Wyler, Kazan, Ashby, Scorsese – Who's Next?
Friday, November 17, 2023 at 2:00PM 
Barbra Streisand in FUNNY GIRL was the last performance William Wyler directed to an Oscar win.
As stated in the Scorsese at the Oscars write-up, the Killers of the Flower Moon auteur is one of only four directors to have helmed Academy Award-winning performances in all acting categories. The others are William Wyler, Elia Kazan, and Hal Ashby, with the former having the record to end all records. Across 32 years, Wyler directed fourteen victorious turns, including multiple champions in the four races. Such a feat won't likely be equaled, but that doesn't mean the quartet is bound to stay put forever. Some directors are on the cusp of joining the ranks of Wyler, Kazan, Ashby, and Scorsese…
First, let's look over each of these legendary filmmakers' slew of victorious performances, starting with the inimitable William Wyler.
WILLIAM WYLER
5 Best Actress, 2 Best Actor, 2 Best Supporting Actress, 5 Best Supporting Actor
1936) Best Supporting Actor – Walter Brennan, Come and Get It
1938) Best Actress – Bette Davis, Jezebel
1938) Best Supporting Actress – Fay Bainter, Jezebel
1940) Best Supporting Actor – Walter Brennan, The Westerner
1942) Best Actress – Greer Garson, Mrs. Miniver
1942) Best Supporting Actress – Teresa Wright, Mrs. Miniver
1946) Best Actor – Fredric March, The Best Years of Our Lives
1946) Best Supporting Actor – Harold Russell, The Best Years of Our Lives
1949) Best Actress – Olivia de Havilland, The Heiress
1953) Best Actress – Audrey Hepburn, Roman Holiday
1958) Best Supporting Actor – Burl Ives, The Big Country
1959) Best Actor – Charlton Heston, Ben-Hur
1959) Best Supporting Actor – Hugh Griffith, Ben-Hur
1968) Best Actress – Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl
By 1946, Wyler became the first director to have all four acting Oscars within one filmography, sealing the deal with his postwar masterpiece The Best Years of Our Lives. To this day, no one has ever taken more thespians to Actress and Supporting Actor statuettes, with the former feat being especially astounding. It further illuminates how the director came to the limelight at a time when the studios still put money on the so-called women's pictures and teenage boys and young men weren't the standardized target audience. Considering all these wins, it's worth pointing out that the only repeated name is Walter Brennan, the first-ever Supporting Actor champion. Indeed, the character actor's record-breaking three wins – he also got it in 1938 for Kentucky – led the Academy to disenfranchise the extras union, whose support was critical in getting him all that gold.
ELIA KAZAN
1 Best Actress, 1 Best Actor, 4 Best Supporting Actress, 3 Best Supporting Actor
1945) Best Supporting Actor – James Dunn, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
1947) Best Supporting Actress – Celeste Holm, Gentleman's Agreement
1951) Best Actress – Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire
1951) Best Supporting Actress – Kim Hunter, A Streetcar Named Desire
1951) Best Supporting Actor – Karl Malden, A Streetcar Named Desire
1952) Best Supporting Actor – Anthony Quinn, Viva Zapata!
1954) Best Actor – Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront
1954) Best Supporting Actress – Eva Marie Saint, On the Waterfront
1955) Best Supporting Actress – Jo Van Fleet, East of Eden
If William Wyler represents the height of the Hollywood Golden Age and the acting techniques associated with it, Elia Kazan signals the winds of change. His work in the New York theater scene helped modernize methodologies and bring about a new sense of realism. In 1947, the same year he directed the Best Picture-winner Gentleman's Agreement, Kazan co-founded the Actors Studio, instrumental in popularizing Lee Strasberg's famed "Method," adapted from Stanislavski's system. All that can be appreciated in the kinds of performances he directed on the way to Oscar glory, especially his collaborations with Brando.
HAL ASHBY
1 Best Actress, 1 Best Actor, 1 Best Supporting Actress, 1 Best Supporting Actor
1975) Best Supporting Actress – Lee Grant, Shampoo
1978) Best Actress – Jane Fonda, Coming Home
1978) Best Actor – Jon Voight, Coming Home
1979) Best Supporting Actor – Melvyn Douglas, Being There
Like Kazan before him, editor turned director Hal Ashby came to the industry's forefront at a time of systemic change, when Old Hollywood crumbled into dust from which the New Hollywood rose. Notably, he's the only person to have directed exactly one winner from each category and the quickest to achieve the prized four. From first win to last, it took Ashby only five years and three movies.
MARTIN SCORSESE
1 Best Actress, 2 Best Actor, 1 Best Supporting Actress, 1 Best Supporting Actor
1974) Best Actress – Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
1980) Best Actor – Robert De Niro, Raging Bull
1986) Best Actor – Paul Newman, The Color of Money
1990) Best Supporting Actor – Joe Pesci, Goodfellas
2004) Best Supporting Actress – Cate Blanchett, The Aviator
Continuing that Ashby musing, let's consider how long each director took to get to this honor, counting from the first acting win to the one that completed the quartet. They were eleven years for Wyler, ten for Kazan, and the aforementioned five for Ashby. Scorsese's journey there was much longer, over three decades. The stat shows how the Academy has evolved, spreading the wealth in minor ways that prevent certain names from monopolizing the awards every season. Of course, it's not just AMPAS but the entire industry and media apparatus surrounding it.
Still, a few cineastes are close to getting into this exclusive quartet of quartets. Here they are, those who've nabbed three acting categories already and are just waiting for that final one. To make things fair and transparent, I've only included living filmmakers. Furthermore, I excluded one name that, while still kicking, has retired – sorry, Norman Jewison. That leaves us with seven contenders, though two are a package deal.
JAMES L. BROOKS
1983) Best Actress - Shirley MacLaine, Terms of Endearment
1983) Best Supporting Actor - Jack Nicholson, Terms of Endearment
1997) Best Actress - Helen Hunt, As Good as It Gets
1997) Best Actor - Jack Nicholson, As Good as It Gets
CLINT EASTWOOD
1992) Best Supporting Actor – Gene Hackman, Unforgiven
2003) Best Actor – Sean Penn, Mystic River
2003) Best Supporting Actor – Tim Robbins, Mystic River
2004) Best Actress – Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
2004) Best Supporting Actor – Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby
DAVID O. RUSSELL
2010) Best Supporting Actress – Melissa Leo, The Fighter
2010) Best Supporting Actor – Christian Bale, The Fighter
2012) Best Actress – Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
WOODY ALLEN
1977) Best Actress – Diane Keaton, Annie Hall
1986) Best Supporting Actress – Dianne Wiest, Hannah and Her Sisters
1986) Best Supporting Actor – Michael Caine, Hannah and Her Sisters
1994) Best Supporting Actress – Dianne Wiest, Bullets Over Broadway
1995) Best Supporting Actress – Mira Sorvino, Mighty Aphrodite
2008) Best Supporting Actress – Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
2013) Best Actress – Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
STEVEN SPIELBERG
2012) Best Actor – Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
2015) Best Supporting Actor – Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
2021) Best Supporting Actress – Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
DANIEL KWAN & DANIEL SCHEINERT
2022) Best Actress – Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All At Once
2022) Best Supporting Actress – Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All At Once
2022) Best Supporting Actor – Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All At Once
Which of these directors do you think will join Wyler, Kazan, Ashby, and Scorsese?
Reader Comments (10)
James L. Brooks recently announced a new project but he's not been in Oscars' good graces for a while now, Woody Allen is obviously pretty majorly cancelled, and David O. Russell is a combination of those two factors.
Of the remaining three, I think Spielberg has the best chance - he rarely has a female lead but if he puts out something like The Color Purple or The Post and it hits in the right way he could get there, and he has the best combination of rate-of-output and prestige. Daniels are an x factor but I wouldn't imagine their next film captures awards attention in the same way, and Eastwood doesn't quite have his fastball anymore (and at 93 how many movies does he have left in him?).
I also wonder which directors who have 2/4 could leapfrog these people with the right project - Martin McDonagh only needs a Lead Actor and Supporting Actress win, both of which he was within earshot of last year. Campion needs a Lead and Supporting Actor, Barry Jenkins needs both Leads and Darren Aronofsky needs both Supportings.
Spielberg is the most obvious answer to me, he just needs to direct someone to win Best Actress, though surely he can't be far off retiring. Then there's Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, if they continue to co-direct, but they seem like the kind of duo who only get nominated once. But, realistically, I think the next person to do it is Darren Aronofsky, though that may take ten years or so.
Spielberg is an obvious choice though it's a shame Woody Allen has been vilified for something he never did. David O. Russell can fuck off. James L. Brooks I don't think can pull off another film as he's only made one good movie in his entire career and that is Broadcast News. The Daniels have a good shot at pulling it off.
None of the above.
Looking at the 2/4 crowd that might leapfrog up, I also think the following Directors could trickle a box at a time or (with the right project) get the two slots that they need:
-Joel and Ethan Coen (needs Actor & Supporting Actress),
-Damien Chazelle (needs Actor & Supporting Actress) and
-Barry Jenkins (needs Actor & Actress).
@thevoid99 Yes! Agree 100% about Spielberg and Woody.
The man made Jezebel, Miniver, Heiress and Funny Girl... Wyler is such a gift to actressexuals!
Thank you void for the Woody Allen comments. He could've had all 5 if he had won for directing himself in Annie Hall, because jeez -- Dreyfuss is atrocious in the Goodbye Girl.
Please, respect Woody Allen.
He directed 7 Oscar Winning performances, the first in 1977.
He should be THE FIRST in your list "Which of these directors do you think will join Wyler, Kazan, Ashby and Scorsese?"
Fabio Dantas Flappers -- The 3/4 directors are listed chronologically, judging by their last winner. It's not a scale of likelihood or greatness, merely the way I decided to organize the data.