1906-2002
Director Billy Wilder needs absolutely NO introduction to classic film fans across the globe! He was one of the 20th centuries most iconic comedic and film noir directors, and a huge fixture in the "golden days" of Hollywood. What may be a little on a the vague side is his start in the film business. Born Samuel Wilder on this day to Austrian German speaking Jews in what was then Sucha, a town in the Gallicia-Lodomeria region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now a part of Poland), it was his mother who first nicknamed him "Billie." His parents were very successful bakers and owned a family bake shop in Sucha and tried to get both "Billie" and his older brother William--both of whom were enamored with screenwriting--to join the family business to no avail (although William would eventually get into the business, he first became a designer and manufacturer of purses in New York). Before getting directly into writing screenplays, he worked as both a stage entertainer and a writer of journalism in Vienna. It is hardly a surprise then, that his first screenplay was about journalism. Der Teufelsreporter (or Hell of a Reporter or The Daredevil Reporter)--a late silent film--was written completely by Wilder (as "Billie Wilder") and was produced in Germany by Deutsche Universal-Film, directed by Ernst Laemmle (nephew of Carl), and released in 1929. Wilder also apperared in the film, which marked his only acting credit, if you don't count a cameo. In 1929, he also co-penned--principally with Curt Siodmak, but also his brother Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer--the experimental film People on Sunday. The film was released in early 1930. He continued to work in Germany as a screenwriter for the next several years, but the rising power of Hitler and the Nazi Party necissistated his move to France to escape arrest and persecution. While in Paris, he formally directed his first film in 1934: Bad Seed (Mauvaise graine), which he co-directed with fellow ex-pat Alexandre Esway (he also wrote a goodly portion of the screenplay). He soon fled Europe altogether, setting up in Hollywood, changing the spelling of his nickname to "Billy" in the process. Wilder would, of course, go on to legendary greatness there--receiving a whopping 21 Oscar nominations, winning 8, including the prestigious Irving Thalberg Memorial Award, between the years 1940-1988. Some of his scripts have been or are currently being remade, including Sunset Boulevard (which is itself based on an Andrew Lloyd Weber musical remake of Wilder's burning original starring Gloria Swanson...yes it's one of my favorites!). Some of his original work was also used in the live television performance in the 1950's series Lux Video Theatre. He is one of the few legendary directors whose works live on through his talent in writing--though he gets less attention for it. Wilder was smart to flee Europe when he did; several members of his family perished in the Holocaust, including his mother and stepfather at two separate death camps. Wilder himself lived a very long life, even becoming a cancer survivor. He eventually succumbed to pneumonia at the age of 95 in West Hollywood on the 27th of March in 2002. He is interred at Westwood Memorial Park (incidintly Milton Berle and Dudley Moore also died on that same day). His headstone reads "I'm a writer, but then nobody's perfect." Wilder was also famous for a large, comprehensive modern art (and Asian figurines) collection that he emased over his many decades in the United States. Artists in his collection ranged from Picasso to Pollack; Joan Miro to Andy Warhol. He was also a painter (mostly in oils) himself.
