William Wyler: Top Oscar Directors for Actors
William Wyler was one of the greatest film directors Hollywood — or any other film industry — has ever produced. Today, Wyler lacks the following of Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, or even Howard Hawks most likely because, unlike Hitchcock or Ford, Wyler never focused on a particular genre, while his films were hardly as male-centered as those of the aforementioned three directors. Dumb but true: Films about women and their issues tend to be perceived as inferior to those about men — especially tough men — and their issues.
For his part, Wyler tackled all sorts of topics, directing just about anything — epics, Westerns, family dramas, socially conscious dramas, melodramas, crime stories, thrillers, romances, comedies, and musicals.
From the mid-1920s to his last film in 1970, he also directed just about everyone, from silent film star Laura La Plante to Barbra Streisand, from John Barrymore to Omar Sharif, plus the likes of Gary Cooper, Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Joel McCrea, Sylvia Sidney, Bette Davis, Terence Stamp, Shirley MacLaine, Audrey Hepburn, Teresa Wright, Gregory Peck, and dozens of others. Many of those performers reached career highs — at least in terms of acting — in their films for Wyler. (Definitely not Charlton Heston — but then again, a director can only do so much.)
Apart from the lighthearted The Westerner and Roman Holiday, dramas dominate the Oscar list on page 2, which consists of 36 nominations for performers directed by Wyler. But those dramas run the gamut from Western (The Big Country) to romance (Wuthering Heights), from epic (Ben-Hur) to musical (Funny Girl).
Ah, Wyler also happens to be the director with the most Academy Award nominations: 12 in all. For the record, those are: Dodsworth, 1936; Wuthering Heights, 1939; The Letter, 1940 (above, with Bette Davis and Herbert Marshall); The Little Foxes, 1941; Mrs. Miniver, 1942; The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946; The Heiress, 1949; Detective Story, 1951; Roman Holiday, 1953; Friendly Persuasion, 1956; Ben-Hur, 1959; and The Collector, 1965.
He won the best direction Oscar for three films (two of which, the first and the last, are hardly among his best): Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives, and Ben-Hur.
Considering the changes that have taken place in the American film industry following the demise of the studio system, barring a miracle William Wyler will remain the Oscars’ top director for actors for as long as there are Oscars.
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Tags: Academy Awards, Alfred Hitchcock, Anthony Perkins, Audrey Hepburn, Barbra Streisand, Ben-Hur, Bette Davis, Bonita Granville, Burl Ives, Charlton Heston, Claire Trevor, Classic Movies, Come and Get It, Dame May Whitty, Dead End, Detective Story, Dodsworth, Eddie Albert, Eleanor Parker, Elia Kazan, Fay Bainter, Film Awards, Fred Zinnemann, Fredric March, Friendly Persuasion, Funny Girl, Gary Cooper, George Cukor, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Greer Garson, Gregory Peck, Harold Russell, Henry Travers, Herbert Marshall, Hugh Griffith, James Stephenson, Jezebel, Joel McCrea, John Barrymore, John Ford, Katharine Hepburn, Kay Medford, Laura La Plante, Laurence Olivier, Lee Grant, Maria Ouspenskaya, Martin Scorsese, Merle Oberon, Miriam Hopkins, Mrs. Miniver, Olivia de Havilland, Omar Sharif, Patricia Collinge, Ralph Richardson, Roman Holiday, Ruth Chatterton, Samantha Eggar, Shirley MacLaine, Sylvia Sidney, Terence Stamp, Teresa Wright, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Big Country, The Children's Hour, The Collector, The Heiress, The Letter, The Lion in Winter, The Little Foxes, The Westerner, These Three, Walter Brennan, Walter Huston, Walter Pidgeon, William Wyler, Wuthering Heights
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Missing from that list: Shirley MacLaine and Miriam Hopkins in “The Children’s Hour.” Neither one received an Oscar nomination, I know, but they SHOULD have.