Billy Wilder
Directing
Billy Wilder, born Samuel Wilder; (22 June 1906 - 27 March 2002) was an Austrian-born director, screenwriter and producer who is regarded as one of the most successful filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age. Today he is best known for his comedies, although he also directed dramas and film noirs. Wilder is one of only five people who have won Academy Awards as producer, director, and writer for the same film (The Apartment). Wilder's career began in Germany, where he worked as a writer for comedy films from 1930. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, he emigrated to the United States, where he continued to write screenplays, including Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka (1939) and Howard Hawks' Ball of Fire (1941). From the early 1940s, Wilder was allowed to film his own screenplays and thus made a name for himself as a director. Initially, his greatest successes included predominantly dramatic film noirs such as Double Indemnity (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Ace in the Hole (1951). It was only then that he increasingly turned to comedy, including Stalag 17 (1953), Sabrina (1954) and The Seven Year Itch (1955), although he made a small detour to courtroom drama with Witness for the Prosecution (1957). With Some Like It Hot (1959) and The Apartment (1960) he made his most famous and probably most successful comedy films, the latter even receiving five Oscars. In One, Two, Three (1961), Wilder dealt with the conditions of the time in his former adopted country, Germany, and made the successful romantic comedy Irma la Douce (1963). In the two decades that followed, Wilder made seven more films, which were less well received by critics and audiences, although the German-French drama Fedora (1978) is viewed somewhat more favorably today by predominantly pretentious film experts. Some time later, Wilder was under discussion as director for Schindler's List, which he had wanted as the end of his long career, but ultimately had to turn it down due to his advanced age.
Hollywood's Second World War
as Self (archive footage)
Age 113 (now 95)
Never Be Boring: Billy Wilder
as Self (archive footage)
Age 111 (now 95)
Billy Wilder: Nobody's Perfect
as Self (archive footage)
Age 110 (now 95)
The Making of 'Some Like It Hot'
as Self (archive footage)
Age 100 (now 95)
The Legacy of 'Some Like It Hot'
as Self (archive footage)
Age 100 (now 95)
Nobody's Perfect: The Making of Some Like It Hot
as Self (archive footage)
Age 95Klaus Kinski: I'm not an actor
as Self (archive footage)
Age 93 (now 95)
Walter Matthau: Diamond in the Rough
as Self
Age 90 (now 95)
Fred MacMurray: The Guy Next Door
as Self
Age 90 (now 95)
Portrait of a '60% Perfect Man': Billy Wilder
as Self
Age 75 (now 95)
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Director
Age 64 (now 95) The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Writer
Age 64 (now 95) The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Producer
Age 64 (now 95)
The Man in Search of His Murderer
Screenplay
Age 24 (now 95)The fight with the dragon or: The tragedy of the lodger
Writer
Age 24 (now 95)
Un film et son époque
as Self (archive footage)
Age 96 (now 95)
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
as Self
Age 66 (now 95)
Gathering insights...
Also Known As
Samuel Wilder, 빌리 와일더, Billie Wilder
IMDB
nm0000697