William Wyler "Mrs. Miniver". He is tied with Frank Capra and behind John Ford, who won four Oscars in this category. He is also only director in Academy history to direct three Best Picture-winning films (the three for which he won Best Director), and directed more Best Picture nominees than anyone else (thirteen). He has the distinction of having directed more actors to Oscar-nominated performances than any other director in history: thirty-six. Out of these nominees, fourteen went on to win Oscars, also a record. He received the fourth AFI Life Achievement Award in 1976. Among those who thanked him for directing
Oscar bait play and that neither of its stars had ever been nominated for an Academy Award before, whereas "The Wrestler" had several aspects often associated with Oscar bait: a sports movie with a character making a last-chance comeback, played by an actor making a comeback who physically transformed himself for the role. "The difference is the presumptive maleness," Harris reiterated. "[It] permanently exempts a director like Darren Aronofsky from charges of making Oscar bait, but consigns Ron Howard to that category for his whole career." "Critics of the phrase Oscar bait might tell you that making movies is already too difficult