Movie, TV & Stage Directors, BRO-DEX
invisible" to the audience in plays, shows, and movies (Alfred Hitchcock and his film cameos being one notable exception), they play an important role by controlling the evolution of the theatrical or dramatic performance. When there are actors involved, the director often oversees and shapes their performances as well. Although the auteur theory holds that the director is the major creative force in a performance, the role of the director actually varies a great deal, not only according to the medium in question but also according to the extent to which he works with actors.
Movie, TV & Stage Directors Encyclopedia Articles By Title
Clarence Brown was an American filmmaker who was one of the leading directors of Hollywood’s “golden age,” noted......
E. Martin Browne was a British theatrical director and producer who was a major influence on poetic and religious......
Tod Browning was an American director who specialized in films of the grotesque and macabre. A cult director because......
Emil František Burian was a Czech author, composer, playwright, and theatre and film director whose eclectic stage......
Charles Burnett is an American filmmaker who gained critical acclaim for his realistic and intimate portrayals......
Ken Burns is an American documentary director who is known for the epic historical scope of his films and miniseries.......
Tim Burton is an American director known for his original, quirky style that frequently drew on elements of the......
Steve Buscemi is an American actor, director, and screenwriter who is especially known for his portrayals of oddballs......
David Butler was an American director whose lengthy career was highlighted by numerous popular musicals and comedies......
Edward Buzzell was an American filmmaker, songwriter, and actor who directed a number of B-movies and musicals,......
Luis Buñuel was a Spanish filmmaker who was a leading figure in Surrealism, the tenets of which suffused both his......
Maurice Béjart was a French-born dancer, choreographer, and opera director known for combining classic ballet and......
Gábor Bódy was a Hungarian film and video director. His often controversial ideas and methods of filmmaking met......
Louis C.K. is an American comedian, writer, director, and producer known for his ribald confessional stand-up comedy......
James Cameron is a Canadian filmmaker known for his expansive vision and innovative special-effects films, most......
Jane Campion is a New Zealand director and screenwriter whose films often focus on women who are outsiders in society.......
Marcel Camus was a French motion-picture director who won international acclaim for his second film, Orfeu Negro......
Frank Capra was an American motion-picture director who was the most prominent filmmaker of the 1930s, during which......
Costache Caragiale was an actor-manager who helped to encourage the development of a unique Romanian drama. Caragiale......
Marcel Carné was a motion-picture director noted for the poetic realism of his pessimistic dramas. He led the French......
John Carpenter is an American filmmaker regarded as a master of the low-budget horror film. He has often written,......
Earl Carroll was an American showman, theatrical producer, and director, best known for his Earl Carroll’s Vanities......
Vinnette Carroll was an American playwright, stage director, and actress, the first African American woman to direct......
David Carson is an American graphic designer, whose unconventional style revolutionized visual communication in......
John Cassavetes was an American film director and actor regarded as a pioneer of American cinema verité and as......
William Castle was an American director known for the innovative marketing techniques he used to promote his B-horror......
Alberto Cavalcanti was a Brazilian-born director-producer, screenwriter, and art director of motion pictures in......
André Cayatte was a motion-picture director best known for films on crime and justice. Cayatte abandoned a law......
Gino Cervi was an Italian character actor and manager best-known outside of Italy for his film portrayal of a small-town......
Claude Chabrol was a French motion-picture director, scenarist, and producer who was France’s master of the mystery......
Joseph Chaikin was an American stage director, actor, and writer. He was a member of the Living Theatre before......
Jackie Chan is a Hong Kong-born Chinese stuntman, actor, and director whose perilous acrobatic stunts and engaging......
Charlie Chaplin was a British comedian, producer, writer, director, and composer who is widely regarded as the......
Damien Chazelle is an American director and screenwriter who won numerous awards for his first two major films,......
Don Cheadle is an American film and television actor who is known for the scene-stealing yet understated intensity......
Chen Kaige is a Chinese film director noted for his realistic, sensitive, compassionate, and unflinching view of......
Yash Chopra was an Indian filmmaker who was known for his Bollywood films, especially romances such as Kabhi Kabhie......
Benjamin Christensen was a Danish motion-picture director known for his exploration of the macabre. Christensen......
Willam Christensen was an American dancer, choreographer, and teacher who, along with his brothers, Harold and......
Christian-Jaque was one of the most commercially successful and prolific French motion-picture directors, who was......
Edwin P. Christy was an early American minstrel show performer who founded (c. 1842) the Christy Minstrels, the......
Jon M. Chu is an American director, producer, and writer. He directed the popular romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians......
René Clair was a French director of silent films and talking pictures, whose productions were noted for humour......
Robert Clampett was one of the top directors at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio and the creator of the Beany and......
Larry Clark is an American photographer and film director who was best known for his provocative works about teenagers,......
Hugo Claus was a Belgian poet, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, director, and painter renowned for his prolific......
James Clavell was an Australian-born British author, director, and screenwriter best known for his popular action......
George Clooney is an American actor and filmmaker who emerged in the 1990s as a popular leading man, known for......
Harold Clurman was an influential and respected American theatrical director and drama critic. Clurman attended......
Sir Charles Blake Cochran was a leading British impresario and theatrical producer between World Wars I and II,......
Jean Cocteau was a French poet, librettist, novelist, actor, film director, and painter. Some of his most important......
George M. Cohan was an American actor, popular songwriter, playwright, and producer especially of musical comedies,......
Jack Conway was an American filmmaker who worked primarily for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), where he became known......
Martha Coolidge is an American filmmaker who achieved commercial success directing films often underlain by a feminist......
Bradley Cooper is an American actor who first gained fame in comedic films and later had success in action and......
Dame Gladys Cooper was a popular British actress-manager who started her 66-year theatrical career as a Gaiety......
Jacques Copeau was a French actor, literary critic, stage director, and dramatic coach who led a reaction against......
Francis Ford Coppola is an American motion-picture director, writer, and producer whose films range from sweeping......
Sofia Coppola is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and fashion designer known best for her films......
Roger Corman was an American motion picture director, producer, and distributor known for his highly successful......
Costa-Gavras is a Greek-born naturalized French motion-picture director noted for films that have been both political......
Kevin Costner is an American film actor and director known for his portrayals of rugged individualists with sensitive......
Noël Coward was an English playwright, actor, and composer best known for his highly polished comedies of manners.......
Edward Gordon Craig was an English actor, theatre director-designer, producer, and theorist who influenced the......
John Cranko was a dancer, choreographer, and ballet director best known for his work with the Stuttgart Ballet.......
Frank Craven was an American actor, director, playwright, and producer who was best known for his performance as......
Wes Craven was an American director and screenwriter who was known for his horror films, several of which are classics......
Michael Crichton was an American writer known for his thoroughly researched popular thrillers, which often deal......
John Cromwell was an American actor and director of stage and screen who, during a career that spanned more than......
David Cronenberg is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and actor, best known for movies that employed elements......
James Cruze was an American film director and actor who was a giant in the days of silent films but became a minor......
Billy Crystal is an American actor, writer, director, and comedian, known for a highly expressive manner that lent......
Alfonso Cuarón is a Mexican director and screenwriter who earned an international reputation for fluid storytelling......
George Cukor was an American motion-picture director who produced films of high quality for 50 years, combining......
Irving Cummings was an American film director best known for his musicals, many of which featured Betty Grable......
Michael Curtiz was a Hungarian-born American motion-picture director whose prolific output as a contract director......
Nia DaCosta is a filmmaker who, at age 34, became the youngest director and the first African American woman to......
Stephen Daldry is an English film and theatre director known for his sensitive and nuanced treatments of stories......
Salvador Dalí was a Spanish artist and filmmaker, who was part of the Surrealist group in his early career and......
Lee Daniels is an American director and producer whose films and television shows often tackle difficult subjects......
Jules Dassin was an American director who was a master of film noir and perhaps best remembered for Rififi (1955),......
Sir William Davenant was an English poet, playwright, and theatre manager who was made poet laureate on the strength......
Delmer Daves was an American writer and director of motion pictures who worked in a number of genres but was best......
Ossie Davis was an American writer, actor, director, and social activist who was known for his contributions to......
Giorgio De Lullo was an Italian theatrical director who gained an international reputation as founder and director......
Robert De Niro is an American actor famous for his uncompromising portrayals of violent and abrasive characters......
Brian De Palma is an American motion-picture director and screenwriter best noted for his usually stylish, often......
Vittorio De Sica was a film director and actor who first found fame as a matinee idol and who later was a major......
André De Toth was a Hungarian-born film and television director who gained a cult following for a number of raw,......
Dame Ninette de Valois was an Irish-born British dancer, choreographer, and founder of the company that in October......
Roy Del Ruth was an American filmmaker who worked with various stars, notably James Cagney, and directed a number......
Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican director, screenwriter, and producer who is known for imbuing horror and fantasy......
Cecil B. DeMille was an American motion-picture producer-director whose use of spectacle attracted vast audiences......
Jonathan Demme was an American film director who was known for his eclectic body of work, which ranged from feature......
Jacques Demy was a French director best known for his romantic musical-comedy films. Demy studied for two years......
Maya Deren was an influential director and performer who is often called the “mother” of American avant-garde filmmaking.......
Danny DeVito is an American actor, director, and producer best known for portraying wisecracking dispatcher Louie......
Eduard Devrient was an actor, director, manager, translator of Shakespeare into German, and author of the first......
Otto Devrient was a German actor, director, producer, and playwright. Grandnephew of the great Romantic actor Ludwig......
John Dexter was a British director of stage plays and operas. Dexter, who left school at the age of 14, served......