
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder (June 22, 1906 – March 27, 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.
Known For | Directing |
---|---|
Most Rating | 0.211 |
Birthday | 1906-06-22 |
Place of Birth | Sucha, Galicia, Austria-Hungary |
Also Known As | Samuel Wilder, 빌리 와일더, |

2016

Billy Wilder: Nobody's Perfect
7.6/5
Biography on the famous writer-director, Billy Wilder.
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Billy Wilder: Nobody's Perfect

1982

Portrait of a '60% Perfect Man': Billy Wilder
6.7/10
French film critic Michel Ciment interviews Billy Wilder about his life and filmmaking.
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Portrait of a '60% Perfect Man': Billy Wilder

2006

The Legacy of 'Some Like It Hot'
8.5/2
A look back at the impact Billy Wilder's comedy classic "Some Like It Hot" has left since it's release in 1959.
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The Legacy of 'Some Like It Hot'

2006

The Making of 'Some Like It Hot'
7/1
A look back at the making of Billy Wilder's 1959 comedy classic "Some Like It Hot."
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The Making of 'Some Like It Hot'

2019

Hollywood's Second World War
8/2
For the USA, World War 2 was an all-out war - to mobilize the masses, the US government launched a huge propaganda campaign and cinema, the medium of...
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Hollywood's Second World War

1992

Billy, How Did You Do It?
7/2
An interview between Volker Schlöndorff and Billy Wilder.
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Billy, How Did You Do It?

2014

Night Will Fall
7.6/83
When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, reveali...
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Night Will Fall

2020

Audrey
7.2/56
An unprecedented and intimate look at the life, work and enduring legacy of British actress Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993).
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Audrey

2000

Klaus Kinski: I'm not an actor
0/0
Klaus Kinski is one of the few German actors who has achieved international fame. He made headlines. And disappeared behind them. Kinski lived his par...
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Klaus Kinski: I'm not an actor

1993

Audrey Hepburn: Remembered
7/3
Audrey Hepburn was one of the movies' best-loved stars, blessed with beauty, talent, an elegant sophistication and an enduring aura of youthful innoce...
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Audrey Hepburn: Remembered

1996

Fred MacMurray: The Guy Next Door
0/0
Amiable and unassuming, Fred MacMurray went from small-town boy to one of Hollywood and television's most enduring stars.
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Fred MacMurray: The Guy Next Door

2007

Helmut by June
6.3/3
An intimate portrait of iconic photographer Helmut Newton shot by his wife and fellow photographer June Newton.
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Helmut by June

1998

Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy
6/1
A profile of writer-director Billy Wilder
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Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy

2006

Billy Wilder Speaks
7/18
In 1988, German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff sat down with legendary director Billy Wilder (1906-2002) at his office in Beverly Hills, California, and...
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Billy Wilder Speaks

2009

Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood
6/1
Eight hundred German filmmakers (cast and crew) fled the Nazis in the 1930s. The film uses voice-overs, archival footage, and film clips to examine Be...
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Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood

2017

Never Be Boring: Billy Wilder
7.3/3
A funny walk through the life story of Billy Wilder (1906-2002), a cinematic genius; a portrait of a filmmaker who never was a boring man, a superb mi...
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Never Be Boring: Billy Wilder

1996

Jack Lemmon: America's Everyman
7.5/2
Jack Lemmon made over 60 films and received numerous awards, including eight Academy Award Nominations and two Oscars. Later in life, his achievement...
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Jack Lemmon: America's Everyman

2014

And the Oscar Goes To...
7/53
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy...
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And the Oscar Goes To...

1989

The Exiles
0/0
A chronicle of the rescue of oppressed intellectuals and artists from Europe before the outbreak of World War II. It studies the cultural and intellec...
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The Exiles

1986

Directed by William Wyler
0/0
Documentary about the famed Hollywood director.
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Directed by William Wyler

1997

Walter Matthau: Diamond in the Rough
6.5/2
A profile of the life of actor Walter Matthau.
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Walter Matthau: Diamond in the Rough

2006

Shadows of Suspense
0/0
A documentary featuring film historians, directors and authors discussing the making of Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity."
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Shadows of Suspense

2001

Nobody's Perfect - The Making of Some Like It Hot
6/1
Documentary discussing the casting and making of "Some Like It Hot", the film voted as the Best Comedy ever made by the American Film Institute.
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