Spielberg, who burst into the mainstream of film with Jaws in 1975, beat Sir Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorsese in a poll of 10,000 readers of Empire magazine.

The American has proved to be the most versatile director, editing his dinosaur blockbuster Jurassic Park in the evenings after spending the day setting up filming for Schindler’s List.

His next film, War of the Worlds, will also be one of the fastest blockbuster releases. Shooting began six months ago and it will be released on July 1.

Hitchcock, who directed 67 films, including Rear Window and Psycho, came second on the list and was the highest-ranked Briton.

Seven British directors made the Top 40, including two in the Top Ten. Sir Ridley Scott came fifth, followed by Sir David Lean at No 12 and Tony Scott, Tim Burton, Anthony Minghella and Charlie Chaplin.

Scorcese was acknowledged as the third-greatest director, despite never having won an Oscar. His 2004 film The Aviator won five Academy Awards from 11 nominations, but, despite an array of technical awards and a Best Supporting Actress prize for Cate Blanchett, Scorcese failed to win either Best Director or Best Picture. Those awards went to Clint Eastwood, who narrowly missed the Top Ten.

The only non-Western director was Akira Kurosawa, the Japanese auteur, whose films have influenced a generation of Hollywood directors. He is most famous for Seven Samurai, which inspired The Magnificent Seven, Yojimbo, which was adapted to become A Fistful of Dollars and Last Man Standing, and Kakushi Toride No San Akunin (The Hidden Fortress), which inspired Star Wars.

Two other big names of modern film — Peter Jackson, who directed The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction) — are in seventh and eighth places. They beat Orson Welles, the director of Citizen Kane, who came ninth, and Woody Allen, who was tenth.

The Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan — who are famous for quirky movies such as Fargo, Blood Simple and O Brother, Where Art Thou? — were ranked in thirteenth place.

Ian Freer, the associate editor of Empire magazine, said that Spielberg was unassailable in film: “His adventures with sharks, UFOs, whip-crackin’ archaeologists and ETs, plus historical dramas like Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan, has defined the movie-going life of an entire generation.”

Born in Cincinnatti, Ohio, in 1946, Spielberg is one of the pioneers of the high-grossing, special-effects blockbuster, exemplified by Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977 and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, in 1982. He has also directed serious epics such as Schindler’s List (1993), Amistad (1997) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).

His future projects are said to include a fourth Indiana Jones adventure with George Lucas, the director of Star Wars, who came 31st in the Empire poll.

THE TOP 40

1 Steven Spielberg

2 Alfred Hitchcock

3 Martin Scorsese

4 Stanley Kubrick

5 Sir Ridley Scott

6 Akira Kurosawa

7 Peter Jackson

8 Quentin Tarantino

9 Orson Welles

10 Woody Allen

11 Clint Eastwood

12 Sir David Lean

13 The Coen Brothers

14 James Cameron

15 Francis Ford Coppola

16 Oliver Stone

17 Sergio Leone

18 John Ford

19 Billy Wilder

20 Sam Peckinpah

21 Howard Hawks

22 Robert Zemeckis

23 Michael Mann

24 David Lynch

25 Spike Lee

26 François Truffaut

27 Brian De Palma

28 Tony Scott

29 Fritz Lang

30 Tim Burton

31 George Lucas

32 Anthony Minghella

33 Ron Howard

34 Sam Raimi

35 Charlie Chaplin

36 Ingmar Bergman

37 M Night Shyamalan

38 Peter Weir

39 Terry Gilliam

40 Robert Altman

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