Oscar Answer No. 3
John Huston (right), from Moulin Rouge (1952) to Prizzi's Honor (1985), a total of 33 years.
In 1952, Huston lost the Oscar to John Ford for The Quiet Man, and in 1985 to Sydney Pollack for Out of Africa. Huston, however, did win for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).
Roman Polanski comes in second, from Tess (1980) to The Pianist (2002), 22 years; and Joseph L. Mankiewicz in third, from 5 Fingers (1952) to Sleuth (1972), 20 years.
In fourth place, with a 19-year gap between nominations, it's a tie: Otto Preminger, from Laura in 1944 to The Cardinal in 1963; and David Lean, from Doctor Zhivago in 1965 to A Passage to India in 1984.
Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn in On Golden Pond
Oscar Answer No. 4
Katharine Hepburn, from Morning Glory (1932-33*, right, with Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) to On Golden Pond (1981), a total of 48 years.
Hepburn won best actress Academy Awards for both of these, and also for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and The Lion in Winter (1968), the latter in a tie with Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl.
In second place, with a 44-year span, are Paul Newman, from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) to Road to Perdition (2002), and Peter O'Toole, from Lawrence of Arabia (1962) to Venus (2006).
Julie Christie is next, with 42 years, from Darling (1965) to Away from Her (2007); she is followed by Henry Fonda from The Grapes of Wrath (1940) to On Golden Pond (1981), 41 years.
* This particular year covered 18 months, from mid-1932 to December 1933, so as to allow the Oscars to cover films released during each calendar year from 1934 onwards.
Steven Soderbergh (left); Michael Curtiz (right)
Oscar Answer No. 5
Michael Curtiz in 1938, for the crime melodrama Angels with Dirty Faces and for the surprisingly touching family flick Four Daughters, and Steven Soderbergh in 2000, for the hard-hitting drug epic Traffic and for the maudlin biopic Erin Brockovich.
Curtiz lost out to Frank Capra for You Can't Take It With You, whereas Soderbergh won for Traffic.
Note: Actors are allowed only one nomination per acting category. (See next page.)