Biography: Billy Wilder

by Caleb Richardson

Billy Wilder was born in then Austro-Hungarian Empire now Poland June 22, 1906. When asked, Wilder would remark on fond memories watching Hollywood films growing up. Wilder worked as a newspaper reporter in Vienna then Berlin when he turned twenty-one. He took his writing experience to the growing film industry in Berlin. Wilder was a part of a team of fresh filmmakers all looking to make their big break. The film was, Menschen am Sonntag or People on Sunday. Wilders success continued with his credit on 13 more films, but world politics got in the way. By world politics I mean Wilder was a Jew in 1930’s Berlin you do the math. The story goes, Wilder’s fourteenth movie premiers and as the credits roll both his name was missing from the list, however, Wilder had already left for Paris. His parents weren’t as lucky. They died at Auschwitz.

While in Paris Wilder found some work. Wilder co-directed a movie Mauvaise Graine or Bad Seed. This was his first time behind the camera and it solidified some of his common themes like cool cars and even cooler women.  Wilder didn’t too much time in Paris despite his success he boarded a ship to New York in January 1934 to live with his brother. This is now his second time moving to a place where he not only isn’t familiar with the dominant language but also his voice is only understood by few. With experience and a connection to Paramount in Hollywood Wilder now 27 years starts his American dream. He lost it almost immediately his first script got turned down. To make bad worse during his time unemployed his visa expired and was forced to go to Mexico until his permanence was confirmed. 


Wilder’s career really kicked off when he was paired up with Charles Brackett. Wilder has almost always worked with a collaborator before so this was nothing new. The only difference now was that the studio liked Brackett so Wilder could rest easy. Eventually Wilder’s writing came to contact with Ernst Lubitsch. Lubitsch was instantly a god figure to Wilder. He was captivated by everything he did. He was like a mentor and Wilder even kept in his office a sign reading, “How would Lubitsch do it?”

Wilder’s first directing film in Hollywood was The Major and the Minor. The studio figured that the film would flop due to Wilders inexperience and this would scare him back to his writing desk. They were proven wrong.  The film was a huge success and that’s all she wrote. This was the beginning for a very successful career in Hollywood. “Is it necessary for a director to know how to write? And the answer is-and it holds water-is: it is not necessary for a director to know how to write. However, it helps if he knows how to read.”(Wilder)

Wilder once said, “I don’t do cinema I make movies.” Wilder’s style was all about characters and their relationships. As simple as that sounds it’s the biggest truth to his success. Wilder always wrote well thought out characters and those characters had sharp dialogue. These elements never seemed too far gone or fake. He maintains this perfect balance where yes it is a movie yet if feels reel (that’s a joke). Wilder was a comedic writer yes but he did venture out and do drama. He is credited to have created film noir with Double Indemnity. Alfred Hitchcock even wrote him a note once saying, “The two biggest words right now in motion pictures are Billy and Wilder.” 

As censorship was easing up, sex became a theme in almost all of his work. And nobody can talk about Sex icons or Wilder without mentioning Monroe. Monroe’s most popular movies are with Wilder, Some Like It Hot and The Seven Year Itch. After working with Monroe, Wilder’s theme of sex only grew. In Kiss Me, Stupid a composer wants his career to take off and the man who can help him wants to sleep with his wife. If watched today the film would be fine but back then it was met with words such as pornographic smut. That would be one of his last among the sex themed because the criticism affected him deeply.


Almost every year or two or three, Wilder released a movie since he began in Berlin. During 1957 he released three movies. Although not every movie was a success story he did earn a few awards. He is one of five people to win best picture, director, and screenplay all for the same movie (The Apartment). In total he received twenty-one nominations for directing, writing, and producing. Eight of those nominations are for directing-currently tied for second place with Scorsese-only to be beat by William Wyler. Of those nominations he won six: two best director, three for best screenplay, and one for Best picture.


Wilder married his first wife Judith Coppicus on Decenber 1936. They shared twins Victoria and Vincent. Vincent died shortly after he was born and the couple divorced 1946. Wilder found love again when he met a woman while filming The Lost Weekend. Audrey Young and Billy Wilder married June 1949. Billy Wilder retired from filmmaking during the early eighties. Wilder lived to be ninety-five years old. Wilder is still today regarded as one of the best filmmakers of the twentieth century.