The top 10 most-thanked people in Oscars acceptance speeches

WHEN tearful actors and filmmakers get to the Oscar podium, they are very grateful for this man. And it’s not God. In fact, God doesn’t crack the top five.

CENTURY CITY, CA - FEBRUARY 07: Director Steven Spielberg speaks onstage at the 67th Annual Directors Guild Of America Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza on February 7, 2015 in Century City, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for DGA)

THANK God for Steven Spielberg. Better yet, thank Steven Spielberg for Steven Spielberg.

The world’s best-known director is the person most commonly praised at the Academy Awards podium — even beating the Heavenly Father, God, to the honour.

The folks at Vocativ, who evidently have a fair bit more time on their hands than you, have scoured the Oscars’ extensive online archives to determine who gets name dropped most often in winners’ speeches.

Popular guy ... Steven Spielberg has been thanked by 42 Oscar winners.

Spielberg — a triple Oscar winner in his own right — has been thanked 42 times.

Not only was he thanked by the people who starred in his movies (like Daniel Day-Lewis, who thanked Spielberg when he won for Lincoln in 2013), even people who were merely inspired by him felt the need to express gratitude.

Sam Mendes name checked Spielberg when he won the Best Director Oscar for American Beauty in 2000, for example.

Everything he touches turns to Oscar gold ... Harvey Weinstein at a press conference with Oscar winner Helen Mirren.

Megaproducer and fearsome hitmaker Harvey Weinstein was a distant second with 34 mentions.

Jennifer Lawrence probably summarised Weinstein’s reputation best when she won for Silver Linings Playbook, thanking Harvey for killing whoever he had to kill to get her to the podium.

Paying it forward ... Fran Walsh and hubby Peter Jackson both made the list. They’re the filmmakers behind the massive Lord of the Rings series.

God came in sixth, flanked by directors and producers who specialise in the sort of big-budget blockbusters that tend to nab bundles of Oscars in categories like visual effects and sound mixing.

Here’s the full list:

1. Steven Spielberg (42)

2. Harvey Weinstein (34)

3. James Cameron (28)

4. George Lucas (23)

5. Peter Jackson (22)

6. God (19)

7. Fran Walsh (18)

8. Sheila Nevins (17)

9. Francis Ford Coppola, Barrie Osborne (16)

10. Martin Scorsese, Saul Zaentz (15)