3. Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock. The name itself is synonymous with moviemaking and in the entire history of movies, there might not be a director who has more films considered essential viewing. Hitchcock got started in movies in the early 20's but it wasn't until the early 30's that he began to get noticed for his excellent thrillers including The Man Who Knew Too Much, The 39 Steps, Sabotage, The Lady Vanishes, and others. In 1939, famous produced David O. Selznick convinced Hitchcock to move to Hollywood where he got started in style by making the Best Picture winning Rebecca. What came next was one of the most incredible runs in filmmaking history with around twenty classic movies coming over the next thirty years including such iconic films as Notorious, Rear Window, Vertigo, and Psycho. Famously known as The Master of Suspense, Hitchcock had a profound influence on the thriller and the horror genres, even today a good thriller is often referred to as "Hitchcockian" and Psycho has been endlessly parodied since its release. In addition, Vertigo is often considered one of the most impressive films in history, famously ranking number one on Sight & Sounds 2012 poll. His films were noted for their impeccable craftsmanship, which won him admirers even among the most ardently mainstream critics and directors. Hitchcock was famous for his ability to self-promote, which is one of the main reasons that just about everybody, even modern audiences who know next to nothing of film history, recognizes his name. Hitchcock was never quite appreciated in his own time. Although he was always respected as a master craftsman, many critics considered his films slight and relatively unimportant which can be seen in his utter lack of Oscar wins. His reputation has grown in the last few decades both by the championing of foreign critics such as Francois Truffaut, who famously wrote the defining series of interviews with him, and the fact that his work has remained uniformly popular with public audiences. In many ways, Hitchcock is the defining movie director and it's hard to really gauge just how important he has been to the film world as a whole.