Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder (; born Samuel Wilder, June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-born American film director, screenwriter, and producer whose career in Hollywood spanned over five decades. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of the Hollywood Golden Age of cinema.
You can find people similar to Billy Wilder by visiting our lists Deaths from pneumonia in California and 20th-century American screenwriters.
| Full name at birth | Samuel Wilder
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| Claim to fame | Film Noir
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| Date of birth | 22 June 1906
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| Place of birth | Sucha, Galicia, Austria
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| Date of death | 27 March 2002
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| Age | 95 (age at death)
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| Place of death | Beverly Hills, CA, USA
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| Cause of death | Pneumonia
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| Occupation | Film director, producer and screenwriter
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PERSONAL DETAILS
| Height | 5' 11" (180 cm)
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ADDITIONAL DETAILS
| High school |
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![Billy Wilder - Yours Retro Magazine Pictorial [United Kingdom] (January 2024)](http://img3.bdbphotos.com/images/130x130/o/8/o8on9qz58ffezfno.jpg?skj2io4l)
- He wanted to direct Schindler's List (1993), but Steven Spielberg preferred doing it himself. Wilder has been quoted saying it would have become his most personal film.
- At least three of his films have been made into Broadway musicals. The Apartment (1960) was the basis for "Promises, Promises" in 1968. Some Like It Hot (1959) was the basis for "Sugar" in 1973. And Sunset Blvd. (1950) was adapted into a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1993.
- Not having seen his parents since he went to Berlin to make films, he joined American patrols through war-torn Europe shortly after the war. Through intense research he found out that both his mother and grandmother were killed in concentration camps, a subject that he usually declined to discuss. However, when shooting a film with Wilder, an actor expressed sympathy for his own Nazi character, to which the usually cool-headed Wilder roared, "Those bastards killed my mother!!!"
- He used "Billie" as his first name until his emigration in 1933.
- His directorial debut was The Major and the Minor (1942).
More...
- Quotes (44) keyboard_arrow_right
- Trivia (42) keyboard_arrow_right
- Pictorials (2) keyboard_arrow_right
- Photos (65) keyboard_arrow_right
- Lists (73) keyboard_arrow_right
- Filmography (235) keyboard_arrow_right
- Awards (90) keyboard_arrow_right
- Forum (2) keyboard_arrow_right
- Fans (16) keyboard_arrow_right
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