Directors Guild of America Award For Outstanding Directing – Feature Film - Winners and Nominees - 1950s

1950s

• 1950: Joseph L. Mankiewicz† – All About Eve
  • John Huston – The Asphalt Jungle
  • Vincente Minnelli – Father's Little Dividend
  • Billy Wilder – Sunset Boulevard

• 1951: George Stevens† – A Place in the Sun
  • Laslo Benedek – Death of a Salesman
  • Michael Gordon – Cyrano De Bergerac
  • Elia Kazan – A Streetcar Named Desire
  • Henry King – David and Bathsheba
  • Mervyn LeRoy – Quo Vadis
  • Anatole Litvak – Decision Before Dawn
  • George Sidney – Showboat
  • Richard Thorpe – The Great Caruso
  • William Wyler – Detective Story

• 1952: John Ford† – The Quiet Man
  • George Cukor – Pat and Mike
  • Michael Curtiz – I'll See You in My Dreams
  • Cecil DeMille – The Greatest Show on Earth
  • Hugo Fregonese – My Six Convicts
  • Howard Hawks – The Big Sky
  • Elia Kazan – Viva Zapata!
  • Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen – Singin' in the Rain
  • Henry King – The Snows of Kilimanjaro
  • Akira Kurosawa – Rashomon
  • Albert Lewin – Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
  • Vincente Minnelli – The Bad and the Beautiful
  • George Sidney – Scaramouche
  • Richard Thorpe – Ivanhoe
  • Charles Vidor – Hans Christian Andersen

• 1953: Fred Zinnemann† – From Here to Eternity
  • Melvin Frank – Above and Beyond
  • Henry Koster – The Robe
  • Walter Lang – Call Me Madam
  • Joseph Mankiewicz – Julius Caesar
  • Daniel Mann – Come Back, Little Sheba
  • Jean Negulesco – Titanic
  • George Sidney – Young Bess

• 1954: Elia Kazan† – On the Waterfront
  • George Cukor – A Star Is Born
  • Edward Dmytryk – The Caine Mutiny
  • Stanley Donen – Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
  • Melvin Frank – Knock on Wood
  • Samuel Fuller – Hell and High Water
  • Henry King – King of the Khyber Rifles
  • Anthony Mann – The Glenn Miller Story
  • Jean Negulesco – Three Coins in the Fountain
  • Donald Siegel – Riot in Cell Block 11
  • Robert Wise – Executive Suite

• 1955: Delbert Mann† – Marty
  • Richard Brooks – The Blackboard Jungle
  • John Ford – The Long Gray Line
  • Henry Koster – A Man Called Peter
  • Daniel Mann – The Rose Tattoo
  • Mark Robson – The Bridges at Toko-Ri
  • Charles Vidor – Love Me or Leave Me
  • Billy Wilder – The Seven Year Itch

• 1956: George Stevens† – Giant
  • Michael Anderson – Around the World in 80 Days
  • John Huston – Moby Dick
  • Joshua Logan – Bus Stop
  • Daniel Mann – Teahouse of the August Moon
  • King Vidor – War and Peace
  • Robert Wise – Somebody Up There Likes Me
  • William Wyler – Friendly Persuasion

• 1957: David Lean† – The Bridge on the River Kwai
  • George Cukor – Les Girls
  • Stanley Donen – Funny Face
  • Jose Ferrer – The Great Man
  • John Huston – Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison
  • Elia Kazan – A Face in the Crowd
  • Stanley Kramer – The Pride and the Passion
  • Anthony Mann – Men in War
  • Leo McCarey – An Affair to Remember
  • Robert Mulligan – Fear Strikes Out
  • John Sturges – Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
  • Fred Zinnemann – A Hatful of Rain

• 1958: Vincente Minnelli† – Gigi
  • George Abbott – Damn Yankees
  • Richard Brooks – The Brothers Karamazov
  • Delmer Daves – Cowboy
  • Edward Dmytryk – The Young Lions
  • Richard Fleischer – The Vikings
  • Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo
  • Martin Ritt – The Long Hot Summer
  • George Seaton – Teacher's Pet
  • William Wyler – The Big Country

• 1959: William Wyler† – Ben-Hur
  • Charles Barton – The Shaggy Dog
  • Frank Capra – A Hole In The Head
  • Richard Fleischer – Compulsion
  • John Ford – The Horse Soldiers
  • Howard Hawks – Rio Bravo
  • Alfred Hitchcock – North By Northwest
  • Leo McCarey – Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!
  • Douglas Sirk – Imitation of Life