Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder (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 America's most versatile filmmakers. He received seven Academy Awards (among 21 nominations), a BAFTA Award and the Palme d'Or. Wilder was born into a Polish-Jewish family 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 Ninotchka (1939). He established a reputation as a director and received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director with Double Indemnity (1944), a film noir he cowrote with Raymond Chandler. Wilder won Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Picture for The Lost Weekend (1945). In the 1950s, Wilder directed and co-wrote a string of critically acclaimed films, including Sunset Boulevard (1950), for which he won his second Academy Award for Best Screenplay; Ace in the Hole (1951), Stalag 17 (1953) and Sabrina (1954). He directed and co-wrote three films in 1957: The Spirit of St. Louis, Love in the Afternoon and Witness for the Prosecution. Wilder directed Marilyn Monroe in two films, The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Some Like It Hot (1959). In 1960, he co-wrote, produced and directed The Apartment, which won him Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture. Wilder received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1986, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1990,...