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William Wyler

William Wyler
Wyler with Oscar Born Willi Wyler
July 1, 1902(1902-07-01)
Mülhausen, Alsace, Germany(now Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin, France) Died July 27, 1981(aged 79)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.Spouse(s) Margaret Sullavan(1934-1936)
Margaret Tallichet (1938-1981) Awards won Academy AwardsBest Director
1942 Mrs. Miniver
1946 The Best Years of Our Lives
1959 Ben-Hur
Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award(1965) BAFTA AwardsBest Film from any Source
1959 Ben-HurGolden Globe AwardsBest Director - Motion Picture
1960 Ben-HurOther Awards Golden Palm- Cannes Film Festival
1957 Friendly Persuasion
AFI Life Achievement Award
1976 Lifetime Achievement

William Wyler (July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was an Academy Award-winning motion picture director. He was known to require tens of takes for every shot in his films and for demanding control over the story, location and crew of each production, yet his exacting nature and attention to detail paid off in the form of both popular and critical success.

Contents

Career

Wyler was born Willi Weiller to a Jewish family in Mulhouse in the French region of Alsace (then part of the German Empire). [1]He was related to Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal Pictures, through his mother (a cousin of Laemmle's). His family connections served him well, as he became the youngest director on the Universal lot in 1925. In 1928, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He soon proved himself an able craftsman, and in the early 1930s became one of Universal's greatest assets, directing such solid films as The Love Trap, Hell's Heroes, Tom Brown of Culver, and The Good Fairy. He became well-known for his merciless (some would say sadistic) insistence on multiple retakes, resulting in often award-winning and critically acclaimed performances from his actors. Laurence Olivier, whom Wyler directed to two Oscar nominations in two films, credited Wyler with teaching him how to act more subtly onscreen than he had previously. Bette Davis not only received three Oscar nominations for her screen work under Wyler, but won her second Oscar for her performance in Wyler's 1938 film Jezebel. Charlton Heston won his only nomination and Best Actor Oscar for his work in Wyler's 1959 Ben-Hur.

Wyler signed with Samuel Goldwyn in the 1930s and directed such quality films as These Three, Come and Get It, Dodsworth, Dead End, Jezebel, Wuthering Heights, The Letter, The Westerner, and The Little Foxes.

Between 1942 and 1945, Wyler served as a major in the U.S. Army Air Corps and directed the documentary Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress. He also directed two key films which first captured the mood of the nation as it prepared for battle and, four years later, peace. Mrs. Miniver (1942), a story of a middle class English family adjusting to the war in Europe, helped condition American audiences to life in wartime (and galvanized support for the British). The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), the story of three veterans arriving home and adjusting to civilian life, dramatized the problems of returning veterans for those who had remained on the homefront. Wyler won Best Director Oscars for both films (which also won Best Picture Oscars).

During the 1950s and 1960s, Wyler directed a handful of critically acclaimed and influential films, most notably Roman Holiday (1953) which introduced Audrey Hepburn to American audiences and resulted in her first Oscar nomination and only win, The Heiress which earned Olivia de Havilland her second Oscar, Friendly Persuasion (1956) which was awarded the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the Cannes Film Festival, and Ben-Hur (1959) which won eleven Oscars (equalled only twice, by Titanic in 1997 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003).

In 1965, Wyler won the Irving Thalberg Award for career achievement. Eleven years later, he received the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. In addition to his Best Picture and Best Director Oscar wins, ten of Wyler's films earned Best Picture nominations. He received twelve Oscar nominations for Best Director, winning three times, while three dozen of his actors won Oscars or were nominated.

Wyler's style is (among auteurist critics) notoriously difficult to perceive. He did not build a stable of players like Capra, Sturges or Ford. He directed varied types of films without any trademark shots or themes, but in his choice of lighting, blocking and camera distance, and in the serious liberal tone of his work, a continuity of worldview is detectable.

On July 24, 1981, Wyler gave an interview with his daughter, producer Catherine Wyler for Directed by William Wyler, a PBS documentary about his life and career. A mere three days later, Wyler died from a heart attack. Wyler's last words on film concern a vision of directing his "next picture...Going Home". Wyler is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Wyler was briefly married to Margaret Sullavan (November 25, 1934 - March 13, 1936) and married Margaret Tallichet on October 23, 1938 until his death; they had four children.

Academy Awards and nominations

Wyler has the distinction of having directed three Best Director Academy Award winners: Ben Hur, The Best Years of Our Lives, and Mrs. Miniver. He is tied with Frank Capra and behind John Ford, who won four Oscars in this category. There are twelve other directors who have won two Academy Awards for Best Director.

Awards Preceded by
John Ford
for How Green Was My ValleyAcademy Award for Best Director
1942
for Mrs. MiniverSucceeded by
Michael Curtiz
for CasablancaPreceded by
Billy Wilder
for The Lost WeekendAcademy Award for Best Director
1946
for The Best Years of Our LivesSucceeded by
Elia Kazan
for Gentleman's AgreementPreceded by
Louis Malleand Jacques Yves Cousteau
for The Silent WorldPalme d'Or- Cannes Film Festival
1957
for Friendly PersuasionSucceeded by
Mikhail Kalatozov
for The Cranes Are FlyingPreceded by
Vincente Minnelli
for GigiAcademy Award for Best Director
1959
for Ben-HurSucceeded by
Billy Wilder
for The Apartment

Filmography (as a director)

  • The Crook Buster (1925)
  • The Gunless Bad Man (1926)
  • Ridin' for Love (1926)
  • The Fire Barrier (1926)
  • Don't Shoot (1926)
  • The Pinnacle Rider (1926)
  • Martin of the Mounted (1926)
  • Lazy Lightning (1926)
  • The Stolen Ranch (1926)
  • The Two Fister (1927)
  • Kelcy Gets His Man (1927)
  • Tenderfoot Courage (1927)
  • The Silent Partner (1927)
  • Blazing Days (1927)
  • Shooting Straight (1927)
  • Galloping Justice (1927)
  • The Haunted Homestead (1927)
  • Hard Fists (1927)
  • The Lone Star (1927)
  • The Home Trail (1927)
  • Gun Justice (1927)
  • The Phantom Outlaw (1927)
  • The Square Shooter (1927)
  • The Horse Trader (1927)
  • Daze of the West (1927)
  • The Border Cavalier (1927)
  • Desert Dust (1927)
  • Thunder Riders (1928)
  • Anybody Here Seen Kelly? (1928)
  • The Shakedown (1929)
  • The Love Trap (1929)
  • Hell's Heroes (1930)
  • The Storm (1930)
  • A House Divided (1931)

References

Notes

  1. ^ Madsen 1973, p. 3.

Bibliography

  • Madsen, Axel. William Wyler: the Authorized Biography. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1973, ISBN 0-49101-302-7.

External links

v • d • eFilms directed by William Wyler 1920s The Crook Buster (1925) • The Gunless Bad Man (1926) • Ridin' for Love (1926) • The Fire Barrier (1926) • Don't Shoot (1926) • The Pinnacle Rider (1926) • Martin of the Mounted (1926) • Lazy Lightning (1926) • The Stolen Ranch (1926) • The Two Fister (1927) • Kelcy Gets His Man (1927) • Tenderfoot Courage (1927) • The Silent Partner (1927) • Blazing Days (1927) • Shooting Straight (1927) • Galloping Justice (1927) • The Haunted Homestead (1927) • Hard Fists (1927) • The Lone Star (1927) • The Home Trail (1927) • Gun Justice (1927) • The Phantom Outlaw (1927) • The Square Shooter (1927) • The Horse Trader (1927) • Daze of the West (1927) • The Border Cavalier (1927) • Desert Dust (1927) • Thunder Riders (1928) • Anybody Here Seen Kelly? (1928) • The Shakedown(1929) • The Love Trap (1929) 1930s Hell's Heroes (1930) • The Storm(1930) • A House Divided (1931) • Tom Brown of Culver (1932) • Her First Mate (1933) • Counsellor at Law(1933) • Glamour (1934) • The Good Fairy (1935) • The Gay Deception (1935) • Barbary Coast(1935) • These Three(1936) • Dodsworth(1936) • Come and Get It(1936) • Dead End(1937) • Jezebel(1938) • Wuthering Heights(1939) 1940s The Westerner(1940) • The Letter(1940) • The Little Foxes(1941) • Mrs. Miniver(1942) • The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944) • The Best Years of Our Lives(1946) • Thunderbolt (1947) • The Heiress(1949) 1950s Detective Story(1951) • Carrie(1952) • Roman Holiday(1953) • The Desperate Hours(1955) • Friendly Persuasion(1956) • The Big Country(1958) • Ben-Hur(1959) 1960s The Children's Hour(1961) • The Collector(1965) • How to Steal a Million(1966) • Funny Girl(1968) 1970s The Liberation of L.B. Jones(1970)
v • d • eAcademy Award forBest Director

John Ford (1941) · William Wyler (1942) · Michael Curtiz (1943) · Leo McCarey (1944) · Billy Wilder (1945) · William Wyler (1946) · Elia Kazan (1947) · John Huston (1948) · Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1949) · Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1950) · George Stevens (1951) · John Ford (1952) · Fred Zinnemann (1953) · Elia Kazan (1954) · Delbert Mann (1955) · George Stevens (1956) · David Lean (1957) · Vincente Minnelli (1958) · William Wyler (1959) · Billy Wilder (1960)

Complete List · (1927–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001-present)

PersondataNAME Wyler, William ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weiller, Wilhelm SHORT DESCRIPTION Oscar-winning motion picturedirectorDATE OF BIRTH July 1, 1902PLACE OF BIRTH Mülhausen, Alsace, Germany(now Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin, France) DATE OF DEATH July 27, 1981PLACE OF DEATH Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Categories: American film directors | BAFTA winners (people) | Best Director Academy Award winners | Best Director Golden Globe winners | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Naturalized citizens of the United States | German immigrants to the United States | German-American Jews | Jewish American film directors | People from Mulhouse | Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) | 1902 births | 1981 deathsHidden category: Infobox actor templates needing updating

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