Gregor's Top 500 Directors of All Time
by Movie-Mate | created - 12 May 2014 | updated - 2 months ago | Public
1. James Cameron
Writer | Avatar: The Way of Water
James Francis Cameron was born on August 16, 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada. He moved to the United States in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University before switching to English, and eventually dropping out. He then drove a truck to support his ...
Top 8 Aliens - Director's Cut Avatar Titanic Terminator 2 The Terminator The Abyss - Director's Cut True Lies Avatar - The Way of Water (Avatar 3) (Avatar 4) (Avatar 5)
2. Hayao Miyazaki
Writer | Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan's greatest animation directors. The entertaining plots, compelling characters, and breathtaking visuals in his films have earned him international renown from critics as well as public recognition within Japan.
Miyazaki started his career in 1963 as an animator at the ...
Top 13 Princess Mononoke Laputa - Castle in the Sky Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Spirited Away My Neighbor Totoro Kiki's Delivery Service Howl's Moving Castle Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro Porco Rosso Ponyo The Wind Rises Future Boy Conan (TV-Series, 26 Episodes) The Boy and the Heron (Lupin the Third Part I (TV Series, 15 Episodes)) (Sherlock Hound (TV-Series, 6 Episodes))
3. Quentin Tarantino
Writer | Reservoir Dogs
Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father, Tony Tarantino, is an Italian-American actor and musician from New York, and his mother, Connie (McHugh), is a nurse from Tennessee. Quentin moved with his mother to Torrance, California, when he was four years old.
In January of...
Top 9 Kill Bill Vol. 1&2 Pulp Fiction Reservoir Dogs Inglourious Basterds Once Upon a Time in Hollywood The Hateful Eight Django Unchained Death Proof Jackie Brown
4. Stanley Kubrick
Director | 2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick was born in Manhattan, New York City, to Sadie Gertrude (Perveler) and Jacob Leonard Kubrick, a physician. His family were Jewish immigrants (from Austria, Romania, and Russia). Stanley was considered intelligent, despite poor grades at school. Hoping that a change of scenery would ...
Top 13 The Shining A Clockwork Orange 2001: A Space Odyssey Dr. Strangelove Paths Of Glory Full Metal Jacket Lolita Barry Lyndon Spartacus The Killing Eyes Wide Shut Killer's Kiss Fear and Desire
5. Ridley Scott
Producer | The Martian
Described by film producer Michael Deeley as "the very best eye in the business", director Ridley Scott was born on November 30, 1937 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. His father was an officer in the Royal Engineers and the family followed him as his career posted him throughout the United Kingdom ...
Top 28 Kingdom of Heaven - Director's Cut Gladiator Alien Blade Runner Black Hawk Down Black Rain Legend Thelma & Louise Matchstick Man A Good Year The Martian The Duellists American Gangster G.I. Jane The Counselor Alien: Covenant Prometheus Robin Hood Body Of Lies Hannibal The Last Duel House of Gucci All the Money in the World Napoleon Exodus: Gods and Kings 1492: Conquest of Paradise White Squall Someone To Watch Over Me
6. Billy Wilder
Writer | The Apartment
Originally planning to become a lawyer, Billy Wilder abandoned that career in favor of working as a reporter for a Viennese newspaper, using this experience to move to Berlin, where he worked for the city's largest tabloid. He broke into films as a screenwriter in 1929 and wrote scripts for many ...
Top 25 Sunset Blvd. One, Two, Three Some Like It Hot The Seven Year Itch The Front Page Ace In The Hole Witness for the Prosecution Double Indemnity The Apartment The Lost Weekend Five Graves to Cairo The Fortune Cookie The Major and the Minor Starlag 17 Sabrina Kiss me, Stupid A Foreign Affair Love in the Afternoon Irma La Douce Avanti! The Spirit of St. Louis Buddy Buddy The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes Fedora The Emperor Waltz
7. Elia Kazan
Director | On the Waterfront
Known for his creative stage direction, Elia Kazan was born Elias Kazantzoglou on September 7, 1909 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey). Noted for drawing out the best dramatic performances from his actors, he directed 21 actors to Oscar nominations, resulting in nine wins. He ...
Top 18 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn On The Waterfront Baby Doll A Streetcar Named Desire East Of Eden Wild River Gentleman's Agreement Splendor in the Grass A Face In The Crowed Pinky Boomerang! Panic in the Streets Man on a Tightrope Viva Zapata! America, America The Arrangement The Last Tycoon The Sea Of Grass
8. Sergio Leone
Writer | Once Upon a Time in America
Sergio Leone was virtually born into the cinema - he was the son of Roberto Roberti (A.K.A. Vincenzo Leone), one of Italy's cinema pioneers, and actress Bice Valerian. Leone entered films in his late teens, working as an assistant director to both Italian directors and U.S. directors working in ...
Top 6 Once Upon A Time In The West The Good, The Bad and the Ugly A Fistful of Dollars For A Few Dollars More Once Upon A Time in America A Fistful of Dynamite
9. Akira Kurosawa
Writer | Kakushi-toride no san-akunin
After training as a painter (he storyboards his films as full-scale paintings), Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata (1943). Within a few years, Kurosawa had achieved sufficient stature to allow him greater...
Top 26 Seven Samurai Yojimbo Red Beard High and Low Rashomon The Bad Sleep Well The Hidden Fortress Throne Of Blood Kagemusha Ran Ikiru Sanjuro Akira Kurosawa's Dreams Stray Dog Drunken Angel The Lower Depths I Live in Fear No Regrets for Our Youth Scandal The Idiot One Wonderful Sunday The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail Sanshiro Sugata The Most Beautiful Dodesukaden Sanshiro Sugata, Part 2 (Dersu Uzala) (Madadayo) (The Quiet Duel) (Rhapsody In August)
10. Steven Spielberg
Producer | Schindler's List
One of the most influential personalities in the history of cinema, Steven Spielberg is Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. He has an extraordinary number of commercially successful and critically acclaimed credits to his name, either as a director, ...
Top 24 Raiders of the Lost Ark Schindler's List Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Jurassic Park Jaws Saving Private Ryan Close Encounters of the Third Kind E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Minority Report Catch Me If You Can Munich Ready Player One Empire of the Sun Lincoln The Adventures of Tintin The Lost World: Jurassic Park Bridge Of Spies A.I. Artificial Intelligence 1941 War of the Worlds The Terminal Hook Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (BFG) (The Post)
11. Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Writer | All About Eve
Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on February 11, 1909, Joseph Leo Mankiewicz first worked for the movies as a translator of intertitles, employed by Paramount in Berlin, the UFA's American distributor at the time (1928). He became a dialoguist, then a screenwriter on numerous Paramount ...
Top 20 All About Eve Cleopatra A Letter To Three Wives No Way Out Suddenly, Last Summer The Ghost and Mrs.Muir Guys And Dolls Julius Caesar Sleuth House Of Strangers Somewhere In The Night 5 Fingers Dragonwyck The Barefoot Contessa People Will Talk The Honey Pot The Late George Apley There Was a Crooked Man... The Quiet American Escape
12. Charles Chaplin
Writer | The Great Dictator
Considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, Charlie Chaplin lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular character, the Little Tramp; the man with the ...
Top 10
Modern Times
Gold Rush
City Lights
The Great Dictator
Limelight
Monsieur Verdoux
The Circus
The Kid
A King in New York
A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate
Top 20 Shorts
A Dog's Life
Pay Day
Easy Street
The Immigrant
The Adventurer
The Idle Class
The Pilgrim
Behind The Screen
Shoulder Arms
One A.M.
The Cure
The Rink
The Vagabond
The Floorwalker
The Fireman
The Pawnshop
A Day's Pleasure
Sunnyside
The Count
The Tramp
13. John Carpenter
Writer | The Fog
John Howard Carpenter was born in Carthage, New York, to mother Milton Jean (Carter) and father Howard Ralph Carpenter. His family moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where his father, a professor, was head of the music department at Western Kentucky University. He attended Western Kentucky ...
Top 20 The Thing Big Trouble In Little China Halloween Escape From New York The Fog In The Mouth Of Madness They Live Assault On Precinct 13 Prince Of Darkness Vampires Starman Christine Cigarette Burns (Masters Of Horror S1/E8) Ghosts of Mars Escape from L.A. Dark Star Village of the Damned Body Bags (TV Movie) (segments "The Gas Station", "Hair") Memoirs of an Invisible Man The Ward
14. David Lynch
Writer | Twin Peaks
Born in precisely the kind of small-town American setting so familiar from his films, David Lynch spent his childhood being shunted from one state to another as his research scientist father kept getting relocated. He attended various art schools, married Peggy Lynch and then fathered future ...
Top 11 Twin Peaks (TV-Series, 6 Episodes) Twin Peaks - The Movie Mulholland Dr. Lost Highway The Elephant Man Blue Velvet Wild At Heart Twin Peaks 2017 (TV-Series, 18 Episodes) Eraserhead Dune Inland Empire (The Straight Story)
15. William Wyler
Director | The Best Years of Our Lives
William Wyler was an American filmmaker who, at the time of his death in 1981, was considered by his peers as second only to John Ford as a master craftsman of cinema. The winner of three Best Director Academy Awards, second again only to Ford's four, Wyler's reputation has unfairly suffered as the...
Top 23 Ben Hur The Best Years Of Our Lives The Big Country The Little Foxes Mrs. Miniver Roman Holiday Jezebel The Heiress Detective Story Wuthering Heights The Children's Hour Dodsworth Dead End The Westener The Letter Desperate Hours Counsellor At Law The Good Fairy These Three The Collector Carrie How to Steal a Million Friendly Persuasion (Funny Girl)
16. Howard Hawks
Director | Red River
What do the classic films Scarface (1932), Twentieth Century (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Sergeant York (1941), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Rio Bravo (1959) have in...
Top 23 Rio Bravo Red River Twentieth Century To Have And Have Not The Big Sleep His Girl Friday El Dorado Only Angels Have Wings Bringing Up Baby Sergeant York The Dawn Patrol Scarface The Criminal Code Ball of Fire Land of the Pharaohs Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Monkey Business Hatari! Man's Favorite Sport? The Thing from Another World (uncredited) Rio Lobo The Big Sky I Was A Male War Bride
17. Martin Scorsese
Producer | Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Charles Scorsese was born on November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York City, to Catherine Scorsese (née Cappa) and Charles Scorsese, who both worked in Manhattan's garment district, and whose families both came from Palermo, Sicily. He was raised in the neighborhood of Little Italy, which later ...
Top 19 Goodfellas The Wolf Of Wall Street Casino The Departed Raging Bull Taxi Driver Cape Fear Gangs Of New York The Age of Innocence The Last Temptation of Christ Mean Streets After Hours The Irishman Boxcar Bertha Hugo The Color Of Money Shutter Island The Aviator Bringing Out The Dead (The King Of Comedy) (Silence)
18. Frank Capra
Director | It's a Wonderful Life
One of seven children, Frank Capra was born on May 18, 1897, in Bisacquino, Sicily. On May 10, 1903, his family left for America aboard the ship Germania, arriving in New York on May 23rd. "There's no ventilation, and it stinks like hell. They're all miserable. It's the most degrading place you ...
Top 18 It's a Wonderful Life Mr. Smith Goes To Washington It Happened One Night Mr. Deets Goes To Town You Can't Take It With You Meet John Doe Arsenic And Old Lace State Of The Union American Madness Lady For A Day Lost Horizon The Bitter Tea of General Yen Rain or Shine Platinum Blonde Pocketful of Miracles The Miracle Woman Forbidden Ladies of Leisure
19. John Ford
Director | The Quiet Man
John Ford came to Hollywood following one of his brothers, an actor. Asked what brought him to Hollywood, he replied "the train". He became one of the most respected directors in the business, in spite of being known for his westerns, which were not considered "serious" film. He won six Oscars, ...
Top 24 The Grapes Of Wrath The Searchers The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Stagecoach My Darling Clementine How the West Was Won (Segment) The Quiet Man How Green Was My Valley Ford Apache Sergeant Rutledge Young Mr. Lincoln Mister Roberts She Wore a Yellow Ribbon The Informer Drums Along the Mohawk The Hurricane Rio Grande Mogambo Cheyenne Autumn They Were Expendable Two Rode Together The Horse Soldiers The Lost Patrol Mary of Scotland (The Whole Town's Talking) (3 Bad Men) (Wagon Master) (7 Women)
20. Alfred Hitchcock
Director | Psycho
Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England. He was the son of Emma Jane (Whelan; 1863 - 1942) and East End greengrocer William Hitchcock (1862 - 1914). His parents were both of half English and half Irish ancestry. He had two older siblings, William Hitchcock (born 1890) and ...
Top 32 Psycho Rear Window Shadow of a Doubt Dial M for Murder Rebecca Vertigo The Birds Lifeboat The Lady Vanishes North by Northwest Notorious The 39 Steps Strangers on a Train Rope Spellbound Suspicion To Catch a Thief Foreign Correspondent Sabotage I Confess The Wrong Man Frenzy Family Plot Marnie The Man Who Knew Too Much The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog The Paradine Case Saboteur The Trouble with Harry Torn Curtain Topaz Downhill
21. Fritz Lang
Actor | Le mépris
Fritz Lang was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1890. His father managed a construction company. His mother, Pauline Schlesinger, was Jewish but converted to Catholicism when Lang was ten. After high school, he enrolled briefly at the Technische Hochschule Wien and then started to train as a painter. ...
Top 28 The Big Heat M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder Die Niebelungen 1&2 Metropolis Scarlet Street Fury Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse The Woman In The Window The Blue Gardenia Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler - Ein Bild der Zeit While The City Sleeps Spione Der Tiger von Eschnapur & Das indische Grabmal You Only Live Once Clash By Night Man Hunt Frau Am Mond Der müde Tod House By The River Ministry Of Fear Beyond a Reasonable Doubt Human Desire Secret Beyond the Door... You And Me Cloak and Dagger Hangmen Also Die! The Return of Frank James (Die Spinnen 1&2) (Rancho Notorious) (Moonfleet)
22. Yimou Zhang
Director | Ying xiong
Yimou Zhang was born on November 14, 1951 in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. He is a director and writer, known for Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). He has been married to Ting Chen since December 2011. They have three children. He was previously married to ...
Top 12 Hero House of Flying Daggers Curse of the Golden Flower Raise the Red Lantern To Live Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles The Flowers of War Shadow The Road Home Shanghai Triad Red Sorghum The Great Wall (Coming Home) (Ju Dou) (Cliff Walkers)
23. Mike Nichols
Director | The Graduate
He, along with the other members of the "Compass Players" including Elaine May, Paul Sills, Byrne Piven, Joyce Hiller Piven and Edward Asner helped start the famed "Second City Improv" company. They used the games taught to them by fellow cast mate, Paul Sills 's mother, Viola Spolin. He later ...
Top 15 Closer The Graduate Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The Birdcage Charlie Wilson's War Biloxi Blues Regarding Henry Working Girl Carnal Knowledge Wolf Primary Colors What Planet Are You From? Catch 22 Silkwood Postcards from the Edge
24. John Huston
Director | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
An eccentric rebel of epic proportions, this Hollywood titan reigned supreme as director, screenwriter and character actor in a career that endured over five decades. The ten-time Oscar-nominated legend was born John Marcellus Huston in Nevada, Missouri, on August 5, 1906. His ancestry was English,...
Top 14 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre The Maltese Falcon Key Largo The Asphalt Jungle The Night of the Iguana The Man Who Would Be King The African Queen In This Our Life The Misfits Fat City The Unforgiven Across the Pacific The MacKintosh Man The List of Adrian Messenger (Moby Dick) (The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean) (Freud) (Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison) (Under the Volcano)
25. Michael Curtiz
Director | Casablanca
Curtiz began acting in and then directing films in his native Hungary in 1912. After WWI, he continued his filmmaking career in Austria and Germany and into the early 1920s when he directed films in other countries in Europe. Moving to the US in 1926, he started making films in Hollywood for Warner...
Top 21 Casablanca The Adventures of Robin Hood Mildred Pirce Yankee Doodle Dandy Angels with Dirty Faces Captain Blood The Sea Hawk The Sea Wolf The Breaking Point We're No Angels White Christmas Dodge City The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex Kid Galahad Flamingo Road Life with Father Mystery of the Wax Museum Doctor X Passage to Marseille Dive Bomber Female
26. Buster Keaton
Actor | The General
Joseph Frank Keaton was born on October 4, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas, to Joe Keaton and Myra Keaton. Joe and Myra were Vaudevillian comedians with a popular, ever-changing variety act, giving Keaton an eclectic and interesting upbringing. In the earliest days on stage, they traveled with a medicine ...
Top 12
The General
Sherlock Jr.
Our Hospitality
Steamboat Bill Jr.
The Cameraman
The Navigator
Seven Chances
Spite Marriage
Battling Butler
Go West
College
Three Ages
Top 19 Shorts
One Week
The Goat
The High Sign
The Scarecrow
The Play House
Cops
Neighbors
Convict 13
The Boat
The Electric House
The Haunted House
Hard Luck
The Paleface
The Love Nest
Day Dreams
The Balloonatic
My Wife's Relations
The Blacksmith
The Frozen North
27. David Fincher
Director | Se7en
David Fincher was born in 1962 in Denver, Colorado, and was raised in Marin County, California. When he was 18 years old he went to work for John Korty at Korty Films in Mill Valley. He subsequently worked at ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) from 1981-1983. Fincher left ILM to direct TV commercials...
Top 12 Seven Fight Club The Social Network The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo Gone Girl The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Alien 3 The Game Zodiac The Killer Mank Panic Room
28. Paul Verhoeven
Director | RoboCop
Paul Verhoeven graduated from the University of Leiden, with a degree in math and physics. He entered the Royal Netherlands Navy, where he began his film career by making documentaries for the Navy and later for TV. In 1969, he directed the popular Dutch TV series, Floris (1969), about a medieval ...
Top 13 Basic Instinct Robocop Total Recall Starship Troopers Black Book Elle Hollow Man Flesh+Blood The 4th Man Soldier of Orange Showgirls Katie Tippel Turks fruit (Benedetta) (Spetters)
29. Sidney Lumet
Director | 12 Angry Men
Sidney Lumet was a master of cinema, best known for his technical knowledge and his skill at getting first-rate performances from his actors -- and for shooting most of his films in his beloved New York. He made over 40 movies, often complex and emotional, but seldom overly sentimental. Although ...
Top 12 12 Angry Men Network Fail-Safe The Verdict Dog Day Afternoon Long Day's Journey Into The Night Serpico Murder On The Orient Express Before the Devil Knows You're Dead Prince Of The City The Pawnbroker The Fugitive Kind
30. Francis Ford Coppola
Producer | Apocalypse Now
Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, but grew up in a New York suburb in a creative, supportive Italian-American family. His father, Carmine Coppola, was a composer and musician. His mother, Italia Coppola (née Pennino), had been an actress. Francis Ford Coppola graduated ...
Top 11 The Godfather The Godfather, Part II Apocalypse Now Bram Stoker's Dracula The Conversation The Outsiders Rumble Fish The Godfaher, Part III The Cotton Club The Rainmaker Finian's Rainbow (One from the Heart) (Tucker: The Man and His Dream)
31. Stanley Kramer
Producer | Judgment at Nuremberg
Stanley Kramer was born on September 29, 1913 in Hell's Kitchen [now Clinton], Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and director, known for Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and Inherit the Wind (1960). He was married to Karen Sharpe, Anne P. ...
Top 9 Judgment at Nuremberg Inherit the Wind Guess Who's Coming to Dinner On The Beach The Defiant Ones Ship of Fools It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Not as a Stranger The Secret Of Santa Vittoria (Oklahoma Crude)
32. Otto Preminger
Actor | Stalag 17
Otto Ludwig Preminger was born in Wiznitz, Bukovina, Austria-Hungary. His father was a prosecutor, and Otto originally intended to follow his father into a law career; however, he fell in love with the theater in his 20's and became one of the most imaginative stage producers and directors. He was ...
Top 13 Laura Anatomy of a Murder The Man with the Golden Arm Where the Sidewalk Ends Advise & Consent In Harm's Way Bunny Lake is Missing Daisy Kenyon Fallen Angel Whirlpool Angel Face River of No Return Exodus (Bonjour tristesse) (Carmen Jones)
33. Ernst Lubitsch
Director | To Be or Not to Be
From Ernst Lubitsch's experiences in Sophien Gymnasium (high school) theater, he decided to leave school at the age of 16 and pursue a career on the stage. He had to compromise with his father and keep the account books for the family tailor business while he acted in cabarets and music halls at ...
Top 20 To Be Or Not To Be Ninotchka The Shop Around The Corner Trouble In Paradise Heaven Can Wait Design for Living The Love Parade The Smliling Lieutenant The Merry Widow Bluebeard's Eight Wife A Royal Scandal (Uncredited) Cluny Brown Angel One Hour With You Monte Carlo The Marriage Circle Die Austernprinzessin Eternal Love That Lady in Ermine Das fidele Gefängnis (The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg) (Lady Windermere's Fan) (Broken Lullaby) (I Don't Want to Be a Man) (The Doll) (Sumurun) (Anna Boleyn) (The Mountain Cat)
34. Joel Coen
Producer | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Joel Daniel Coen is an American filmmaker who regularly collaborates with his younger brother Ethan. They made Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, Inside Llewyn Davis, Hail Caesar and other projects. Joel ...
aka. The Coen Brothers
Top 15
The Big Lebowski
Miller's Crossing
Fargo
No Country for Old Men
Blood Simple
True Grit
Barton Fink
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Inside Llewyn Davis
The Hudsucker Proxy
Raising Arizona
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Burn After Reading
The Man Who Wasn't There
Hail, Caesar!
35. Woody Allen
Writer | Annie Hall
Woody Allen was born on November 30, 1935, as Allen Konigsberg, in The Bronx, NY, the son of Martin Konigsberg and Nettie Konigsberg. He has one younger sister, Letty Aronson. As a young boy, he became intrigued with magic tricks and playing the clarinet, two hobbies that he continues today.
Allen ...
Top 32 Anything Else Manhatten Annie Hall Midnight in Paris Hannah and her Sisters Crimes and Misdemeanors A Rainy Day in New York Match Point The Purple Rose of Cairo Broadway Danny Rose Vicky Cristina Barcelona Blue Jasmine Whatever Works Mighty Aphrodite Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex... Bananas Sleeper Love and Death Play It Again, Sam Melinda and Melinda Manhatten Murder Mystery Zelig Radio Days A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy What's Up, Tiger Lily? Shadows and Fog You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger Celebrity Another Woman Interiors September Alice (Husbands and Wives) (Bullets Over Broadway) (Stardust Memories) (Deconstructing Harry)
36. Clint Eastwood
Actor | Million Dollar Baby
Clint Eastwood was born May 31, 1930 in San Francisco, to Clinton Eastwood Sr., a bond salesman and later manufacturing executive for Georgia-Pacific Corporation, and Ruth Wood (née Margret Ruth Runner), a housewife turned IBM clerk. He grew up in nearby Piedmont. At school Clint took interest in ...
Top 30 Unforgiven Million Dollar Baby Gran Torino High Plains Drifter The Outlaw Josey Wales Pale Rider Mystic River Richard Jewell Heartbreak Ridge Letters from Iwo Jima True Crime Changeling American Sniper A Perfect World Play Misty for Me The Rookie Sudden Impact Absolute Power The Mule The Bridges of Madison County Sully Flags of Our Fathers The Gauntlet Cry Matcho Bronco Billy Space Cowboys J. Edgar Firefox Honkytonk Man City Heat
37. David Cronenberg
Actor | The Fly
David Cronenberg, also known as the King of Venereal Horror or the Baron of Blood, was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1943. His father, Milton Cronenberg, was a journalist and editor, and his mother, Esther (Sumberg), was a piano player. After showing an inclination for literature at an early...
Top 16 Videodrome The Fly Scanners Shivers A History of Violence Eastern Promises Naked Lunch The Dead Zone eXistenZ Rabid Crash Dead Ringers The Brood Crimes of the Future Maps to the Stars A Dangerous Method
38. Tim Burton
Producer | Edward Scissorhands
Timothy Walter Burton was born in Burbank, California, to Jean Rae (Erickson), who owned a cat-themed gift shop, and William Reed Burton, who worked for the Burbank Park and Recreation Department. He spent most of his childhood as a recluse, drawing cartoons, and watching old movies (he was ...
Top 14 Batman Batman Returns Sleepy Hollow Edward Scissorhands Beetlejuice Ed Wood Big Fish Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Planet of the Apes Corpse Bride Mars Attacks! Dark Shadows Alice in Wonderland (Dumbo) (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children)
39. Wes Craven
Writer | A Nightmare on Elm Street
Wes Craven has become synonymous with genre bending and innovative horror, challenging audiences with his bold vision.
Wesley Earl Craven was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Caroline (Miller) and Paul Eugene Craven. He had a midwestern suburban upbringing. His first feature film was The Last House on ...
Top 15 Scream A Nightmare On Elm Street Scream 2 The People Under The Stairs The Serpent and the Rainbow Wes Craven's New Nightmare The Last House On The Left Shocker The Hills Have Eyes Red Eye Scream 4 Swamp Thing Scream 3 Deadly Blessing Deadly Friend
40. Walter Hill
Writer | 48 Hrs.
Hill was born in Long Beach, California and educated at Mexico City College and Michigan State University. He worked in oil drilling and construction in the 60s before becoming a 2nd assistant director in 1967. He has written and co-written screenplays, including several uncredited works. He has ...
Top 14 Streets Of Fire Red Heat 48 Hrs. The Warriors Hard Times Broken Trail (TV Mini-Series) The Long Riders Geronimo: An American Legend Johnny Handsome Extreme Prejudice The Driver Southern Comfort Another 48 Hrs. Wild Bill (Last Man Standing) (Undisputed) (Bullet to the Head) (The Assignment)
41. Sam Peckinpah
Writer | The Wild Bunch
"If they move", commands stern-eyed William Holden, "kill 'em". So begins The Wild Bunch (1969), Sam Peckinpah's bloody, high-body-count eulogy to the mythologized Old West. "Pouring new wine into the bottle of the Western, Peckinpah explodes the bottle", observed critic Pauline Kael. That ...
Top 14 Straw Dogs The Wild Bunch The Getaway Ride the High Country Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid The Ballad of Cable Hogue Major Dundee Cross of Iron Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia The Osterman Weekend Convoy Junior Bonner The Deadly Companions The Killer Elite
42. David Lean
Director | Lawrence of Arabia
An important British filmmaker, David Lean was born in Croydon on March 25, 1908 and brought up in a strict Quaker family (ironically, as a child he wasn't allowed to go to the movies). During the 1920s, he briefly considered the possibility of becoming an accountant like his father before finding ...
Top 14 Lawrence of Arabia Great Expectations Brief Encounter The Bridge on the River Kwai Oliver Twist The Sound Barrier Hobson's Choice Doctor Zhivago Blithe Spirit Madeleine This Happy Breed Ryan's Daughter In Which We Serve The Passionate Friends (Summertime) (A Passage to India)
43. Robert Zemeckis
Writer | Back to the Future
A whiz-kid with special effects, Robert is from the Spielberg camp of film-making (Steven Spielberg produced many of his films). Usually working with writing partner Bob Gale, Robert's earlier films show he has a talent for zany comedy (Romancing the Stone (1984), 1941 (1979)) and special effect ...
Top 15 Forrest Gump Back to the Future Back to the Future, Part II Romancing the Stone Flight The Walk Beowulf Who Framed Roger Rabbit Back to the Future, Part III Contact Cast Away Used Cars What Lies Beneath Death Becomes Her Allied
44. John Woo
Director | Ying hung boon sik
Born in southern China, John Woo grew up in Hong Kong, where he began his film career as an assistant director in 1969, working for Shaw Brothers Studios. He directed his first feature in 1973 and has been a prolific director ever since, working in a wide variety of genres before A Better Tomorrow ...
Top 15 Face/Off Hard Boiled The Killer Mission: Impossible II Bullet in the Head Red Cliff 1&2 Hard Target A Better Tomorrow A Better Tomorrow II Last Hurrah for Chivalry Broken Arrow Heroes Shed No Tears The Hand of Death Windtalkers Once a Thief
45. Orson Welles
Actor | Citizen Kane
His father, Richard Head Welles, was a well-to-do inventor, his mother, Beatrice (Ives) Welles, a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died in 1924 (when he was nine) he traveled the world with his father. He was ...
Top 9 Citizen Kane Touch of Evil The Lady from Shanghai The Trail The Magnificent Ambersons The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice Filming 'Othello (Doc.) The Stranger F for Fake (Doc.) (Chimes at Midnight) (MacBeth)
46. George Stevens
Director | Giant
George Stevens, a filmmaker known as a meticulous craftsman with a brilliant eye for composition and a sensitive touch with actors, is one of the great American filmmakers, ranking with John Ford, William Wyler and Howard Hawks as a creator of classic Hollywood cinema, bringing to the screen ...
Top 13 Shane A Place In The Sun Swing Time Giant I Rememer Mama The Talk Of The Town The More The Merrier Gung Din Woman Of The Year Vivacious Lady The Diary of Anne Frank Annie Oakley Penny Serenade
47. Peter Jackson
Producer | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Sir Peter Jackson made history with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, becoming the first person to direct three major feature films simultaneously. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King were nominated for and collected a slew of awards from around the globe, with The ...
Top 13 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring The Frighners The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Braindead The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug King Kong Bad Taste They Shall Not Grow Old (Doc.) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Heavenly Creatures The Lovely Bones
48. Chia-Liang Liu
Actor | Jui kuen II
Chia-Liang Liu was born on August 1, 1936 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. He was an actor and director, known for Drunken Master II (1994), Legendary Weapons of China (1982) and My Young Auntie (1981). He was married to Jing-Jing Yung and Hsiu-Hsia Ho. He died on June 25, 2013 in Hong Kong, China.
Top 19 Drunken Master 2 Heroes of the East Eight Diagram Pole Fighter The 36th Chamber of Shaolin My Young Auntie Disciples of the 36th Chamber Executioners from Shaolin Martial Arts of Shaolin Legendary Weapons of China Mad Monkey Kung Fu Return to the 36th Chamber Tiger on the Beat The Lady Is the Boss The Martial Club Shaolin Mantis Dirty Ho Challenge of the Masters The Spiritual Boxer Cat Vs. Rat (The Shadow Boxing)
49. Jackie Chan
Actor | Ngo si seoi
Hong Kong's cheeky, lovable and best-known film star, Jackie Chan endured many years of long, hard work and multiple injuries to establish international success after his start in Hong Kong's manic martial arts cinema industry.
Jackie was born Kong-sang Chan on April 7, 1954, on Hong Kong's famous ...
Top 11 Police Story Armour of God II: Operation Condor Project A Armour of God Police Story 2 Dragon Lord The Young Master Project A Part II Miracles The Fearless Hyena Who Am I? (co directed)
50. Cheh Chang
Director | Bao chou
Chang Cheh was the leading Martial Arts director in Hong Kong in the 1970s, now with close to 100 films to his name. His has influenced other directors such as John Woo and Liu Chiau Liang, and made famous such Hong Kong stars as Phillip Chung-Fung Kwok, Fu Sheng and Lung Ti. Chang has declared ...
Top 50 The One-Armed Swordsman Return of the One-Armed Swordsman Five Element Ninjas Crippled Avengers The Kid with the Golden Arm The Flying Dagger Golden Swallow The New One-Armed Swordsman Shaolin Temple (1976) The Invincible Fist The Heroic Ones Boxer from Shantung Have Sword Will Travel Blood Brothers Vengeance The Delinquent Flag Of Iron The Five Venoms Invincible Shaolin The Duel Shaolin Rescuers The Rebel Intruders Legend of the Fox Heroes Two The Delightful Forest Two Champions of Shaolin The Magnificent Ruffians Five Shaolin Masters King Eagle The Savage 5 The Sword Stained with Royal Blood Disciples of Shaolin Chinatown Kid The New Shaolin Boxers Four Riders Masked Avengers The Daredevils Shaolin Martial Arts The Water Margin All Men Are Brothers The Deadly Duo Boxer Rebellion The Angry Guest Life Gamble Ode to Gallantry House of Traps The Wandering Swordsman The Weird Man Duel Of Fists Ten Tigers of Kwangtung (Magnificent Trio) (The Assassin) (Dead End) (The Anonymous Heroes) (Man Of Iron)
51. Roger Corman
Actor | The Silence of the Lambs
Roger William Corman was born April 5, 1926, in Detroit, Michigan. Initially following in his father's footsteps, Corman studied engineering at Stanford University but while in school, he began to lose interest in the profession and developed a growing passion for film. Upon graduation, he worked a...
Top 15 The Masque of the Red Death The Haunted Palace Pit and the Pendulum The Fall of the House of Usher Premature Burial Tales Of Terror Tower Of London The Raven The Tomb of Ligeia The Terror X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes A Bucket of Blood The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960) Roger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound The Trip (The Intruder)
52. Damien Chazelle
Writer | La La Land
Damien Sayre Chazelle is an American director and screenwriter. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island. His mother, Celia Sayre (Martin) Chazelle, is an American-Canadian writer and professor of history at The College of New Jersey. His father, Bernard Chazelle, is a French-American Eugene Higgins...
Top 3 La La Land Whiplash First Man (Babylon)
53. Christopher McQuarrie
Writer | The Usual Suspects
Christopher McQuarrie is an acclaimed producer, director and an Academy Award® winning writer. McQuarrie grew up in Princeton Junction, New Jersey and in lieu of college, he spent the first five years out of school traveling and working at a detective agency. He later moved to Los Angeles to pursue...
Top 4 Mission: Impossible - Fallout Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Way Of The Gun Jack Reacher (Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning - Part One) (Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning - Part Two)
54. George Cukor
Director | My Fair Lady
George Cukor was an American film director of Hungarian-Jewish descent, better known for directing comedies and literary adaptations. He once won the Academy Award for Best Director, and was nominated other four times for the same Award.
In 1899, George Dewey Cukor was born on the Lower East Side of...
Top 18 My Fair Lady The Philadelphia Story A Star Is Born (1954) Holiday Gaslight Dinner At Eight What Price Hollywood? The Woman Born Yesterday David Copperfield (1935) Camille Adam's Rib Pat And Mike Keeper Of The Flame Let's Make Love A Woman's Face Little Woman Sylvia Scarlett (Girls About Town) (It Should Happen to You)
55. Masaki Kobayashi
Director | Seppuku
Masaki Kobayashi was born on February 14, 1916 in Hokkaido, Japan. He was a director and writer, known for Harakiri (1962), Samurai Rebellion (1967) and The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961). He died on October 4, 1996 in Tokyo, Japan.
Top 10 Harakiri Kwaidan Samurai Rebellion The Human Condition, Part 1-3 The Inheritance Black River I Will Buy You The Thick-Walled Room
56. Satoshi Kon
Writer | Tôkyô goddofâzâzu
Satoshi Kon was born in 1963. He studied at the Musashino College of the Arts. He began his career as a Manga artist. He then moved to animation and worked as a background artist on many films (including Roujin Z (1991) by 'Katsuhiro Otomo'). Then, in 1995, he wrote an episode of the anthology film ...
Top 5 Paprika Millenium Actress Perfect Blue Tokyo Godfathers Paranoia Agent (TV-Series, 13 Episodes)
57. Yoshiaki Kawajiri
Animation_department | Jûbê ninpûchô
Graduated from Yokohama High School in 1968. After a few years working as animator at Mushi Production Animation, the company went bankrupt in 1972 and he joined Madhouse Studio. In the 70s he was promoted to animation director and finally debuted as film director in 1984's "SF New Century Lensman"...
Top 10 Ninja Scroll Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust Wicked City Cyber City Oedo 808 Highlander: The Search for Vengeance Demon City Shinjuku Goku Midnight Eye Goku II: Midnight Eye The Animatrix (Segment "Program") Lensman
58. Oliver Stone
Director | JFK
Oliver Stone has become known as a master of controversial subjects and a legendary film maker. His films are filled with a variety of film angles and styles, he pushes his actors to give Oscar-worthy performances, and despite his failures, has always returned to success.
William Oliver Stone was ...
Top 15 Natural Born Killers Platoon JFK U-Turn Wall Street Born On The Fourth of July Salvador Talk Radio Any Given Sunday Heaven & Earth Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps Alexander The Doors Nixon Savages
59. Richard Donner
Director | Superman
Richard Donner was born on April 24, 1930 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for Superman (1978), Ladyhawke (1985) and Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (1980). He was married to Lauren Shuler Donner. He died on July 5, 2021 in Los Angeles, ...
Top 13 Lethal Weapon Lethal Weapon 2 The Omen Lethal Weapon 3 The Goonies Superman Scrooged Ladyhawk Maverik Lethal Weapon 4 Assassins Conspiracy Theory 16 Blocks
60. Hideaki Anno
Writer | Shin Gojira
Hideaki Anno was born on May 22, 1960 in Ube, Japan. He is a writer and director, known for Shin Godzilla (2016), Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007) and The Wind Rises (2013). He has been married to Moyoco Anno since March 26, 2002.
Top 9 Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV-Series, 26 Episodes) Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone Neon Genesis Evangelion - The End Of Evangelion Neon Genesis Evangelion - Death and Rebirth Nadia - The Secret Of The Blue Water (TV-Series, 27 Episodes) Evangelion: 3.0+1.01 Thrice Upon a Time Gunbuster Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo
61. Shin'ichirô Watanabe
Writer | The Animatrix
Shin'ichirô Watanabe was born on May 24, 1965 in Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan. He is a writer and director, known for The Animatrix (2003), Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001) and Cowboy Bebop (1998).
Top 8 Cowboy Bebop - The Movie Cowboy Bebop (TV-Series, 26 Episodes) Samurai Champloo (TV-Series, 17 Episodes) Terror In Tokyo (TV-Series, 11 Episodes) Space Dandy (TV-Series, 1 Episode) Kids On A Slope (TV-Series, 6 Episodes) Blade Runner: Black Out 2022 (Short) The Animatrix (Segments "Kid's Story", "A Detective Story)
62. Sam Mendes
Producer | 1917
Samuel Alexander Mendes was born on August 1, 1965 in Reading, England, UK to parents James Peter Mendes, a retired university lecturer, and Valerie Helene Mendes, an author who writes children's books. Their marriage didn't last long, James divorced Sam's mother in 1970 when Sam was just 5-...
Top 6 American Beauty 1917 Skyfall Road To Perdition Revolutionary Road Jarhead Spectre
63. Brian De Palma
Director | Body Double
Brian De Palma is one of the well-known directors who spear-headed the new movement in Hollywood during the 1970s. He is known for his many films that go from violent pictures, to Hitchcock-like thrillers. Born on September 11, 1940, De Palma was born in Newark, New Jersey in an Italian-American ...
Top 18 Scarface The Untouchables Blow Out Body Double Mission: Impossible Casualties Of War Dressed To Kill Carrie Carlitos Way Sisters Raising Cain Phantom of the Paradise Snake Eyes The Fury The Bonfire of the Vanities Femme Fatale Obsession The Black Dahlia
64. Brad Bird
Writer | The Incredibles
Phillip Bradley "Brad" Bird is an American director, screenwriter, animator, producer and occasional voice actor, known for both animated and live-action films. Bird was born in Kalispell, Montana, the youngest of four children of Marjorie A. (née Cross) and Philip Cullen Bird. His father worked in...
Top 6 The Incredibles Ratatouille The Iron Giant Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protoco The Incredibles 2 Tomorrowland
65. Dario Argento
Writer | Profondo rosso
Dario Argento was born on September 7, 1940, in Rome, Italy, the first-born son of famed Italian producer Salvatore Argento and Brazilian fashion model Elda Luxardo. Argento recalls getting his ideas for filmmaking from his close-knit family from Italian folk tales told by his parents and other ...
Top 16 Suspiria Deep Red Phenomena The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Tenebre Opera Inferno Four Flies On Grey Velvet The Cat O'Nine Tails The Stendhal Syndrome Sleepless Jenifer (Masters Of Horror S1/E4) Two Evil Eyes (segment "The Black Cat") Trauma Mother Of Tears The Card Player
66. Mario Bava
Cinematographer | Ecologia del delitto
Italian director Mario Bava was born on July 31, 1914 in the coastal northern Italian town of Sanremo. His father, Eugenio Bava (1886-1966), was a cinematographer in the early days of the Italian film industry. Bava was trained as a painter, and when he eventually followed his father into film ...
Top 21 Black Sabath Blood and Black Lace Black Sunday The Girl Who Knew Too Much Whip And The Body Kill, Baby... Kill! Danger: Diabolik Erik The Conqueror Hercules in the Haunted World Planet Of The Vampires Rabid Dogs A Bay Of Blood Lisa And The Devil Knives of the Avenger Hatched For The Honeymoon 5 Dolls For An August Moon Four Times That Night Baron Blood Shock Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs The House of Exorcism
67. Lucio Fulci
Writer | Lo squartatore di New York
Lucio Fulci, born in Rome in 1927, remains as controversial in death as he was in life. A gifted craftsman with a sharp tongue and a wicked sense of dark humor, Fulci achieved some measure of notoriety for his gore epics of the late 1970s and early 1980s, but respect was long in coming.
Abandoning ...
Top 24 Lizard in a Woman's Skin Zombie New-York Ripper Don't Torture a Duckling The Beyond City of the Living Dead Perversion Story The Psychic Massacre Time The House by the Cemetery Black Cat Four Gunmen of the Apocalypse Contraband Aenigma Murderock They Died with Their Boots On Warriors of the Year 2072 Manhattan Baby Beatrice Cenci Zombi 3 Conquest The Devil's Honey The Eroticist Touch of Death (Voices from Beyond)
68. Ang Lee
Director | Wo hu cang long
Born in 1954 in Pingtung, Taiwan, Ang Lee has become one of today's greatest contemporary filmmakers. Ang graduated from the National Taiwan College of Arts in 1975 and then came to the U.S. to receive a B.F.A. Degree in Theatre/Theater Direction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, ...
Top 10 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Life Of Pi Eat Drink Man Woman The Ice Storm Brokeback Mountain Sense and Sensibility The Wedding Banquet Lust, Caution Pushing Hands Hulk (Gemini Man)
69. Kar-Wai Wong
Director | Yi dai zong shi
Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1956) is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylised, emotionally resonant work, including Ah fei zing zyun (1990), Dung che sai duk (1994), Chung Hing sam lam (1994), Do lok tin si (1995), Chun gwong ...
Top 10 In the Mood for Love My Blueberry Nights The Grandmster Chungking Express Ashes of Time Redux Days Of Being Wild 2046 Fallen Angels As Tears Go By Happy Together
70. Sammo Kam-Bo Hung
Stunts | Ip Man
Born in Hong Kong, Sammo Hung's acting career began while he was training in acrobatics, martial arts and dance as a child at the China Drama Academy, and he received acclaim for his performance with a troupe called "The Seven Little Fortunes." He made his feature film debut as an actor at the age ...
Top 18 Dragons Forever Pedicab Driver Warriors Two The Prodigal Son The Victim The Iron-Fisted Monk Encounter of the Spooky Kind Wheels on Meals Millionaire's Express Moon Warriors Mr. Nice Guy My Lucky Stars Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Stars Knockabout Heart of Dragon Winners and Sinners Enter The Fat Dragon Once Upon a Time in China and America
71. Woo-Ping Yuen
Stunts | Wo hu cang long
Woo-Ping Yuen was born on January 1, 1945 in Guangzhou, China. He is a director and actor, known for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Fearless (2006) and The Grandmaster (2013).
Top 18 Iron Monkey Drunken Master In the Line of Duty 4 Tiger Cage II Legend Of A Fighter The Tai-Chi Master Tiger Cage Magnificent Butcher Snake In The Eagles Shadow Wing Chun Master Z: Ip Man Legacy Tiger Cage III Dreadnaught Red Wolf Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny True Legend Dance of the Drunk Mantis Tai Chi Boxer
72. Yuen Chor
Writer | Xing xing yue liang tai yang: Shang
His father was a famed Cantonese film actor. After studying in the Department of Chemistry in Zhongsha University for 3 years, Chor joined the movie industry as a writer in 1956. His film debut was "The Soul Stealer" directed by Ng Wui. Soon he began working as an assistant director and finally ...
Top 25 Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan The Sentimental Swordsman Clans of Intrigue Killer Clans The Magic Blade Return of the Sentimental Swordsman Swordsman and Enchantress The Convict Killer Heroes Shed No Tears Death Duel Jade Tiger The Web of Death Legend of the Bat Sacred Knives of Vengeance (The Killer) The Proud Twins Perils of the Sentimental Swordsman Bat Without Wings Hidden Power of Dragon Sabre The Bastard The Lizard The Roving Swordsman Pursuit of Vengeance The Black Lizard The Enchantress The Emperor and His Brother (Descendant of the Sun) (Clan of Amazons) (Full Moon Scimitar) (Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre) (Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre II)
73. Ron Howard
Producer | Arrested Development
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard is one of this generation's most popular directors. From the critically acclaimed dramas A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Apollo 13 (1995) to the hit comedies Parenthood (1989) and Splash (1983), he has created some of Hollywood's most memorable films.
Howard ...
Top 18 Apollo 13 Rush Backdraft A Beautiful Mind Willow Edtv Cinderella Man Frost/Nixon The Da Vinci Code Ransom Parenthood Far And Away Splash Cocoon The Paper Night Shift Solo: A Star Wars Story In The Heart Of The Sea
74. Terrence Malick
Writer | Days of Heaven
Terrence Malick was born in Ottawa, Illinois. His family subsequently lived in Oklahoma and he went to school in Austin, Texas. He did his undergraduate work at Harvard, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in philosophy in 1965.
A member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, he attended Magdalen ...
Top 6 The Thin Red Line Badlands The Tree Of Life Days Of Heaven The New World To The Wonder (Knight of Cups) (Voyage of Time: Life's Journey) (Song to Song) (Radegund)
75. Paul Thomas Anderson
Director | Punch-Drunk Love
Anderson was born in 1970. He was one of the first of the "video store" generation of film-makers. His father was the first man on his block to own a V.C.R., and from a very early age Anderson had an infinite number of titles available to him. While film-makers like Spielberg cut their teeth making...
Top 6 Magnolia Boogie Nights There Will Be Blood Punch-Drunk Love The Master Phantom Thread
76. Darren Aronofsky
Writer | Pi
Darren Aronofsky was born February 12, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, Darren was always artistic: he loved classic movies and, as a teenager, he even spent time doing graffiti art. After high school, Darren went to Harvard University to study film (both live-action and animation). He won ...
Top 7 Requiem For A Dream Mother! Black Swan The Wrestler The Fountain Noah Pi (The Whale)
77. Tony Scott
Producer | Domino
Tony Scott was a British-born film director and producer. He was the youngest of three brothers, one of whom is fellow film director Ridley Scott. He was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England to parents Jean and Colonel Francis Percy Scott. As a result of his father's career in the British...
Top 15 True Romance The Last Boy Scout Days Of Thunder Top Gun Crimson Tide Revenge Beverly Hills Cop 2 Man On Fire Deja Vu Spy Game The Hunger Enemy of the State Unstoppable The Fan Domino
78. John McTiernan
Director | Die Hard
John McTiernan was born on January 8, 1951 in Albany, New York, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Die Hard (1988), Rollerball (2002) and Last Action Hero (1993). He has been married to Gail Sistrunk since 2012. He was previously married to Kate Harrington, Donna Dubrow and Carol Land.
Top 8 Die Hard Predator The Hunt For Red October Die Hard: With A Vengeance The 13th Warrior Last Action Hero The Thomas Crown Affair Basic
79. Robert Wise
Director | West Side Story
Robert Earl Wise was born on September 10, 1914 in Winchester, Indiana, the youngest of three sons of Olive R. (Longenecker) and Earl Waldo Wise, a meat packer. His parents were both of Pennsylvania Dutch (German) descent. At age nineteen, the avid moviegoer came into the film business through an ...
Top 14 West Side Story The Sand Pebbles The Day the Earth Stood Still Star Trek: The Motion Picture Somebody Up There Likes Me Born To Kill The Set-Up The Sound Of Music The Haunting Executive Suite The Body Snatcher The Curse of the Cat People The House on Telegraph Hill The Andromeda Strain (Odds Against Tomorrow) (I Want To Live)
80. Fred Zinnemann
Director | A Man for All Seasons
Initially grew up wanting to be a violinist, but while at the University of Vienna decided to study law. While doing so, he became increasingly interested in American film and decided that was what he wanted to do. He became involved in European filmaking for a short time before going to America to...
Top 10 High Noon From Here To Eternity A Man for All Seasons The Day of the Jackal Oklahoma! The Search The Men Act Of Violence The Sundowners Julia
81. Preston Sturges
Writer | Sullivan's Travels
Preston Sturges' own life is as unlikely as some of the plots of his best work. He was born into a wealthy family. As a boy he helped out on stage productions for his mother's friend, Isadora Duncan (the scarf that strangled her was made by his mother's company, Maison Desti). He served in the U.S....
Top 8 Sullivan's Travels The Lady Eve Unfaithfully Yours The Palm Beach Story Hail the Conquering Hero Christmas In July The Great McGinty The Great Moment (The Miracle of Morgan's Creek)
82. Richard Brooks
Writer | In Cold Blood
Richard Brooks was an Academy Award-winning film writer who also earned six Oscar nominations and achieved success as a film director and producer.
He was born Reuben Sax on May 18, 1912, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants. He graduated from West Philadelphia ...
Top 10 Cat On A Hot Tin Roof Blackboard Jungle Elmer Gantry In Cold Blood The Professionals The Catered Affair Deadline - U.S.A. Sweet Bird Of Youth Bite The Bullet The Last Time I Saw Paris
83. Blake Edwards
Writer | The Pink Panther Strikes Again
Blake Edwards' stepfather's father J. Gordon Edwards was a silent screen director, and his stepfather Jack McEdward was a stage director and movie production manager. Blake acted in a number films, beginning with Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942) and wrote a number of others, beginning with ...
Top 10 Days of Wine and Roses Breakfast at Tiffany's Experiment in Terror A Shot In The Dark The Pink Panther Blind Date The Pink Panther Strikes Again The Party The Great Race Operation Petticoat Revenge of the Pink Panther (Victor Victoria) (The Return of the Pink Panther) (S.O.B.) (10)
84. William A. Wellman
Director | A Star Is Born
William Wellman, the Oscar-winning screenwriter-director of the original A Star Is Born (1937), was called "Wild Bill" during his World War I service as an aviator, a nickname that persisted in Hollywood due to his larger-than-life personality and lifestyle.
A leap-year baby born in 1896 on the 29th...
Top 18 The Ox-Bow Incident A Star Is Born (1937) Yellow Sky The Public Enemy Beau Geste Wings Nothing Sacred Beggars of Life Heroes for Sale Wild Boys Of The Road Roxi Hart The High and the Mighty Battleground Midnight Mary Night Nurse Frisco Jenny Other Men's Women The Purchase Price
85. Cecil B. DeMille
Producer | The Ten Commandments
His parents Henry C. DeMille and Beatrice DeMille were playwrights. His father died when he was 12, and his mother supported the family by opening a school for girls and a theatrical company. Too young to enlist in the Spanish-American War, Cecil followed his brother William C. de Mille to the New ...
Top 14 The Ten Commandments (1956) Cleopatra (1934) The Sign of the Cross The Greatest Show on Earth Union Pacific Male And Female Unconquered Four Frightened People Why Change You Wife? The Plainsman The Affairs Of Anatol Don't Change Your Husband The Ten Commandments (1923) Samson and Delilah (Something to Think About) (For Better, for Worse) (Manslaughter) (North West Mounted Police)
86. Park Chan-wook
Director | Oldeuboi
Park Chan-wook was born on August 23, 1963 in Seoul, South Korea. He is a producer and director, known for Oldboy (2003), The Handmaiden (2016) and Decision to Leave (2022). He is married to Eun-hee Kim. They have one child.
Top 8 Oldboy J.S.A.: Joint Security Area The Handmaiden Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Stoker Thirst Sympathy for Lady Vengeance I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK
87. Jee-woon Kim
Director | Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom
Kim Ji-woon was born in Seoul, South Korea. He began his career as an actor before becoming a stage director with productions such as "Hot Sea" in 1994 and "Movie, Movie" in 1995. He then began scripting for films, his first work, 97's "Wonderful Seasons" won Best Screenplay award at Korea's ...
Top 9 A Bittersweet Life I Saw the Devil A Tale of Two Sisters The Good, the Bad, the Weird The Age of Shadows The Quiet Family Doomsday Book Inrang The Last Stand
88. Bong Joon Ho
Writer | Snowpiercer
Bong Joon-ho is a South Korean filmmaker. The recipient of three Academy Awards, his filmography is characterized by emphasis on social themes, genre-mixing, black humor, and sudden tone shifts. He first became known to audiences and achieved a cult following with his directorial debut film, the ...
Top 7 Parasite Memories Of Murder The Hoste Mother Snowpiercer Okja Barking Dogs Never Bite
89. Sam Raimi
Director | Spider-Man
Highly inventive U.S. film director/producer/writer/actor Sam Raimi first came to the attention of film fans with the savage, yet darkly humorous, low-budget horror film, The Evil Dead (1981). From his childhood, Raimi was a fan of the cinema and, before he was ten-years-old, he was out making ...
Top 11 The Evil Dead Evil Dead 2 Army Of Darkness Spiderman 2 Spiderman Drag Me To Hell The Quick and the Dead The Gift A Simple Plan Darkman Spiderman 3
90. Joe Dante
Director | Innerspace
Joe Dante is a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Art. After a stint as a film reviewer, he began his filmmaking apprenticeship in 1974 as trailer editor for Roger Corman's New World Pictures. He made his directorial debut in 1976 with Hollywood Boulevard (1976) (co-directed with Allan Arkush)...
Top 9 The Burbs Gremlins Matinee Innerspace The Howling Samll Soldiers Gremlins 2: The New Batch Piranha Homecoming (Masters Of Horror S1/E6) (Hollywood Boulevard)
91. John Landis
Director | The Blues Brothers
John Landis began his career in the mail room of 20th Century-Fox. A high-school dropout, 18-year-old Landis made his way to Yugoslavia to work as a production assistant on Kelly's Heroes (1970). Remaining in Europe, Landis found work as an actor, extra and stuntman in many of the Spanish/Italian "...
Top 14 An American Werewolf In London Trading Places Into The Night The Blues Brothers Animal House Oscar Innocent Blood Amazon Women on the Moon (Segments) Deer Woman (Masters Of Horror S1/E7) Coming to America Spies Like Us Three Amigos Beverly Hills Cop III The Kentucky Fried Movie
92. Raoul Walsh
Editor | The Birth of a Nation
Raoul Walsh's 52-year directorial career made him a Hollywood legend. Walsh was also an actor: He appeared in the first version of W. Somerset Maugham's "Rain" renamed Sadie Thompson (1928) opposite Gloria Swanson in the title role. He would have played the Cisco Kid in his own film In Old Arizona ...
Top 14 The Roaring Twenties White Heat The Thief Of Bagdad High Sierra Gentleman Jim Pursued They Died with Their Boots On Objective, Burma! Sadie Thompson The World in His Arms They Drive By Night The Strawberry Blonde The Enforcer The Revolt of Mamie Stover (Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N.) (The Big Trail) (The Tall Men) (Battle Cry) (The Naked and the Dead)
93. Vincente Minnelli
Director | An American in Paris
Born Lester Anthony Minnelli in Chicago on February 28 1903, his father Vincent was a musical conductor of the Minnelli Brothers' Tent Theater. Wanting to pursue an artistic career, Minelli worked in the costume department of the Chicago Theater, then on Broadway during the depression as a set ...
Top 13 The Bad and the Beautiful The Band Wagon Home From The Hill Lust for Life An American in Paris Meet Me in St. Louis Father of the Bride Two Weeks in Another Town The Pirate Gigi Brigadoon Undercurrent Father's Little Dividend (Some Came Running) (The Clock)
94. Robert Siodmak
Director | Nachts wenn der Teufel kam
Robert Siodmak (8 August 1900 - 10 March 1973) was a German-born, American film director. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of stylish, unpretentious Hollywood films noirs he made in the 1940s.
Siodmak (pronounced SEE-ODD-MACK) was born in Dresden, Germany, the son of ...
Top 13 The Killers The Spiral Staircase Criss Cross Nachts wenn der Teufel kam The Dark Mirror Phantom Lady The Suspect Cry Of The City Der Schatz der Azteken & Die Pyramide des Sonnengottes Der Schut Kampf um Rom 1&2
95. Edmund Goulding
Director | Grand Hotel
London-born Edmund Goulding was an actor/playwright/director on the London stage, and entered the British army when WWI broke out. Mustered out of the service because of wounds suffered in battle, he emigrated to the U.S. in 1921. He obtained assignments as a screenwriter in Hollywood, wrote a ...
Top 8 Nightmare Alley The Razor's Edge Grand Hotel The Dawn Patrol (1938) Dark Victory The Old Maid The Great Lie The Trespasser
96. John Sturges
Director | The Great Escape
John Sturges was an American film director, mostly remembered for his outstanding Western films. In 1992, Sturges was awarded a Golden Boot Award for his lifelong contribution to the Western genre.
Sturges was born in the village of Oak Park, Illinois, within the Chicago metropolitan area. By 1930, ...
Top 7 The Great Escape The Magnificent Seven Bad Day at Black Rock Last Train from Gun Hill Gunfight at the O.K. Corral Jeopardy The Hallelujah Trail
97. Nicholas Ray
Director | Rebel Without a Cause
Nicholas Ray was born Raymond Nicholas Kienzle in 1911, in small-town Galesville, Wisconsin, to Lena (Toppen) and Raymond Joseph Kienzle, a contractor and builder. He was of German and Norwegian descent. Ray's early experience with film came with some radio broadcasting in high school. He left the ...
Top 8 In A Lonly Place Bigger Than Life Rebel Without A Cause Party Girl Johnny Guitar The Lusty Men They Live By Night On Dangerous Ground
98. Takashi Miike
Director | Jûsan-nin no shikaku
Takashi Miike was born in the small town of Yao on the outskirts of Osaka, Japan. His main interest growing up was motorbikes, and for a while he harbored ambitions to race professionally. At the age of 18 he went to study at the film school in Yokohama founded by renowned director Shôhei Imamura, ...
Top 22 Ichi The Killer Visitor Q Fudoh: The New Generation Audition 13 Assassins Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai Blade of the Immortal Dead or Alive Graveyard of Honor Shinjuku Triad Society First Love Rainy Dog Ley Lines Gozu Imprint (Masters Of Horror S1/E13) The Happiness of the Katakuris One Missed Call Full Metal Yakuza City of Lost Souls Three... Extremes: Box Dead or Alive 2: Birds Dead or Alive: Final
99. Christopher Nolan
Writer | Tenet
Best known for his cerebral, often nonlinear, storytelling, acclaimed Academy Award winner writer/director/producer Sir Christopher Nolan CBE was born in London, England. Over the course of more than 25 years of filmmaking, Nolan has gone from low-budget independent films to working on some of the ...
Top 10 The Dark Knight Batman Begins Memento Inception The Prestige Insomnia Dunkirk Tenet Interstellar The Dark Knight Rises
100. Joss Whedon
Producer | Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Joss Whedon is the middle of five brothers - his younger brothers are Jed Whedon and Zack Whedon. Both his father, Tom Whedon and his grandfather, John Whedon were successful television writers. Joss' mother, Lee Stearns, was a history teacher and she also wrote novels as Lee Whedon. Whedon was ...
Top 6 The Avengers Avengers: Age of Ultron Serenity Buffy theVampire Slayer (TV-Series, 22 Episodes) Angel (TV-Series, 7 Episodes) Firefly (TV-Series, 3 Episodes)
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