I'm thinking Tom Cruise.

Leo DiCaprio:

Scorsese
Spielberg
Nolan
Cameron
Eastwood
Tarantino
Luhrmann
Mendes
Boyle
Raimi

Robert de Niro would surely be up there-
Scorcese
Coppola
Michael Cimino
Bertolucci
Tarantino
Terry Gilliam
De Palma
Ron Howard
Neil Jordan
Michael Mann
Barry Levinson
John Frankenheimer
Robert Rodriguez

Probably the studio era actors. Tracy, Grant, Stewart, Gable, Bogart, etc. . Almost entire output was with top directors.

Ahem. Leone.

Don't forget Woody Allen and Ridley Scott! He also turned down P.T. Anderson to do Titanic instead. Reportedly he's regretted that decision. He still needs to work with the Coens, both Andersons, Soderberg, Burton, and Cronenberg. That should cover it.

And Del Toro, Cuaron, Inarritu, Lynch, etc etc etc.

Ah, how did I miss that? One upon a time in America is a classic.

Harry Dean Stanton

David Lynch
Frank Darabont
Terry Gilliam
Bob Rafelson
John Frankenheimer
Martin Scorsese
Robert Altman
John Milius
Win Wanders
Alex Cox
John Carpenter
Francis Ford Coppola
Ridley Scott
Arthur Penn
Monte Hellman
Sam Peckinpah
Michael Curtiz

Nah, none of those guys are famous.

Max Von Sydow has to be a candidate. I'm not going to go through his filmography to find out, though.

John Carradine has worked with what is certainly the most eclectic group of directors...

Cecil B. DeMille
James Whale
Edgar G. Ulmer
John Ford
Henry King
Fritz Lang
Rouben Mamoulian
Douglas Sirk
Michael Curtiz
Nicholas Ray
Irwin Allen
Edward L. Cahn
Albert Zugsmith
Jerry Lewis
Don Siegel
William Beaudine
Ted V. Mikels
Al Adamson
Cirio Santiago
Russ Meyer
Woody Allen
Martin Scorsese
Elia Kazan
Michael Winner
J. Lee Thompson
Joe Dante
Walter Hill
Francis Ford Coppola

...among others

Leaving off Sean Penn, debatable. Leaving off John Huston, no question a miss. Harry Dean Stanton has my vote for the answer, at least among people still alive.

Jack Nicholson

Roger Corman
Ken Russell
Michelangelo Antonioni
Hal Ashby
Milos Foreman
Roman Polanski
Dennis Hopper
Bob Rafelson
Stanley Kubrick
Arthur Penn
Elia Kazan
Monte Hellman
Richard Rush
Tony Richardson
Warren Beatty
Vincente Minnelli
Mike Nichols
John Houston
Martin Scorsese
James L. Brooks
George Miller
Hector Barbenco
Tim Burton
Rob Riener
Danny DeVito
Alexander Payne
Sean Penn

Also...he worked w/ Sam Peckinpah too.

He was actually my favorite part in The Avengers. Was awesome seeing him on a big screen.

I'm not sure I liked Wise Blood, was very weird at times, but HDS was awesome in it.

The original post was correct!

Just think, before the age of 50, Tom Cruise was lucky enough to get

both Coppola (Outsiders) AND Scorcese (Color of Money)

both Tony Scott AND Ridley Scott (Legend)

Spielberg twice
Crowe twice

Ron Howard (Far and Away) and Rob Reiner

And as Ethan Hunt: de Palma, Woo, Abrams, Bird

One Michael Mann,

Throw in a PT Anderson,

An Oliver Stone,


and the very last stinking movie by Stanley Kubrick

Call him an eccentric....Call him crazy....But the dude's been hitting the jackpot.

Pechinpah was listed on the original list. I dug his small part in the Avengers too, definitely one of the highlights of the movie for me. A shame they trimmed that scene so much, but nice that it was included in full on the special features.

Wise Blood is a very odd movie, I don't think I have seen a film recently that has the tone shift back and forth so much. However, no denying that Huston is a great (and famous) director.

Very much so. I remember watching WB for the first time this year...and it kind of polarized me. I didn't NOT like it but it also kind of took me nowhere in deciding if I didn't like it. It's the main character that turns me off a bit. His actions shift the tone so much.

HACKMAN I'm not gonna list all, just some highlights

William Friedkin
John Franenheimer
Mel Brooks
Warren Beatty
Arthur Penn
Francis Coppola
Mike Nichols
Stanley Donen
Sam Raimi
Alan Parker
Clint Eastwood
Richard Donner
Lawrence Kasdan
Woody Allen
Stanley Kramer
Nicholas Meyer
Sydney Pollack
Tony Scott
Walter Hill
Andy Davis
Richard Attenborough
Barry Sonnenfeld
David Mamet
Wes Anderson

Elia Kazan!!!!!!!

Adam Sandler

P.T. Anderson

Looks like a lot of people here have no idea what the word "famous" means.

Depends on how the OP is framing the word famous. Besides maybe Spielberg,Tarantino, Hitchcock,Eastwood,Tyler Perry and an a-list actors turned directors the average person in the general public offhand would know the name of maybe a dozen directors.People on a movie message board or film buffs I would think mostly know who Kubrick,Peckinpah.De Palma etc are.

....eh....I'd easily add Kubrick into the famous category. People love FMJ, The Shining, and ACO. Those are probably the biggest Kubrick catalog sellers.

By that standard, Harrison Ford.
Lucas
Spielberg
Coppola
Zemeckis
Ridley Scott
Polanski

Maybe famous directors: Mike Nichols, Sydney Pollack, Robert Aldrich, and Wolfgang Petersen