Billy Wilder, Writer and Director of Classic Films, Is Dead at 95

The NYT | march 28, 2002 | Aljean Harmetz

[summer]

Good question, but the same thing happened with Orson Welles, director of "Citizen Kane." I think Hollywood has produced a very different kind of product in the last 20 years. Directors like Billy Wilder and Orson Welles just done "cut it." Because by and large, they didn't make junk.

[summer]

just done = just don't

[commish]

Billy Wilder was a personal friend and staunch supporter of Ronald Reagan .. mighty interesting that Mr. Wilder's directing career - IE Hollywood abandoned (blacklisted?) him -- right at the same time Reagan became President.

[summer]

Very interesting.

[veronica]

Why did Hollywood abandon him...

From Wilder's great (maybe greatest film) 'Sunset Blvd'...

"I know you. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big," he says to the dark, miserable old woman in sunglasses. "I am big," Desmond insists, her head up high, "It’s the pictures that got small!"

[summer]

Great line. And, I think, true. I just can't get as interested in films like "Weekend at Bernie's" as I did with films made in the period Wilder worked most, or eben through to "Bonnie and Clyde" and "The Graduate" or any number of films from the 1970's. It just seems like a lot of product now is intended to appeal to a kid who's 13 years old and will go see it 10 times.

[summer]

And, no offense to kids -- but, well, you know what I mean. The pictures do seem to get smaller and smaller. As the profits get larger.

[summer]

eben = even

[The Great Satan]

And, thinking of the cast of Sunset Boulevard, Bill Holden was Reagan's best man, and Gloria Swanson and C. B. DeMille were both politically active arch-conservatives. Swanson was a pal of Ayn Rand, by the way, and DeMille "discovered" Rand on the lot of DeMille Studios in 1926 and hired the young immigrant, who barely spoke English, as a junior screenwriter.

Compare that to the dreck on display the other night. It's not only the pictures that got small.

[The Great Satan]

"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Billy Wilder

[summer]

LOL....

[xp38]

Oh yes One Two Three is a joy from start to finish. The rat a tat tat dialogue is amazing. Similar in speed to His Girl Friday another one of the all timers.

[jimfree]

Oh yes One Two Three is a joy from start to finish. The rat a tat tat dialogue is amazing. Similar in speed to His Girl Friday another one of the all timers.

Was that the one that also included the Coke/Pepsi cold war?

[Nitro]

I caught a glimpse of it on the FNC news ticker!!

This is still freaky though, everytime some old star dies all the other oldsters must start worrying and I wouldn't be surprised if that somehow contributes to the "death comes in threes" thing!!

[SR71A]

I read somewhere that Cagney absolutely hated that picture, and vowed never to act in pictures again. He didn't work again until "Ragtime" in the mid 80's.

[truthkeeper]

A brilliant man. "The Apartment" is my all-time favorite Jack Lemmon movie. I also loved "Sunset Boulevard."

[GB]

I don't think he hated the picture ... from what I've read, he supposedly had a very bad experience working with Horst Bucholtz, who played the Commie and who was apparently the arrogant, egotistical, tempermental sort Cagney had no use for.

[VinnyTex]

Billy Wilder

more photos

Birth name Samuel Wilder Date of birth (location) 22 June 1906 , Sucha, Austria-Hungary. [now in Poland] Mini biography Originally planning to become a lawyer, 'Billy Wilder' abandoned this ... (show more) Sometimes Credited As: Billie Wilder

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Filmography as: Writer , Director , Producer , Actor , Miscellaneous crew

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Writer - filmography
( 1990s ) (1980s ) (1970s ) (1960s ) (1950s ) (1940s ) (1930s ) (1920s )

1. Sabrina (1995) (earlier screenplay)
   
   
2. Witness for the Prosecution (1982) (TV) (1957 screenplay)
3. Buddy Buddy (1981)
   
   
4. Fedora (1978)
5. Front Page, The (1974)
6. Double Indemnity (1973) (TV) (1944 screenplay)
7. Avanti! (1972)
8. Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The (1970)
   
   
9. Casino Royale (1967) (uncredited)
   ... aka Charles K. Feldman's Casino Royale (1967)
10. Fortune Cookie, The (1966)
    ... aka Meet Whiplash Willie (1966) (UK)
11. Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)
12. Irma la Douce (1963)
13. One, Two, Three (1961)
14. Ocean's Eleven (1960) (uncredited)
15. Apartment, The (1960)
16. Ninotchka (1960) (TV) (1939 screenplay)
    
    
17. Some Like It Hot (1959)
18. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
19. Love in the Afternoon (1957)
20. Spirit of St. Louis, The (1957)
21. Seven Year Itch, The (1955)
22. Sabrina (1954)
    ... aka Sabrina Fair (1954) (UK)
23. Emil und die Detektive (1954) (earlier screenplay Emil und die Detektive) (as Billie Wilder)
24. Stalag 17 (1953)
25. Big Carnival, The (1951)
    ... aka Ace in the Hole (1951) (USA)
    ... aka Human Interest Story, The (1951) (USA)
26. Sunset Blvd. (1950) (screenplay) (story A Can of Beans)
    
    
27. Foreign Affair, A (1948)
28. Song Is Born, A (1948) (story From A to Z)
29. Emperor Waltz, The (1948)
30. Bishop's Wife, The (1947) (uncredited)
31. Lost Weekend, The (1945)
32. Double Indemnity (1944)
33. Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
34. Major and the Minor, The (1942)
35. Ball of Fire (1941) (also story)
    ... aka Professor and the Burlesque Queen, The (1941)
36. Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
    ... aka Golden Door, The (1941) (USA)
    ... aka Memo to a Movie Director (1941) (USA)
37. Arise, My Love (1940)
38. Rhythm on the River (1940) (story)
    
    
39. What a Life (1939)
40. Ninotchka (1939)
41. Midnight (1939)
42. That Certain Age (1938)
43. Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938)
44. Champagne Waltz (1937) (story)
45. Emil and the Detectives (1935)
    ... aka Emil (1935)
46. Lottery Lover, The (1935)
47. Under Pressure (1935)
48. Mauvaise graine (1934) (screenplay) (as Billie Wilder)
    ... aka Bad Blood (1934)
    ... aka Bad Seed (1934)
49. Music in the Air (1934)
50. One Exciting Adventure (1934) (story)
51. Madame ne veut pas d'enfants (1933) (screenplay) (as Billie Wilder)
    ... aka No Children Wanted (1933) (International: English title)
52. Was Frauen träumen (1933)
    ... aka What Women Dream (1933)
53. Madame wünscht keine Kinder (1933)
    ... aka Madame Wants No Children (1933) (USA)
54. Adorable (1933) (story Ihre Hoheit Befiehlt)
55. Blaue vom Himmel, Das (1932)
    ... aka Blue from the Sky, The (1934) (USA)
56. Es war einmal ein Walzer (1932)
    ... aka Once There Was a Waltz (1934) (USA)
57. Happy Ever After (1932)
    ... aka Blonde Dream, A (1932) (USA)
58. Scampolo, ein Kind der Straße (1932)
    ... aka Um einen Groschen Liebe (1932)
59. Un rêve blond (1932) (as Billie Wilder)
60. Where Is the Lady? (1932) (German version "Es war einmal ein Walzer")
    ... aka Where Is This Girl? (1932) (UK)
61. Blonder Traum, Ein (1932)
    ... aka Blonde's Dream, A (1932) (USA)
62. Mann, der seinen Mörder sucht, Der (1931)
    ... aka Jim, der Mann mit der Narbe (1931) (Germany)
    ... aka Looking for His Murderer (1931)
63. Emil und die Detektive (1931)
    ... aka Emil and the Detectives (1931)
64. Princesse, à vos ordres! (1931)
65. Falsche Ehemann, Der (1931)
    ... aka Wrong Husband, The (1932) (USA)
66. Ihre Hoheit befiehlt (1931)
    ... aka Her Grace Commands (1931) (USA)
67. Burschenlied aus Heidelberg, Ein (1930)
68. Menschen am Sonntag (1930)
    ... aka People on Sunday (1930)
    
    
69. Teufelsreporter, Der (1929)

[Old Fud]

Man, I love this guy's work. "The Major and the Minor" was a total hoot. And "Witness for the Prosecution" was perfection.

"Double Indemnity" and "Sunset Blvd." were the effective alpha and omega of film noir.

A great man, and American.

[First_Salute]

From Yahoo / Reuters / AP "slideshow" ---

Director and screenwriter Billy Wilder, 95, has died March 28, 2002. Wilder, shown with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger prior to the latter accepting the Billy Wilder Award during ceremonies at Spago November 6, 2000 in Beverly Hills, received twenty Academy Awards nominations and won six Oscars during his illustrious career; three of them in 1960 for Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Picture for 'The Apartment.' Wilder was born in Vienna and broke into films in Germany as a screenwriter. In 1933, he fled Nazi Germany for Paris, and then to Hollywood in 1934. (REUTERS/Rose Prouser-Files)