D.W. Griffith

D.W. Griffith might be a racist, but that doesn't mean he isn't a next-level director.

Beginning his career as a playwright and actor, Griffith directed his first short film, The Adventures of Dollie, in 1908. He would go on to direct forty-eight more shorts that year. (We wish we were that productive.) Later, in 1914, he would direct his full-length feature Judith of Bethulia. He followed that up the next year with The Birth of a Nation, the film that launched his career into the stratosphere.

It would also turn out to be its high point.

Although The Birth of a Nation was massively successful, the film was also fraught with controversy. In response to this public outcry, Griffith made the film Intolerance in 1916 as a reaction to the perceived intolerance he felt from people who opposed The Birth of a Nation. Intolerance is a dense, multi-narrative film that spans several time periods, and though it's held in high esteem among some arthouse circles, it was a box office blunder.

Regardless, Griffith would go on to direct dozens of films over the following decades. He also enjoyed a reputation as one of the early titans of the film industry. You might hate the dude's politics (we do), but he was as influential on movie history as Charlie Chaplin or George Lucas.