Talk:Billy Wilder

See Also Section
I don't understand the articles chosen for the see also section: Ruth Chatterton, Billy Wilder filmography, List of film director and actor collaborations, David Niven, and Laurence Olivier. The list of film director and actor collaborations makes sense, as does the filmography link (though it is already in the filmography section of the article, so it might not be needed). But why those specific actors there? They don't have any obvious connection to Wilder (unlike someone like Jack Lemmon, for example). If no one else has any reason why they should stay, I think they should be removed.--TheCookTravels (talk) 23:42, 20 March 2013 (UTC)

Comments moved here from Cinema Collaboration of the Week

 * Major writer-director whose career spanned five decades. Began as a screenwriter in Germany, fled to the United States when the Nazis took over.  Learned English and moved to Hollywood.  Created classic films in several genres including film noir Double Indemnity, romantic comedy Sabrina, war Stalag 17, courtroom drama Witness for the Prosecution, and comedy Some Like it Hot.  Current article is an eight line stub with some lists. &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by User: (talk • contribs).

Some changes, especially the spoiler!!
I removed the spoiler from the description of Sunset Boulevard... Many people interested in reading about Wilder may not have seen all of his films, nor would they appreciate knowing the 'gotcha' before they watch it for the first time. Note also that the description of The Apartment doesn't state WHO attempts suicide on Christmas Eve, but the statement made about Sunset Boulevard will change the viewer's perception from the first five minutes on.

This article still needs some drawing out - it jumps from his beginning in Hollywood to his overall standards as a writer, then to his later work in the 1940s and 1950s, then his 1950s work again (where some of the same films are mentioned). Will this article be based more around a timeline, or more thematic in scope (1930s, 1940s, 1950s, etc vs. writing, noir, themes in his work, etc). The article needs to go more one way or the other, in order to really make it a great featured piece. Noirdame 21:17, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Filmography
A filmography would help this page i think. --Cptbuck 04:07, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I created a template and added it to the article. I will add two more for writer and producer -- Romulus15 07:43, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Re: Olivier comment
Can anyone confirm whether the Lawrence Olivier quote from the set of Wuthering Heights was directed at Wilder or at the film's director William Wyler. Because if it is, as I suspect, the latter, then the quotation should be removed. Dave 15:36, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

WP:WikiProject Actors and Filmmakers priority assessment
Per debate and discussion re: assessment of the approximate 100 top priority articles of the project, this article has been included as a top priority article. Wildhartlivie (talk) 00:44, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

reference?
Directorial style Wilder's directorial choices reflected his belief in the primacy of writing. He avoided the exuberant cinematography of Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles because, in Wilder's opinion, shots that called attention to themselves would distract the audience from the story. Wilder's pictures have tight plotting and memorable dialogue. Wilder filmed in black and white whenever studios would let him. Despite his conservative directorial style, his subject matter often pushed the boundaries of mainstream entertainment.

exactly the kind of information I had been looking for. unfortunately, there is no reference given. does anyone know where this was taken from? thanks a lot! Babsilicious (talk) 12:39, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Thalberg Award
We show it in the "Academy Award Nominations" table, which is wrong. It is certainly counted as an Oscar (even if it's in a different shape to the usual Oscar statuette), but it's a non-competitive Honorary Award. There are no nominations, no voting - just an award. It needs to be separated out. --  Jack of Oz    ... speak! ...   17:48, 10 September 2010 (UTC)

Wilder's nation of Birth
As someone who's family comes from Sucha Beskidzka as well from the same ethno-religious group (Jewish) describing Wilder as Austrian born is pushing the boundaries of truth very far if not outright untruth. I realise that many Jews immigrating to the U.S from this area did claim to be 'Austrian' so as to sound fancier-but to write it as a fact is simply false. While yes, Sucha was at the time under Austrian rule it was never regarded as Austria and would never have been seen as such-its residents would never have been seen as 'Austrians' while calling it Poland is also not entirely correct either it is the most correct simple option. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stocky3333 (talk • contribs) 12:55, 14 September 2010 (UTC)


 * It is usual to open sections on talk pages in chronological order. Anyway easily corrected. The article was not saying he was Austrian in the modern sense, rather that he was born in Austria Hungary, a country which has not existed since the end of the first world war. We risk getting into an area of original research here, as editors we have to observe conventional norms. Philip Cross (talk) 16:32, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

Wilder originally spoke German - Viennese dialect -, and not Polish. So therefore, and even juridically (concerning his passport) he was born Austrian and not Polish. (Andreas Hutter, Wilder-biographer). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.33.34.196 (talk) 20:12, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

In the Austrian Monarchy, Austrian citizens where counted by "nationalities" which followed their mother tongue. Austrians of Polish mother tongue were counted as "Austrians of Polish nationality", while "Austrians of German mother tongue" were counted as "Austrians of German nationality" (like the Austrian Emperor himself), and many of these "German Austrians" lived as minorities in multi-national regions of the Austrian Monarchy (the Germans in many of these regions had to leave after 1945, like in the Sudetenland). Billy Wilder's mother tongue was German, so he was considered as an "Austrian of German nationality". 10:56 07-12-2012 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.118.92.196 (talk) 09:57, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Copyright problem
This article has been reverted by a bot to as part of a large-scale clean-up project of multiple article copyright infringement. (See the investigation subpage) This has been done to remove User:Accotink2's contributions as they have a history of extensive copyright violation and so it is assumed that all of their major contributions are copyright violations. Earlier text must not be restored, unless it can be verified to be free of infringement. For legal reasons, Wikipedia cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material; such additions must be deleted. Contributors may use sources as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences or phrases. Accordingly, the material may be rewritten, but only if it does not infringe on the copyright of the original or plagiarize from that source. Please see our guideline on non-free text for how to properly implement limited quotations of copyrighted text. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously. VWBot (talk) 06:04, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

assessment of bio
Compared to the german version, the bio details of BW's life in Germany simply sounds quite dumb. I have no written reference, so I wont change it, but people should know it !--Alexandre Rongellion (talk) 23:47, 6 February 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm planning on expanding a bit on his pre-Hollywood career and emigration from Germany (and later France) soon. I have a couple biographies on him in English that would work as sources that would be easily accessible to English-speaking readers instead of copying the German sources. --TheCookTravels (talk) 04:40, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Directing actors
"Wilder coaxed a very effective, and in some ways memorable performance out of Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot.": This statement is marked as needing a citation, but I don't think it actually belongs here, or it needs to be rewritten. The previous statements talk about casting actors against type, not just disputable examples of actors' good performances in his films. I'll have to track down a source about this, since Wilder did have to work hard to get a good performance out of Monroe which he often talked about (it's mentioned in most of his interviews and biographies). I think this can be expanded and rewritten so it fits within directorial style so it is an example of his skill in working with actors, not just a statement on how memorable Monroe was in "Some Like It Hot." I also think it should be moved up after talking about convincing Gloria Swanson to star in Sunset Blvd, since it is more connected with that than casting against type. What do other people think? --TheCookTravels (talk) 04:40, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 09:40, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Polish born
Billy Wilder was born to Polish-Jewish parents in Austrian occupied Poland. The country ceased to exist after the partitions in the late 18th century. Just because parts of Poland were under Austrian administration, does not mean that the Austrian citizens were of Austrian ethnicity, ancestry and nationality eg. Marie Curie and Chopin were born under the Russian Empire, yet they are not Russian-born. I don't see how "Polish born" would be misleading.

Oliszydlowski (TALK) 14:48, 15 March 2017 (UTC).


 * User Clibenfoart do you have proof or any source considering your previous statement? - Oliszydlowski (TALK) 17:26, 15 March 2017 (UTC)


 * While his birth place was a part of the historical Poland and part of Poland today, it is was by Wilder's birth for over 100 years under Austrian rule. So they were - of course - of Austrian nationality. Wilder's family was German-, not Polish-speaking; they moved to Vienna a few years after his birth. Asked what nationality he was, he himself said that he was Austrian, not Polish 1. So Polish is misleading, because he was Austrian (except being born in a place which is today Poland). --Clibenfoart (talk) 07:37, 15 March 2017 (UTC)


 * How about we say a "Jewish American" filmmaker in the lead to avoid any future conflict? - Oliszydlowski (TALK) 19:35, 15 March 2017 (UTC).

"Citation Required"
The section en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Wilder#Hollywood_career begins "After arriving in Hollywood in 1933, Wilder continued his career as a screenwriter. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1934."

This is an unusual situation. It begs the question of how Wilder became a U.S. Citizen after residing in this country for only one year. Was it by a private bill in Congress; or by executive action; or what?

It would be interesting to know.


 * He became a citizen in 1939, after his six-month visa expired in 1934 & he waited in Mexico, according to the Richard Armstrong book. I added that to the article. Davemck (talk) 18:10, 23 June 2017 (UTC)

"Sometimes confused with…"

 * Wilder is sometimes confused with director William Wyler. Both were German-speaking Jews with similar backgrounds and names. However, their output as directors was quite different: Wyler preferred to direct epics and heavy dramas, while Wilder was noted for comedies and film noir type dramas

I have no idea why this appears in the bio. Who confuses Wilder with Wyler? Was this a bad attempt at disambiguation? I see no reason not to remove this paragraph. Viriditas (talk) 03:52, 24 January 2023 (UTC)