The Oldest Living Director Is a Woman — and Here Are the 24 Other Most Senior
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Lee Grant, the Oscar-winning actress (“Shampoo”) says she decided after her win to try to direct since good roles for older women were limited. It turns out that was about the halfway point of her 98 year (so far) life. What followed was a narrative feature (“Tell Me a Riddle”) and several documentaries, including “Down and Out in America,” which won an Oscar.
When we last ran our list of the oldest living feature film directors in late 2022, where Grant stood was a mystery. Since her breakout in William Wyler’s “The Detective Story” (1951), her first nomination, her year of birth was unclear. But recently she has clarified that that she was born in 1925. That makes her, to the best of our knowledge, older than any of her peers.
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Below are listed the 25 oldest. Since our most recent list, Norman Lear, Robert M. Young (both of who briefly were the oldest), and Norman Jewison among others have passed away. Also, several of the oldest-living directors that were overlooked previously are now listed.
The three oldest (apart from Grant, Roger Corman and Mel Brooks) remain vital figures, including regularly engaging in social media and in the case of Brooks recently accepting an honorary Oscar. Corman recently noted that Grant outranked him in age on a just-published similar list compiled by the British Film Institute. Their list however does not include seven names we’ve determined should be included (to give them credit, they had three not on our compilation).
The following is a list of every known living director who has helmed at least one feature-length narrative or documentary film. It was compiled from multiple sources and independent research with every effort made to be comprehensive. Apart from the BFI, IMDb also compiles something similar. Every effort has been made to make this the most complete list.
We found 26 other directors 90 or older, with two — Clint Eastwood (93) and Roman Polanski (90) still active. Among those older, Frederic Wiseman is still going strong, with his documentary “Menus-Plaisirs: Les Troisgros” winning awards recently from both the New York and Los Angeles Critics.
[Editor’s note: In instances where a photograph of the director could not be used, a production still or screenshot from one of their most renowned works appears.]
With editorial contributions from Wilson Chapman.
Lee Grant — 98
Born: October 31, 1925
Known for: “Tell Me a Riddle” (1980), “Down and Out in America” (1985)
Roger Corman — 97
Born: April 5, 1926
Known for: “The Little Shop of Horrors” (1960), “The Pit and the Pendulum” (1961), “Wild Angels” (1967)
Mel Brooks — 97
Born: June 27, 1926
Known for: “The Producers” (1968), “Blazing Saddles” (1974), “Young Frankenstein” (1974)
Margot Benacerraf — 97
Born: August 14, 1926
Known for: “Araya” (1959)
Everett Chambers — 97
Born: August 19, 1926
Known for: “Run Across the River” (1961), “The Lollipop Cover” (1965)
Alvin Rakoff — 97
Born: February 6, 1927
Known for: “Hoffman” (1969), “Say Hello to Yesterday” (1970)
Pere Portabella — 97
Born: February 11, 1927
Known for: Warsaw Bridge (1990), The Silence Before Bach (2007)
Allen Baron — 96
Born: April 14, 1927
Known for: “Blast of Silence” (1961), “Terror in the City” (1964)
Jerry Schatzberg — 96
Born: June 26, 1927
Known for: “Panic in Needle Park” (1971), “Street Smart” (1985)
Toshio Masuda — 96
Born: October 5, 1927
Known for: “The Rusty Knife” (1958), “Red Hankerchief” (1964), “Tora! Tora! Tora!” (1970)
Marcel Ophuels — 96
Born: November 21, 1927
Known for: “The Sorrow and the Pity” (1971), “Hotel Terminus” (1988)
Joseph McGrath — 95
Born: March 27, 1928
Known for: “The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom” (1968), “The Magic Christian” (1969)
James Ivory — 95
Born: June 7, 1928
Known for: “A Room With a View” (1986), “Howard’s End” (1992), “The Remains of the Day” (1993)
James B. Harris — 95
Born: August 3, 1928
Known for: “The Bedford Incident” (1965), “Cop” (1988)
Serge Bourguignon — 95
Born: September 3, 1928
Known for: “Sundays and Cybele” (1962), “The Reward” (1965)
Harold Becker — 95
Born: September 25, 1928
Known for: “The Onion Field” (1979), “Taps” (1981), “Sea of Love” (1989)
Susumu Hani — 95
Born: October 10, 1928
Known for: “Bad Boys” (1961), “Nanami – The Inferno of First Love” (1968)
Jeong Chang-wha — 95
Born: November 1, 1928
Known for: “A Sunny Field,” (1960) “Five Fingers of Death” (1972)
Alejandro Jodorowsky — 95
Born: February 17, 1929
Known for: “Fando and Lis” (1968), “El Topo” (1970), “The Holy Mountain” (1973)
Mark Rydell — 94
Born: March 23, 1929
Known for: “Cinderella Liberty” (1973), “The Rose” (1979), “On Golden Pond” (1981)
Daniel Haller — 94
Born: September 14, 1929
Known for: “The Dunwich Horror” (1970), “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” (1979)
Kazuo Ikehiro — 94
Born: October 25, 1929
Known for: “Zatoichi and the Sword of Gold” (1964), “Naked Ambition” (1970)
Eric Till — 94
Born: November 24, 1929
Known for: “Hot Millions” (1968), “Improper Channels” (1981)
Frederick Wiseman — 94
Born: January 1, 1930
Known for: “Titicut Follies” (1968), “In Jackson Heights” (2015), “Menus-Plaisirs: Les Troisgros” (2023)
Larry Peerce — 94
Born: April 19, 1930
Known for: “One Potato, Two Potato” (1964), Goodbye, Columbus” (1969), “Two-Minute Warning” (1976)
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