First woman ever nominated for the Best Director gets her Oscar

Lina Wertmüller, the first woman ever to be nominated in the Best Director category at the Academy Awards, has been given an honorary Oscar. The 91-year-old Italian screenwriter and director was nominated for her movie Seven Beauties in 1976, a World War II drama which she also wrote. The category was hotly contested, with Wertmüller up against Ingmar Bergman for Face To Face, Sidney Lumet for Network, Alan J. Pakula for All The President’s Men, and John G. Avildsen for Rocky (Avildsen ended up winning). Wertmüller is one of only five women to ever be nominated in the director’s category, and also received nominations for Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor for Giancarlo Giannini.