Add this page to:

Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Newsvine Reddit Google Yahoo Delicious Stumbleupon

Nickname:	Willy
Known for:	Ben-Hur, Roman Holiday, The Best Years of Our Lives
Birth name:	Wilhelm Weiller
Birthday:	1 July 1902, Mülhausen, Alsace, Germany [now Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin, France]
Height:	5' 8" (1.73 m)

First cousin, once-removed, on his mother's side of Carl Laemmle, who was known on the Universal Studio lot as "Uncle Carl." Younger brother of writer/director Robert Wyler. Interred at Forest Lawn (Glendale), Glendale, California, USA, in the Eventide Section, space 2, plot #2998. Father of Catherine Wyler and Judy Wyler. Cousin-in-law of Carl Laemmle Jr. was an assistant director on the original Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ and 34 years later directed its remake, Ben-Hur. Became the youngest director on the Universal lot on his promotion in 1925. His penchant for retakes earned him many nicknames including '90-Take Wyler' and 'Once-More Wyler'. Bette Davis credited him for making her a box office-star after he directed her Oscar-winning performance in Jezebel. In June of 1944 he permanently lost the hearing in his right ear while filming a bombing mission from a B-17. Was originally set to direct The Sound of Music but was unable to find much enthusiasm for the material ("I just can't bear to make a picture about all those nice Nazis") and, after he found a more worthy project in The Collector, pulled out. Brother-in-law of Cathy O'Donnell. Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 1220-1233. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987. Born Willi Wyler on July 1, 1902, in Mulhouse in Alsace Province, Germany (later ceded to France after World War I), he was brought to America in 1920 by his mother's first cousin, Carl Laemmle, owner of Universal Pictures. By 1925 Wyler had worked his way up through the family business and was made a director, helming the two-reeler Crook Buster. Willi was credited as "William Wyler" on the film, though he never officially changed his name. Carl Laemmle, the owner of Universal Studios, was the first cousin of Wyler's mother. Laemmle offered Wyler, who was then living in his native Alsace in France, a job in Universal's New York office. Wyler accepted the offer and emigrated to America in 1920. He was 18 years old. Directed three Best Picture Oscar winners -Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives and Ben-Hur -and one Oscar-winning Best Documentary, The Fighting Lady. Wyler won the Best Director Oscar for each of the three winning feature films. An additional ten films he directed, from Dodsworth to Funny Girl, also were nominated for Best Picture Academy Awards. Directed 31 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances (more than any other director): Bonita Granville, Walter Huston, Maria Ouspenskaya, Claire Trevor, Bette Davis, Fay Bainter, Laurence Olivier, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Walter Brennan, James Stephenson, Patricia Collinge, Teresa Wright, Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Henry Travers, Dame May Whitty, Fredric March, Harold Russell, Olivia de Havilland, Ralph Richardson, Eleanor Parker, Lee Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert, Anthony Perkins, Burl Ives, Charlton Heston, Hugh Griffith, Samantha Eggar, Barbra Streisand and Kay Medford. Davis, Bainter, Brennan, Wright, Garson, March, Russell, de Havilland, Hepburn, Ives, Heston, Griffith and Streisand won Oscars for one of their performances in one of Wyler's movies. Is portrayed by Joe Grifasi in Will There Really Be a Morning? According to screenwriter Joe Eszterhas' 2004 autobiography "American Animal," producer Martin Ransohoff removed three-time Oscar winning director Wyler from The Americanization of Emily because Wyler wanted to change Paddy Chayefsky's script. It was a rare instance in which a producer supported a screenwriter over a director, particularly one of Wyler's caliber. As Chayevsky, himself an Oscar-winner, was known to have contractual guarantees written into his contracts protecting his scripts, Ransohoff may have had no choice but to replace Wyler with Arthur Hiller. He was asked by Laurence Olivier to direct The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France, for which the British government had released the actor from the navy air services to film in order to boost public morale. Wyler, who was in England as an officer in charge of a US Army Signals Corps motion picture unit assigned to the US Army Air Force, declined the offer and told him to direct it himself. Still considered the best film adaptation of Shakespeare, "Henry V" won Olivier a special Oscar and his third Best Actor nomination. Laurence Olivier credited Wyler with teaching him how to act on film. During the shooting of Wuthering Heights, Wyler constantly heckled Olivier after many takes with such epithets as "Lousy!" When Olivier asked the notoriously uncommunicative (towards actors) director, he replied, "Stop trying to reach the third balcony of the Manchester Opera House." Olivier curbed his tendency to go over the top and won his first of 10 acting Oscar nominations in the role. Olivier had had contempt for the movies, but after working with Wyler he developed respect for the medium. Was hired to replace 'Sidney Lumet' as director of Funny Girl. Lumet left the picture over differences with producer Ray Stark and star Barbra Streisand. Wyler originally declined the offer, because he was deaf in one ear and said he couldn't do a musical, but reconsidered after meeting Streisand. Several co-stars later publicly blasted Wyler and 'Streisand' for much of their scenes being cut in favor of focusing almost entirely on Streisand. Has directed three films on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time. They are: "Ben-Hur" (1959) at #56, "Mrs. Miniver" (1942) at #40, and "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) at #11.

Site: tvguide.com ? Site type: multicelebrity site:

Description: William Wyler Episodes, TV Listings, News, Photos and More » tvguide.com: William Wyler

Site: Imdb.com ? Site type: multicelebrity site:

Description: Celebrity Main Details » imdb.com: William Wyler