75 years and a lifetime of awards, Martin Scorsese

Early in Scorsese's career he was nominated for Cannes' highest honor – the Palme d'Or – for "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore,' his first studio film. (Star Ellen Burstyn asked him to direct her project at the recommendation of Francis Ford Coppola after seeing his 1973 film "Mean Streets.") It was an early nod for a filmmaker just starting his career, but sadly he lost the 1975 honor – only to win it in 1976 for "Taxi Driver" and in 1985, for Best Director for "After Hours."

It's hard to believe now, but in 1976 Martin Scorsese was just another young punk filmmaker. Sure he had "Mean Streets" under his belt, but that was a quick run-and-gun indie style shoot that was completed in under a month, and Hollywood was still coming to terms with a new wave of directors who had come of age and started working in the late-sixties counterculture era. 1974's "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" had earned its leading lady Ellen Burstyn an Oscar and he had been feted at Cannes, but he also had low-budget Roger Corman flick ("Boxcar Bertha") and two documentaries to his name. It wasn't much to go on in a company town that was still rather staid. Everything changed with the release of "Taxi Driver," for which the Los Angeles Film Critics Association awarded him and star Jodie Foster their "New Generation Award" for promising young, new talent. 

At the 2012 PGAs Scorsese was nominated along with Graham King for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures for his work on "Hugo." He lost to "The Artist," but he won the award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television (Drama) for "Boardwalk Empire" over powerhouses "Game of Thrones," "Dexter," "The Good Wife" and "Mad Men" the same year. 

The Evelyn F. Burkey Award is given by the Writers' Guild of America, East to honor those who bring "honor and dignity to writers everywhere," and in 2003 the WGAE recognized Scorsese for his lengthy career. Then-WGAE president Herb Sargent spoke for writers, directors and actors everywhere when he said, “His respect for the art and spirit of writing is evident in all his films.”

It took until 1990 for Scorsese to finally impress his fellow New Yorkers enough for a win when he took home the vote for "Goodfellas," despite being up for both "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull" a decade prior. 

Awards watchers know the National Society of Film Critics Awards are one of the season's earliest barometers of who to watch when it comes time for the Oscar noms since voting is only held by select few reviewers from the largest publications in the country; "and it's easy to see their influence on award shows down the line when it comes to Scorsese as early champions for "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull," "Goodfellas" and "Il mio viaggio in Italia."

Not only has Scorsese won the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's award for Best Director (Motion Picture) twice out of eight nominations (and a Best Screenplay nom, to boot), in 2010 he was honored with their Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement.  

Just because the London Critics Circle awarded Scorsese their Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998 doesn't mean the director was finished with working or the London Critics Circle. He would go on to win Best Director from the organization a few years later for "The Aviator" and would again be nominated for "The Departed" and "The Wolf of Wall Street."

Scorsese cut his teeth as a young filmmaker out of NYU film school working as an editor on his classmate Michael Wadleigh's epic concert documentary "Woodstock" which would help shape the director's skills in the difficult "concert film" genre. "The Last Waltz" would be an early success for him working with musicians and earned him an artist-friendly reputation, which would culminate in 2005, when he won the Peabody for his work on the PBS series "American Masters" for "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan."

In 2006, the long-running critics' website IndieWire somewhat controversially feted Martin Scorsese as Best Director based on its polling from alt-weekly and alt-minded critics, which for the first time in 2006 opened up voting to more on-line media. Scorsese took the award over indie darlings David Lynch, Alfonso Cuarón, and Romanian auteur Cristi Puiu whose film, "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu," grossed $80,000 in theaters compared to Scorsese's "The Departed" at $132 million.

No, this isn't a mistake like the time Jethro Tull beat Metallica for a heavy metal Grammy the eighties. He was nominated for a Grammy in 2005 for his work on "The Blues - A Musical Journey," and the soundtrack of "Gangs of New York" and would win 'Best Long Form Music Video' for "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan." 

Gregory Peck presented Scorsese with the 1997 AFI Life Achievement Award, where the director is surrounded by the cast of his already nearly 30 years of filmmaking, including Robert DeNiro, Kris Kristofferson and Joe Pesci. During his acceptance speech, Scorsese schooled the crowd on the history of the AFI award. Scorsese was honored by AFI around the release of his film "Kundun," which put the director on a shortlist of only 50 people to be banned from traveling to Tibet.

In 1991 Scorsese became the sixth person to be honored by the American Cinematheque, following contemporaries Ron Howard (1990) and Steven Spielberg (1989). The tribute included a touching introduction from Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert and highlighted not only Scorsese's staying power in Hollywood, but also recognized his commitment to film history and the preservation of cinema.

In a bit of film trivia, Martin Scorsese shared the very first ever Best Director at the Film Independent Spirit Awards in 1986 for his work on "After Hours," tying with fellow upstart indie filmmaker Joel Coen for "Blood Simple." Scorsese would win another Spirit Award in 1990 as producer on the acclaimed film "The Grifters," directed by Stephen Frears.

It's hard to be judged by your peers. It's even harder to be judged by your peers knowing everything you have ever created has been studied down its final frame by your fellow filmmakers. In 70 years of DGA awards, Scorsese has been nominated ten times for 'Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures' (winning for "The Departed"), and once for 'Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series' (which he won for "Boardwalk Empire") – not to mention the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award, which he earned in 2003 shortly after "Gangs of New York" was released. 

Anointing someone near-and-dear to them, director Scorsese was honored at the annual Chaplin Awards Gala held by the esteemed Film Society of Lincoln Center. The Society is also host to the famed New York Film Festival (NYFF) where Scorsese has premiered many of his films. 

You won't find a more exacting group of cinephiles than the American Society of Cinematographers, which is why they only give one award a year that isn't to another cinematographer. The ASC Board of Governors Award is saved to those outside of their guild who champion the visual arts and directors of photography, and in 1995 Scorsese was honored by the artists who believe the power of the visual above all else for his work.

On of the highest awards in the United States for the arts, the annual Kennedy Center Honors presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. honors artists who have made a lasting impact on American culture. Scorsese was awarded the honor in 2007, along with pianist Leon Fleisher, singer Diana Ross, Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson and noted banjo player, Steve Martin.

While other feature film artists are just warming to the small screen in the current "Golden Age of Television," Scorsese has been on the Television Academy members' lists for over twenty years, earning his first nomination in 1995 as executive producer on "Eric Clapton: Nothing But the Blues," and would later go on to win 'Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series' for directing the pilot episode of "Boardwalk Empire" in 2010 and 'Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming' for "George Harrison: Living in the Material World" in 2011. 

While the British Academy of Film and Television Arts has only ever given Scorsese awards for one film out of thirteen nominations, (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Film for "Goodfellas"), they did honor him with a Britannia Award, given in recognition of achievement in excellence in film in 1993. 

You can tell a lot about when certain stars (and their fan clubs and perhaps a studio PR budget) were given their star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. Scorsese's is located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard, which is right by the intersection of Hollywood and Highland – in front of Dolby Theatre, where the Oscars have been held since 2002. 

In 2016, Scorsese was awarded the Praemium Imperiale, joining legendary directors Francis Ford Coppola, Abbas Kiarostami, Jean-Luc Godard, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini and Akira Kurosawa in winning Japan's global arts award which recognizes career achievement in the arts. 

Martin Scorsese's first Academy Award nomination came for 1980's "Raging Bull," but it wouldn't be until 2007, 27 years later, that Scorsese would win Best Director for "The Departed." For those of you scoring at home, Scorsese was nominated for "The Last Temptation of Christ" (Best Director), "Goodfellas" (Best Director; Best Writing, adapted screenplay), "The Age of Innocence (Best Writing, adapted screenplay), "Gangs of New York" (Best Director) and "The Aviator" (Best Director) before the Academy gave the living legend his due. 

When Scorsese finally did win an Oscar, it was a happy coincidence his fellow "movie brats" of the 1970s – Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg – were presenting the Academy Award for Best Director.