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The Academy Awards has reached its 90th year, meaning that one lucky director is set to get the coveted “Best Director” award.
For 2017, the Oscar went to Guillermo del Toro for Shape of Water. Other candidates included Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread), Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird), Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk and Jordan Peele (Get Out.)
Who won in past years?
2017: Guillermo del Toro (Shape of Water)
2016: Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
2015: Alejandro G. Iñárritu (The Revenant)
2014: Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))
2013: Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)
2012: Ang Lee (Life of Pi)
2011: Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
2010: Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech)
2009: Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
2008: Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
2007: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen (No Country for Old Men)
2006: Martin Scorsese (The Departed)
2005: Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain)
2004: Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby)
2003: Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)
2002:Roman Polanski (The Pianist)
2001: Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind)
2000: Steven Soderbergh (Traffic)
1999: Sam Mendes (American Beauty)
1998: Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan)
1997: James Cameron (Titanic)
1996: Anthony Minghella (The English Patient)
1995: Mel Gibson (Braveheart)
1994: Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump)
1993: Steven Spielberg (Schindler’s List)
1992: Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven)
1991: Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs)
1990: Kevin Costner (Dances With Wolves)
1989: Oliver Stone (Born on the Fourth of July)
1988: Barry Levinson (Rain Man)
1987: Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor)
1986: Oliver Stone (Platoon)
1985: Sydney Pollack (Out of Africa)
1984: Milos Forman (Amadeus)
1983: James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment)
1982: Richard Attenborough (Gandhi)
1981: Warren Beatty (Reds)
1980: Robert Redford (Ordinary People)
1979: Robert Benton (Kramer vs. Kramer)
1978: Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter)
1977: Woody Allen (Annie Hall)
1976: John G. Avildsen (Rocky)
1975: Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest)
1974: Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Part II)
1973: George Roy Hill (The Sting)
1972: Bob Fosse (Cabaret)
1971: William Friedkin (The French Connection)
1970: Franklin J. Schaffner (Patton)
1969: John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy)
1968: Carol Reed (Oliver!)
1967: Mike Nichols (The Graduate)
1966: Fred Zinnemann (A Man for All Seasons)
1965: Robert Wise (The Sound of Music)
1964: George Cukor (My Fair Lady)
1963: Tony Richardson (Tom Jones)
1962: David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia)
1961: Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins (West Side Story)
1960: Billy Wilder (The Apartment)
1959: William Wyler (Ben-Hur)
1958: Vincente Minnelli (Gigi)
1957: David Lean (The Bridge on the River Kwai)
1956: George Stevens (Giant)
1955: Delbert Mann (Marty)
1954: Elia Kazan (On the Waterfront)
1953: Fred Zinnemann (From Here to Eternity)
1952: John Ford (The Quiet Man)
1951: George Stevens (A Place in the Sun)
1950: Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve)
1949: Joseph L. Mankiewicz (A Letter to Three Wives)
1948: John Huston (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre)
1947: Elia Kazan (Gentleman’s Agreement)
1946: William Wyler (The Best Years of Our Lives)
1945: Billy Wilder (The Lost Weekend)
1944: Leo McCarey (Going My Way)
1943: Michael Curtiz (Casablanca)
1942: William Wyler (Mrs. Miniver)
1941: John Ford (How Green Was My Valley)
1940: John Ford (The Grapes of Wrath)
1939: Victor Fleming (Gone With the Wind)
1938: Frank Capra (You Can’t Take It with You)
1937: Leo McCarey (The Awful Truth)
1936: Frank Capra (Mr. Deeds Goes to Town)
1935: John Ford (The Informer)
1934: Frank Capra (It Happened One Night)
1932-33: Frank Lloyd (Cavalcade)
1931-32: Frank Borzage (Bad Girl)
1930-31: Norman Taurog (Skippy)
1929-30: Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front)
1928-29: Frank Lloyd (The Divine Lady)
1927-28 (drama): Frank Borzage (7th Heaven)
1927-28 (comedy): Lewis Milestone (Two Arabian Knights)
