Newman was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor . Gleason and Scott were each nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Scott was also nominated as Best New Star of the Year . At the 1962 BAFTA Awards , The Hustler tied with the Soviet film Ballad of a Soldier for Best Film from Any Source . Newman won for Best Foreign Actor and Piper Laurie was nominated for Best Foreign Actress . Gleason was honored as Best Supporting Actor by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures and the film was named among the Board 's ten best films of 1961 . Rossen was named Best Director by the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and Rossen and Carroll shared the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written Drama .