Billy Wilder
Austrian-born American filmmaker and screenwriter (1906-2002) · United States · Directors · Died at 95
Billy Wilder is read about 2,043 times a day, in 69 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 390 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?He made Hollywood laugh at its own darkness - insurance murder, fading stardom, corporate adultery - and won Oscars doing it. Wilder wrote and directed with a caustic European eye that turned cynicism into craft, moralism into wit.
A life in dates
Billy, How Did You Do It?Series1990Kennedy Center HonorsAward1986AFI Life Achievement AwardAward1981
Buddy BuddyFilm, Director, Writer1978
The Kennedy Center HonorsSeries1975
Les Rendez-vous du dimancheSeries1974
Spécial cinémaSeries1973
The American Film Institute Salute to ...Series1972
Avanti!Film, Director, Writer1970“An actor entering through the door, you've got nothing. But if he enters through the window, you've got a situation.”In their wordsAs quoted in The Bright Side of Billy Wilder, Primarily (1970) by Tom Wood, p. 201966
The Fortune CookieFilm, Director, Writer1963
Irma la DouceFilm, Director, Writer1961Academy Award for Best DirectorAwardAcademy Award for Best PictureAwardBAFTA Award for Best FilmAward1959
Some Like It HotFilm, Director, Writer1956
CinépanoramaSeries1955Golden Globe Award for Best ScreenplayAward
The Seven Year ItchFilm, 1955Director, Writer1953
The OscarsSeries
Stalag 17Film, 1953Director, Writer1951Academy Award for Best Writing, Original ScreenplayAwardGerman Film AwardSeries1950
Sunset BoulevardFilm, Director, Writer1946Academy Award for Best DirectorAwardAcademy Award for Best Writing, Adapted ScreenplayAwardPalme d'OrAward1944
Double IndemnityFilm, Director, Writer1942
The Major and the MinorFilm, Director, Writer1940
Arise, My LoveFilm, Writer1934
Bad SeedFilm, Director, Writer1930
People on SundayFilm, Writer1929“A bad play folds and is forgotten, but in pictures we don't bury our dead.”In their wordsAs quoted in Culture and Commitment, 1929-1945 (1973) by Warren Susman, p. 1801906Born22 June 1906Also in Deutsch
Photos 8
Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas in Ninotchka
Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity
Gloria Swanson with Wilder on the set of Sunset Boulevard
Curtis, Lemmon, and Monroe in Some Like It Hot
Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment
Wilder in 1989
Wilder's grave in Westwood Village Memorial ParkIn their own words 4
, An actor entering through the door, you've got nothing. But if he enters through the window, you've got a situation.
A bad play folds and is forgotten, but in pictures we don't bury our dead.
I have ten commandments. The first nine are, thou shalt not bore. The tenth is, thou shalt have right of final cut.
Filmography 40
AUAudrey
BSBilly Wilder Speaks
WPWitness for the ProsecutionBBBuddy Buddy
FEFedora
TPThe Front Page
DIDouble IndemnityAVAvanti!
THThe Private Life of Sherlock HolmesTCThe Fortune Cookie
KSKiss Me, StupidIDIrma la Douce
OTOne, Two, Three
TAThe ApartmentSHSome Like It Hot
WPWitness for the Prosecution
LALove in the Afternoon
TLThe Spirit of St. LouisTIThe Seven Year Itch
SASabrinaSTStalag 17
AHAce in the HoleSBSunset Boulevard
AAA Foreign Affair
ABA Song Is Born
TWThe Emperor Waltz
TWThe Lost Weekend
DMDeath MillsDIDouble Indemnity
FCFive Graves to CairoTMThe Major and the Minor
BFBall of Fire
HDHold Back the DawnALArise, My Love
NINinotchka
MIMidnight
BWBluebeard's Eighth WifeBSBad Seed
EDEmil and the DetectivesPSPeople on Sunday151 credits on file
Television 12
UÉUn film et son époqueBIBilly, How Did You Do It?
FLFilm LessonTHThe Kennedy Center HonorsLDLes Rendez-vous du dimancheSCSpécial cinémaTTThe American Film Institute Salute to ...CICinépanoramaTOThe OscarsAwards
In their orbit
Sibling: W. Lee WilderAbout this person
Samuel Wilder was born in Galicia in 1906 and worked as a journalist in Vienna before the Nazis pushed him west - Berlin, Paris, then Hollywood by 1934. He broke through writing Ninotchka in 1939, then stepped behind the camera with Double Indemnity in 1944, a noir that earned him his first Best Director nomination. The Lost Weekend won him Director and Screenplay Oscars in 1945. The 1950s brought Sunset Boulevard, Stalag 17, The Seven Year Itch with Monroe, and Some Like It Hot. In 1960 The Apartment swept Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay - his third directing win. He kept making films into the 1970s, racking up 21 Oscar nominations and seven wins across a five-decade run that left seven of his pictures in the National Film Registry.
In common with Billy
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