William Wyler: Record-Setting Oscar Director for Actors – 36 Nominations

Oscar nominee Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, The Letter

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, Frank Capra, or even Howard Hawks most likely because, unlike Hitchcock, Ford, of Capra, Wyler never focused on a particular genre, while his films were hardly as male-centered as those of the aforementioned four 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, venturing into just about every type of movie genre — epic (Ben-Hur), Western (The Big Country), socially conscious drama (Dead End), melodrama (The Letter), thriller (The Desperate Hour), romance (Wuthering Heights), crime (Detective Story), comedy (How to Steal a Million), documentary (The Memphis Belle), and even a musical (Funny Girl).

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, Olivia de Havilland, Terence Stamp, Shirley MacLaine, Audrey Hepburn, Teresa Wright, Gregory Peck, and dozens of others. Many of those performers reached career highs — at least from an acting standpoint — in their films for Wyler. (Definitely not Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur — but then again, a director can only do so much.)

Apart from the lighthearted characters found in The Westerner and Roman Holiday, dramatic roles dominate the list of Oscar-nominated performances in films directed by Wyler. There were 36 nominations in all — among them 14 wins — running the gamut from Walter Huston's conflicted husband in Dodsworth to Hugh Griffith's hammy sheik in Ben-Hur; from Claire Trevor's embittered prostitute in Dead End to Samantha Eggar's kidnapping victim in The Collector.

Bette Davis appears on the list three times, for Jezebel (1938), The Letter (1940), and The Little Foxes (1941). Walter Brennan, Fay Bainter, and Teresa Wright appear twice each, always in the supporting categories: Brennan for Come and Get It (1936), on which Wyler replaced Howard Hawks, and The Westerner (1940); Bainter for Jezebel and The Children's Hour (1961); and Wright for The Little Foxes and Mrs. Miniver (1942).

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; 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 — none of which is 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.

Note: A version of this William Wyler article was initially posted in January 2007.