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Billy Wilder

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Billy Wilder: Biography

  • Birth Name: Samuel Wilder
  • Birth Place: Sucha, Austria-Hungary
  • Date of Birth / Zodiac Sign: 06/22/1906, Cancer
  • Date of Death: 03/27/2002
  • Profession: Director; producer; screenwriter
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Billy Wilder Fast Facts:
  • Found work as a reporter, then as a screenwriter, in Berlin during the silent film era.
  • In 1933, fled Nazi Germany for Paris, where he made his feature debut with Mauvaise Graine (Bad Seed), codirected by Alexander Esway.
  • His interest in directing stemmed from a desire to ensure scripts were not misinterpreted; rarely let actors change a word of dialogue.
  • First Hollywood production was the 1942 romantic comedy The Major and the Minor.
  • Changed the opening of his classic film noir Sunset Boulevard (1950) when preview audiences laughed at the scene of cadavers talking in a morgue.
  • When later films were heavily edited by studios and then performed poorly, he claimed age discrimination, and his directing career tapered off.
  • Films adapted for the stage included the Neil Simon musical Promises, Promises, based on The Apartment (1960); Sugar, based on Some Like It Hot (1959); and Andrew Lloyd Webber's faithful take on Sunset Boulevard.
  • Received the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award in 1986.
  • Billy Wilder Relationships:
  • Max Wilder - Father
  • Eugenie Wilder - Mother
  • Judith Coppicus Iribe - Ex-wife
  • Audrey Wilder - Wife
  • Vincent Wilder - Son
  • Victoria Wilder - Daughter
  • Billy Wilder Awards:
  • 1958 Golden Globe: Best Director - Motion Picture - Nominee
  • 1961 Golden Globe: Best Director - Motion Picture - Nominee
  • 1973 Golden Globe: Best Director - Motion Picture - Nominee
  • 1944 Oscar: Best Achievement in Directing - Nominee
  • 1945 Oscar: Best Achievement in Directing - Winner
  • 1954 Oscar: Best Achievement in Directing - Nominee
  • 1957 Oscar: Best Achievement in Directing - Nominee
  • 1960 Oscar: Best Achievement in Directing - Winner
  • 1960 Oscar: Best Motion Picture of the Year - Winner
  • 1941 Oscar: Best Writing (Original Screenplay) - Nominee
  • 1951 Golden Globe: Best Director - Motion Picture - Winner
  • 1950 Oscar: Best Achievement in Directing - Nominee
  • 1939 Oscar: Best Writing (Screenplay) - Nominee
  • 1945 Oscar: Best Writing (Screenplay) - Winner
  • 1946 Golden Globe: Best Director - Motion Picture - Winner
  • 1941 Oscar: Best Writing (Original Story) - Nominee
  • 1944 Oscar: Best Writing (Screenplay) - Nominee
  • 1948 Oscar: Best Writing (Screenplay) - Nominee
  • 1950 Oscar: Best Writing (Story and Screenplay) - Winner
  • 1951 Oscar: Best Writing (Story and Screenplay) - Nominee
  • 1953 Oscar: Best Achievement in Directing - Nominee
  • 1954 Oscar: Best Writing (Screenplay) - Nominee
  • 1959 Oscar: Best Achievement in Directing - Nominee
  • 1959 Oscar: Best Writing (Screenplay--based on material from another medium) - Nominee
  • 1960 Oscar: Best Writing (Story and Screenplay--written directly for the screen) - Winner
  • 1966 Oscar: Best Writing (Story and Screenplay--written directly for the screen) - Nominee
  • 1987 Oscar: Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award - Winner
  • 1959 BAFTA Awards: Best Film and British Film - Nominee
  • 1960 BAFTA Awards: Best Film and British Film - Winner
  • College:
  • University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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