Editing Billy Wilder (section)

==Career==
===Early work===
[[File:Douglas-Ninotchka.jpg|right|thumb|175px|[[Greta Garbo]] and [[Melvyn Douglas]] in ''[[Ninotchka]]'']]
After writing crime and sports stories as a [[Stringer (journalism)|stringer]] for local newspapers, he was eventually offered a regular job at a Berlin [[Tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloid]]. Developing an interest in film, he began working as a screenwriter. From 1929 to 1933, he produced twelve German films. He collaborated with several other novices ([[Fred Zinnemann]] and [[Robert Siodmak]]) on the 1930 film ''[[Menschen am Sonntag|People on Sunday]]''. Eschewing the [[German Expressionism (cinema)|German Expressionist]] styles of [[F. W. Murnau]] and [[Fritz Lang]], ''People on Sunday'' was considered as a groundbreaking example of the [[Neue Sachlichkeit]] or [[New Objectivity]] movement in German cinema. Furthermore, this genre of Strassenfilm ("street film") paved way to the birth of [[Italian neorealism]] and the [[French New Wave]].<ref name="Hamrah_AS" /> He wrote the screenplay for the 1931 film adaptation of a novel by [[Erich Kästner]], ''[[Emil and the Detectives (1931 film)|Emil and the Detectives]]'', also screenplays for the comedy ''[[The Man in Search of His Murderer]]'' (1931), the operetta ''[[Her Grace Commands]]'' (1931) and the comedy ''[[A Blonde Dream]]'' (1932), all of them produced in the [[Babelsberg Studio]]s in [[Potsdam]] near Berlin.<ref name="100 Facts about Babelsberg">{{cite book|author=Stielke, Sebastian|title=100 Facts about Babelsberg – Cradle of movie and modern media city|publisher=bebra Verlag|year=2021|isbn=978-3-86124-746-3}}</ref> In 1932, Wilder collaborated with the writer and journalist Felix Salten on the screenplay for "Scampolo".<ref>Jacques Le Rider, "Les Juifs viennois á la Belle Époque," Paris: Albin Michel, 2013, p. 194</ref> After [[Adolf Hitler's rise to power]], Wilder went to Paris, where he made his directorial debut film ''[[Mauvaise Graine]]'' (1934). He relocated to Hollywood prior to its release.{{Citation needed|date=June 2013}} Wilder's mother, grandmother and stepfather were all victims of the [[Holocaust]]. For decades it was assumed that it happened at [[Auschwitz Concentration Camp]], but, while researching Polish and Israeli archives, his Austrian biographer Andreas Hutter discovered in 2011 that they were murdered in different locations: his mother, Eugenia "Gitla" Siedlisker, in 1943 at [[Plaszow concentration camp|Plaszow]]; his stepfather, Bernard "Berl" Siedlisker, in 1942 at [[Belzec concentration camp|Belzec]]; and his grandmother, Balbina Baldinger, died in 1943 in the ghetto in [[Nowy Targ]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/feuilleton/film/gitla-stand-nicht-auf-schindlers-liste-1.12844017|title=Gitla stand nicht auf Schindlers Liste|author=Andreas Hutter and Heinz Peters|newspaper=Neue Zürcher Zeitung |date=October 6, 2011|publisher=[[Neue Zuercher Zeitung]]|language=de}}</ref>

After arriving in Hollywood in 1934, Wilder continued working as a screenwriter. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1939, having spent time in Mexico waiting for the government after his six-month card expired in 1934, an episode reflected in his 1941 ''[[Hold Back the Dawn]]''.<ref name="Armstrong2004">{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Armstrong |title=Billy Wilder, American Film Realist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pYuACgAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 |date=2004 |page=9 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |isbn=978-0-7864-2119-0}}</ref> Wilder's first significant success was ''[[Ninotchka]]'', a collaboration with fellow German immigrant [[Ernst Lubitsch]]. The [[romantic comedy]] starred [[Greta Garbo]] (generally known as a [[tragedy|tragic]] heroine in film [[melodrama]]s), and was popularly and critically acclaimed. With the byline "Garbo Laughs!", it also took Garbo's career in a new direction. The film marked Wilder's first Academy Award nomination, which he shared with co-writer [[Charles Brackett]] (although their collaboration on ''[[Bluebeard's Eighth Wife]]'' and ''[[Midnight (1939 film)|Midnight]]'' had been well received). Wilder co-wrote many of his films with Brackett from 1938 to 1950. Brackett described their collaboration process: "The thing to do was suggest an idea, have it torn apart and despised. In a few days it would be apt to turn up, slightly changed, as Wilder's idea. Once I got adjusted to that way of working, our lives were simpler."<ref>Brackett, Charles, It's the Pictures That Got Small, Columbia University Press, 2015, pg. 92</ref>

=== 1940s ===
[[File:Double-Indemnity-LIFE-1944-2.jpg|thumb|left|[[Fred MacMurray]] and [[Barbara Stanwyck]] in ''Double Indemnity'']]
Wilder continued his screenwriting career with a series of box office hits in the early 1940s, including the romantic drama ''[[Hold Back the Dawn]]'' and the screwball comedy ''[[Ball of Fire]]''. Both films earned him nominations for the 1941 Academy Awards in the categories of [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay]] and [[Academy Award for Best Story|Best Story]] respectively.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1942 |title=The 14th Academy Awards |date=October 3, 2014 |access-date=December 31, 2024 |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]}}</ref> Wilder made his Hollywood directorial debut in 1942 with ''[[The Major and the Minor]]'', a comedy starring [[Ginger Rogers]] and [[Ray Milland]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0DE1DE1339E33BBC4F52DFBF668389659EDE |title=The Screen; ' The Major and the Minor,' a Charming Comedy-Romance, With Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland, at the Paramount |work=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 17, 1942 |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |author-link=Bosley Crowther |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425122545/http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0DE1DE1339E33BBC4F52DFBF668389659EDE |archive-date=April 25, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

His third Hollywood film as director, the [[film noir]] ''[[Double Indemnity]]'' (1944), starring [[Fred MacMurray]], [[Barbara Stanwyck]] and [[Edward G. Robinson]], was a major hit. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and Actress; Wilder co-wrote it with [[Raymond Chandler]]. The film not only set conventions for the noir genre (such as "venetian blind" lighting and voice-over narration), but is a landmark in the battle against Hollywood censorship. Based on [[James M. Cain]]'s novel, it featured two love triangles and a murder plotted for insurance money. While the book was popular with the reading public, it had been considered unfilmable under the [[Hays Code]] because adultery was central to the plot.

In 1945, the [[Psychological Warfare Department]] of the United States Department of War produced an American documentary film directed by Wilder. The film known as ''[[Death Mills]]'', or [[:de:Die Todesmühlen|''Die Todesmühlen'']], was intended for German audiences to educate them about the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. For the German version, ''Die Todesmühlen'', [[Hanuš Burger]] is credited as the writer and director, while Wilder supervised the editing. Wilder is credited with the English-language version.

Two years later, Wilder adapted from [[Charles R. Jackson]]'s novel [[The Lost Weekend (novel)|''The Lost Weekend'']] into [[The Lost Weekend (film)|a film of the same name]]. It was the first major American film with a serious examination of alcoholism, another difficult theme under the [[Motion Picture Production Code|Production Code]]. It follows an alcoholic writer ([[Ray Milland]]) opposing the protestations of his girlfriend ([[Jane Wyman]]). The film earned critical acclaim after it premiered at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] and competed in the main competition, where it received the Festival's top prize, the [[Palme d'Or]], and four Academy Awards including for [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]]. Wilder earned the Oscars for [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]] and [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Screenplay]] and Milland won [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]. The film is one of four to win both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d' Or, alongside ''[[Marty (film)|Marty]]'', ''[[Parasite (2019 film)|Parasite]]'' and ''[[Anora]]''.

=== 1950s ===
[[File:Gloria Swanson & Billy Wilder - ca. 1950.JPG|thumb|175px|right|[[Gloria Swanson]] with Wilder on the set of ''Sunset Boulevard'']]
In 1950, Wilder co-wrote and directed the cynical noir film ''[[Sunset Boulevard (film)|Sunset Boulevard]]''. It follows a reclusive silent film actress ([[Gloria Swanson]]), who dreams of a comeback with delusions of her greatness from a bygone era. She accompanies an aspiring screenwriter ([[William Holden]]), who becomes her [[gigolo]] partner. This critically acclaimed film was the final film Wilder collaborated with Brackett. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards; together Wilder and Brackett won the [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay]].

In 1951, Wilder directed ''[[Ace in the Hole (1951 film)|Ace in the Hole]]'' (a.k.a. ''The Big Carnival'') starring [[Kirk Douglas]] in a tale of media exploitation of a caving accident. The idea had been pitched over the phone to Wilder's secretary by [[Victor Desny]]. Desny sued Wilder for breach of an implied contract in the California copyright case ''Wilder v Desny'', ultimately receiving a settlement of $14,350.<ref>46 Cal.2d 715, 299 P.2d 257, CAL. 1956.</ref><ref>Sikov, Ed. ''On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder'', Hyperion Press, 1998, p. 328</ref> Although a critical and commercial failure at the time, its reputation has grown over the years. The following year, Wilder announced plans to direct and produce a film version of the [[Sophocles]] [[tragedy]] ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'', adapted for the screen by [[Walter Reisch]]. They planned to shoot the film on location in [[Greece]] in [[Technicolor]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Pryor|first=Thomas M.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/09/05/archives/billy-wilder-lists-oedipus-rex-film-plans-to-produce-technicolor.html|title=BILLY WILDER LISTS 'OEDIPUS REX' FILM; Plans to Produce Technicolor Version of Sophocles Tragedy in Greek Locale Next Year|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 5, 1952|access-date=June 13, 2024}}</ref> but it never went into production.

Subsequently, Wilder directed three adaptations of Broadway plays, war drama ''[[Stalag 17]]'', for which William Holden won the Best Actor Academy Award, romantic comedy ''[[Sabrina (1954 film)|Sabrina]]'', for which [[Audrey Hepburn]] was nominated for Best Actress, and romantic comedy ''[[The Seven Year Itch]]'', which features the iconic image of [[Marilyn Monroe]] standing on a subway grate as her white dress is blown upwards by a passing train. Wilder was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for the first two films and shared a nomination for Best Screenplay for the second. He was interested in doing a film with one of the classic slapstick comedy acts of the Hollywood Golden Age. He first considered, and rejected, a project to star [[Laurel and Hardy]]. He held discussions with [[Groucho Marx]] concerning a new [[Marx Brothers]] comedy, tentatively titled ''A Day at the U.N''. The project was abandoned after [[Chico Marx]] died in 1961.<ref name="Gore">Gore, Chris (1999). ''The Fifty Greatest Movies Never Made'', New York: St. Martin's Griffin</ref>

In 1957, three films Wilder directed were released: [[biopic]] ''[[The Spirit of St. Louis (film)|The Spirit of St. Louis]]'', starring [[James Stewart]] as [[Charles Lindbergh]], romantic comedy ''[[Love in the Afternoon (1957 film)|Love in the Afternoon]]''—Wilder's first screenplay with [[I. A. L. Diamond]], who would become his regular partner—featuring [[Gary Cooper]], [[Maurice Chevalier]] and Audrey Hepburn, and courtroom drama ''[[Witness for the Prosecution (1957 film)|Witness for the Prosecution]]'', featuring [[Tyrone Power]], [[Marlene Dietrich]] and [[Charles Laughton]]. Wilder received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director for the last film.

[[File:Some like it hot film poster.jpg|thumb|left|Curtis, Lemmon and Monroe in ''[[Some Like It Hot]]'']]
In 1959, Wilder reunited with Monroe in the United Artists released Prohibition-era farce film ''[[Some Like It Hot]]''. It was released, however, without a [[Motion Picture Production Code|Production Code]] seal of approval, which was withheld due to the film's unabashed sexual comedy, including a central cross-dressing theme. [[Jack Lemmon]] and [[Tony Curtis]] played musicians disguised as women to escape pursuit by a Chicago gang. Curtis's character courts a singer (Monroe), while Lemmon is wooed by [[Joe E. Brown (comedian)|Joe E. Brown]]{{snd}}setting up the film's final joke in which Lemmon reveals that his character is a man and Brown blandly replies "Well, nobody's perfect". A box office success, the film was lightly regarded by film critics during its original release, although it did receive six Academy Award nominations, including for Best Director and Best Screenplay. But its critical reputation grew prodigiously; in 2000, the [[American Film Institute]] selected it as the best American comedy ever made.<ref>{{cite web |title=AFI's 100 Funniest American Movies Of All Time |url=http://www.afi.com/100Years/laughs.aspx |work=[[American Film Institute]] |date=2000 |access-date=June 6, 2016}}</ref> In 2012, the [[British Film Institute]] decennial ''[[Sight and Sound]]'' poll of the world's film critics rated it as the 43rd best movie ever made, and the second-highest-ranking comedy.<ref>{{cite web |title=Critics' top 100 |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/critics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207035347/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/critics |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 7, 2016 |work=[[British Film Institute]] |date=2012 |access-date=June 6, 2016}}–</ref>

=== 1960s ===
[[File:The apartment trailer 1.JPG|thumb|right|Lemmon and [[Shirley MacLaine]] in ''The Apartment'']]
In 1960, Wilder directed the comedy romance film ''[[The Apartment]]''. It follows an insurance clerk (Lemmon), who allows his coworkers to use his apartment to conduct extramarital affairs until he meets an elevator woman ([[Shirley MacLaine]]). The film was a critical success with ''[[The New York Times]]'' film critic [[Bosley Crowther]], who called the film "gleeful, tender, and even sentimental" and Wilder's direction "ingenious".<ref name="Crowther">{{cite news|last1=Crowther|first1=Bosley|title=Busy 'Apartment':Jack Lemmon Scores in Billy Wilder Film|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C01EFD91638EF32A25755C1A9609C946191D6CF&mcubz=0|access-date=September 2, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=June 16, 1960}}</ref> The film received ten [[Academy Awards]] nominations and won five awards, including three for Wilder: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Wilder directed the [[Cold War]] political farce film ''[[One, Two, Three]]'' (1961), starring [[James Cagney]], which won critical praise with ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' writing, "Billy Wilder's ''One, Two, Three'' is a fast-paced, high-pitched, hard-hitting, lighthearted farce crammed with topical gags and spiced with satirical overtones. Story is so furiously quick-witted that some of its wit gets snarled and smothered in overlap."<ref>[https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117793729.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0 ''Variety'']. Film review, 1961. Last accessed: January 31, 2008.</ref> It was followed by the romantic comedy ''[[Irma la Douce]]'' (1963) starring Lemmon and MacLaine. The film was the [[1963 in film|fifth highest-grossing film]] of the year. Wilder received a [[Writers Guild of America Award]] nomination for his screenplay. Wilder then wrote and directed the sex comedy film ''[[Kiss Me, Stupid]]'' starring [[Dean Martin]], [[Kim Novak]], and [[Ray Walston]], who was a last minute replacement for ailing [[Peter Sellers]]. The film was criticized by some critics for vulgarity, with [[Bosley Crowther]] blaming the film for giving American movies the reputation of "deliberate and degenerate corruptors of public taste and morals".<ref name="McNally2010">{{cite book|last=McNally|first=Karen|title=Billy Wilder, Movie-Maker: Critical Essays on the Films|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAOzV2hJri8C&pg=PA136|date=December 16, 2010|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-8520-8|page=136}}</ref> A. H. Weiler of the ''[[New York Times]]'' called the film "pitifully unfunny". Wilder gained his final [[Academy Award]] nomination and a [[Writers Guild of America Award]] nomination for the screenplay of ''[[The Fortune Cookie]]'', which he co-produced through his independent film company, Phalanx Productions. It was the first film pairing Jack Lemmon with [[Walter Matthau]]. The film was titled ''Meet Whiplash Willie'' in the United Kingdom. In 1970, he directed ''[[The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes]]'', also made through Phalanx Productions, which was intended as a major [[roadshow theatrical release]], but to Wilder's dismay was heavily cut by the studio.<ref>{{cite news |title=Detective Work |author=Jonathan Coe |author-link=Jonathan Coe |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=30 April 2005 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/apr/30/jonathancoe.arthurconandoyle|access-date=12 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23513 |access-date=September 18, 2024 |website=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]]}}</ref>

=== Final films ===
He produced and directed the comedy film ''[[Avanti!]]'', again through Phalanx Productions, which follows a businessman (Lemmon) attempting to retrieve the body of his deceased father from Italy. Wilder received two [[Golden Globe Award]] nominations for [[Golden Globe Award for Best Director|Best Director]] and [[Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay]], and a [[Writers Guild of America Award]] nomination. Wilder directed ''[[The Front Page (1974 film)|The Front Page]]'' based on the [[The Front Page|Broadway play]] of the same name. It was a significant financial success with low budget. His final films, ''[[Fedora (1978 film)|Fedora]]'' and ''[[Buddy Buddy]]'', failed to impress critics or the public, although ''Fedora'' has since been re-evaluated and is now considered favorably.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fedora (1978) |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1037238-fedora |website=Rotten Tomatoes |date=May 26, 2009 |access-date=November 21, 2020}}</ref> Wilder had hoped to make [[Thomas Keneally]]'s ''[[Schindler's Ark]]'' as his final film, saying "I wanted to do it as a kind of memorial to my mother and my grandmother and my stepfather," who had all been murdered in the [[Holocaust]].<ref name="Crowe1999">{{cite book|author=Cameron Crowe|title=Conversations with Wilder|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eYRZAAAAMAAJ&q=schindler|date= 2020|publisher=Knopf|isbn=978-0375406607|pages=21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/spielbergs-list-20130402-2h455.html|title=Spielberg's List|first=Oscar|last=Hillestrom|date=April 2, 2013|website=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]}}</ref> He praised [[Steven Spielberg|Steven Spielberg's]] adaptation, ''[[Schindler's List]]''. To those who [[Holocaust denial|denied the Holocaust]], Wilder wrote in a German newspaper, "If the concentration camps and the gas chambers were all imaginary, then please tell me—where is my mother?"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lane |first=Anthony |title=Nobody's Perfect |year=2002 |pages=717}}</ref>