Biography
Billy Wilder (22 June 1906 – 27 March 2002) was an Austrian-born director, screenwriter and producer who is regarded as one of the most excellent 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.
Filmography
all 106
Movies 97
Writer 46
self 32
Director 24
TV Shows 9
Producer 3
Audrey (2020)
Hollywood's Second World War (2019)
Never Be Boring: Billy Wilder (2017)
Billy Wilder: Nobody's Perfect (2016)
Night Will Fall (2014)
And the Oscar Goes To... (2014)
Love, Marilyn (2013)
Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood (2009)
Helmut by June (2007)
Shadows of Suspense (2006)
The Making of 'Some Like It Hot' (2006)
The Legacy of 'Some Like It Hot' (2006)
Billy Wilder Speaks (2006)
Un film et son époque (2003)
Klaus Kinski: I'm not an actor (2000)
Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy (1998)
Walter Matthau: Diamond in the Rough (1997)
Fred MacMurray: The Guy Next Door (1996)
Jack Lemmon: America's Everyman (1996)
Sabrina (1995)
A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995)
Audrey Hepburn: Remembered (1993)
Billy, How Did You Do It? (1992)
Billy, How Did You Do It? (1992)
The Exiles (1989)
Directed by William Wyler (1986)
Witness for the Prosecution (1982)
Portrait of a '60% Perfect Man': Billy Wilder (1982)
Buddy Buddy (1981)
The Kennedy Center Honors (1978)
Fedora (1978)
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche (1975)
The Front Page (1974)
Spécial cinéma (1974)
Double Indemnity (1973)
The American Film Institute Salute to ... (1973)
Avanti! (1972)
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
The Fortune Cookie (1966)
Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)
Irma la Douce (1963)
One, Two, Three (1961)
Ocean's Eleven (1960)
The Apartment (1960)
Ninotchka (1960)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Love in the Afternoon (1957)
The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
Cinépanorama (1956)
The Seven Year Itch (1955)
Emil and the Detectives (1954)
Sabrina (1954)
Stalag 17 (1953)
The Oscars (1953)
Ace in the Hole (1951)
Deutscher Filmpreis (1951)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
The Unexpected Voyager (1950)
A Song Is Born (1948)
A Foreign Affair (1948)
The Emperor Waltz (1948)
The Bishop's Wife (1947)
The Lost Weekend (1945)
Death Mills (1945)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
The Major and the Minor (1942)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
Arise, My Love (1940)
Rhythm on the River (1940)
French Without Tears (1940)
Ninotchka (1939)
What a Life (1939)
Midnight (1939)
That Certain Age (1938)
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938)
Champagne Waltz (1937)
The Lottery Lover (1935)
Emil and the Detectives (1935)
Under Pressure (1935)
Music in the Air (1934)
One Exciting Adventure (1934)
Bad Seed (1934)
Adorable (1933)
What Women Dream (1933)
Madame Wants No Children (1933)
The Blue from the Sky (1932)
Where Is This Lady? (1932)
Scampolo, ein Kind der Straße (1932)
Un rêve blond (1932)
Happy Ever After (1932)
A Blonde Dream (1932)
Once There Was a Waltz (1932)
The Winner (1932)
Emil and the Detectives (1931)
Princess, At Your Orders! (1931)
The Wrong Husband (1931)
Infidelities (1931)
Her Grace Commands (1931)
The Man in Search of His Murderer (1931)
A boy song from Heidelberg (1930)
The fight with the dragon or: The tragedy of the lodger (1930)
People on Sunday (1930)
Der Teufelsreporter (1929)
Ratings
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Information
Known ForDirecting
GenderMale
Birthday1906-06-22
Deathday2002-03-27 (95 years old)
Birth NameSamuel Wilder
Birth PlaceSucha Beskidzka, Poland
SiblingsW. Lee Wilder
CitizenshipsAustria-Hungary, Austria, United States of America
Also Known AsSamuel Wilder, 빌리 와일더
AwardsGolden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, Berliner Bär, Directors Guild of America Award, European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award, AFI Life Achievement Award, Academy Fellowship Award, Goethe Medal, Golden Globe Award for Best Director, Academy Award for Best Director, Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, Academy Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay, Palme d'Or, BAFTA Award for Best Film, star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, Great Golden Medal of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria, Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, National Board of Review Award for Best Film, National Medal of Arts, Kennedy Center Honors, honorary citizen of Vienna
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