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Billy Wilder

Screenwriter / Film Director / Film Producer / Writer / Journalist | * 06/22/1906 († 95, 03/27/2002) | Sucha, Galicia, Austria-Hungary
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Billy Wilder (German: [ˈvɪldɐ]; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an American filmmaker and screenwriter. He was born in Sucha Beskidzka, Poland, a town in Austria-Hungary at the time of his birth. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Classic Hollywood cinema. He received seven Academy Awards (among 21 nominations), a BAFTA Award, the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or and two Golden Globe Awards. Wilder became a screenwriter while living in Berlin. The rise of the Nazi Party and antisemitism in Germany saw him move to Paris. He then moved to Hollywood in 1934, and had a major hit when he, Charles Brackett and Walter Reisch wrote the screenplay for the Academy Award-nominated film Ninotchka (1939). Wilder established his directorial reputation and received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director with the film noir Double Indemnity (1944), based on the novel by James M Cain with a screenplay by Wilder and Raymond Chandler. Wilder won the Best Director and Best Screenplay Academy Awards for ()
Photo of Billy Wilder

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.

Most frequent genres for this person: Comedies | Romance / Love | Documentaries

Known for these Movies & Shows

Awards & Nominations for Billy Wilder

Knight Commander's Cross of The Order of Merit of The Federal Republic of Germany Great Golden Medal of Honour for Services To The Republic of Austria National Medal of Arts Directors Guild of America Awards 2x Academy Award for Best Director 2x Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award for Best Picture Kennedy Center Honors AFI Life Achievement Award Goethe Medal Honorary Citizen of Vienna European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award Palme d'Or National Board of Review Award for Best Film 2x Golden Globe Award for Best Director Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay Berliner Bär Star On Hollywood Walk of Fame BAFTA Fellowship BAFTA Award for Best Film 8x Academy Award for Best Director Academy Award for Best Story 4x Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay 7x Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award for Best Picture
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Movies with Billy Wilder as Actor(18)

as Self (audio recording)2020 Audrey
as Self (archive footage)2019 Hollywood's Second World War
as Self (archive footage)2017 Never Be Boring: Billy Wilder
as Self (archive footage)2014 And the Oscar Goes To...
as Himself (archive footage)2014 Night Will Fall
as Himself (archive footage)2009 Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood
as Self (archive footage)2007 Helmut by June
as Self (archive footage)2006 The Making of 'Some Like It Hot'
as Self (archive footage)2006 The Legacy of 'Some Like It Hot'
as Self - Filmmaker2006 Billy Wilder Speaks
as himself1989 The Exiles

TV Shows/Series with Billy Wilder as Actor(4)

Movies with Billy Wilder as Crew(110)

Writing/Original Film Writer1995 Sabrina
Writing/Screenplay1982 Witness for the Prosecution
Directing/Director1981 Buddy Buddy
Writing/Writer1981 Buddy Buddy
Directing/Director1978 Fedora
Production/Producer1978 Fedora
Writing/Writer1978 Fedora
Directing/Director1974 The Front Page
Writing/Screenplay1974 The Front Page
Writing/Screenplay1973 Double Indemnity
Directing/Director1972 Avanti!
Production/Producer1972 Avanti!
Writing/Screenplay1972 Avanti!
Production/Producer1970 The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Writing/Screenplay1967 Casino Royale
Directing/Director1966 The Fortune Cookie
Production/Producer1966 The Fortune Cookie
Writing/Screenplay1966 The Fortune Cookie
Directing/Director1964 Kiss Me, Stupid
Production/Producer1964 Kiss Me, Stupid
Writing/Screenplay1964 Kiss Me, Stupid
Directing/Director1963 Irma la Douce
Production/Producer1963 Irma la Douce
Writing/Screenplay1963 Irma la Douce
Directing/Director1961 One, Two, Three
Production/Producer1961 One, Two, Three
Writing/Screenplay1961 One, Two, Three
Directing/Director1960 The Apartment
Production/Producer1960 The Apartment
Writing/Screenplay1960 The Apartment
Directing/Director1959 Some Like It Hot
Production/Producer1959 Some Like It Hot
Writing/Screenplay1959 Some Like It Hot
Directing/Director1957 Love in the Afternoon
Production/Producer1957 Love in the Afternoon
Writing/Screenplay1957 Love in the Afternoon
Directing/Director1957 The Spirit of St. Louis
Writing/Screenplay1957 The Spirit of St. Louis
Directing/Director1957 Witness for the Prosecution
Writing/Screenplay1957 Witness for the Prosecution
Directing/Director1955 The Seven Year Itch
Production/Producer1955 The Seven Year Itch
Writing/Screenplay1955 The Seven Year Itch
Writing/Screenplay1954 Emil and the Detectives
Directing/Director1954 Sabrina
Production/Producer1954 Sabrina
Writing/Screenplay1954 Sabrina
Directing/Director1953 Stalag 17
Production/Producer1953 Stalag 17
Writing/Writer1953 Stalag 17
Directing/Director1951 Ace in the Hole
Production/Producer1951 Ace in the Hole
Writing/Writer1951 Ace in the Hole
Directing/Director1950 Sunset Boulevard
Writing/Screenplay1950 Sunset Boulevard
Directing/Director1948 The Emperor Waltz
Writing/Writer1948 The Emperor Waltz
Directing/Director1948 A Foreign Affair
Writing/Screenplay1948 A Foreign Affair
Writing/Writer1948 A Song Is Born
Crew/Additional Writing1947 The Bishop's Wife
Directing/Director1945 Death Mills
Editing/Editor1945 Death Mills
Directing/Director1945 The Lost Weekend
Writing/Screenplay1945 The Lost Weekend
Directing/Director1944 Double Indemnity
Writing/Screenplay1944 Double Indemnity
Directing/Director1943 Five Graves to Cairo
Writing/Screenplay1943 Five Graves to Cairo
Directing/Director1942 The Major and the Minor
Writing/Writer1942 The Major and the Minor
Writing/Writer1941 Hold Back the Dawn
Writing/Screenplay1941 Ball of Fire
Writing/Original Story1941 Ball of Fire
Writing/Story1940 Rhythm on the River
Writing/Screenplay1940 Arise, My Love
Writing/Screenplay1939 Midnight
Writing/Screenplay1939 Ninotchka
Writing/Screenplay1939 What a Life
Writing/Writer1938 That Certain Age
Writing/Screenplay1938 Bluebeard's Eighth Wife
Writing/Story1937 Champagne Waltz
Writing/Screenplay1935 The Lottery Lover
Writing/Screenplay1935 Emil and the Detectives
Writing/Story1934 One Exciting Adventure
Directing/Director1934 Bad Seed
Writing/Writer1934 Bad Seed
Writing/Screenplay1934 Music in the Air
Writing/Screenplay1933 What Women Dream
Writing/Screenplay1933 Madame Wants No Children
Writing/Writer1933 Adorable
Writing/Writer1932 Happy Ever After
Writing/Story1932 Where Is This Lady?
Writing/Writer1932 The Winner
Writing/Writer1932 Once There Was a Waltz
Writing/Screenplay1932 The Blue from the Sky
Writing/Writer1932 A Blonde Dream
Writing/Writer1932 Ein Madel der Strasse
Writing/Writer1931 Her Grace Commands
Writing/Screenplay1931 Emil and the Detectives
Writing/Writer1931 Her Highness Commands
Writing/Writer1931 The Wrong Husband
Writing/Screenplay1931 The Man in Search of His Murderer
Writing/Screenplay1930 People on Sunday
Writing/Writer1929 Der Teufelsreporter

Full Name: Billy Wilder
Born: Friday, 06/22 1906 (June) in Sucha, Galicia, Austria-Hungary
Died: Wednesday, 03/27 2002 (March) in Beverly Hills (aged: 95)
Zodiac sign: Cancer (Chinese zodiac sign: Horse)
Languages: German (DE), English (EN)
Educated at: University of Vienna
Member of: Writers Guild of America, West
Siblings: W. Lee Wilder
Other names for Billy Wilder (nicknames, foreign languages etc.):
"Samuel Wilder"
"빌리 와일더"
Billy Wilder frequently works together with these people:
I. A. L. Diamond (26x, Crew)
Doane Harrison (23x, Crew)
Charles Brackett (21x, Crew)
Jack Lemmon (18x, Actor)
Edith Head (15x, Crew)
Alexandre Trauner (15x, Crew)
Hans Dreier (13x, Crew)
Wally Westmore (10x, Crew)
Walter Matthau (8x, Actor)
Daniel Mandell (8x, Crew)
Mike Thomas (8x, Crew)
WatchPlayStream ID: PEOPLE:3480, Added: 03/23/2018, Last updated: 10/07/2024