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Billy Wilder

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

AI overview

Billy Wilder was an Austrian-born American filmmaker and screenwriter who created some of the most influential films of the 20th century. His work matters because he mastered both comedy and drama, helping to define the style and sophistication of Hollywood cinema from the 1940s through the 1980s.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born: 1906
Died: 2002
Works: 37

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Directing · 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

Article

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.