Many films that have gone on to be regarded as classics and stood the test of time have won the coveted Best Picture award. These Academy Awards winners include Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, On the Waterfront, Lawrence of Arabia, The Sting, Gandhi, and Silence of the Lambs. This list shows the diversity of films to win. They are more often dramas, rather than comedy. The latest winning film was No Country for Old Men, directed by the Coen Brothers. The films to win the most awards in total, with eleven each, are Ben-Hur in 1959, Titanic in 1997, and The Return of the King in 2003.
Several directors of huge reputation have won in their category. The maker of epic westerns, John Ford has received the most directing awards with four to his credit. William Wyler has been nominated the most times. Other directors to win over the decades include King Vidor, Alfred Hitchcock, Francis Ford Coppola, Roman Polanski, and George Lucas. Academy Award winners in the Best Actor category to receive the most statuettes are Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, and Tom Hanks. In the Best Actress category, Katherine Hepburn leads the way with four awards. Others to win include Bette Davis, Vivian Leigh, Joan Crawford, Julie Christie, and Meryl Streep.