credit: DEG "Salvador" James Woods gave a career-defining performance as a photojournalist chronicling a Latin American dictatorship in "Salvador" (1986). Credit: Hemdale "Platoon" With its depiction of heroism and honor struggling to rise above the madness of war, Stone's "Platoon" (1986) became a cathartic experience for many Vietnam vets, who were often portrayed in Hollywood and TV dramas as mentally unbalanced, vengeful and violent characters. Nominated for 8 Academy Awards , it won 4 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Credit: Orion Pictures "Wall Street" The lure of money and power was tantalizingly dramatized in this 1987 tale of a young man (Charlie Sheen) tempted by wealth's corrupting influences. He goes toe-to-toe with financier Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), who proceeds to walk all over him. Gekko memorably defined a decade of excess by exclaiming, "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit." Douglas won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Credit: 20th Century Fox "Wall Street" Of "Wall Street," Stone told Katie Couric, "We were the first. People had never thought about money as a subject for a movie.

And I think we caught a flare of that 1980s period, that consumerism, Ronald Reagan prosperity, so to speak." Credit: 20th Century Fox "Born on the Fourth of July" After filming the Eric Bogosian play "Talk Radio," Stone directed "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989), based on the autobiography of Ron Kovic, a young American paralyzed from wounds suffered in Vietnam who became an outspoken anti-war protester. The film featured Tom Cruise's best performance. Credit: Universal Pictures "Born on the Fourth of July" The film earned Stone his second Best Director Academy Award. Credit: Universal Pictures "The Doors" Stone returned to the Sixties with "The Doors" (1991), about the revolutionary rock band fronted by Jim Morrison (Val Kilmer). Credit: Tristar Pictures "JFK" No other film of Stone's solidified in the public's mind an image of the filmmaker as did his 1991 story examining the fallout from the assassination of President Kennedy.

"JFK" took New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) on a hyper-kinetic journey into a labyrinth of politics , espionage, dirty tricks and lost innocence, in which a patriotic, conservative law enforcement official begins to doubt his faith in his government - but not the law. The film was nominated for 8 Oscars and won 2, for its bravura cinematography and editing. Credit: Warner Brothers "Heaven & Earth" The third of Stone's trilogy of films on Vietnam, "Heaven & Earth" (1993) tells the true story of the hardships of a Vietnamese woman (Hiep Thi Le) during and after the war. Le Ly Hayslip co-authored two books: "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places" and "Child of War, Woman of Peace." Credit: Warner Brothers "Natural Born Killers" Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis are lovers and serial murderers in "Natural Born Killers" (1994), written by Stone, David Veloz and Richard Rutowski, based on a story by Quentin Tarantino.

Credit: Warner Brothers "Nixon" The 1995 biopic "Nixon" calls itself "an attempt to understand the truth." Just prior to its release, the family of the late president issued a statement calling parts of the movie "reprehensible," and accusing the filmmakers of seeking to solely and maliciously "defame and degrade President and Mrs. Nixon's memories in the mind of the American public." Anthony Hopkins and Joan Allen portrayed the first couple. Credit: Hollywood Pictures "U Turn" Jennifer Lopez played the gun-wielding femme fatale in "U Turn" (1997), opposite Sean Penn and Nick Nolte. Credit: Tristar Pictures "Any Given Sunday" Al Pacino (pictured with Jamie Foxx and Dennis Quaid) plays the coach of a Miami NFL team struggling with professional and personal challenges in "Any Given Sunday" (1999). Credit: Warner Bros. "Alexander" Colin Farrell starred as Alexander the Great in Stone's 2004 military epic. The cast also included Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer and Anthony Hopkins.

Credit: Warner Brothers "World Trade Center" Stone addressed the mammoth scale of the 9/11 attacks with a more confined 2006 film about the struggles of rescue workers at the ruins of the World Trade Center and of two police officers trapped in the rubble. Credit: Paramount Pictures "W" Given Stone's liberal proclivities, audiences assumed his 2008 film on George W. Bush would be a scathing indictment. But Stone told Daily Variety, "I want a fair, true portrait of the man. How did Bush go from an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world?" Stone told Katie Couric, "As much as I may detest his policies, I tried to make him human. And some people criticized me and they said it was too sympathetic to Bush. I thought it was empathetic, [which] is a big difference to me." Credit: Lionsgate "South of the Border" In Stone's 2010 documentary "South of the Border," the director engages in dialogues with several Latin American leaders, including Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, to discuss political and social movements as they are evolving in reaction to (or in spite of) North American influence.

Credit: Cinema Libre "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" Stone returned to the blood sport of finance with his 2010 sequel, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps." Michael Douglas revives his role as Gordon Gekko, now out of prison and ready to square off against Josh Brolin and Shia LaBeouf. Credit: 20th Century Fox "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" Stone had hesitated doing a sequel to one of his most popular films ("You can never go back in time, set foot in the same river twice, you know?"). But more than two decades after the first "Wall Street," the excesses of the financial world still seem timely. He told Kate Couric the bubble of the 1980s is a recurring phenomenon: "We've seen bubbles all my life. In 2000 you saw the bubble with the Internet, and then you saw another bubble with real estate. I've seen four bubbles, big bubbles now. I think to a certain degree, we are a bubbled economy.

What the next bubble is, we'll see." Credit: 20th Century Fox "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" Stone pictured on the set with Shia LaBeouf and Carey Mulligan. Of his latest film Stone says, "I make stories. And it's a great story about these six people in this shark world of New York City in that 2008 period. It has love and trust, betrayal, greed, all those juicy issues that make a movie work well. [The characters] all screw each other in some point in the movie, and they all kind of  it's what life is about to me." Credit: 20th Century Fox "Savages" John Travolta star in "Savages," directed by Oliver Stone and based on the novel by Don Winslow about American marijuana growers waging war with a Mexican drug cartel. In addition to Travolta, the cast includes Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson, Benicio Del Toro, Salma Hayek, Emile Hirsch and Demian Bichir.

By CBSNews.com producer David Morgan Credit: Universal Pictures Academy Awards Best Director - Facts & Trivia Warren Beatty/Buck Henry for Heaven Can Wait (1978) (nominated) John Singleton for Boys N the Hood (1991) (nominated) Rob Marshall for Chicago (2002) (nominated) Bennett Miller for Capote (2005) (nominated) Paul Haggis for Crash (2005) (nominated) Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) (nominated) Directors With Two Best Director Nominations in the Same Year: Only three directors have received two Best Director nominations in the same year: Michael Curtiz, for Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) and Four Daughters (1938) Steven Soderbergh for Erin Brockovich (2000) and Traffic (2000) (win) Duo Directing Teams Nominated for Best Director: Only four duo directing teams have been nominated for Best Director in Oscars history, and only twice have the duo-directors won: Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise for West Side Story (1961) - (win) -

 two Best Director Oscars were awarded to co-directors Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise; it marked the first time that awards went to co-directors.

The only Best Director Oscar winner to win for the only film he ever directed was also Jerome Robbins Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men (2007) - (win) - the first time a sibling team had been nominated in the category, and the second directing duo to win Best Director Warren Beatty and Buck Henry for Heaven Can Wait (1978) Joel and Ethan Coen were again nominated as Best Director for True Grit (2010) The Director with the Most Film Nominations in a Single Year: Director W.S.

(Woody) Van Dyke holds the single-year record for the most films to receive Oscar nominations (7): Van Dyke directed The Thin Man (1934) that had four nominations (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Adaptation) Van Dyke directed Manhattan Melodrama (1934) that won Best Original Story Van Dyke directed Hide-out (1934) that was nominated for Best Original Story Van Dyke directed Eskimo (1934) that won Best Film Editing The Director with the Most Oscar Wins For Films in the Same Year: Director Steven Spielberg holds the record for the most Oscars wins for multiple films in the same year: Schindler's List (1993) - with 12 nominations (and 7 wins) African-American (Black) Best Director Nominees/Winners: No African-American (or black) has ever won Best Picture.

African-Americans (or blacks) nominated as Best Director include: John Singleton for Boyz N the Hood (1991) - the first Lee Daniels for Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire (2009) - the second African-American nominated director; it was the first-ever Best Picture nominee to be directed by an African-American filmmaker British director Steve McQueen for Best Picture-winning 12 Years a Slave (2013) [Note: If McQueen had won Best Director, he would have been the first black filmmaker to win the title.] Spike Lee was never nominated for Best Director (only for screenwriting and documentary).

Female Directors: The Only Winner - and the Only Ones Nominated There have only been four female Best Director nominees: Italian film director Lina Wertmuller for Seven Beauties (1976, It.) - the first woman to be nominated for Best Director New Zealander Jane Campion for Best Picture-nominated The Piano (1993) Sofia Coppola for her Best Picture-nominated Lost in Translation (2003) - the first American woman nominated for Best Director and only the third woman ever to be nominated for Best Director Kathryn Bigelow for her Best Picture-nominated The Hurt Locker (2009) - the second American woman nominated as Best Director and only the fourth woman nominated in the category The only female Best Director winner: Kathryn Bigelow for Best Picture-winning The Hurt Locker (2009).

A number of films directed by women have been nominated for Best Picture (without corresponding Best Director nominations), including Randa Haines' Children of a Lesser God (1986), Penny Marshall's Awakenings (1990), Barbra Streisand's The Prince of Tides (1991), Valerie Faris' (with Jonathan Dayton) Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Lone Scherfig's An Education (2009), Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right (2010) and Debra Granik's Winter's Bone (2010). Foreign-Born Best Director Nominees and Winners: Note: Only a sampling of the most significant foreign-born directors are included here.

There are many others, either from the UK or other Central/Western European countries, such as Pedro Almodóvar (Spain), Roberto Benigni (Italy), Ingmar Bergman (Sweden), Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy), Federico Fellini (Italy), Costa-Gavras (Greece), Michael Curtiz (Austria-Hungary), Miloš Forman (Czech.), Lewis Milestone (Russia), Mike Nichols (Germany), Wolfgang Petersen (Germany), Billy Wilder (Austria-Hungary/Poland), William Wyler (Germany), and Fred Zinnemann (Austria-Hungary). There are numerous UK-born (includes NZ, and CAN) and French-born (FR) directors that have been nominated or have won: Michel Hazanavicius (FR), Tom Hooper, Danny Boyle, Peter Jackson (NZ), Roman Polanski (FR, but considered himself Polish), Sam Mendes, James Cameron (CAN), Anthony Minghella, Richard Attenborough, François Truffaut (FR), to name just a few.

Mexican film-maker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu won his first Best Director Oscar for the Best Picture-winning Birdman (2014), and won Best Original Screenplay for the same film. The next year, he also won Best Director for Best Picture-nominated The Revenant (2015). He became the first person in 65 years and only the third ever to win back-to-back Best Director Oscars since Joseph L. Mankiewicz's A Letter To Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950) , and only the third in history, also after John Ford's The Grapes Of Wrath (1940) and How Green Was My Valley (1941) .

[Note: Inarritu had three previous Oscar nominations: Best Foreign Language Film Amores Perros (2000, Mex.), and Best Director/ Best Picture for Babel (2006).] The Mexican director became the fifth consecutive non-American to win Best Director, following Britisher Tom Hooper for The King's Speech (2010), Frenchman Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist (2011), Taiwanese-born Ang Lee for Life of Pi (2012), and fellow Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity (2013). Mexican film director Alfonso Cuarón, although a three-time nominee, was nominated for the first time as Best Director, and won the Oscar for Gravity (2013). He was the first Mexican-born director to win Best Director. Ang Lee was the first Asian (or non-white) filmmaker to win Hollywood's main filmmaking honor for Brokeback Mountain (2005). He also won Best Director for Life of Pi (2012). He was also nominated as Best Director for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).

Other Asian Best Director nominees include Hiroshi Teshigahara for Woman in the Dunes (1964), Akira Kurosawa for Ran (1985), and M. Night Shyamalan for The Sixth Sense (1999). In 2012, German-born directorial nominee Michael Haneke was nominated as Best Director for Amour (2012, Austria). Frenchman Michel Hazanavicius won for The Artist (2011). In 2006, Alejandro González Iñárritu was the first Mexican director nominated for the top prize for Babel (2006). French film director Michel Hazanavicius was nominated for The Artist (2011). In the year 2006, the Mexican directing troika of Alejandro González Iñárritu, Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron took a combined 16 nominations for their films Babel (2006) (with seven nominations), Pan's Labyrinth (2006) (with six nominations) and Children of Men (2006) (with three nominations), respectively.

For the 2004 awards, Brazilian-born Fernando Meirelles was nominated as Best Director for City of God (2002) (aka Cidade de Deus). The first Canadian to win Best Director was James Cameron, for Titanic (1997). In 1987, all five of the Best Director nominees were foreign-born: Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy) - the winner Lasse Hallstrom (Sweden) 2013 Best Director and Best Picture Correlations: There is a direct correlation between the Best Picture and Director awards. Usually, the film voted Best Picture has been directed by the person named (or at least nominated) as Best Director. In a number of cases, however, the Best Picture win went to one film and Best Director went to another even though the helmer of the big winner was nominated. Of the 88 films (through the year 2015) that have been awarded Best Picture, 63 have also been awarded Best Director. About a quarter of the time, however, in Academy history, the Best Picture and Best Director winners have been for different films.

The Oscars (through the year 2015) have split Best Picture and Best Director 24 times: see years 2015, 2013, 2012, 2005, 2002, 2000, 1998, 1989, 1981, 1972, 1967, 1956, 1952, 1951, 1949, 1948, 1940, 1937, 1936, 1935, 1931/32, 1930/31, 1928/29, 1927/28 (two Best Director co-winners didn't win Best Picture). In the first ten years of Oscar awards, seven of the first 10 Best Picture winners didn't include any honor for the directors beyond a nomination.

[The exceptions were in the years 1929/30, 1932/33, and 1934, when the Academy honored the director as Best Director for a corresponding Best Picture.] Here are some examples in more recent years (from 1967 onwards): The Graduate (1967) 1972: Francis Ford Coppola's multi-award winning The Godfather (1972) took Best Picture, while Bob Fosse won Best Director for Cabaret (1972) (Cabaret won eight Academy Awards  a record for the most Oscars won by a movie that didn't win Best Picture) 1981: director Hugh Hudson's Chariots of Fire (1981) won Best Picture, but Warren Beatty won Best Director for Reds (1981) 1989: director Bruce Beresford's Driving Miss Daisy (1989) won Best Picture, while Oliver Stone won Best Director for Born on the Fourth of July (1989) 1998: director John Madden's Shakespeare in Love (1998) won Best Picture, but Steven Spielberg won Best Director

 for Saving Private Ryan (1998) 2000: director Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000) won Best Picture, but Steven Soderbergh won Best Director for Traffic (2000) 2002: director Rob Marshall's Chicago (2002) won Best Picture, but Roman Polanski won Best Director for The Pianist (2002) 2005: director Paul Haggis' Crash (2005) won Best Picture, but Ang Lee won Best Director for Brokeback Mountain (2005) 2012: director Ben Affleck's Argo (2012) won Best Picture, but Ang Lee won Best Director for Life of Pi (2012) 2013: director Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave (2013) won Best Picture, but Alfonso Cuaron won Best Director for Gravity (2013) 2015: director Tom McCarthy's Spotlight (2015) won Best Picture, but Alejandro Iñárritu won Best Director for The Revenant (2015) It has often

 happened that a Best Director winner is not also honored with a simultaneous Best Picture win, especially in regards to John Ford and George Stevens.

John Ford won Best Director three times even though his film lost the big prize, and George Stevens had the same shock twice: 1935: John Ford won Best Director for The Informer (1935), while director Frank Lloyd's Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) won Best Picture 1940: John Ford won Best Director for 1956: George Stevens won Best Director for Giant (1956), while director Michael Anderson Sr.'s Around the World in 80 Days (1956) won Best Picture The Only Best Picture-Winning Films Without Best Director Nominations: It is very rare for a film to win the Best Picture Oscar while omitting the film's director from the Best Director nominations - this has happened only four times: 1927/28: Wings (1927/28) from un-nominated director William Wellman won Best Picture, while the Best Director award went to Frank Borzage for Seventh Heaven (1927/28) 1931/32: Grand Hotel (1931/32) , the Best Picture winner was directed by unnominated Edmund Goulding - Frank

 Borzage won Best Director for Bad Girl (1931/32) 1989: Driving Miss Daisy (1989) was the Best Picture winner, but its director Bruce Beresford was not nominated, while Oliver Stone won Best Director for Born on the Fourth of July (1989) 2012: Argo (2012) from un-nominated director Ben Affleck won Best Picture, while the Best Director award went to Ang Lee for Life of Pi (2012) The Only Films to Win Best Director Without a Best Picture Nomination: Two Arabian Knights (1927/28), not nominated for Best Picture, but Lewis Milestone won Best Director (Comedy) The Divine Lady (1928/29), not nominated for Best Picture, but Frank Lloyd won Best Director The Most Best Picture Nominations: William Wyler - the Winning-est Best Picture Director Up until 2015, William Wyler held the record for the most nominations and wins for his films in all categories: 127 nominations and 39 awards.

Half of the nominations he received were in the major categories of Best Picture, Acting, and Directing. With his Best Picture nomination for Bridge of Spies (2015), Spielberg's films have now earned 128 nominations, the most of any director of all time, passing up William Wyler (127). William Wyler holds the record for directing more Best Picture nominees (13) and more Best Picture winners (3) than anyone else. His 13 Best Picture-nominated and winning films (marked with *) were: 26 years (and 279 days) Orson Welles for 29 years (and 66 days) Kenneth Branagh for Henry V (1989) 29 years (and 113 days) Claude Lelouch for A Man and a Woman (1966) 29 years (and 193 days) M.

Night Shyamalan for The Sixth Sense (1999) 29 years (and 281 days) George Lucas for American Graffiti (1973) 30 years (and 88 days) Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) 30 years (and 95 days) Jason Reitman for Juno (2007) 30 years (and 116 days) Spike Jonze for Being John Malkovich (1999) 31 years (and 65 days) [Note: the youngest woman ever to earn a nomination, 32-year old Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation (2003).] Runner-Ups: 33 years (and 228 days) Lewis Milestone for Two Arabian Nights (1927/28) 34 years (and 238 days) Sam Mendes for American Beauty (1999) 35 years (and 23 days) Frank Borzage for 7th Heaven (1927/28) 35 years (and 36 days) Lewis

 Milestone for 35 years (and 313 days) Tony Richardson for Tom Jones (1963) 36 years (and 1 day) Francis Ford Coppola for 78 years (and 193 days) Charles Crichton for A Fish Called Wanda (1988) 76 years (and 357 days) Robert Altman for Gosford Park (2001) 76 years (and 318 days) David Lean for A Passage to India (1984) 76 years (and 237 days) Clint Eastwood for Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) 76 years (and 54 days) Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris (2011) 75 years (and 319 days) Akira Kurosawa for Ran (1985) 74 years (and 239 days) Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby (2004) 73 years (and 241 days) Clint Eastwood for Mystic River (2003) 71 years (and 181 days)

 Cecil B.

DeMille for The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) Runner-Ups: 69 years (and 217 days) Roman Polanski for The Pianist (2002) 65 years (and 272 days) 64 years (and 100 days) Martin Scorsese for The Departed (2006) 62 years (and 302 days) Clint Eastwood for Unforgiven (1992) 62 years (and 105 days) Carol Reed for Oliver! (1968) 59 years (and 346 days) Fred Zinnemann for A Man For All Seasons (1966) 59 years (and 225 days) Richard Attenborough for Gandhi (1982) 59 years (and 46 days) John Ford for The Oliver Stone Picture Pages Director of Platoon Background: “I consider my films first and foremost to be dramas about individuals in personal struggles and I consider myself to be a dramatist before I am a political filmmaker. I'm interested in alternative points of view.

I think ultimately the problems of the planet are universal and that nationalism is a very destructive force. I also like anarchy in films. My heroes were Buñuel and Godard. ‘Breathless’ was one of the first pictures I really remember being marked by because of the speed and energy. They say I'm unsubtle but we need above all, a theatre that wakes us up, nerves and heart.” Oliver Stone Academy Award winning director, screenwriter and producer Oliver Stone won his first Oscar for writing the feature film adaptation of Billy Hayes' “Midnight Express” (1978), from which he also took home a Golden Globe Award and a Writers Guild of America Award. Making his directorial debut in 1974 with “Seizure,” the New York native did not gain early notice as a filmmaker until he directed and co-wrote the critically acclaimed movie “Salvador” (1986), which brought him an Oscar nomination for his writing effort. His career blossomed with the hit Vietnam War movie “Platoon” (also 1986), which he wrote and directed.

He amassed many awards and nominations for the film, including his second Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Independent Spirit Awards, a BAFTA Award and a Directors Guild of America Award. Stone won his third Oscar for directing the successful movie “Born on the Fourth of July” (1989), which starred Tom Cruise. He also picked up two Golden Globe Awards and a Directors Guild of America Award for his work on the film. Stone's subsequent directing credits include the controversial biopic “JFK“ (1991), “Heaven & Earth” (1993), “Natural Born Killers” (1994), “Nixon” (1995), “Any Given Sunday” (1999), “Comandante” (2003), “World Trade Center” (2006), “W.” (2008), “South of the Border” (2009) and “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” (2010).

Despite mainstream success he earned in the late 1980s and early 1990s with a series of war films, the Yale dropout had a major flop with the 2004 epic “Alexander,” which earned him two Razzie nominations. He previously received Razzie nominations for Worst Screenplay and Worst Director for “Year of the Dragon” (1985) and “U Turn” (1997), respectively. In the film industry since 1971, Stone was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in March 1996 thanks to his contribution to motion pictures. Two years later, he was handed a Crystal Iris from the Brussels International Film Festival. He was also awarded the International Filmmaker Award at the 2002 Palm Springs International Film Festival, an Honorary Award of the Festival at the 2003 Marrakech International Film Festival, a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2004 Stockholm Film Festival, a Special Award at the 2004 Camerimage and a Golden Kinnaree Career Achievement Award at the 2004 Bangkok International Film Festival.

He was also the recipient of the Hollywood Film Award for Director of the Year at the 2006 Hollywood Film Festival and the Golden Eye for Lifetime Achievement at the 2007 Zurich Film Festival. Stone has been married three times. He is the father of three children (two sons and one daughter). William Childhood and Family: Oliver Stone was born William Oliver Stone on September 15, 1946, in New York, New York, to a Jewish American father, Louis Stone (a stockbroker during the Great Depression) and a French Catholic mother, Jacqueline Stone. They met during WW II in France where his father was an aide to General Dwight D. Eisenhower. An only child, Oliver was raised wealthy and lived in townhouses in Manhattan and Stamford. He was educated at Trinity School before his parents sent him away to The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. When he was 15, his parents divorced because of his father's extramarital affairs. Oliver graduated from The Hill School three years later and went on to attend Yale University. However, he dropped in a year and headed to Saigon, Vietnam, to teach English. He next worked on a U.S. Merchant Marine ship and traveled.

It was in Guadalajara that he began writing an unpublished biographical novel based on his relationship with his mother. Oliver later joined the U.S. Army to fight in Vietnam where he served from April 1967 to November 1968 and was honorably discharged with two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for Valor. After leaving the military, he was arrested for marijuana and jailed in San Diego, but his case was later dismissed. He then moved to New York and attended film school at New York University on the GI Bill. He received his BFA degree in 1971. While at NYU, he supported himself working as a cab driver and messenger. On May 22, 1971, Oliver married Najwa Sarkis, a Lebanese woman several years his senior, but they divorced in 1977. He married Elizabeth Stone on June 6, 1981, and they had two sons, Sean Stone (born in 1984) and Michael Stone (born in 1991), before divorcing in 1993. He married Sun-jung Jung in 1996.

The couple welcomed a daughter named Tara Stone on November 3, 1995. Born on the Fourth of July Career: While studying filmmaking under Martin Scorsese at New York University, Oliver Stone took part in Scorsese's documentary compilation “Street Scenes” (1970), where he provided cinematography. The following year, Stone directed the short student film “Last Year in Viet Nam.” By 1974, he had made his feature film directing debut with “Seizure,” which he also co-wrote with Edward Mann. The horror film starred Jonathan Frid, Martine Beswick and Hervé Villechaize. Stone, however, did not enjoy success until he provided the screenplay for the Alan Parker biographical film “Midnight Express” (1978), based on the book of the same name by Billy Hayes. About a young American sent to a Turkish prison for trying to smuggle hashish out of Turkey, the film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won for Best Music, Original Score, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

His writing also earned a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture and a Writers Guild of America for Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium. After directing the 17 minute length film “Mad Man of Martinique” (1979), Stone wrote and directed the psychological horror film “The Hand” (1981), which was adapted from Marc Brandell's novel “The Lizard's Tail,” and a remake of the 1946 horror film “The Beast with Five Fingers,” directed by Robert Florey. The film starred Michael Caine and Andrea Marcovicci.

Stone, who made his motion picture acting debut in the 1971 comedy film “The Battle of Love's Return,” which was directed, written and starred in by his childhood friend Lloyd Kaufman, made his return in front of the cameras as an actor with “The Hand.” He continued to write screenplays for the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle “Conan the Barbarian” (1982, directed by John Milius), “Scarface” (1983, directed by Brian De Palma and starred Al Pacino) and “Year of the Dragon” (1985, directed by Michael Cimino and starred Mickey Rourke). In 1986, Stone returned to the director's chair to direct James Woods, Jim Belushi, Michael Murphy, John Savage, Elpidia Carrillo and Cindy Gibb in the critically acclaimed war movie “Salvador,” which he also wrote and produced. About an American journalist in El Salvador, the film was nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Woods) and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, which Stone shared with writing partner Rick Boyle.

Stone also picked up a Kansas City Film Critics Circle for Best Director, Independent Spirit nominations for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Picture, and a WGA nomination for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for his work on the film. “I wrote the 'Platoon' script in 1976 in New York City primarily because I'd reached a point in my life that if I didn't write about it, I would forget what had happened in the war.” Oliver Stone Stone gained even more recognition with “Platoon” (also 1986). Based on Stone's experiences as a U.S. infantryman in Vietnam, the film, which Stone wrote and directed, was a success with audiences and critics. It collected 4 Oscars and Stone was handed an Academy Award for Best Director and many additional impressive awards and nominations. The cast of the film included Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker, Francesco Quinn, John C. McGinley, Richard Edson and Kevin Dillon.

In between “Salvador” and “Platoon,” Stone co-wrote the screenplay of the action film “8 Million Ways to Die” (1986), based on the popular Matthew Scudder detective stories. The film was directed by Hal Ashby and starred Jeff Bridges and Rosanna Arquette. After “Platoon,” he directed and co-wrote the highly praised drama “Wall Street” (1987), which starred Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen and Daryl Hannah. Made as a tribute to Stone's father, the film told the story of a young stockbroker (played by Sheen) and his merciless mentor (played by Douglas). Under his direction, Douglas won an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. In 1988, Stone directed Eric Bogosian, Ellen Greene and Leslie Hope in the drama “Talk Radio,” about a controversial shock jock. He was nominated for a Golden Berlin Bear at the 1989 Berlin International Film Festival and an Independent Spirit Award for his work on the film.

Stone closed out the 1980s directing and co-scripting the successful “Born on the Fourth of July,” an adaptation of a best selling autobiography of the same title by Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic. The movie was nominated for eight Academy Awards and given Oscars for Best Director and Best Film Editing. It also won Golden Globes for Best Director - Motion Picture, Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Screenplay - Motion Picture, and Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama (for Tom Cruise). In addition to Oscar and Golden Globes, the film brought Stone additional awards and nominations and grossed over $70 million domestically and over $161 million worldwide, well above its $14 million budget. Stone also produced the film as well as the 1989 Kathryn Bigelow action thriller “Blue Still” and the 1990 drama “Reversal of Fortune,” which was directed by Barbet Schroeder and starred Jeremy Irons as Claus von Bülow.

In 1991, Stone directed and co-wrote “The Doors,” a biopic about the 1960s-1970s rock group of the same name that focused on the life of its lead vocalist Jim Morrison (portrayed by Val Kilmer). He received a Golden St. George nomination at the 1991 Moscow International Film Festival for the film. Later that same year, Stone directed Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman, Laurie Metcalf, Joe Pesci, Kevin Bacon, John Candy, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in the controversial film “JFK,” which was adapted by Stone and Zachary Sklar from the books “On the Trail of the Assassins” by Jim Garrison and “Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy” by Jim Marrs. The film, which studied the events leading to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the alleged cover-up through the eyes of district attorney Jim Garrison, was considered a box office hit with over $205 million worldwide against its $40 million budget. “JFK” brought Stone Oscars nominations for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

He also received a Golden Globe for Best Director - Motion Picture plus additional awards and nominations. After producing the films “Iron Maze” (1991), a thriller directed by Hiroaki Yoshida, “Zebrahead” (1992, written and directed by Anthony Drazan), “South Central” (1992, written and directed by Stephen Milburn Anderson), “The Joy Luck Club” (1993, directed by Wayne Wang) and the Emmy nominated TV miniseries “Wild Palms” (1993), which marked his first venture into the small screen, Stone wrote and directed “Heaven & Earth” (1993), adapted from the books “When Heaven and Earth Changed Places” and “Child of War, Woman of Peace” by Le Ly Hayslip. The film starred Tommy Lee Jones, Joan Chen and Haing S. Ngor. Stone next directed and co-scripted the crime film “Natural Born Killers” (1994), from which he netted a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director - Motion Picture and a Special Jury Prize at the 1994 Venice Film Festival.

He then directed Anthony Hopkins in the biographical film “Nixon” (1995), which he also produced and wrote. The latter film earned Stone an Oscar nomination for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, which he shared with Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson, and a Chicago Film Critics Association Award in the category of Best Director. 1995 also saw him executive produce the HBO film “Indictment: The McMartin Trial,” which starred James Woods. He jointly picked up a 1995 Emmy in the category of Outstanding Made for Television Movie for the film. 1996 found Stone co-scripting the box office hit “Evita” (1996), a big screen adaptation of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical based on the life of Eva Perón. He then produced the films “Freeway,” “Killer: A Journal of Murder” and “The People vs. Larry Flynt,” which was directed by Milos Foreman and garnered Stone a Freedom of Expression Award at the 1996 National Board of Review Awards.

He went on to lend his producing talents to John Ridley's “Cold Around the Heart” (1997), Predrag Antonijevic's “Savior” (1998), “The Last Days of Kennedy and King” (1998), from which he won a Best Documentary award at the 1998 Hermosa Beach Film Festival, and James Foley's “The Corruptor” (1999). He returned to the director's chair to helm Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Lopez, Joaquin Phoenix and Powers Boothe in the 1997 drama “U Turn,” based on the book “Stray Dogs” by John Ridley, and the drama “Any Given Sunday” (1999). The latter movie, which he also scripted and executive produced, grossed over $100 million at the box office and earned him a 2000 Golden Berlin Bear nomination. In 2001, Stone executive produced the Showtime film “The Day Reagan Was Shot,” which was written and directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh and starred Richard Dreyfuss as Alexander Haig and Richard Crenna as Ronald Reagan.

Two years later, he directed and produced the documentary “Comandante,” about Cuban Communist leader Fidel Castro who was a personal friend of Stone. The same year, Stone made his television directing debut with the episode “Persona Non Grata” of the Emmy Award nominated documentary series “America Undercover.” He went on to helm 2004’s “Looking for Fidel,” a follow up to “Comandante.” Back to the big screen, Stone directed, produced and scripted the epic movie “Alexander” (2004), based on the life of Alexander the Great. Starring Colin Farrell, the film was panned by critics and performed poorly at the box office. It was nominated for six Razzie Awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay and Worst Actor. With a budget of $155 million, the film grossed only $34 million in the domestic market. It fared better on the international market where it collected $132 million.

In 2006, Stone directed “World Trade Center.” Written by Andrea Berloff and starring Nicolas Cage as John McLoughlin and Michael Peña as Will Jimeno, the film won Stone a Hollywood Movie of the Year at the 2006 Hollywood Film Festival. He next directed and produced the controversial biographical film “W” (2008), based on the life and presidency of George W. Bush (portrayed by Josh Brolin). The film earned mixed reviews from critics. In 2009, Stone produced and directed “South of the Border,” a documentary about Hugo Chavez. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 7, 2009, and will be released theatrically in the U.S. on June 25, 2010. Stone's new film, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” which he directed and produced, is set to be released theatrically on September 24, 2010. It is a sequel to his 1987 Oscar winning film “Wall Street.” Michael Douglas will reprise his role of Gordon Gekko in the film.

The cast also includes Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, Eli Wallach, Susan Sarandon, Vanessa Ferlito and Frank Langella.

Awards: Zurich Film Festival: Golden Eye for Lifetime Achievement, 2007 Hollywood Film Festival: Hollywood Film Award, Director of the Year, 2006 Hollywood Film Festival: Hollywood Movie of the Year, “World Trade Center,” 2006 Bangkok International Film Festival: Golden Kinnaree Career Achievement Award, 2004 Camerimage: Special Award, 2004 Stockholm Film Festival: Lifetime Achievement Award, 2004 Marrakech International Film Festival: Honorary Award of the Festival, 2003 Palm Springs International Film Festival: International Filmmaker Award, 2002 Empire: Movie Masterpiece Award, “JFK,” 2000 Brussels International Film Festival: Crystal Iris, 1998 Hermosa Beach Film Festival: Best Documentary, “The Last Days of Kennedy and King,” 1998 Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA): Best Director, “Nixon,” 1996 National Board of Review: Freedom of Expression Award, “The People vs.

Larry Flynt,” 1996 Emmy: Outstanding Made for Television Movie, “Indictment: The McMartin Trial,” 1995 Venice Film Festival: Special Jury Prize, “Natural Born Killers,” 1994 Blue Ribbon: Best Foreign Film, “JFK,” 1993 Kinema Junpo: Readers' Choice Award, Best Foreign Language Film, “JFK,” 1993 Mainichi Film Concours: Best Foreign Language Film, “JFK,” 1993 Mainichi Film Concours: Readers' Choice Award, Best Foreign Language Film, “JFK,” 1993 Golden Globe: Best Director - Motion Picture, “JFK,” 1992 ShoWest Convention: Special Award, Meritorious Achievement, 1992 Academy Award: Best Director, “Born on the Fourth of July,” 1990 Berlin International Film Festival: Honorary Golden Berlin Bear, 1990 Directors Guild of America (DGA): Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, “Born on the Fourth of July,” 1990 Golden Globe: Best Director - Motion Picture, “Born on the Fourth of July,” 199

0 Golden Globe: Best Screenplay - Motion Picture, “Born on the Fourth of July,” 1990 BAFTA: Best Direction, “Platoon,” 1988 Academy Award: Best Director, “Platoon,” 1987 Berlin International Film Festival: Silver Berlin Bear, Best Director, “Platoon,” 1987 Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC): Best Director, “Platoon,” 1987 Directors Guild of America (DGA): Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, “Platoon,” 1987 Golden Globe: Best Director - Motion Picture, “Platoon,” 1987 Independent Spirit: Best Director, “Platoon,” 1987 Independent Spirit: Best Screenplay, “Platoon,” 1987 Kansas City Film Critics Circle (KCFCC): Best Director, “Platoon,” 1987 Kansas City Film Critics Circle (KCFCC): Best Director, “Salvador,” 1987 Academy Award: Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, “Midnight Express,” 1979 Golden Globe: Best Screenplay - Motion Picture, “Midnight Express,” 

1979 Writers Guild of America (WGA Award): Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium, “Midnight Express,” 1979 The Oliver Stone Experience | The Official Oliver Stone website | About me Academy Award-winning writer and director, Oliver Stone has been credited with writing and or directing over 20 full-length feature films, earning him a well-respected place in cinematic history for some of the most influential and iconic films of the last two decades.

Throughout his long career, which began at a young age writing short plays for his family, Oliver Stone has served as director, writer and producer on a variety of films, documentaries and television movies. He is widely recognized for his controversial versions of recent American history, some of them at deep odds with conventional myth -- films such as 1986's “Platoon,” the first of his Vietnam trilogy, or 1991’s “JFK” and 1994’s “Natural Born Killers” and “Nixon,” his 1995 take on the finer points and parables of the Nixon administration , as well as on George W. Bush in “W.” (2008) Stone says his films are "first and foremost dramas about individuals in personal struggles," and considers himself a dramatist rather than a political filmmaker. Born Sept. 15, 1946 in New York City, Stone was the only son of Louis Stone, a successful stockbroker and financial writer, and Jacqueline Goddet, a French student his father, then in the Army, eloped with as a war bride in Paris in 1945.

He grew up in New York, and spent quite a bit of time with his maternal grandparents in the France of the 1950s. Stone attended Trinity School on the west side of Manhattan and later attended, for 4 years, The Hill, a boarding school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Stone attended Yale University in 1964-65 but dropped out after one year. In June of 1965, as the first U.S. troops arrived in Vietnam, Stone taught at the Free Pacific Institute, a Catholic high school in the ethnic Chinese district of Saigon. In 1966, he signed on to the U.S. Merchant Marine, where he worked as a “wiper” in the engine room below deck on several ships. His travels took him from Asia back to Oregon and then Mexico. In Guadalajara, he began writing a first novel, a 1,400-page manuscript entitled "A Child's Night Dream". He later reedited the novel down to a manageable 236 pages, which was released 30 years later by St. Martin’s Press (1997).

In 1967, Stone enlisted in the United States Army and served in the 25th Infantry Division near the Cambodian border, where he was wounded twice, and then later in the 1st Calvary Division in the northernmost part of Vietnam. He was honored with a Bronze Star for heroism and Purple Heart for his service. Upon his return from Vietnam, Stone was almost immediately arrested for Federal marijuana smuggling from Mexico, but the charges were dismissed. He eventually enrolled at New York University, where he studied filmmaking with, Martin Scorsese among other teachers. He made 3 short films, among them “Last Year In Vietnam.” After graduating in 1971 with a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts, Stone worked many jobs, among them a cabdriver, messenger, sales representative, and production assistant, while continuing to write screenplays. With a Canadian production company, he made a low-budget horror film called “Seizure” -- about a fantasy writer whose characters come to life. With a budget of $150,000, “Seizure” was released,after many difficulties,in 1974.

The film's overriding theme of psychological trauma proved to be good preparation for Stone's next major project, which was his breakthrough in the 1978 film Midnight Express , based on the real-life story of an American College student jailed in a Turkish prison for trying to smuggle drugs out of the country. The film, and Stone himself, received controversial reviews and criticism. However, the low-budget film was a gigantic commercial success world wide, and received five Academy Award nominations. For his work as the film's screenwriter, Stone won his first Academy Award, for Best Adapted Screenplay and was also honored with a Golden Globe Award. In 1981, Stone wrote and directed a suspense/horror film entitled “The Hand” starring Michael Caine. In this period, Stone also wrote “Conan the Barbarian” (1982), “Scarface” (1983), and Michael Cimino's “Year of the Dragon” (1985). Stone's next directorial effort, “Salvador,” explored the various politics at play during the early-'80s war in Central America.

He was also the co-screenwriter for the film, based on the story of American photojournalist Richard Boyle Salvador . Stone received international acclaim the following year for the movie Platoon , for which he drew on his personal experiences to redefine the way in which the Vietnam War was portrayed on film. Stone effectively opened the way for a new -- albeit controversial -- approach to looking at the war, and in so doing, he solidified his reputation of creating films of a more realistic nature. David Halberstam, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Vietnam War, proclaimed “Platoon” as "the first real Vietnam film and one of the greatest war movies of all time." The film became the third-highest grossing film that year and won Stone his first Best Director Oscar as well as several other awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture. In 1987, Stone continued his success and critical acclaim with “Wall Street,” his first big-budget project. A tale of greed, corruption and power, the film won a Best Actor Oscar for star Michael Douglas . After completing Talk Radio in 1988, Stone went on to make the second installment of his Vietnam trilogy, Born on the Fourth of July (1989).

The film received a large dose of enthusiastic acclaim and a second Best Director Oscar for Stone, as well as seven other nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Tom Cruise . Two years later, Stone directed two more films profiling famous, and perhaps infamous, figures. “The Doors” was a drug-saturated biopic of legendary and controversial singer Jim Morrison starring Val Kilmer in the lead role. “JFK” presented Stone's conspiracy-theory approach to the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the large cast featured such well-known names as Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, John Candy, Joe Pesci, Donald Sutherland, Jack Lemon, Sissy Spacek, Gary Oldman and Walter Matthau. “JFK” incurred a lion's share of controversy for its heated subject matter, but it secured eight Oscar nominations, including Best Director for Stone. In 1993, Stone completed his Vietnam trilogy with “Heaven and Earth,” which presented the war through the eyes of a Vietnamese woman, Le Ly Hayslip (from whose autobiographical writings the film was adapted). Stone's next directorial effort, “Natural Born Killers” (1994) was attacked for its glorification of violence.

A story of serial killers, played by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis , the film was named the eighth most controversial movie of all time by Entertainment Weekly in 2006. The following year, Stone co-wrote and directed “Nixon,” an epic take on the title character's presidency that earned four Oscar nominations. In 1997, Stone directed U-Turn , starring Sean Penn and Jennifer Lopez. Stone also produced such films as “Reversal of Fortune” (1990), “The Joy Luck Club” (1993), “The People vs Larry Flynt” (1996), Savior (1998), “Freeway” (1996), “South Central” (1992), and “Wild Palms” (1993) for television. In 1999 he again took a seat in the director's chair with “Any Given Sunday,” a football movie starring Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Jamie Foxx, and repeated collaborator James Woods. Stone went to Cuba for his first documentary -- on Fidel Castro -- entitled “Comandante” in 2003.

After covering the current state of the Palestinian conflict in the same year's “Persona Non Grata,” Stone traveled back in time to study yet another great conflict with war drama “Alexander” in 2004 (a revised “Alexander Revisited” was released in 2007). Stone's follow-up in 2006 was “World Trade Center,” a true story about two New York Port Authority policemen, who were on duty and trapped in the rubble on September 11, 2001. Stone directed in 2008, “W.”, a chronicle of the life and presidency of George W. Bush, while Bush was still in office. His documentary work includes two follow-up films on Fidel Castro -- “Looking for Fidel” (2004) and the upcoming “Castro in Winter” (2012) -- as well “South of the Border” (2010), a roadtrip across Latin America meeting seven of its progressive leaders. In 2010, Stone produced the first-ever sequel to one of his films, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”, with Michael Douglas reprising his Oscar-winning role.

Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, and Frank Langella also starred in the film. Stone co-wrote and directed the upcoming “Savages,” an action-packed story of three SoCal friends going up against the Baja cartel to be released July 6, 2012. He also co-wrote and directed the upcoming 10-hour documentary series “The Untold History of the United States,” which will air on Showtime in 2012.

Question: The film director Oliver Stone won 2 "Best Director" oscars. His first in 1987 was for "Platoon". His second, in 1990, was for what film?
Answer: BORN ON THE 4th OF JULY