David Lean – Lawrence of Arabia

• Robert Aldrich – What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
• Morton DaCosta – The Music Man
• Lewis Milestone – Mutiny on the Bounty
• Robert Mulligan – To Kill a Mockingbird
• Ralph Nelson – Requiem for a Heavyweight
• Arthur Penn – The Miracle Worker
• Tony Richardson – A Taste of Honey

David Friedkin – The Dick Powell Show for "Price of Tomatoes"

• Ray Garner – The River Nile
• Greg Garrison – The Danny Kaye Show
• Robert Gist – Naked City for "Today the Man Who Kills Ants is Coming"
• Buzz Kulik – The Dick Powell Show for "The Court Martial of Captain Wycliff"
• Daniel Petrie – The Defenders for "The Benefactor"
• Stuart Rosenberg – The Defenders for "Madman"
• George Schaefer – Hallmark Hall of Fame for "The Teahouse of the August Moon"
• Franklin J. Schaffner – A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy
• Peter Tewksbury – It's a Man's World for "The Beavers and the Otters"