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Billy Wilder

File:Billy_Wilder.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Billy Wilder

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Also known as Samuel Wilder

Austrian-born American filmmaker and screenwriter (1906-2002)

OverviewAI-generated

Billy Wilder, born Samuel Wilder in Sucha Beskidzka in 1906, was an Austrian-born American screenwriter, film director, film producer, and writer. He held citizenship in Austria-Hungary, Austria, and the United States. Educated at the University of Vienna, he spoke German and English. His professional career began in 1929. He was a member of the Jewish ethnic group and had a sibling named W. Lee Wilder.

Wilder received several awards, including the National Medal of Arts, the Directors Guild of America Award, an Academy Award for Best Director, and an Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay. He was also nominated for Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Story, and Best Writing in both Original and Adapted Screenplay categories. His notable works include *Sunset Boulevard*, *The Lost Weekend*, *Der Prinz von Wales geht auf Urlaub*, and *The Fortune Cookie*.

He died of pneumonia in Beverly Hills on March 27, 2002, due to natural causes. He is buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. His work is recognized in collections for the Academy Award Best Director, the Palme d'Or, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Kennedy Center Honors, and the BAFTA Best Film.

Synthesized by Vinony from 37 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, TMDb, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
1906
Died
2002
Works
37

Top works

  • Sunset Boulevard: Viale del tramonto
  • Der Prinz von Wales geht auf Urlaub
  • The lost weekend
  • The fortune cookie
  • The lost weekend (a Paramount picture)

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Sucha, Galicia, Austria-Hungary

Billy Wilder, born Samuel Wilder; (22 June 1906 - 27 March 2002) was an Austrian-born director, screenwriter and producer who is regarded as one of the most successful 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…

Known for

  • Audrey — Self - Filmmaker (voice) (archive footage)2020
  • Hollywood's Second World War — Self (archive footage)2019
  • Never Be Boring: Billy Wilder — Self (archive footage)2017
  • Billy Wilder: Nobody's Perfect — Self (archive footage)2016
  • The Legacy of 'Some Like It Hot' — Self (archive footage)2006
  • The Making of 'Some Like It Hot' — Self (archive footage)2006
  • Billy Wilder Speaks — Self - Filmmaker2006
  • Un film et son époque — Self (archive footage)2003
  • Nobody's Perfect: The Making of Some Like It Hot — Self (archive footage)2001
  • Klaus Kinski: I'm not an actor — Self (archive footage)2000

via TMDB

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Given name
Billy
Gender
male
Citizenship
Austria–Hungary
Place of birth
Sucha Beskidzka
Place of death
Beverly Hills
Sibling
W. Lee Wilder
Educated at
University of Vienna
Languages spoken
English language
Award
David di Donatello for Best Foreign Director
Notable work
Some Like It Hot
Image
Gloria Swanson & Billy Wilder - ca. 1950.JPG
Show 19 more facts
place of burial
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Commons category
Billy Wilder
date of birth
1906-06-22
date of death
2002-03-27
cause of death
pneumonia
manner of death
natural causes
nominated for
Academy Award for Best Picture
birth name
Samuel Wilder
ethnic group
Jewish people
topic's main category
Category:Billy Wilder
filmography
Billy Wilder filmography
related category
Category:Films with screenplays by Billy Wilder
start of work period
1929-00-00
different from
William Wilder
name in native language
Billy Wilder
P8168
Marsac
topic has template
Template:Billy Wilder
member of
Writers Guild of America West
end of work period
1981-00-00
Sources (12)

via Wikidata · CC0

~29 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Billy Wilder (/ˈwaɪldər/ WYLE-dər, German: [ˈvɪldɐ] ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian and American film director and screenwriter. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most versatile filmmakers of classical 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 was born in Sucha, Galicia, Austria-Hungary. In 1916, he moved to Vienna, where he worked as a journalist instead of attending university. Wilder's career as a screenwriter started in Berlin, where he relocated in his early adulthood. The rise of the Nazi Party and antisemitism in Germany saw him move to Paris. Wilder 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). He established his directorial reputation and received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director with Double Indemnity (1944), a film noir based on James M. Cain's novel of the same name, with a screenplay by him and Raymond Chandler. Wilder won the Best Director and Best Screenplay Academy Awards for The Lost Weekend (1945), which also won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Billy Wilder” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (9)

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via Wikidata sitelinks · CC0