Billy Wilder 1906-2002

Internet Movie Data Base ^ | 3/28/02 | IMDB Staff

[jalisco555]

Billy Wilder 1906-2002

In an unbelievable boost to those who love to claim that famous people die in threes, Variety is reporting that writer/director/legend Billy Wilder died Wednesday night (3/27/02) of pneumonia in Beverly Hills. Mr. Wilder was 95. Born in Vienna, Billy Wilder, with his writing partner Charles Brackett, and later with I.A.L. Diamond, created some of the greatest films ever made. Wilder directed such diverse works as Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, A Foreign Affair, Sunset Blvd., Stalag 17, Sabrina, Witness for the Prosecution, Some Like It Hot and The Apartment (to name just a few). He was nominated for 21 Academy Awards® in his life; he won seven (including an Irving Thalberg Memorial Award). Any one of these films would have earned him the title of one of our greatest directors. Taken together they are a legacy that few have equaled or will ever equal.

[jalisco555]

For those of you who are waiting for the third one to die, well here it is.

[Rightwing Canuck]

Related thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/655344/posts?page=3

[Revolting cat!]

Well finally, the third one. I've been getting blue in the face holding my breath. What a relief!

[j.havenfarm]

Indeed. I've found that Hollywood deaths invariably occur in threes - - unless they occur singly, in doubles, four at a shot, or in some other configuration.

[Mudboy Slim]

"Hollywood deaths invariably occur..."

Yep...MUD

[Revolting cat!]

Finally, a decent film director checks out so he can go to heaven and make there movies with Elvis that are actually funny, co-star Jayne Mansfield, and have decent soundtracks, written, no doubt, by Doc Pomus with Mort Shuman and played instrumentally by Brian Jones, Bill Black and Keith Moon. Get ready for a real treat folks!

[Revolting cat!]

The guy must not have known that these show business deaths go in threes or dismissed it as an old wives' tale or he would have done everything to avoid it. Pity. That'll learn 'im!

[theDentist]

'I've been getting blue in the face holding my breath"

Well, Billy's doing that for your now.

Seriously, I thought he had died back in the early 80's.

[egarvue]

co-star Jayne Mansfield...

Speaking of Jayne Mansfield, I ran into some interesting triva the other day. Mariska Hargitay, the female detective on NBC's "Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit", is Jayne Mansfield's daughter; she was in the car when her mom was killed in a car accident in '68.

[nicholle]

Wait - shouldn't we be digging to find out whether or not all
of them partied together on Oscar night? Is no one going
to yell bio-terrorism? People, I am disappointed.
: )

[mwestk]

....where have you been?

[jimfree]

I didn't until today know that Wilder was still alive. I get goosebumps reading the partial list of his work. What great story-telling. If there was a political agenda with this director I sure didn't see it. Thanks for the post.

[Clemenza]

Speaking of Jayne Mansfield, I ran into some interesting triva the other day. Mariska Hargitay, the female detective on NBC's "Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit", is Jayne Mansfield's daughter; she was in the car when her mom was killed in a car accident in '68.

Unfortunatly, Mariska lacks her mother's finest "attributes."

[Revolting cat!]

A film director that you could tell grew up on books and theatre and not on television as the current Hollywood giants (read: midgets!) Seriously, ever since since the early Spielberg and Lucas, uhm, masterpieces, I thought that this is at the bottom of the difference between then and now in American cinema.

[apackof2]

She is quite good on "Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit"
She also had a role on ER, playing Dr. Greene's girlfriend.
I used to watch until ER started with the liberal agenda

[arkfreepdom]

"One, Two, Three" is a great movie. See it if you get the chance. One of my favorites.

[Argus]

As a kid, I loved STALAG 17 and SOME LIKE IT HOT. As a teenager, I thought SUNSET BOULEVARD was the coolest. As an adult, I find THE APARTMENT an almost perfect movie.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Billy Wilder directed Some like it Hot, in which appeared...

George Raft, who also appeared in Casino Royale with...

Peter Sellers, who appeared in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with...

Dudley Moore, who appeared in Wholly Moses with...

Dom DeLuise, who appeared in The Muppet Movie with...

Milton Berle, who appeared in Let's Make Love! with...

Marilyn Monroe, who starred in Some Like It Hot which was directed by...

Billy Wilder!

Can anyone go full circle by using less than the four other people I used?

[billsux]

It's probably cheating but Berle and Wilder were both mentioned in AFI's 100 Years, 100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies (2000) and Berle and Moore were both on the Muppet Show fairly often (tho never together). So, I guess, sort of, Wilder --> Berle --> Kermit --> Moore... But, again, pretty thin (via a documentary and variety show).

Actually you can shrink your own list by one... Billy Wilder had a connection to Casino Royale himself (you can remove Raft from your list). Check this out... IMDB. Which effectively shrinks it as low as you can get it since none of them have any direct connections (at least none I was able to find, other than the flimsy ones I mentioned earlier).

[egarvue]

Underneath my Generation X rock, blissfully ignorant until now about lives of 60's stars :)