Billy Wilder: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	Samuel Wilder
Born	June 22, 1906
Died	March 27, 2002 (aged 95) • Beverly Hills • California
Awards And Honors	Kennedy Center Honors (1990) • Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (1988) • Academy Award (1961) • Academy Award (1951) • Academy Award (1946)
Notable Works	“A Foreign Affair” • “Double Indemnity” • “Irma La Douce” • “One, Two, Three” • “Some Like It Hot” • “Stalag 17” • “Sunset Boulevard” • “The Apartment” • “The Fortune Cookie” • “The Lost Weekend” • “The Seven Year Itch” • “The Spirit of St. Louis” • “Witness for the Prosecution”

Photos

Billy Wilder poses in a suit and hat, leaning against a streetlamp with a sign reading Sunset Blvd. in a promotional photo for the film Sunset Boulevard.

A scene from Double Indemnity

Gloria Swanson, looking up with a dramatic expression, stands close to William Holden, who faces her in a suit, in a scene from the film Sunset Boulevard.

Cecil B. DeMille, right, leans in to speak with Gloria Swanson, dressed in a feathered hat and fur stole, on the set of Sunset Boulevard, with film crew visible in the background.

Marilyn Monroe stands over a subway grate as her white dress billows up, smiling, while Tim Ewell watches in the iconic scene from the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch.

Marilyn Monroe as The Girl stands on a staircase holding a fan, smiling down at Tom Ewell as Richard Sherman in a scene from the film The Seven Year Itch.

Marlene Dietrich as Christine Vole stands at the witness stand in a courtroom scene from the 1957 film Witness for the Prosecution.

Black-and-white publicity photo from Some Like It Hot showing Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in drag embracing Marilyn Monroe, who stands between them winking.

Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Marilyn Monroe dressed as musicians with a band in a train car in a scene from the 1959 film Some Like It Hot.

See All Images →

Steven Spielberg wearing a tuxedo and bow tie, smiling at the camera on the red carpet at the Cannes International Film Festival.

Steven Spielberg

American film director and producer

Orson Welles

Orson Welles

American actor, director, and writer

Martin Scorsese smiling in a tuxedo and bow tie, holding an Oscar statuette at the Academy Awards, with a gold Oscar statue in the background.

Martin Scorsese

American filmmaker

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

John Huston

American director, writer, and actor

Francis Ford Coppola, with a beard, sits on a camera dolly surrounded by crew and actors on the set of The Godfather: Part II, with storefronts in the background.

Francis Ford Coppola

American director and screenwriter

American director Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick

American director

Elia Kazan stands on a docked ship set with arms outstretched, directing a scene for Panic in the Streets in New Orleans, with crew members and rigging visible behind him.

Elia Kazan

American director and author

Mankiewicz, Joseph L.

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

American filmmaker

Mel Brooks in a tuxedo smiles widely and points at his Emmy Award trophy while posing in front of a blue Emmy Awards backdrop.

Mel Brooks

American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor

Leo McCarey, seated sideways in a director's chair, looks toward the camera in a black-and-white portrait from around 1930.

Leo McCarey

American director

Gulzar

Gulzar

writer, film producer, and director

George Lucas wearing a black suit and tie with a white shirt, standing in front of a dark backdrop at the 2017 LACMA Art Film Gala in Los Angeles.

George Lucas

American director, producer, and screenwriter

Guillermo del Toro smiles on the red carpet in a black suit, black shirt, and black tie at the Venice International Film Festival.

Guillermo del Toro

Mexican director

Ben Affleck wearing a dark suit, blue shirt, and navy tie, posing for a photo at the premiere of the film AIR with a blurred event backdrop behind him.

Ben Affleck

American actor, writer, and director

Ryan Murphy in a patterned green tuxedo holds an Emmy Award trophy while standing in front of a black backdrop with the word Emmy visible.

Ryan Murphy

American producer, director, and writer

Peter Bogdanovich

Peter Bogdanovich

American director, critic, and actor

Pakula, Alan J.

Alan J. Pakula

American director, producer, and screenwriter

Barbra Streisand in 2010, wearing a layered necklace and a black jacket, with straight shoulder-length hair, smiling slightly at an event.

Barbra Streisand

American singer and actress

Spike Lee wearing a suit, tie, and tortoiseshell glasses at the 2007 Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles.

Spike Lee

American filmmaker

Portrait of British writer James Clavell, circa 1981, with his hand resting on his chin and an ornate, painted screen in the background.

James Clavell

British writer

Empty movie theater and blank screen (theatre, motion pictures, cinema).

Oscar-Worthy Movie Trivia