A Brief History of Crediting Casting Directors in Film

“Casting is everything. Getting the person that you imagined is this character and then seeing what they bring to it,” Steve Buscemi said in a 2007 interview with Jake Coyle for the Washington Post.  

Here at Aura Casting, we couldn’t agree more. For many, seeing one’s name after the “casting by” credit is a dream. But many don’t know the origin of the credit and the journey to get casting directors credited in motion pictures. 

According to the 2013 documentary, Casting By, the origins of modern casting directing started as a function of the human resource office. Under the studio system, used in Hollywood from the late 1920s through the early 1940s, actors were under contract to the different studios. Casting largely depended on an actor's availability and where they were contracted at. 

With the demise of the studio system in the 1950s, a more independent filmmaking approach was created. Actors became free agents, prompting a need from producers of someone who knows talent. 

Marion Doughtery and Lynn Stalmaster saw this need, being hired directly by the filmmakers as opposed to the studio, birthing the creation of the independent casting director.

Marion Dougherty fought for her name to be accredited to the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy and met with opposition from the Director’s Guild of America, ruling that casting is the job of the director of the film. Thus, a compromise of a title card reading “Casting by” was credited. Lynn Stalmaster was the first casting director to receive a separate credit in the 1968 film The Thomas Crown Affair, reading “Casting by Lynn Stalmaster”. 

In 1991, a campaign led by Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, and Paul Newman among many others, for Marion Dougherty to be awarded a special Oscar, but the Academy did not respond. But in 2016 the Academy awarded an honorary Oscar to Lynn Stalmaster. 

In 2024, the Academy announced, starting in 2026, casting will receive its own Oscar category.  

Aura Casting is ready to continue the tradition of exceptional casting and finding the talent to be the cherry on top of your production. Check out our casting services here.

Written by Lauren Ulveling