(* indicates winners)
Oldest Nominees
[from date of birth to date of nominations announcement]
79 years, 184 days -- John Huston, Prizzi's Honor (1985)
[August 5, 1906 -- February 5, 1986]
78 years, 193 days -- Charles Crichton, A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
[August 6, 1910 -- February 15, 1989]
76 years, 357 days -- Robert Altman, Gosford Park (2001)
[February 20, 1925 -- February 12, 2002]
76 years, 318 days -- David Lean, A Passage to India (1984)
[March 25, 1908 -- February 6, 1985]
75 years, 319 days -- Akira Kurosawa, Ran (1985)
[March 23, 1910 -- February 5, 1986]
Oldest Winners
[from date of birth to date of awards ceremony]
69 years, 217 days -- *Roman Polanski, The Pianist (2002)
[August 18, 1933 -- March 23, 2003]
65 years, 272 days -- *George Cukor, My Fair Lady (1964)
[July 7, 1899 -- April 5, 1965]
62 years, 105 days -- *Carol Reed, Oliver! (1968)
[December 30, 1906 -- April 14, 1969]
59 years, 346 days -- *Fred Zinnemann, A Man for All Seasons (1966)
[April 29, 1907 -- April 10, 1967]
59 years, 225 days -- *Richard Attenborough, Gandhi (1982)
[August 29, 1923 -- April 11, 1983]
58 years, 46 days -- *John Ford, The Quiet Man (1952)
[February 1, 1895 -- March 19, 1953]
Youngest Nominees
[from date of birth to date of nominations announcement]
24 years, 44 days -- John Singleton, Boyz N the Hood (1991)
[January 6, 1968 -- February 19, 1992]
26 years, 279 days -- Orson Welles, Citizen Kane (1941)
[May 6, 1915 -- February 9, 1942]
29 years, 66 days -- Kenneth Branagh, Henry V (1989)
[December 10, 1960 -- February 14, 1990]
29 years, 113 days -- Claude Lelouch, A Man and a Woman (1966)
[October 30, 1937 -- February 20, 1967]
29 years, 196 days -- M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense (1999)
[August 3, 1970 -- February 15, 2000]
30 years, 36 days -- George Lucas, American Graffiti (1973)
[January 14, 1944 -- February 19, 1974]
Youngest Winners
[from date of birth to date of awards ceremony]
32 years, 260 days -- *Norman Taurog, Skippy (1930/31)
[February 23, 1899 -- November 10, 1931]
33 years, 228 days -- *Lewis Milestone, Two Arabian Knights (1927/28)
[September 30, 1895 -- May 16, 1929]
34 years, 238 days -- *Sam Mendes, American Beauty (1999)
[August 1, 1965 -- March 26, 2000]
35 years, 313 days -- *Tony Richardson, Tom Jones (1963)
[June 5, 1928 -- April 13, 1964]
36 years, 1 day -- *Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather Part II (1974)
[April 7, 1939 -- April 8, 1975]