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My journey ends here...

WILDER Billy

Samuel WILDER.

Date of birth : June 22, 1906, Sucha, Poland.

Date of death : March 27, 2002, Beverly Hills, California (,).

Portrait ,,,,,

Profession director.

Story

He married on December 22, 1936 Judith Frances Coppicus (April 11, 1911, New York-October 1st, 2002, California). Birth of their twins Vincent and Victoria on December 21, 1939. Vincent, ill, died on March 31, 1940

(). The couple divorced in 1946.

On June 30, 1949 he married Audrey Young (October 30, 1922, Los Angeles-June 1st, 2012, Los Angeles)

(,,).

He emigrated to the USA in 1933, after having given up his law studies for journalism and worked as a screenwriter in Berlin.

Several years later, he started to write for the Paramount.

He linked up with Charles Brackett (until 1950) and had a nomination to the Academy Awards for "Ninotchka" (1939).

He was co-writer and director of the following movies, all nominated to the Academy Awards :

"Double Indemnity" in 1944

"A Foreign Affair" in 1948

"Sunset Boulevard" in 1950 ,

"Stalag 17" in 1953

"Sabrina" in 1954 ,

" The Lost Weekend" in 1945, "Some Like it Hot" in 1959 and "The Apartment" () in 1960 received several Academy Awards.

He directed Marilyn in her biggest comic success "The Seven Year Itch" (1955) and "Some Like it Hot" (1959).

"The Seven Year Itch"

skirt scene

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bathtub scene

toothpaste advert scene ,

pink blouse

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night gown ,

dotted dress

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spotted dress

bathrobe ;

blouse and denim ;,

Mae West costume ;;;

bed ,

September 14, 1954, picture session at Richard Avedon's studio, pictures taken by Sam Shaw

November 6, 1954 party given at Romanoff's for the end of the production of "The Seven Year Itch"

March 1, 1956, he greeted Marilyn at the Warner Studios, while he was on the production of "The Spirit of St

Louis" ,

Letter dated March 17,1958 to Marilyn, in which Wilder offered her the script of "Some Like It Hot"

For "Some Like it Hot", Marilyn's proverbial intransigence on the set reached its climax : she was missing for complete mornings, was too groggy by the drugs to remember her lines, sometimes needed 50 shots for simple sequences and ignored Wilder, letting herself guided by Paula Strasberg.

"Some Like It Hot"

Press conference, July 8, 1958

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Train scene

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Bath scene

Bathrobe

Beach ;

Spangled dress

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Others ,;;

With Jack Lemmon

At the end of the shooting, he refused to invite Marilyn at the party celebrating the end of the movie.
At that time, relieved, he admitted to a reporter : "For the first time, I can begin looking at my wife without wanting to beat her because she's a woman".

Marilyn was very hurt by those comments; Arthur Miller immediately stood up for his wife, accusing Wilder of having deliberately overworked Marilyn while knowing she was pregnant (later, she had a miscarriage).
After violent exchanges in the press between Miller and Wilder, this one publicly swore he would never work with Marilyn again. Their relationship thawed in September 1959, when they met again at the party organized by the
Fox, for Nikita Khrouchtchev's visit.

The vestiges of their disputes faded on June 21, 1960 when she attended the preview of "The Apartment"

(,) and the following party at Romanoff.

In many interviews, he recognized Marilyn's talent and expressed his despair about the tensions a shooting with her involved.

1964
In 1964, he celebrated his 58th birthday on the set of "Kiss Me Stupid"

In 1986 he received a "Life Achievement Award" from the American Film Institute, rewarding his whole career.

April 28, 1986, 25th anniversary for the production of "Some Like It Hot"

In 1994

Bibliography

"Billy Wilder in Hollywood", Maurice Zolotow, New York, Putnam, 1977.

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