# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/william-wyler
# Generated: 2026-09-01T02:56:05.566Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/william-wyler"
name: "William Wyler"
slug: "william-wyler"
description: "He holds the record no director wants to chase: twelve Oscar nominations for Best Director, more than anyone in history. Three wins, all for Best Picture winners, and a reputation so exacting that actors dreaded his retakes and loved their performances."
tagline: "Swiss-German-American director and producer (1902–1981)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/William_Wyler_portrait.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Directors"
  slug: "directors"
profileType:
  name: "Movie Director"
  slug: "director"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q33999"
birthDate: "1902-07-01"
deathDate: "1981-07-27"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           62.15
  momentum:             10.38992688870837
  historical:           24.991332
  currentAttention:     32.26894957195525
  sourceConfidence:     65
  profileCompleteness:  75
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: 231
tags:
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    slug: "actors"
  - name: "Writer / Author"
    slug: "writer-author"
  - name: "Screenwriting"
    slug: "screenwriting"
  - name: "Film Directing"
    slug: "film-directing"
  - name: "Movies"
    slug: "movies"
  - name: "Television"
    slug: "television"
  - name: "United States"
    slug: "united-states"
  - name: "Americas"
    slug: "americas"
platforms:
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    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0943758/"
    handle:    "nm0943758"
sources:
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    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
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    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/William%20Wyler"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
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    title: "William Wyler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "ويليام وايلر"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "ويليام وايلر"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wyler"
    title: "William Wyler"
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    title: "Уільям Уайлер"
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    title: "Уилям Уайлър"
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    title: "William Wyler"
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    title: "William Wyler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "William Wyler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wyler"
    title: "William Wyler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%93%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%AF%CE%BB%CE%B9%CE%B1%CE%BC_%CE%93%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%AC%CE%B9%CE%BB%CE%B5%CF%81"
    title: "Γουίλιαμ Γουάιλερ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wyler"
    title: "William Wyler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wyler"
    title: "William Wyler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wyler"
    title: "William Wyler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%85_%D9%88%D8%A7%DB%8C%D9%84%D8%B1"
    title: "ویلیام وایلر"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "William Wyler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wyler"
    title: "William Wyler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Wyler"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://www.discogs.com/artist/2507226"
    title: "Discogs"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%85_%D9%88%D8%A7%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%95%D8%B1"
    title: "ویلیام وایلەر"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wyler"
    title: "William Wyler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://als.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wyler"
    title: "William Wyler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Willi Wyler left Germany in 1921 and worked his way up at Universal, becoming the studio's youngest director by 1925. In 1929 he helmed Hell's Heroes, Universal's first sound film shot entirely on location. The next three decades turned him into one of Hollywood's most bankable filmmakers, translating classic literature—Wuthering Heights, The Heiress, The Little Foxes—into both critical and commercial gold. He won Best Director Oscars for Mrs. Miniver in 1942, The Best Years of Our Lives in 1946, and Ben-Hur in 1959. His obsessive perfectionism became industry lore: endless retakes, every nuance honed, theatrical spaces reimagined through camera and cut. Actors feared the process and credited him with their breakthroughs.