David Lean – The Bridge on the River Kwai

• George Cukor – Les Girls
• Stanley Donen – Funny Face
• José Ferrer – The Great Man
• John Huston – Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison
• Elia Kazan – A Face in the Crowd
• Stanley Kramer – The Pride and the Passion
• Joshua Logan – Sayonara
• Sidney Lumet – 12 Angry Men
• Anthony Mann – Men in War
• Leo McCarey – An Affair to Remember
• Robert Mulligan – Fear Strikes Out
• Mark Robson – Peyton Place
• John Sturges – Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
• Billy Wilder – Witness for the Prosecution
• Fred Zinnemann – A Hatful of Rain

Don Weis – Schlitz Playhouse of Stars for "The Lonely Wizard"

• Earl Bellamy – Wagon Train for "The Clara Beauchamp Story"
• Robert Florey – Wagon Train for "The Ruth Owens Story"
• Bernard Girard – Playhouse 90 for "Four Women in Black"
• Philip Rogers – The Salem Witch Trials