William Wyler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 | Jewish American film directors | People from Mulhouse | Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) | 1902 births | 1981 deaths
William Wyler (July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a prolific, Oscar-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.
CareerWyler was born Willi Weiller to a Jewish family in Mulhouse in the French region of Alsace (then part of the German Empire). 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, and Tom Brown of Culver and The Good Fairy. He later signed with Samuel Goldwyn 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) for introducing Audrey Hepburn to American audiences and leading to her first Oscar, The Heiress earning Olivia de Havilland her second Oscar, Friendly Persuasion (1956) which was awarded by the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the Cannes Film Festival, and Ben-Hur (1959) for its eleven Oscar wins (matched 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 (25 November 1934 - 13 March 1936) and married Margaret Tallichet on 23 October 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.
Filmography (as a director)External links
de:William Wyler es:William Wyler eu:William Wyler fr:William Wyler hr:William Wyler it:William Wyler he:ויליאם ויילר nl:William Wyler ja:ウィリアム・ワイラー no:William Wyler pl:William Wyler pt:William Wyler ru:Уайлер, Уильям fi:William Wyler sv:William Wyler tr:William Wyler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
