Billy Wilder

27 films · 1934 to 1981

Born 22 June 1906, Sucha, Galicia, Austria-Hungary · Died 27 March 2002

Billy Wilder was an Austrian and American film director and screenwriter. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of America's most versatile filmmakers. He received seven Academy Awards (among 21 nominations), a BAFTA Award and the Palme d'Or. Wilder was born into a Polish-Jewish family in Sucha, Galicia, Austria-Hungary. In 1916, he moved to Vienna, where he worked as a journalist instead of attending university. Wilder's career as a screenwriter started in Berlin, where he relocated in his early adulthood. The rise of the Nazi Party and antisemitism in Germany saw him move to Paris. Wilder moved to Hollywood in 1934, and had a major hit when he, Charles Brackett and Walter Reisch wrote the screenplay for Ninotchka (1939).

Biography adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.

Critical context from Senses of Cinema