Elia Kazan – On the Waterfront

• George Cukor – A Star Is Born
• Edward Dmytryk – The Caine Mutiny
• Stanley Donen – Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
• Melvin Frank and Norman Panama – Knock on Wood
• Samuel Fuller – Hell and High Water
• Alfred Hitchcock – Rear Window
• Henry King – King of the Khyber Rifles
• Anthony Mann – The Glenn Miller Story
• Jean Negulesco – Three Coins in the Fountain
• George Seaton – The Country Girl
• Don Siegel – Riot in Cell Block 11
• William A. Wellman – The High and the Mighty
• Robert Wise – Executive Suite
• Billy Wilder – Sabrina

Roy Kellino – Four Star Playhouse for "The Answer"

• William Asher – I Love Lucy for "Lucy's Mother-In-Law"
• Robert Florey – The Loretta Young Show for "The Clara Schumann Story"
• Ted Post – Waterfront for "High Water"
• Jack Webb – Dragnet for "The Big Producer"