- Born
- Died
- Place
William Wyler
William Wyler (July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a German-born film director, producer, and screenwriter. Notable works include Ben-Hur (1959), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Mrs. Miniver (1942), all which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture. He earned his first Oscar nomination for directing Dodsworth in 1936, sparking a 20-year run of almost unbroken greatness.
Film historian Ian Freer calls Wyler a "bona fide perfectionist," whose penchant for retakes and an attempt to hone every last nuance "became the stuff of legend." His ability to direct a string of classic literary adaptations into huge box office and critical successes made him one of Hollywood's most bankable moviemakers during the 1930s and 1940s.
As director
History Rediscovered: The Memphis Belle
The Liberation of L.B. Jones
Funny Girl
How to Steal a Million
The Collector
The Children's Hour
Ben-Hur
The Big Country
Friendly Persuasion
The Letter
The Desperate Hours
Roman Holiday
Carrie
Detective Story
The Heiress
Thunderbolt
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Memphis Belle
The Fighting Lady
Mrs. Miniver
The Little Foxes
The Westerner
The Letter
Wuthering Heights
Jezebel
Dead End
Dodsworth
These Three
Come and Get It
The Good Fairy
As actor
William Wyler: Forty Takes Willy
Hollywood's Second World War
Sword-and-Sandal: The Story of the Period Epic
The Cold Blue
Five Came Back
Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema
Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
Backstory: 'How Green Was My Valley'
Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic
Directed by William Wyler
Laurence Olivier: a life
Fun in the Big Country
Stars of Cabaret
The Screen Director
The Best Years of Our Lives
Dodsworth