Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder, lahir Samuel Wilder; (22 Juni 1906 – 27 Maret 2002) adalah seorang sutradara, penulis skenario, dan produser kelahiran Austria yang dianggap sebagai salah satu pembuat film paling sukses di zaman keemasan Hollywood. Saat ini ia terkenal karena komedinya, meskipun ia juga menyutradarai drama dan film noir. Wilder adalah satu dari hanya lima orang yang memenangkan Academy Awards sebagai produser, sutradara, dan penulis untuk film yang sama (The Apartment). Karir Wilder dimulai di Jerman, di mana ia bekerja sebagai penulis untuk film komedi dari tahun 1930. Setelah Nazi merebut kekuasaan pada tahun 1933, ia beremigrasi ke Amerika Serikat, di mana ia terus menulis skenario, termasuk Ninotchka (1939) karya Ernst Lubitsch dan Ball of Fire (1941) karya Howard Hawks. Sejak awal 1940-an, Wilder diizinkan membuat film skenarionya sendiri dan dengan demikian menjadikan dirinya terkenal sebagai sutradara. Awalnya, kesuksesan terbesarnya termasuk film noir dramatis seperti Double Indemnity (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), Sunset Boulevard (1950) dan Ace in the Hole (1951). Saat itulah ia semakin beralih ke komedi, termasuk Stalag 17 (1953), Sabrina (1954) dan The Seven Year Itch (1955), meskipun ia mengambil jalan memutar kecil ke drama ruang sidang dengan Witness for the Prosecution (1957). Dengan Some Like It Hot (1959) dan The Apartment (1960) ia membuat film komedi paling terkenal dan mungkin paling sukses, yang terakhir bahkan menerima lima Oscar. Dalam One, Two, Three (1961), Wilder membahas kondisi waktu di bekas negara angkatnya, Jerman, dan membuat film komedi romantis yang sukses Irma la Douce (1963). Dalam dua dekade berikutnya, Wilder membuat tujuh film lagi, yang kurang diterima dengan baik oleh para kritikus dan penonton, meskipun drama Jerman-Prancis Fedora (1978) saat ini dipandang lebih baik oleh sebagian besar pakar film yang sok. Beberapa waktu kemudian, Wilder sedang dibahas sebagai direktur Schindler's List, yang ia inginkan sebagai akhir dari karirnya yang panjang, namun akhirnya harus menolaknya karena usianya yang sudah lanjut.

Billy Wilder, born Samuel Wilder; (22 June 1906 - 27 March 2002) was an Austrian-born director, screenwriter and producer who is regarded as one of the most successful filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age. Today he is best known for his comedies, although he also directed dramas and film noirs. Wilder is one of only five people who have won Academy Awards as producer, director, and writer for the same film (The Apartment). Wilder's career began in Germany, where he worked as a writer for comedy films from 1930. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, he emigrated to the United States, where he continued to write screenplays, including Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka (1939) and Howard Hawks' Ball of Fire (1941). From the early 1940s, Wilder was allowed to film his own screenplays and thus made a name for himself as a director. Initially, his greatest successes included predominantly dramatic film noirs such as Double Indemnity (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Ace in the Hole (1951). It was only then that he increasingly turned to comedy, including Stalag 17 (1953), Sabrina (1954) and The Seven Year Itch (1955), although he made a small detour to courtroom drama with Witness for the Prosecution (1957). With Some Like It Hot (1959) and The Apartment (1960) he made his most famous and probably most successful comedy films, the latter even receiving five Oscars. In One, Two, Three (1961), Wilder dealt with the conditions of the time in his former adopted country, Germany, and made the successful romantic comedy Irma la Douce (1963). In the two decades that followed, Wilder made seven more films, which were less well received by critics and audiences, although the German-French drama Fedora (1978) is viewed somewhat more favorably today by predominantly pretentious film experts. Some time later, Wilder was under discussion as director for Schindler's List, which he had wanted as the end of his long career, but ultimately had to turn it down due to his advanced age.