Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture has been awarded annually since 1944 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Past winners

• 1944 - Henry King, The Song of Bernadette
• 1945 - Leo McCarey, Going My Way
• 1946 - Billy Wilder, The Lost Weekend
• 1947 - Frank Capra, It's a Wonderful Life
• 1948 - Elia Kazan, Gentleman's Agreement
• 1949 - John Huston, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
• 1950 - Robert Rossen, All the King's Men
• 1951 - Billy Wilder, Sunset Boulevard
• 1952 - Laslo Benedek , Death of a Salesman
• 1953 - Cecil B. DeMille, The Greatest Show on Earth
• 1954 - Fred Zinnemann, From Here to Eternity
• 1955 - Elia Kazan, On the Waterfront
• 1956 - Joshua Logan, Picnic
• 1957 - Elia Kazan, Baby Doll
• 1958 - David Lean, The Bridge on the River Kwai
• 1959 - Vincente Minnelli, Gigi
• 1960 - William Wyler, Ben-Hur
• 1961 - Jack Cardiff, Sons and Lovers
• 1962 - Stanley Kramer, Judgment at Nuremberg
• 1963 - David Lean, Lawrence of Arabia
• 1964 - Elia Kazan, America, America
• 1965 - George Cukor, My Fair Lady
• 1966 - David Lean, Doctor Zhivago
• 1967 - Fred Zinnemann, A Man for All Seasons
• 1968 - Mike Nichols, The Graduate
• 1969 - Paul Newman, Rachel, Rachel
• 1970 - Charles Jarrott , Anne of the Thousand Days
• 1971 - Arthur Hiller, Love Story
• 1972 - William Friedkin, The French Connection
• 1973 - Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather
• 1974 - William Friedkin, The Exorcist
• 1975 - Roman Polanski, Chinatown
• 1976 - Milos Forman, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
• 1977 - Sidney Lumet, Network
• 1978 - Herbert Ross, The Turning Point
• 1979 - Michael Cimino, The Deer Hunter
• 1980 - Francis Ford Coppola, Apocalypse Now
• 1981 - Robert Redford, Ordinary People
• 1982 - Warren Beatty, Reds
• 1983 - Richard Attenborough, Gandhi
• 1984 - Barbra Streisand, Yentl
• 1985 - Milos Forman, Amadeus
• 1986 - John Huston, Prizzi's Honor
• 1987 - Oliver Stone, Platoon
• 1988 - Bernardo Bertolucci, The Last Emperor
• 1989 - Clint Eastwood, Bird
• 1990 - Oliver Stone, Born on the Fourth of July
• 1991 - Kevin Costner, Dances with Wolves
• 1992 - Oliver Stone, JFK
• 1993 - Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven
• 1994 - Steven Spielberg, Schindler's List
• 1995 - Robert Zemeckis, Forrest Gump
• 1996 - Mel Gibson, Braveheart
• 1997 - Milos Forman, The People vs. Larry Flynt
• 1998 - James Cameron, Titanic
• 1999 - Steven Spielberg, Saving Private Ryan
• 2000 - Sam Mendes, American Beauty
• 2001 - Ang Lee, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• 2002 - Robert Altman, Gosford Park
• 2003 - Martin Scorsese, Gangs of New York
• 2004 - Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• 2005 - Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby