The Best Directors Ever - 1970s
by dziwnytenswiat | created - 24 Jan 2019 | updated - 4 days ago | PublicPoints from my "The Best Films Ever Made"-Lists. Vol. 1 = 100%, Vol. 2 = 50%, Vol. 3 = 33%, Vol. 4 = 25%, Vol. 5 = 20 %, Vol. 6 = 17%
101. Emil Loteanu
Director | Lautarii
Emil Loteanu was born on November 6, 1936 in Clocusna, Romania [now Moldova]. He was a director and writer, known for Lautarii (1972), Queen of the Gypsies (1976) and The Shooting Party (1978). He was married to Galina Belyaeva. He died on April 18, 2003 in Moscow, Russia.
509 points
102. Alain Tanner
Director | Charles mort ou vif (petite fresque historique)
Alain Tanner was born on December 6, 1929 in Geneva, Switzerland. He was a director and writer, known for Charles, Dead or Alive (1969), In the White City (1983) and Return from Africa (1973). He was married to Janine Giudici. He died on September 11, 2022 in Geneva, Canton de Genève, Switzerland.
507 points
103. Andrzej Zulawski
Writer | Possession
Born in Lvov, Ukraine; then he moved with his father Miroslaw Zulawski to Czechoslovakia and later to Poland. In the late 1950s, he studied cinema in France. In the 1960s, he was an assistant of the famous Polish film director Andrzej Wajda. His feature debut The Third Part of the Night (1971) was ...
492 points
104. John Schlesinger
Director | Midnight Cowboy
Oscar-winning director John Schlesinger, who was born in London, on February 16, 1926, was the eldest child in a solidly middle-class Jewish family. Berbard Schlesinger, his father, was a pediatrician, and his mother, Winifred, was a musician. He served in the Army in the Far East during World War ...
488 points
105. Krzysztof Zanussi
Director | Struktura krysztalu
Born in 1939 in Warsaw, Poland. Documentary and feature film director. Studied physics at Warsaw University and philosophy at Jagiellonian University in Cracow. Graduated from Lodz Film Academy in 1966. Amateur film maker. His school diploma film 'Death of a Provincial' (Smierc prowincjala (1968)) ...
449 points
106. Herbert Ross
Director | The Turning Point
Herbert Ross was born on May 13, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for The Turning Point (1977), The Goodbye Girl (1977) and The Secret of My Success (1987). He was married to Lee Radziwill and Nora Kaye. He died on October 9, 2001 in New York ...
449 points
107. Bertrand Tavernier
Director | Un dimanche à la campagne
Bertrand Tavernier was the son of Geneviève (Dumond) and René Tavernier, who was a publicist, writer, and president of the French PEN club. He was a law student that preferred write film criticisms. He also wrote a few books about American movies. Then his first film won a few awards in France and ...
444 points
108. 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...
440 points
109. Arturo Ripstein
Director | Principio y fin
Arturo Ripstein began his career as assistant director (unbilled) of Luis Buñuel in Ángel exterminador, El (1962). His father, Alfredo Ripstein, Jr. produced his first film, a western written by Gabriel García Márquez titled Tiempo de morir (1965). Ripstein filmography is very praised in Mexico and...
439 points
110. Joseph Losey
Director | The Servant
Belonging to an important family clan in Wisconsin, Joseph Losey studied philosophy but was always interested in theater and thus worked together with Bertolt Brecht. After directing some shorts for MGM, he made his first important film, The Boy with Green Hair (1948), for RKO. While he was filming ...
438 points
111. Mel Stuart
Director | Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Mel Stuart was born on September 2, 1928 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and director, known for Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), Running on the Sun: The Badwater 135 (2000) and The Making of the President 1960 (1963). He was married to Roberta Frances Silberman ...
434 points
112. Alan J. Pakula
Producer | Sophie's Choice
Alan J. Pakula was an American film director, writer and producer. He was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Best Director for All the President's Men (1976) and Best Adapted Screenplay for Sophie's Choice (1982).
He also directed Presumed Innocent (...
404 points
113. Juraj Herz
Director | Habermann
Juraj Herz was born on September 4, 1934 in Kezmarok, Czechoslovakia [now Slovakia]. He was a director and actor, known for Habermann (2010), The Cremator (1969) and Beauty and the Beast (1978). He was married to Therese Herz. He died on April 8, 2018 in Prague, Czech Republic.
402 points
114. Fred Schepisi
Director | Empire Falls
Fred began in advertising in Melbourne, Australia, working in an ad agency before joining the film production house, Cinesound. Two years later he founded the Film House directing both TV commercials and PR documentaries. His first foray into feature film making was The Priest, one chapter of the ...
400 points
115. Gleb Panfilov
Director | Tema
Gleb Panfilov was born on May 21, 1934 in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR [now Russia]. He was a director and writer, known for The Theme (1979), Vassa (1983) and Mat (1990). He was married to Inna Churikova. He died on August 26, 2023 in Russia.
400 points
116. Luigi Comencini
Writer | Voltati Eugenio
Luigi Comencini was born on June 8, 1916 in Salò, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Voltati Eugenio (1980), Everybody Go Home! (1960) and Bread, Love and Dreams (1953). He was married to Giulia Grifeo. He died on April 6, 2007 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.
399 points
117. 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 ...
399 points
118. Roy Andersson
Director | En kärlekshistoria
Roy Arne Lennart Andersson is a Swedish film director, best known for his distinctive style of absurdist humor and melancholic depictions of human life. His personal style is characterized by long takes, and stiff caricaturing of Swedish culture and grotesque. Over his career Andersson earned ...
398 points
119. Zoltán Fábri
Director | Húsz óra
He was born in 1917 and between the two World War he finished his primary and secondary school. After them he graduated in the College of Fine Arts, which helped him later to be a production-designer. He liked to learn and joined the Academy of Theatre and Film Arts. He bacame a director and actor....
398 points
120. Aleksey German
Writer | Khrustalyov, mashinu!
Aleksey German was born on July 20, 1938 in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, USSR [now St. Petersburg, Russia]. He was an actor and writer, known for Khrustalyov, My Car! (1998), Hard to Be a God (2013) and Moy drug Ivan Lapshin (1985). He was married to Svetlana Karmalita. He died on February 21, 2013 in ...
398 points
121. James Bridges
Writer | The China Syndrome
James Bridges was born on February 3, 1936 in Paris, Arkansas, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for The China Syndrome (1979), Perfect (1985) and The Paper Chase (1973). He died on June 6, 1993 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
398 points
122. Agnès Varda
Director | Cléo de 5 à 7
Agnès Varda was born on May 30, 1928 in Ixelles, Belgium. She was a director and writer, known for Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Vagabond (1985) and Faces Places (2017). She was married to Jacques Demy. She died on March 29, 2019 in Paris, France.
397 points
123. Víctor Erice
Director | Cerrar los ojos
Víctor Erice was born on June 30, 1940 in Karrantza, Vizcaya, País Vasco, Spain. He is a director and writer, known for Close Your Eyes (2023), El Sur (1983) and The Spirit of the Beehive (1973).
397 points
124. Sergey Bondarchuk
Actor | Voyna i mir
Sergei Bondarchuk was one of the most important Russian filmmakers, best known for directing an Academy Award-winning film epic War and Peace (1965), based on the book by Lev Tolstoy, in which he also starred as Pierre Bezukhov.
He was born Sergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk on September, 25, 1920, in the ...
397 points
125. King Hu
Director | Xia nü
He was educated in art school in Beijing, left China for Hong Kong in 1949 and entered the film industry in 1951 in the art department. In the 1950s he began acting and in 1958 joined Shaw Brothers as an actor and writer, and later a director. In 1967 he left to start his own studio in Taiwan, ...
396 points
126. Stanislav Rostotskiy
Director | Belyy Bim Chernoe ukho
Stanislav Rostotsky was a renown Russian film director whose two films, The Dawns Here Are Quiet (1972) and White Bim Black Ear (1977) were nominated for Oscar and won other international awards.
He was born Stanislav Iosifovich Rostotsky on April 21, 1922, in Rybinsk, north of Moscow, Russia. His ...
396 points
127. Dusan Hanák
Director | Ja milujem, ty milujes
Dusan Hanák was born on April 24, 1938 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia [now Slovakia]. He is a director and writer, known for I Love, You Love (1989), Pictures of the Old World (1972) and Ruzové sny (1977).
396 points
128. Akio Jissôji
Director | Shirubâ Kamen
Akio Jissôji was born on March 29, 1937 in Tokyo, Japan. He was a director and writer, known for Silver Mask (2006), This Transient Life (1970) and Shirubâ kamen (1971). He was married to Chisako Hara. He died on November 29, 2006 in Tokyo, Japan.
395 points
129. 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...
394 points
130. Kinji Fukasaku
Director | Batoru rowaiaru
Kinji Fukasaku was born on July 3, 1930 in Mito, Japan. He was a director and writer, known for Battle Royale (2000), Fall Guy (1982) and Crest of Betrayal (1994). He was married to Sanae Nakahara. He died on January 12, 2003 in Tokyo, Japan.
394 points
131. Terry Jones
Writer | The Meaning of Life
Terry Jones was born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, the son of Dilys Louisa (Newnes), a homemaker, and Alick George Parry Jones, a bank clerk. His older brother is production designer Nigel Jones. His grandparents were involved in the entertainment business, having managed the local Amateur Operatic ...
393 points
132. Egon Günther
Director | Wenn du groß bist, lieber Adam
Egon Günther was born on March 30, 1927 in Schneeberg, Germany. He was a director and writer, known for Wenn du groß bist, lieber Adam (1990), Morenga (1985) and Lotte in Weimar (1975). He was married to Franziska and Helga Schütz. He died on August 31, 2017 in Potsdam, Germany.
393 points
133. Shôhei Imamura
Director | Kuroi ame
Shohei Imamura's films dig beneath the surface of Japanese society to reveal a wellspring of sensual, often irrational, energy that lies beneath. Along with his colleagues Nagisa Ôshima and Masahiro Shinoda, Imamura began his serious directorial career as a member of the New Wave movement in Japan....
392 points
134. Barbara Kopple
Producer | Harlan County U.S.A.
Barbara Kopple was born on July 30, 1946 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a producer and director, known for Harlan County U.S.A. (1976), American Dream (1990) and Shut Up & Sing (2006).
392 points
135. István Szabó
Director | Sunshine
István Szabó was the first director to bring home to Hungary the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The movie receiving the award was his 1981 film Mephisto. In January 2006, it became public that he had been an agent of the III/III department, a former communist agency of interior intelligence....
391 points
136. Otar Iosseliani
Director | La chasse aux papillons
Otar Iosseliani was born on February 2, 1934 in Tiflis, Transcaucasian SFSR, USSR [now Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia]. He was a director and writer, known for La chasse aux papillons (1992), Winter Song (2015) and Et la lumière fut (1989). He died on December 17, 2023 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
391 points
137. Mike Hodges
Director | Flash Gordon
Mike Hodges was born on July 29, 1932 in Bristol, England, UK. He was a director and producer, known for Flash Gordon (1980), Get Carter (1971) and Black Rainbow (1989). He was married to Carol Laws and Jean Alexandrov. He died on December 17, 2022 in Dorset, England, UK.
389 points
138. Ulu Grosbard
Director | Georgia
Born in Belgium, Ulu Grosbard was educated at the University of Chicago, then attended the Yale Drama School. Becoming a stage director in 1957, Grosbard directed many successful Broadway shows. In the early '60s Grosbard journeyed to Hollywood, where he was hired as an assistant director on several...
389 points
139. Hans W. Geissendörfer
Writer | Lindenstraße
Director. Writer. Producer. Has studied germanistics, theatre, psychology and african languages between 1962 and 1967. Has travelled Africa and Asia. In 1971 co-founder of the german Filmverlag der Autoren. 1983 he founded his own production company. Geissendoerfer is producer and partly director ...
389 points
140. Toshio Matsumoto
Director | Dogura magura
Matsumoto was born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan and graduated from Tokyo University in 1955. His first short was Ginrin, which he made in 1955. His most famous film is Funeral Parade of Roses, featuring a transvestite trying to move up in the world of Tokyo Hostess clubs. Matsumoto published ...
389 points
141. John G. Avildsen
Director | Rocky
John G. Avildsen was born on December 21, 1935 in Oak Park, Illinois, USA. He was a director and editor, known for Rocky (1976), The Karate Kid Part III (1989) and Rocky V (1990). He was married to Tracy Brooks Swope and Marie Olga Maturevich. He died on June 16, 2017 in Los Angeles, California, ...
373 points
142. Alain Corneau
Writer | Tous les matins du monde
Alain Corneau was a Cesar Award-winning French writer-director best known for his multiple collaborations with French cinema superstars Yves Montand, Simone Signoret and Gérard Depardieu. Born on August 7, 1943 in Meung-sur-Loire, Loiret, Corneay trained as a musician but switched his interest to ...
373 points
143. Abbas Kiarostami
Writer | Copie conforme
Abbas Kiarostami was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1940. He graduated from university with a degree in fine arts before starting work as a graphic designer. He then joined the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, where he started a film section, and this started his career ...
372 points
144. Peter Yates
Director | Krull
Having seen Robbery (1967) and Bullitt (1968), it comes as no surprise that Peter Yates started out as a professional racing car driver and team manager - albeit briefly - before turning his attention to film. The son of a military man, he was educated at Charterhouse School and trained at RADA, ...
372 points
145. Ken Loach
Director | I, Daniel Blake
Unlike virtually all his contemporaries, Ken Loach has never succumbed to the siren call of Hollywood, and it's virtually impossible to imagine his particular brand of British socialist realism translating well to that context.
After studying law at St. Peter's College, Oxford, he branched out into ...
371 points
146. Jerry Schatzberg
Director | Scarecrow
Jerry Schatzberg was born on June 26, 1927 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He is a director and writer, known for Scarecrow (1973), The Panic in Needle Park (1971) and Sweet Revenge (1976).
371 points
147. Valerio Zurlini
Writer | Cronaca familiare
Valerio Zurlini was born on March 19, 1926. During his law studies in Rome, he started working in the theatre. In 1943, he joined the Italian resistance. Zurlini became a member of the Italian Communist Party. He filmed short documentaries in the immediate post-war period and in 1954 directed his ...
370 points
148. Robert Mulligan
Director | To Kill a Mockingbird
Robert Mulligan was born on August 23, 1925 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Summer of '42 (1971) and The Other (1972). He was married to Sandy Levy and Jane Sutherland. He died on December 20, 2008 in Lyme, ...
369 points
149. Paul Schrader
Writer | First Reformed
Although his name is often linked to that of the "movie brat" generation (Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Brian De Palma, etc.) Paul Schrader's background couldn't have been more different than theirs. His strict Calvinist parents refused to allow him to see a...
369 points
150. Robert Bresson
Writer | Au hasard Balthazar
Robert Bresson trained as a painter before moving into films as a screenwriter, making a short film (atypically a comedy), Public Affairs (1934) in 1934. After spending more than a year as a German POW during World War II, he made his debut with Angels of Sin (1943) in 1943. His next film, The ...
368 points
151. Mel Brooks
Actor | Spaceballs
Mel Brooks was born Melvin Kaminsky on June 28, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York. He served in WWII, and afterwards got a job playing the drums at nightclubs in the Catskills. Brooks eventually started a comedy act and also worked in radio and as Master Entertainer at Grossinger's Resort before going to ...
333 points
152. Nicolas Roeg
Director | Don't Look Now
When he made his directorial debut in 1970, Nicolas Roeg was already a 23-year veteran of the British film industry, starting out in 1947 as an editing apprentice and working his way up to cinematographer twelve years later. He first came to attention as part of the second unit on David Lean's ...
331 points
153. Dino Risi
Director | Il sorpasso
Dino Risi became a movie director by chance. In 1940 he met Alberto Lattuada at a friend's boutique. Lattuada told him they needed an assistant director for the movie Piccolo mondo antico (1941). Risi accepted just for fun, not for work. Later, he became a psychiatrist and wrote some articles for a...
328 points
154. Claude Jutra
Director | Mon oncle Antoine
He finished his medical studies at the age of 22 to please his parents, but he was already developing an attraction to the visual arts and to cinema. As a teenager, he had made two shorts with Michel Brault. In 1953, he wrote a television script. He joined the Office national du film du Canada (...
328 points
155. Olle Hellbom
Director | Bröderna Lejonhjärta
Olle Hellbom was born on October 8, 1925 in Stockholm, Sweden. He was a director and producer, known for The Brothers Lionheart (1977), Tjorven, Batsman, and Moses (1964) and Raggare! (1959). He died on June 5, 1982 in Stockholm, Sweden.
328 points
156. Miklós Jancsó
Director | Csillagosok, katonák
Miklos Jancsó was born in 1921 in Vac, Hungary. His mother Angela Poparada was Romanian and his father Sandor Jancsó Hungarian. Jancsó received a degree in Law from the University of Cluj-Napoca in 1944. After fighting in WWII and a brief period as a POW, he chose to join the Film and Theater ...
306 points
157. Georgiy Daneliya
Director | Kin-dza-dza!
Georgi Daneliya was born on August 25, 1930 in Tbilisi, Georgia. Since 1939 the family lived in Moscow, where Danelia's father was the chief engineer for the Moscow Underground Metro System. Daneliya's father became a decorated WWII General, specializing in construction of underground bunkers for ...
305 points
158. Michael Cacoyannis
Director | Alexis Zorbas
Michael Cacoyannis was born on June 11, 1922 in Limassol, Cyprus. He was a director and writer, known for Zorba the Greek (1964), Electra (1962) and Eroika (1960). He died on July 25, 2011 in Athens, Greece.
304 points
159. Bahram Beyzaie
Writer | Sagkoshi
Bahram Beizai started skipping school from around the age of 17 in order to go to movies which were becoming popular in Iran at a rapid pace. This only fed his hunger to learn more about cinema and the visual arts. By 1961 he had already spent a lot of time studying-and researching- ancient persian...
300 points
160. Roland Klick
Director | Supermarkt
Roland Klick was born on July 4, 1939 in Hof, Bavaria, Germany. He is a director and writer, known for Supermarket (1974), Deadlock (1970) and Bübchen (1968). He was previously married to Marlis Klick.
264 points
161. Yves Boisset
Director | Dupont Lajoie
Yves Boisset was born on March 14, 1939 in Paris, France. He is a director and writer, known for The Common Man (1975), Le juge Fayard dit Le Shériff (1977) and The French Conspiracy (1972).
262 points
162. 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 ...
261 points
163. Alain Resnais
Director | Hiroshima mon amour
Alain Resnais was born on June 3, 1922 in Vannes, Morbihan, France. He was a director and editor, known for Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), Same Old Song (1997) and My American Uncle (1980). He was married to Sabine Azéma and Florence Malraux. He died on March 1, 2014 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, ...
258 points
164. Charles Burnett
Director | Killer of Sheep
Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi on April 13, 1944, Charles Burnett moved with his family to the Watts area of Los Angeles at an early age. He describes the community of having a robust mythical connection with the South as a result of having so many Southern transplants, an atmosphere which has ...
258 points
165. Alan Parker
Director | Evita
The son of Elsie Ellen, a dressmaker, and William Leslie Parker, a house painter, Alan Parker was a London advertising copywriter in the 1960s and early 1970s with Collett Dickenson Pearce (CDP), an ad agency. He formed a partnership with David Puttnam as his producer (Puttnam had been a ...
258 points
166. Paul Newman
Actor | The Hustler
Screen legend, superstar, and the man with the most famous blue eyes in movie history, Paul Leonard Newman was born on January 26, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, the second son of Arthur Sigmund Newman (died 1950) and Theresa Fetsko (died 1982). His elder brother was Arthur S. Newman Jr., named for ...
256 points
167. Toshiya Fujita
Director | Kaerazaru hibi
Toshiya Fujita was born on January 16, 1932 in Pyongyang, Korea. Following graduation from Tokyo University Fujita joined the Nikkatsu studio in 1955. Toshiya initially worked at Nikkatsu as a publicist, screenwriter, and assistant director prior to directing his first film in 1967. His debut ...
256 points
168. Ariane Mnouchkine
Director | Molière
Ariane Mnouchkine was born on March 3, 1939 in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France. She is a director and writer, known for Molière (1978), That Man from Rio (1964) and 1789 (1974).
255 points
169. Héctor Olivera
Director | No habrá más penas ni olvido
Héctor Olivera was born on April 5, 1931 in Olivos, Vicente López, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a producer and director, known for Funny Dirty Little War (1983), Rebellion in Patagonia (1974) and Ay Juancito (2004).
255 points
170. Vladimir Rogovoy
Director | Gorozhane
Vladimir Rogovoy was born on February 5, 1923 in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Ukraine]. He was a director and producer, known for Gorozhane (1976), U matrosov net voprosov (1981) and Zhenatyy kholostyak (1982). He died on February 20, 1983 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].
255 points
171. Mike Leigh
Director | Secrets & Lies
Mike Leigh is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design and the London School of Film Technique. He began his career as a theatre ...
254 points
172. Nagisa Ôshima
Director | Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
Nagisa Oshima's career extends from the initiation of the "Nuberu bagu" (New Wave) movement in Japanese cinema in the late 1950s and early 1960s, to the contemporary use of cinema and television to express paradoxes in modern society. After an early involvement with the student protest movement in ...
254 points
173. Yôji Yamada
Writer | Tasogare Seibei
Yamada Yoji graduated Tokyo University in 1954, the year he joined Shochiku as an assistant director. In 1969, he launched the popular "Tora-san" series, the world's longest theatrical film series. "The Twilight Samurai" (The Twilight Samurai (2002)) marks his 77th film as well as his 41th year as ...
254 points
174. Kazimierz Kutz
Director | Paciorki jednego rózanca
Born in 1929 in Szopienice, Upper Silesia, to a railway worker's family. After graduating from secondary school he enrolled in the Directing Faculty at Theatre and Film School, graduating in 1954.
In 1959, he debuted with a film entitled Krzyz Walecznych (1959). He has gone on to direct over 20 ...
254 points
175. Kei Kumai
Writer | Umi to dokuyaku
Kei Kumai was born on June 1, 1929 in Nagano, Japan. He was a writer and director, known for The Sea and Poison (1986), The Long Darkness (1972) and Sandakan No. 8 (1974). He died on May 23, 2007 in Tokyo, Japan.
254 points
176. George Schaefer
Director | CBS Playhouse
George Schaefer was born on December 16, 1920 in Wallingford, Connecticut, USA. He was a director and producer, known for CBS Playhouse (1967), Macbeth (1960) and Beverly Hills Cop III (1994). He was married to Mildred Trares. He died on September 10, 1997 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
254 points
177. Frantisek Vlácil
Director | Marketa Lazarová
Frantisek Vlácil was born on February 19, 1924 in Cesky Tesin, Moravian-Silesian, Czech Republic. He was a director and writer, known for Marketa Lazarová (1967), The Valley of the Bees (1968) and Adelheid (1969). He died on January 28, 1999 in Prague, Czech Republic.
253 points
178. 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 ...
253 points
179. Peter Brook
Director | Lord of the Flies
Born in London, Peter was educated at Westminster, and Magdalen College Oxford. He has staged numerous productions for Birmingham Rep, Stratford Upon Avon and Broadway. In 1962 he was appointed Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, a position he held for 2 decades. His most famous stage ...
253 points
180. Kira Muratova
Director | Nastroyshchik
Kira Muratova was born on November 5, 1934 in Soroca, Romania [now Moldova]. She was a director and writer, known for Nastroyshchik (2004), Vtorostepennye lyudi (2001) and The Asthenic Syndrome (1989). She was married to Aleksandr Muratov and Yevgeni Golubenko. She died on June 6, 2018 in Odessa, ...
253 points
181. Joseph Anthony
Director | The Rainmaker
Joseph Anthony made his Broadway debut in 1937, and in the years following he was the partner of dancer Agnes de Mille, was employed as a set designer on films and dabbled as a film actor. His main interest, however, was the stage, and he became one of Broadway's most accomplished directors. In ...
253 points
182. Jacques Boigelot
Director | Paix sur les champs
Jacques Boigelot was born on August 23, 1929 in Uccle, Brussels, Belgium. He was a director and writer, known for Peace Over the Fields (1970), La boîte à surprise (1951) and Un pays noir (1953). He died on March 4, 2023 in Watermael-Boitsfort, Belgium.
253 points
183. Bob Rafelson
Producer | Five Easy Pieces
Bob Rafelson was an American film director, writer and producer. He is regarded as one of the founders of the New Hollywood movement in the 1970s. Among his best-known films are Five Easy Pieces (1970), The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981). He was also one of...
252 points
184. Agnieszka Holland
Director | Pokot
Having graduated from FAMU in Prague film (1971), Agnieszka Holland returned to Poland and began her film career working with Krzysztof Zanussi as assistant director, and Andrzej Wajda as her mentor. Her first feature film was PROVINCIAL ACTORS (1978), one of the flagship pictures of the "cinema of...
252 points
185. Otakar Vávra
Writer | Kladivo na carodejnice
Otakar Vávra was born on February 28, 1911 in Hradec Kralove, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]. He was a writer and director, known for Witchhammer (1970), Romance pro kridlovku (1967) and Dny zrady (1973). He died on September 15, 2011 in Prague, Czech Republic.
252 points
186. Marco Vicario
Writer | 7 uomini d'oro
Marco Vicario was born on September 20, 1925 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was an actor and writer, known for 7 uomini d'oro (1965), Il grande colpo dei 7 uomini d'oro (1966) and Le ore nude (1964). He was married to Rossana Podestà and Patrizia Castaldi. He died on September 10, 2020 in Rome, Lazio, ...
252 points
187. 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 ...
251 points
188. Philip Kaufman
Writer | The Right Stuff
Director and screenwriter Philip Kaufman was born in Chicago, Illinois. He attended the University of Chicago and later Harvard Law School. He won the Prix de la Nouvelle Critique at Cannes in 1965 for his film Goldstein (1964). He was the screenwriter for The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) and was to ...
251 points
189. Shûji Terayama
Writer | Saraba hakobune
Terayama Shuji was born the only son of Terayama Hachiro and Terayama Hatsu in Hirosaki City, Aomori on December 10th, 1935; but his birth and name were officially registered on January 10th, 1936. His father, an officer in the "thought police", leaves for the Pacific War in early 1941. He dies in ...
251 points
190. Jerzy Kawalerowicz
Director | Pociag
Jerzy Kawalerowicz was born on January 19, 1922 in Gwozdziec, Stanislawowskie, Poland [now Hvizdets, Ukraine]. He was a director and writer, known for Night Train (1959), Mother Joan of the Angels (1961) and Death of a President (1977). He was married to Lucyna Winnicka, Maria Güntner and ...
251 points
191. Jacques Rivette
Director | La Belle Noiseuse
Although François Truffaut has written that the New Wave began "thanks to Rivette," the films of this masterful French director are not well known. Rivette, like his "Cahiers du Cinéma" colleagues Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol and Éric Rohmer, did graduate to filmmaking but, like Rohmer...
251 points
192. Claudia Weill
Director | Girlfriends
Claudia Weill was born on December 20, 1946 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a director and actress, known for Girlfriends (1978), ABC Afterschool Specials (1972) and Girls (2012). She has been married to Walter Simon Teller since July 14, 1985. They have two children.
250 points
193. Lev Kulidzhanov
Director | Kogda derevya byli bolshimi
Lev Kulidzhanov was born on March 19, 1924 in Tiflis, Georgian SSR, TSFSR, USSR [now Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia]. He was a director and writer, known for When the Trees Were Tall (1962), Nezabudki (1994) and Otchiy dom (1959). He died on February 18, 2002 in Moscow, Russia.
250 points
194. Joseph Sargent
Director | Jaws: The Revenge
Joseph Sargent was born on July 22, 1925 in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. He was a director and actor, known for Jaws: The Revenge (1987), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) and Nightmares (1983). He was married to Carolyn Nelson and Mary Carver. He died on December 22, 2014 in Malibu, ...
250 points
195. Reinhard Hauff
Director | Blauäugig
Director. Writer. Producer. Concentrated early on TV work and has done numerous TV shows and entertainment broadcasts. Worked as an assistant director for Rolf von Sydow, Heinz Liesendahl and Michael Pfleghar. In 1973 he founded the production company Bioskop Film together with Volker Schlöndorff ...
250 points
196. Peter Watkins
Director | The War Game
Peter Watkins began his career in advertising as an assistant producer and turned to amateur filmmaking in the late 1950s. In the mid-'60s he was commissioned by BBC-TV to make two feature-length docudramas incorporating a quasi-newsreel style and nonprofessional actors. The second of these, The ...
250 points
197. Damiano Damiani
Writer | Il giorno della civetta
Damiano Damiani was born on July 23, 1922 in Pasiano di Pordenone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Mafia (1968), The Reunion (1963) and Confessions of a Police Captain (1971). He died on March 7, 2013 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.
237 points
198. 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 ...
236 points
199. Richard Attenborough
Actor | Jurassic Park
Richard Attenborough, Baron Attenborough of Richmond-upon-Thames, was born in Cambridge, England, the son of Mary (née Clegg), a founding member of the Marriage Guidance Council, and Frederick Levi Attenborough, a scholar and academic administrator who was a don at Emmanuel College and wrote a ...
235 points
200. Margarethe von Trotta
Director | Hannah Arendt
Margarethe von Trotta was born in Berlin in 1942. In the 1960s she moved to Paris where she worked for film collectives, collaborating on scripts and co-directing short films. She also pursued an acclaimed acting career, starring in films by well known German directors such as Rainer Werner ...
234 points
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