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.
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
Audrey
Hollywood's Second World War
Never Be Boring: Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder: Nobody's Perfect
Night Will Fall
And the Oscar Goes To...
Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood
Helmut by June
Shadows of Suspense
The Legacy of 'Some Like It Hot'
Billy Wilder Speaks
Un film et son époque
Klaus Kinski: I'm not an actor
Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy
Walter Matthau: Diamond in the Rough
Fred MacMurray: The Guy Next Door
Jack Lemmon: America's Everyman
Sabrina
A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies
Audrey Hepburn: Remembered
Billy, How Did You Do It?
Billy, How Did You Do It?
The Exiles
Directed by William Wyler
Witness for the Prosecution
Portrait of a '60% Perfect Man': Billy Wilder
Buddy Buddy
The Kennedy Center Honors
Fedora
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
The Front Page
Spécial cinéma
Double Indemnity
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Avanti!
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
The Fortune Cookie
Kiss Me, Stupid
Irma la Douce
One, Two, Three
The Apartment
Some Like It Hot
Witness for the Prosecution
Love in the Afternoon
The Spirit of St. Louis
Cinépanorama
The Seven Year Itch
Emil and the Detectives
Sabrina
Stalag 17
The Oscars
Ace in the Hole
Sunset Boulevard
A Song Is Born
A Foreign Affair
The Emperor Waltz
The Bishop's Wife
The Lost Weekend
Death Mills
Double Indemnity
Five Graves to Cairo
The Major and the Minor
Ball of Fire
Hold Back the Dawn
Arise, My Love
Rhythm on the River
Ninotchka
What a Life
Midnight
That Certain Age
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife
Champagne Waltz
First Offence
The Lottery Lover
Music in the Air
One Exciting Adventure
Bad Seed
Adorable
What Women Dream
Madame Wants No Children
The Blue from the Sky
Scampolo, ein Kind der Straße
Once There Was a Waltz
The Winner
Emil and the Detectives
Princess, At Your Orders!
The Wrong Husband
Infidelities
Her Grace Commands
The Man in Search of His Murderer
People on Sunday
Der Teufelsreporter