chuck kingeter

Billy Wilder was born Samuel Wilder on June 22,1906, in the town of  Sucha in Galicia, a section of  Poland, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His mother, who had lived a few years in America and had been fascinated by the legend of Buffalo Bill, nicknamed him Billy. He grew up in Vienna and moved to Berlin as a journalist where he became intrigued with writing screenplays. Berlin a edgy and cynical city had a strong effect on his later work.

When Hitler rose to power, Wilder realized that as a Jew he had no future in Germany. He tried to persuade his family to leave with him, but failed. During World War II, his grandmother and mother died in Ausenwltz. He fed in 1933 for Paris, Mex:ico, and, finally, the United States. Arriving in Hollywood with virtually no money or knowledge of  English, he moved in with Peter Lorre at the Chateau Marmont, becoming a member of Hollywood 's European immigrant community which, in the thirties, included Ernst Lubitsch and Fritz Lang, and began collaborating on occasional scripts. In 1938, he combined his talent with the suave skill of former New Yorker critic Charles Brackett for a succession of hit movies, including The Major and the Minor, The Lost Weekend and A Foreign Affair. The collaboration ended in 1950 with the haunting ``Sunset Boulevard. With his other major collaborator, screenwriter. A.L. Diamond, Wilder co-wrote Love in the Afternoon, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, and Irma La Douce, all of which he directed. His other films as director and co-writer include Witness for the Prosecution, Double Indemnity, Stalag 17, Ace in the Hole (The Big Carnival), and The Seven Year Itch.

Wilde's dissatisfaction with the Hollywood system had led him from writer to writer-director and in 1950 he took it one step further, adding producer to his credits on the film The Big Carnival. The film is a cynical, bitter indictment of journalistic sensationalism with Kirk Douglas as a former ace newsman stuck in a back-water New Mexico town, who blows the story of a trapped miner, out of proportion to create a media spectacle. Jan Sterling, who played the miner's wife. Asked in the film why she doesn't go to church and pray, she answers, `Kneeling bags my nylons."

Wilder was the first film maker to win three Academy Awards in one year best director, best story and screenplay, and best picture for The Apartment 1960. His three other Oscars were for director and screenplay for The Lost Weekend 1945 and for story and screenplay for Sunset Boulevard 1950. Among his 20 Oscar nominations are Double Indemnity (his first film noir), Some Like It Hot, A Foreign Affair, The Big Carnival, Stalag 17, Sabrina and  Witness for the Prosecution.

  • The Major and the Minor (1942). Ray Milland and Ginger Rogers in the comedy of a woman who poses as a 12-year-old.
  • Double Indemnity" (1944). Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson star in this film noir of corruption and murder.
  • A Foreign Affair (1948). Jean Arthur, John Lund, Marlene Dietrich in a satire on how many favors a Gl can buy with a candy bar in postwar Berlin.
  • Sabrina (1954) Audrey Hepburn as the chauffeur's daughter who catches the eye of millionaire brothers William Holden and Humphrey Bogart.
  • The Seven Year Itch (1955). Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell in a comedy of a married New Yorker who trys to seduce his upstairs neighbor.
  • Sunset Boulevard (1950): Bill Holden, Gloria Swanson in a drama of a young writer who jumps/falls into the clutches of a silent movie queen.
  • The Big Carnival (1951). Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling in a melodrama of a former ace news- man stuck in a backwater town milking the story of a trapped miner into a national story.
  • Stalag 17 (1953). Wil liam Holden, Peter Graves and Otto Preminger in a tale of POWs in a German camp that mixes comedy and suspense.
  • The Spirit of Saint Louis (1957) James Stewart as Charles Lindberg's first solo flight across the Atlanic. Wrote the screenplay
  • Love in the Afternoon (1957). Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier in comedy.
  • Witness for the Prosecution, (1958). Tyrone Power, Charles Laughton, Marlene Dietrich in a courtroom drama. 
  • Some Like It Hot (1959). Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe in the classic cross-dressing farce that has Curtis and Lemmon hiding out in drag.
  • The Apartment (1960). Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray in a nasty satire about getting ahead in the corporate world.
  • One, Two, Three (1961). James Cagney, Horst Bucholz, Arlene Francis in a fast-paced brutal comedy that satirizes West Berlin and the Russians.
  • Irma La Douce  (1963). Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine in a gently brash story of a Parisian prostitute and an ex-cop who becomes her pimp.
  • Kiss Me Stupid (1964). Kim Novak as a hooker and Dean Martin as a lusty lounge singer in a side-splitter.
  • The Furtune Cookie (1966) Jack Lemmon, Wallter Matthau (Oscar supporting actor) a footbal cameramen is talked into faking an injury foran insurance claim by an ambulance chasing lawyer
  • The Front Page (1974) Jack Lemmon, Wallter Matthau, Carrol Burnett
  • Fedora (1978) A Garbo-like actress and a producer try to make a comeback. From the Thomas Tryson's book Crowned Heads. William Holden, Marthe Keller, Micheal York and Henry Fonda
  • Buddy Buddy (1983)  Jack Lemmon, Wallter Matthau