Who was the first director whose film won an Oscar for Best Picture without the film getting a Best Director nomination?

The 1927 film, Wings was the first film to win Best Picture without a Best Director nomination going to director William Wellman. Next, it was the 1932 film Grand Hotel which won an Oscar Award for Best Picture where the director of the film, Edmund Gouldng, did not receive a Best Director nomination.

In his opening monologue at the 62nd Academy Awards, Billy Crystal made fun of the fact that the film Driving Miss Daisy "apparently directed itself". It was the first film since Grand Hotel to win the Oscar for Best Picture and not have a Best Director nomination for director, Bruce Beresford. To date, this has only occurred once again in 2012 with the film Argo. The movie Argo won Best Picture at the 85th Academy Awards; director, Ben Affleck, was not nominated for the Best Director Award.

At the time of the 2012 nominations for Oscar awards, Bradley Cooper, who was nominated for his performance in Silver Linings Playbook, stated: "Ben Affleck got robbed." Cooper's opinion was shared at the Oscar ceremony by host Seth MacFarlane and director, Quentin Tarantino, whose film Django Unchained was nominated in several categories.