Name	Kim Novak
Caption	Novak in 2004
Birth name	Marilyn Pauline Novak
Birth date	February 13, 1933
Birth place	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Years active	1954–1991
Spouse	Richard Johnson (1965–1966)Dr. Robert Malloy (1976–present)

Kim Novak (born February 13, 1933) is an American actress. She is best known for her performance in the classic 1958 film Vertigo. Novak retired from acting in 1991 and has since become an accomplished artist of oil paintings. She currently lives with her veterinarian husband on a ranch in Eagle Point, Oregon, where they raise livestock.

Early life

Kim Novak was born Marilyn Pauline Novak in Chicago, Illinois, to Joseph Novak and Blanche Marie Novak (nee Král). Her parents were second-generation Czech immigrants. Her father was a railroad clerk and former teacher and her mother was also a former teacher.

While attending David Glasgow Farragut High School, she won a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago. After leaving school, she began a career modeling teen fashions for a local department store. She later received a scholarship at a modeling academy and continued to model part-time. She worked as an elevator operator, a sales clerk and a dental assistant.

After a job touring the country as a spokesman for a refrigerator manufacturer, "Miss Deepfreeze," Novak moved to Los Angeles, where she continued to find work as a model.

Career

The 20-year-old actress began with an uncredited role in The French Line (1954). Eventually, she was seen by a Columbia Pictures talent agent and filmed a screen test. Novak was signed to a six-month contract, and the studio changed her first name to Kim. Novak debuted as Lona McLane that same year in Pushover opposite Fred MacMurray and Philip Carey, and played the femme fatale role of Janis in Phffft! opposite Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, and Jack Carson. Novak's reviews were good. People were eager to see the new star, and she received an enormous amount of fan mail. ' in Pal Joey)]] After playing Madge Owens in Picnic (1955) opposite William Holden, Novak won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer and for World Film Favorite. She was also nominated for the British BAFTA Film Award for Best Foreign Actress. That same year she played Molly in The Man with the Golden Arm with Frank Sinatra. In 1957 she worked with Sinatra again for Pal Joey, which also starred Rita Hayworth, and starred in Jeanne Eagels with Jeff Chandler. She was on the cover of the July 29, 1957, issue of Time Magazine. That same year, she went on strike, protesting her salary of $1,250 per week.

In 1958, Novak starred in the Alfred Hitchcock-directed classic thriller Vertigo, playing the roles of a brunette shopgirl, Judy Barton, and a blonde woman named Madeleine Elster.

Today, the film is considered a masterpiece of romantic suspense, though Novak's performance has received mixed reviews. Critic David Shipman thought it "little more than competent", while David Thomson sees it as "one of the major female performances in the cinema". Hitchcock, rarely one to praise actors, dismissed Novak in a later interview. "You think you're getting a lot," he said of her ability, "but you're not." ]] That same year, she again starred alongside Stewart in Bell, Book and Candle, a comedy tale of modern-day witchcraft that did moderately well at the box office. In 1960, she co-starred with Kirk Douglas in the critically acclaimed Strangers When We Meet also featuring Walter Matthau and Ernie Kovacs. In 1962, Novak produced her own movie, financing her own production company in association with Filmways Productions. Boys' Night Out, in which she starred with James Garner and Tony Randall. It was received mildly well by critics and the public. She was paired with Lemmon for a third and final time that year in a mystery-comedy, The Notorious Landlady.

In 1964 she played the vulgar waitress Mildred Rogers in a remake of W. Somerset Maugham's drama Of Human Bondage opposite Laurence Harvey, and starred as barmaid Polly, "The Pistol" in Billy Wilder's Kiss Me, Stupid with Ray Walston and Dean Martin. After playing the title role in The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965) with Richard Johnson, Novak took a break from Hollywood acting. She continued to act, although infrequently, taking fewer roles as she began to prefer personal activities over acting

Her comeback came in a dual role as a young actress, Elsa Brinkmann, and an early-day movie goddess who was murdered, Lylah Clare, in producer-director Robert Aldrich's The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968) with Peter Finch and Ernest Borgnine for MGM. The movie did not do well. After playing a forger, Sister Lyda Kebanov, in The Great Bank Robbery (1969) opposite Zero Mostel, Clint Walker, and Claude Akins, she stayed away from the screen for another four years. She then played the role of Auriol Pageant in the horror anthology film Tales That Witness Madness (1973) opposite Joan Collins. She starred as veteran showgirl Gloria Joyce in the made-for-TV movie The Third Girl From the Left (1973), and played Eva in Satan's Triangle (1975). She was featured in the 1977 western The White Buffalo with Charles Bronson, and in 1979 she played Helga in Just a Gigolo co-starring David Bowie.

In 1980, Novak played Lola Brewster in the mystery/thriller The Mirror Crack'd, based on the story by Agatha Christie and co-starring Angela Lansbury, Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. She and Taylor portrayed rival actresses. She made occasional television appearances over the years. She co-starred with James Coburn in the TV-movie Malibu (1983) and played Rosa in a revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985) opposite Melanie Griffith. From 1986 to 1987, the actress was a cast member of the television series Falcon Crest during its fourth season, playing the mysterious character Kit Marlowe (the stage name rejected at the start of her career). She co-starred with Ben Kingsley in the 1990 film The Children.

Her most recent appearance on the big screen to date came as a terminally ill writer with a mysterious past in the thriller Liebestraum (1991), opposite Kevin Anderson and Bill Pullman. However, owing to battles with the director over how to play the role, her scenes were cut. Novak later admitted in a 2004 interview that the film was a mistake. She said

"I got so burned out on that picture that I wanted to leave the business, but then if you wait long enough you think, 'Oh, I miss certain things.' The making of a movie is wonderful. What's difficult is afterward when you have to go around and try to sell it. The actual filming, when you have a good script—which isn't often—nothing beats it."

. In an interview with Stephen Rebello in the July 2005 issue of Movieline's Hollywood Life, Novak admitted that she had been "unprofessional" in her conduct with the film's director, Mike Figgis.

Novak has not ruled out further acting. In an interview in 2007, she said that she would consider returning to the screen "if the right thing came along."

Novak appeared for a question-and-answer session about her career on July 30, 2010, at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, where the American Cinematheque hosted a tribute to her coinciding with the August 3 DVD release of "The Kim Novak Collection."

Honors

For her contribution to motion pictures, Novak was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6332 Hollywood Boulevard.

In 1995, Novak was ranked 92nd by Empire Magazine on a list of the 100 sexiest stars in film history. In 1955, she won the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer-Female. In 1957, she won another Golden Globe–for World Favorite female actress. In 1997, Kim won an Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. In 2002 a Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Novak by Eastman Kodak.

In 2005, British fashion designer Alexander McQueen named his first It bag the Novak.

Personal life

Novak has been married to veterinarian Dr. Robert Malloy (born 1940) since March 12, 1976. The couple resides on a ranch where they raise horses and llamas. Novak has two stepchildren.

Novak was previously married to English actor Richard Johnson from March 15, 1965, to April 23, 1966. The two have remained friends. Novak also dated Sammy Davis, Jr., in the late 1950s and actor Michael Brandon in the 1970s. She was engaged to director Richard Quine in the early 1960s.

On July 24, 2000, her home in Eagle Point, Oregon, was partially destroyed by fire. Novak lost scripts, several paintings, and a computer containing the only draft of her unfinished autobiography.

In 2006, Novak was injured in a horseback riding accident. She suffered a punctured lung, broken ribs, and nerve damage but made a full recovery within a year.

In October 2010, it was reported that Novak had been diagnosed with breast cancer according to her manager, Sue Cameron. Cameron also noted that Novak is "undergoing treatment" and that "her doctors say she is in fantastic physical shape and should recover very well."

Filmography

{|Class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Movie Title ! Role ! Director |- | rowspan="3"|1954 | The French Line | Model (uncredited) | Lloyd Bacon |- | Pushover | Lona McLane | Richard Quine |- | Phffft! | Janis | Mark Robson |- | rowspan="4"|1955 | Son of Sinbad | Harem Girl (uncredited) | Ted Tetzlaff |- | 5 Against the House | Kaye Greylek | Phil Karlson |- | Picnic | Marjorie 'Madge' Owens | Joshua Logan |- | The Man with the Golden Arm | Molly | Otto Preminger |- | 1956 | The Eddy Duchin Story | Marjorie Oelrichs Duchin | George Sidney |- | rowspan="2"|1957 | Jeanne Eagels | Jeanne Eagels | George Sidney |- | Pal Joey | Linda English | George Sidney |- | rowspan="2"|1958 | Vertigo | Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton | Alfred Hitchcock |- | Bell, Book and Candle | Gillian 'Gil' Holroyd | Richard Quine |- | 1959 | Middle of the Night | Betty Preisser | Delbert Mann |- | rowspan="2"|1960 | Strangers When We Meet | Margaret 'Maggie' Gault | Richard Quine |- | Pepe | Herself (cameo appearance) | George Sidney |- | rowspan="2"|1962 | The Notorious Landlady | Mrs. Carlyle 'Carly' Hardwicke | Richard Quine |- | Boys' Night Out | Cathy | Michael Gordon |- | rowspan="2"|1964 | Of Human Bondage | Mildred Rogers | Ken Hughes |- | Kiss Me, Stupid | Polly, "The Pistol" | Billy Wilder |- | 1965 | The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders | Moll Flanders | Terence Young |- | 1968 | The Legend of Lylah Clare | Lylah Clare/Elsa Brinkmann/Elsa Champbell | Robert Aldrich |- | 1969 | The Great Bank Robbery | Sister Lyda Kebanov (forger) | Hy Averback |- | rowspan="2"|1973 | Tales That Witness Madness | Auriol (segment 4 'Luau') | Freddie Francis |- | The Third Girl From the Left | Gloria Joyce | Peter Medak |- | 1975 | Satan's Triangle | Eva | Sutton Roley |- | 1977 | The White Buffalo | Mrs. Poker Jenny Schermerhorn | J. Lee Thompson |- | 1979 | Just a Gigolo | Helga von Kaiserling | David Hemmings |- | 1980 | The Mirror Crack'd | Lola Brewster | Guy Hamilton |- | 1983 | Malibu | Billie Farnsworth | E.W. Swackhamer |- | 1990 | The Children | Rose Sellars | Tony Palmer |- | 1991 | Liebestraum | Lillian Anderson Munnsen | Mike Figgis |-

References

Further reading

External links

Photographs and literature

Category:1933 births Category:Living people Category:American painters Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:American people of Czech descent Category:Actors from Chicago, Illinois Category:Actors from Illinois Category:Cancer patients Category:People from Eagle Point, Oregon Category:People from Jackson County, Oregon

Name	Jeanne Eagels
Caption	Jeanne Eagels in Daddies, 1918
Birth date	Amelia Jean Eagles
Birth date	June 26, 1890
Birth place	Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Death date	October 03, 1929
Death place	New York City, New York, U.S.
Spouse	Morris Dubinsky (? - ?); divorcedEdward Harris Coy (1925-1928); divorced}}

Jeanne Eagels (June 26, 1890 – October 3, 1929) was an American actress on Broadway and in several motion pictures. She was a former Ziegfeld Follies Girl who went on to greater fame on Broadway and in the emerging medium of sound films.

She was posthumously considered for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her 1929 role in The Letter after dying suddenly that year at the age of 39. That nomination was the first ever posthumous Oscar consideration for any actor, male or female. However, according to the Academy's database, Eagels was among several actresses "under consideration" by a board of judges, and was not actually formally nominated.

Early life

Jeanne Eagels was born in Kansas City, Missouri to Edward and Julia Sullivan Eagles (1865–1945) on June 26, 1890 of German and Irish descent. Her parents were married on April 26, 1886 in Platte City, Platte County, Missouri. Although many biographies state that her birth name was Amelia Jeanne Eagles, her actual birth name was Eugenia Eagles according to both the 1900 and 1910 United States Federal Censuses for Kansas City, Missouri. Her sister, Edna, also had a daughter named Eugenia. According to her obituary and census records, she was the second oldest child. Her siblings were Edna, George, Helen, Leo, and Paul, who were also born in Missouri, according to the 1900 and 1910 U.S. Censuses.

Her father died on February 15, 1910 in Kansas City, leaving his 44-year-old widow with six children to raise. Eagels attended St. Joseph's parochial school and Morris Public School. She quit school shortly after her first communion to work as a cash girl in a department store.

Career

It was in Kansas City that she began her acting career, appearing in a variety of small venues at a very young age. She left Kansas City around the age of 15 and toured the Midwest with the Dubinsky Brothers' traveling theater show. At first, she was a dancer, but in time she went on to play the leading lady in several comedies and dramas put on by the Dubinskys. She married Morris Dubinsky, who frequently played villain roles.

Around 1911, she moved to New York City, working in chorus lines and eventually becoming a Ziegfeld Girl. Her hair was brown, but she bleached it when she went to New York. During this period, one of her acting coaches was Beverly Sitgreaves. Eagels was in the supporting cast of Mind The Paint Girl at the Lyceum Theatre in September 1912. Eagels played opposite George Arliss in three successive plays in 1916 and 1917.

In 1915, she appeared in her first motion picture. She also made three films for Thanhouser Film Corporation in 1916-17.

In 1918, she appeared in Daddies, a David Belasco production. She quit this show due to illness and subsequently travelled to Europe. She appeared in several other Broadway shows between 1919 and 1921.

In 1922, she made her first appearance as a star in the play Rain, by John Colton, based on a short story by W. Somerset Maugham. Eagels played her favorite role, that of Sadie Thompson, a free-wheeling and free-loving spirit who confronts a fire-and-brimstone preacher on a South Pacific island. She went on tour with Rain for two more seasons, and returned to Broadway to give a farewell performance in 1926.

In 1925, Eagels married Edward Harris "Ted" Coy, a former Yale University football star turned stockbroker. They had no children and divorced in 1928.

In 1926, Eagels was offered the part of Roxie Hart in Maurine Dallas Watkins's play Chicago, but Eagels walked out of this role during rehearsals. She next appeared in the comedy Her Cardboard Lover (1927), in which she appeared on stage with Leslie Howard. She then went on tour with Her Cardboard Lover for several months. After missing some performances due to ptomaine poisoning, Eagels returned to the cast in July 1927 for an Empire Theater show.

After a season on Broadway, she took a break to make a movie. She appeared opposite John Gilbert in the MGM film Man, Woman and Sin (1927), directed by Monta Bell.

In 1928, after failing to appear for a performance in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Eagels was banned by Actors Equity from appearing on stage for 18 months. The ban did not stop Eagels from working in film, and she made two "talkies" for Paramount Pictures, including The Letter and Jealousy (both released in 1929).

Death and legacy

Just before she was to return to the Broadway stage in a new play, Eagels died suddenly at a private hospital in New York City on October 3, 1929 at the age of 39. Medical examiners disagreed on the exact cause of death, but the available evidence pointed to the effects of alcohol or heroin. After services in New York, Eagels received a second funeral service when her body was returned to Kansas City, where she was buried in Calvary Cemetery.

She was survived by her mother Julia Eagles and several brothers and sisters.

Eagels was posthumously nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in The Letter, but the Oscar went to Mary Pickford for the film Coquette.

In 1957, a mostly fictionalized film biography entitled Jeanne Eagels was made by Columbia Pictures, starring Kim Novak as Eagels.

Filmography

The House of Fear (1915)

The World and the Woman (1916)

The Fires of Youth (1917)

Under False Colors (1917)

The Cross Bearer (1918)

The Madonna of the Slums (1919)

Man, Woman and Sin (1927)

The Letter (1929)

Jealousy (1929)

References

New York Times, This Week To See Rush Of New Plays, September 8, 1912, Page X4.

Kansas City Star "Another Kansas City Girl 'Arrives' October 5, 1913 Page 15

Kansas City Post "Jeanne Eagles passes up Wales to play 'Rain" before mother April 10, 1925 p. 29

New York Times, Jeanne Eagels Playing Again, July 13, 1927, Page 20.

New York Times, The Vacillating Vampire, December 5, 1927, Page 26.

Great Stars of the American Stage," copyright 1952 by Daniel Blum, Page 80.

1900 United States Federal Census, Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, June 4, 1900, ED 111, p.5.

1910 United States Federal Census, Kansas City Ward 9, Jackson County, Missouri, Enumeration District 111.

Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City Star, Edward W. Eagles Mortuary Notice, February 15, 1910.

Reno, Nevada, Reno Evening Gazette, "Eagels Burial Services Today", October 27, 1929, p. 3.

Adams, Massachusetts, The North Adams Transcript, "Jeanne Eagels Dies Suddenly", October 4, 1929, p. 1.

Missouri Marriage Records, 1805–2002, Ancestry.com.

California Death Index, 1940–1997, Ancestry.com

External links

Jeanne Eagles in The Letter (1929)

Jeanne Eagels photo taken in 1917 not published until 1974; NYP Library collection

Category:1894 births Category:1929 deaths Category:People from Kansas City, Missouri Category:American people of German descent Category:American film actors Category:American silent film actors Category:American stage actors Category:Ziegfeld Girls Category:Deaths by heroin overdose in New York

Name	William Holden
Birth name
Birth date	April 17, 1918
Birth place	O'Fallon, Illinois, U.S.
Death date
Death place	Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, wildlife conservationist
Years active	1938–1981
Spouse

William Holden (April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974. One of the biggest box office draws of the 1950s, he was named one of the "Top 10 Stars of the Year" six times (1954–1958, 1961) and appeared on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years…100 Stars list as #25.

Early life and career

Holden, eldest of three sons (brothers were Robert and Richard), was born William Franklin Beedle, Jr. in O'Fallon, Illinois, the son of Congregationalist parents Mary Blanche (née Ball), a schoolteacher, and William Franklin Beedle, Sr., an industrial chemist. Growing up, Holden was raised in the Methodist church, and while some sources cite him as a Congregationalist, Holden identified himself as a Methodist throughout his life. The family, which moved to South Pasadena, California when he was three, was of English descent; Holden's paternal great-grandmother, Rebecca Westfield, was born in England in 1817, while some of his mother's ancestors emigrated in the 17th century to Millenback, Lancaster County, Virginia in the U.S. from England.

After graduating from South Pasadena High School, Holden attended Pasadena Junior College, where he became involved in local radio plays. Contrary to legend and theatre publicity, he did not study at the Pasadena Playhouse, nor was he discovered in a play there. Rather, he was spotted by a talent scout from Paramount Pictures in 1937 while playing the part of an 80-year-old man, Marie Curie's father-in-law, in a play at the Playbox, a separate and private theatre owned by Pasadena Playhouse director Gilmor Brown. His first film role was in Prison Farm the following year.

Hollywood's "Golden Boy"

Holden's first starring role was in Golden Boy (1939), in which he played a violinist turned boxer. That was followed by the role of George Gibbs in the film adaptation of Our Town.

After Columbia Pictures picked up half of his contract, he alternated between starring in several minor pictures for Paramount and Columbia before serving as a 2nd lieutenant in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, where he acted in training films. Beginning in 1950, his career took off when Billy Wilder tapped him to star as the down-at-the-heels screenwriter Joe Gillis, who is taken in by faded silent-screen star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) in Sunset Boulevard, for which Holden earned his first Best Actor Oscar nomination.

in Sunset Boulevard]] Following this breakthrough film, he played a series of roles that combined good looks with cynical detachment, including a prisoner-of-war entrepreneur in Stalag 17 (1953), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, a pressured young engineer/family man in Executive Suite (1954), an acerbic stage director in The Country Girl (1954), a conflicted jet pilot in the Korean War film The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), a wandering braggart in Picnic (1955), a dashing war correspondent in Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), an ill-fated prisoner in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and a WWII tug boat captain in The Key (1958).

He also played a number of sunnier roles in light comedy, such as the handsome architect pursuing virginal Maggie McNamara in the controversial Production Code-breaking The Moon is Blue (1953), as Judy Holliday's tutor in Born Yesterday (1950), as a playwright captivated by Ginger Rogers' character in Forever Female (1953) and as Humphrey Bogart's younger brother, a playboy, in Sabrina (1954), which also starred Audrey Hepburn.

Holden starred in his share of forgettable movies — which he was forced to do by studio contracts — such as Paris When It Sizzles (1964), also co-starring Audrey Hepburn. By the mid-1960s, his roles were having less critical and commercial impact.

Later career

In 1969, Holden starred in director Sam Peckinpah's graphically violent Western The Wild Bunch, winning much acclaim. Also in 1969, Holden starred in director Terence Young's family film L'Arbre de Noel, co-starring Italian actress Virna Lisi, based on the novel of the same name by Michel Bataille. This film was originally released in the United States as The Christmas Tree and on home video as When Wolves Cry.

Five years later, he starred with Paul Newman and Steve McQueen in The Towering Inferno. He was also praised for his Oscar-nominated leading performance in Sidney Lumet's Network (1976), playing an older version of the character type he had perfected in the 1950s, only now more jaded and aware of his own mortality. In 1980, Holden appeared in The Earthling with child actor Ricky Schroder, playing a loner dying of cancer who goes to the Australian outback to end his days, meets a young boy whose parents have been killed in an accident, and teaches him how to survive. Schroder later named one of his sons Holden.

During his last years, he also appeared in When Time Ran Out and Blake Edwards's S.O.B.. While his second Irwin Allen was a critical and commercial failure and largely disliked by Holden himself, his other last film directed by Edwards was more successful and a Golden Globe-nominated picture.

Personal life

Holden was married to actress Ardis Ankerson (stage name Brenda Marshall) from 1941 until their divorce (after many long separations) in 1971. They had two sons, Peter Westfield (born November 17, 1943) and Scott Porter (born May 2, 1946; died January 21, 2005, San Diego, California). He also adopted his wife's daughter Virginia from her first marriage.

Holden was best man at the marriage of his friend Ronald Reagan to Nancy Davis in 1952; however, he never involved himself in politics.

In 1954, during the filming of Sabrina, Holden and Audrey Hepburn became romantically involved, and she hoped to marry him and have children. She broke off the relationship when Holden revealed that he had undergone a vasectomy.

He maintained a home in Switzerland and also spent much of his time working for wildlife conservation as a managing partner in an animal preserve in Africa. His Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki, Kenya (founded 1959) became a mecca for the international jet set.

In 1964, he was again paired up with Hepburn in Paris When It Sizzles, who nearly ten years before, he had been her leading man in Sabrina. Behind the scenes, the set was plagued with problems. Holden tried without success to rekindle a romance with the now-married actress. That, combined with his alcoholism, made the situation a challenge for the production.

In 1966, in Italy, he killed another driver in a drunk driving accident. He received an eight-month suspended sentence for vehicular manslaughter.

In 1972, he began a nine-year relationship with actress Stefanie Powers which sparked her interest in animal welfare. After his death, Powers set up the William Holden Wildlife Foundation at Holden's Mount Kenya Game Ranch.

His younger brother, Robert W. "Bobbie" Beedle, was a Navy fighter pilot who was killed in action in World War II, on January 5, 1945. After The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955) was released, Beedle was remembered by his squadron-mates as having been very much like Holden's character Lt. Harry Brubaker.

Death

According to the Los Angeles County Coroner's autopsy report, on November 12, 1981, Holden was alone and intoxicated in his apartment in Santa Monica, California, when he slipped on a throw rug, severely lacerated his forehead on a teak bedside table, and bled to death. Evidence suggests he was conscious for at least a half hour after the fall but may not have realized the severity of the injury and did not summon aid, or was unable to call for help. His body was found four days later.

Holden dictated in his will that the Neptune Society cremate him and scatter his ashes in the Pacific Ocean. No funeral or memorial service was held, per his wishes.

Filmography

Features

Prison Farm (1938) (uncredited)

Million Dollar Legs (1939) (uncredited)

Golden Boy (1939)

Invisible Stripes (1939)

Our Town (1940)

Those Were the Days! (1940)

Arizona (1940)

I Wanted Wings (1941)

Texas (1941)

The Fleet's In (1942)

The Remarkable Andrew (1942)

Meet the Stewarts (1942)

Young and Willing (1943)

Blaze of Noon (1947)

Dear Ruth (1947)

Variety Girl (1947)

The Man from Colorado (1948)

Rachel and the Stranger (1948)

Apartment for Peggy (1948)

The Dark Past (1948)

Streets of Laredo (1949)

Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949)

Dear Wife (1949)

Father Is a Bachelor (1950)

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Union Station (1950)

Born Yesterday (1950)

Force of Arms (1951)

Submarine Command (1951)

Boots Malone (1952)

The Turning Point (1952)

Stalag 17 (1953)

The Moon Is Blue (1953)

Forever Female (1953)

Escape from Fort Bravo (1953)

in Sabrina (1954)]]

Executive Suite (1954)

Sabrina (1954)

The Country Girl (1954)

The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)

Picnic (1955)

The Proud and Profane (1956)

Toward the Unknown (1956)

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

The Key (1958)

The Horse Soldiers (1959)

The World of Suzie Wong (1960)

Satan Never Sleeps (1962)

The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)

The Lion (1962)

Paris, When It Sizzles (1964)

The 7th Dawn (1964)

Alvarez Kelly (1966)

Casino Royale (1967)

The Devil's Brigade (1968)

The Wild Bunch (1969)

The Christmas Tree (1969)

Wild Rovers (1971)

The Revengers (1972)

Breezy (1973)

Open Season (1974)

The Blue Knight (1974)

The Towering Inferno (1974)

Network (1976)

Fedora (1978)

(1978)

Ashanti (1979)

The Earthling (1980)

When Time Ran Out (1980)

S.O.B. (1981)

Short subjects

Reconnaissance Pilot (1943)

Wings Up (1943)

You Can Change the World (1951)

Awards and nominations

Academy Award

Best Actor Nomination for Sunset Boulevard (1951)

Best Actor Award for Stalag 17 (1954)

Best Actor Nomination for Network (1977)

BAFTA Award

Best Foreign Actor Nomination for Picnic (1955)

Best Foreign Actor Nomination for Network (1976)

Emmy Award

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie Award for The Blue Knight (1974)

References

Bibliography

The Films of William Holden, by Lawrence J. Quirk, Citadel Press 1973

Golden Boy: The Untold Story of William Holden, by Bob Thomas, St. Martin's Press 1983

The Complete Films of William Holden, by Lawrence J. Quirk, Citadel Press 1986

Growing Up with William Holden: A Memoir, by Virginia Holden Gaines (Stepdaughter), 2007

William Holden: A Biography, by Michelangelo Capua, McFarland Press 2010

External links

Profile @ Turner Classic Movies

William Holden Wildlife Foundation

Category:1918 births Category:1981 deaths Category:Accidental deaths from falls Category:Accidental deaths in California Category:American actors of English descent Category:American film actors Category:American Methodists Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:California Republicans Category:Emmy Award winners Category:First Motion Picture Unit personnel Category:Individuals associated with animal welfare Category:Pasadena City College alumni Category:People from Pasadena, California Category:People from St. Clair County, Illinois Category:United States Army Air Forces officers Category:Western (genre) film actors Category:Animal rights advocates

Name	Sharon Stone
Caption	Stone in 2005
Birth date	March 10, 1958
Birth name	Sharon Vonne Stone
Birth place	Meadville, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, model, producer
Years active	1977–present
Spouse	George Howe Englund, Jr.Michael Greenburg (1984–1987)Phil Bronstein (1998–2004; 3 adopted children)
Children	Roan Joseph Bronstein (May 22, 2000)Laird Vonne Stone (May 7, 2005)Quinn Kelly Stone (June 8, 2006)

Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for her performance in Casino.

Early life

Stone was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania. The second of four children, she is the daughter of Dorothy (née Lawson), an accountant and homemaker, and Joseph Stone, a tool and die manufacturer. Stone graduated in 1975 from Saegertown High School in Saegertown, Pennsylvania, graduating early in an accelerated study program in conjunction with Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and briefly attended Edinboro.

Career

Modeling

Stone won the title of Miss Crawford County in Meadville. One of the pageant judges said she should quit school and move to New York City to become a fashion model. When her mother heard this, she agreed, and, in 1977 Stone left Meadville, moving in with an aunt in New Jersey. Within four days of her arrival in New Jersey, she was signed by Ford Modeling Agency in New York.

1980–1989

While living in Europe, she decided to quit modeling and become an actress. "So I packed my bags, moved back to New York, and stood in line to be an extra in a Woody Allen movie," she later recalled. While auditioning, she met Michelle Pfeiffer, who recognized her from the pageant she competed in, and the two became friends. Stone was cast for a brief role in Allen's Stardust Memories (1980), and then had a speaking part a year later in the horror movie Deadly Blessing (1981). When French director Claude Lelouch saw Stone in Stardust Memories, he was so impressed that he cast her in Les Uns et les Autres (1982) starring James Caan. She was only on screen for two minutes and did not appear in the credits.

After starring on the short-lived TV series Bay City Blues in 1983, her next film role was in Irreconcilable Differences (1984), starring Ryan O'Neal, Shelley Long, and a young Drew Barrymore. Stone played a starlet who breaks up the marriage of a successful director and his screenwriter wife. The plot was based on the real-life experience of director Peter Bogdanovich, his set designer wife Polly Platt, and Cybill Shepherd. In 1984, she appeared in a two-part episode of Magnum, P.I., titled "Echoes of the Mind", where she played identical twins, one a love interest of Tom Selleck's character.

Through the rest of the 1980s she appeared in King Solomon's Mines (1985), (1987), Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1987), Action Jackson (1988), and Above the Law (1988). Stone was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Actress for her performance in Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold.

Also in 1988, Stone took over the role of Janice Henry for the filming of the miniseries War and Remembrance.

1990–2002

, 1991]] Her appearance in Total Recall (1990) with Arnold Schwarzenegger gave Stone's career a jolt. To coincide with the movie's release, she posed nude for Playboy, showing off the muscles she developed in preparation for the movie (she lifted weights and learned taekwondo). In 1999, she was rated among the 25 sexiest stars of the century by Playboy.

The role that made her a star was that of Catherine Tramell, a brilliant, bisexual serial killer, in Basic Instinct (1992). Stone had to wait and actually turned down other offers for the mere prospect to play Tramell (the part was offered to 13 other actresses and considered to 150 women before being offered to Stone). Several better known actresses of the time turned down the part mostly because of the nudity required. In the movie’s most notorious scene, Tramell is being questioned by the police and she crosses and uncrosses her legs, revealing the fact she is not wearing any underwear. According to Stone, upon seeing her own vulva in the leg-crossing scene during a screening of the film, she went into the projection booth and slapped director Paul Verhoeven.

Stone claimed that although she agreed to film the flashing scene with no panties, and although she and Verhoeven had discussed the scene from the beginning of production, she was unaware just how explicit the infamous shot would be. She said, "I knew that we were going to do this leg-crossing thing and I knew that we were going to allude to the concept that I was nude, but I did not think that you would see my vagina in the scene. Later, when I saw it in the screening I was shocked. I think seeing it in a room full of strangers was so disrespectful and so shocking, so I went into the booth and slapped him and left."

Despite this, she claimed in an earlier interview that "it was so fun" watching the film for the first time with strangers. Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, who later befriended the actress, also claimed the actress was fully aware of the level of nudity involved in his memoir, Hollywood Animal.

Following this film, she was listed by People as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world.

In 1992, photographer George Hurrell took a series of photographs of Stone, Sherilyn Fenn, Julian Sands, Raquel Welch, Eric Roberts, and Sean Penn.

In November 1995, Stone received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6925 Hollywood Blvd. That same year, Empire chose her as one of the 100 sexiest stars in film history. In October 1997, she was ranked among the top 100 movie stars of all time by Empire.

In 1995, she received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Dramatic Motion Picture for her role as "Ginger" in Martin Scorsese's Casino opposite Robert De Niro. She also earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the role.

Stone starred opposite actress Ellen DeGeneres in the 2000 HBO movie If These Walls Could Talk 2, in which she played a lesbian trying to start a family.

In 2001, Stone was linked to a biopic of the German film director Leni Riefenstahl. The prospective director Paul Verhoeven and Riefenstahl herself favoured Stone to portray Riefenstahl in the film. According to Verhoeven, he discussed the project with Stone and she was very interested. Subsequently, Verhoeven pulled out of the project as he wanted to hire a more expensive screenwriter than the producers did.

Stone was hospitalized on September 29, 2001 for a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which was diagnosed as a vertebral artery dissection rather than the more common ruptured aneurysm, and treated with an endovascular coil embolization.

2003–present

In 2003, she appeared in three episodes from the eighth season of The Practice. For her performances, she received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.

Stone attempted a return to the mainstream with roles in the films Cold Creek Manor (2003) with Kristen Stewart and Catwoman (2004) with Halle Berry; however, both movies were critical and commercial flops.

After years of litigation, was released on March 31, 2006. A reason for a long delay in releasing the film was reportedly Stone's dispute with the filmmakers over the nudity in the movie; she wanted more, while they wanted less. A group sex scene was cut in order to achieve an R rating from the MPAA for the U.S. release; the controversial scene remained in the U.K. version of the London-based film. Stone told an interviewer, "We are in a time of odd repression and if a popcorn movie allows us to create a platform for discussion, wouldn't that be great?"

Despite an estimated budget of $70 million, it placed only 10th in gross on its debut weekend with a meager $3,200,000, and was subsequently declared a bomb. It ultimately ran in theaters for only 17 days and finished with a total domestic gross of under $6 million. Despite the failure of Basic Instinct 2, Stone has said that she would love to direct and act in a third Basic Instinct film.

She appeared in the 2006 drama Alpha Dog opposite Bruce Willis, playing Olivia Mazursky, the mother of a real-life murder victim. Stone wore a fatsuit for the role. In February 2007, Stone found her role as a clinically depressed woman in her latest film, When a Man Falls in the Forest, uplifting, as it challenged what she called "Prozac society." "It was a watershed experience," she said. "I think that we live in a... Prozac society where we're always told we're supposed to have this kind of equilibrium of emotion. We have all these assignments about how we're supposed to feel about something."

In December 2006, she co hosted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway together with Anjelica Huston. The concert was in honor of the Nobel Peace Prize winners Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank.

In 2007, she appeared in a television commercial demonstrating the symptoms of a stroke.

On January 5, 2010, it was announced that Stone would be joining the cast of for a four-episode arc beginning in April 2010. She portrayed , a former cop-turned-prosecutor. Her performance has been met with lukewarm reviews.

Criticism

Tanzania

On January 28, 2005, Stone helped solicit pledges for $1 million in five minutes for mosquito nets in Tanzania, turning a panel on African poverty into an impromptu fund-raiser at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Many observers, including UNICEF, criticized her actions by claiming that Stone had reacted instinctively to the words of Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, because she had not done her research on the causes, consequences and methods of preventing malaria; if she had done so, she would have found out that most African governments already distribute free bed nets through public hospitals.

Of the $1 million pledged, only $250,000 was actually raised. In order to fulfill the promise to send $1 million worth of bed nets to Tanzania, UNICEF contributed $750,000. This diverted funds from other UNICEF projects.}}

Observers have also noted that Wenchuan County, the epicenter of the earthquake, is located in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, where ethnic Tibetans comprise over half of the population. According to the Hollywood Reporter, after her comments, one of China's biggest cinema chains released statements stating its company would not show her films in its theaters. The founder of the UME Cineplex chain and the chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, Ng See-Yuen called Stone's comments "inappropriate" and said the UME Cineplex chain would not be releasing her films in the future. Stone was also struck from the 2008 Shanghai International Film Festival guest list, with the event's organizers considering a permanent ban for the actress.

Dior China had originally posted an apology in Stone's name, but Stone later denied making the apology during an interview with the New York Times, saying "I'm not going to apologize. I’m certainly not going to apologize for something that isn’t real and true — not for face creams," although she does admit she had "sounded like an idiot". While Stone cited the Dalai Lama as her "good friend" when she made the remark at the Cannes film festival, the Dalai Lama has reportedly distanced himself from her remark, stating, "yes, I've met that lady".

Personal life

Stone lives in Beverly Hills, California, and owns a farm in New Zealand. In March 2006, Stone traveled to Israel to promote peace in the Middle East through a press conference with Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres. Stone also has diabetes and asthma.

Religion

Stone became a Buddhist, after fellow actor Richard Gere introduced her to the Dalai Lama. She believes in God and is religious by self-description. She is an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church.

Relationships

Stone was first married briefly to George Howe Englund, Jr. She married television producer Michael Greenburg in 1984 on the set of The Vegas Strip War, a TV movie he produced and she starred in. The couple separated three years later, and their divorce was finalized in 1990.

On February 14, 1998, Stone married Phil Bronstein, executive editor of the San Francisco Examiner and later San Francisco Chronicle. Stone and Bronstein were divorced in January 2004. They have an adopted son named Roan Joseph Bronstein, born on May 22, 2000. Stone adopted her second son, Laird Vonne Stone on May 7, 2005. On June 28, 2006, Stone adopted her third son, Quinn Kelly.

In 2005, during a television interview for her movie , Stone hinted an interest in bisexuality, stating "Middle age is an open-minded period". Stone has said that in the past she's "dated" girls. While filming Basic Instinct, her best girlfriend was there to hold her hand out of camera range during some of the scenes. And in a biography, Naked Instinct, author Frank Sanello details a sexual liaison between Stone and a woman in the bathroom of the Beverly Hills Hotel. In an interview on the Michael Parkinson talk show in England on March 18, 2006, she said she was "straight". However, in January 2008, she was quoted as saying, "Everybody is bisexual to an extent. Now men act like women and it's difficult to have a relationship because I like men in that old-fashioned way. I like masculinity and, in truth, only women do that now".

Filmography

References

External links

Category:1958 births Category:Actors from Pennsylvania Category:AIDS activists Category:American female models Category:American film actors Category:American health activists Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Converts to Buddhism Category:American Buddhists Category:Edinboro University of Pennsylvania alumni Category:Emmy Award winners Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Légion d'honneur recipients Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:Living people Category:People from Crawford County, Pennsylvania Category:Stroke survivors Category:Tibetan Buddhists from the United States

Name	Billy Wilder
Birth name	Samuel Wilder
Birth date	June 22, 1906
Birth place	(now Sucha Beskidzka, Poland)
Death date	March 27, 2002
Death place	Beverly Hills, California, United States
Years active	1929-1995
Occupation	Film director, producer and screenwriter
Spouse	Audrey Young (1949-2002)

Billy Wilder (22 June 190627 March 2002) was an Austrian-born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age. Wilder is one of only five people who have won Academy Awards as producer, director, and writer for the same film (The Apartment).

Wilder became a screenwriter in the late 1920s while living in Berlin. After the rise of Adolf Hitler, Wilder, who was Jewish, left for Paris, where he made his directorial debut. He relocated to Hollywood in 1933, and in 1939 he had a hit as a co-writer of the screenplay to the screwball comedy Ninotchka. Wilder established his directorial reputation after helming Double Indemnity (1944), a film noir he co-wrote with mystery novelist Raymond Chandler. Wilder earned the Best Director and Best Screenplay Academy Awards for the adaptation of a Charles R. Jackson story The Lost Weekend, about alcoholism. In 1950, Wilder co-wrote and directed the critically acclaimed Sunset Boulevard.

From the mid-1950s on, Wilder made mostly comedies. Among the classics Wilder created in this period are the farces The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Some Like It Hot (1959), satires such as The Apartment (1960), and the romantic comedy Sabrina (1954). He directed fourteen different actors in Oscar-nominated performances. Wilder was recognized with the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1986. In 1988, Wilder was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. In 1993, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. Wilder holds a significant place in the history of Hollywood censorship for expanding the range of acceptable subject matter.

Life and career

Austria and Germany

Born Samuel Wilder to a Jewish family in Sucha Beskidzka, Austria-Hungary (now Poland) to Max Wilder and Eugenia Dittler, Wilder was nicknamed Billie by his mother (he changed that to "Billy" after arriving in America). His parents had a successful and well-known cake shop in Sucha Beskidzka's train station and unsuccessfully tried to convince their son to join the family business. Soon the family moved to Vienna, where Wilder attended school. After dropping out of the University of Vienna, Wilder became a journalist. To advance his career Wilder decided to move to Berlin, Germany. While in Berlin, before achieving success as a writer, Wilder allegedly worked as a taxi dancer.

After writing crime and sports stories as a stringer for local newspapers, he was eventually offered a regular job at a Berlin tabloid. Developing an interest in film, he began working as a screenwriter. He collaborated with several other tyros (with Fred Zinnemann and Robert Siodmak on the 1929 feature People on Sunday). After the rise of Adolf Hitler, Wilder, a Jew, left for Paris, where he made his directorial debut with the 1934 film Mauvaise Graine. He relocated to Hollywood prior to its release. His mother, grandmother, and stepfather perished in Auschwitz concentration camp.

Hollywood career

After arriving in Hollywood in 1933, Wilder continued his career as a screenwriter. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1934. Wilder's first significant success was Ninotchka in 1939, a collaboration with fellow German immigrant Ernst Lubitsch. This screwball comedy starred Greta Garbo (generally known as a tragic heroine in film melodramas), and was popularly and critically acclaimed. With the byline, "Garbo Laughs!", it also took Garbo's career in a new direction. The film also marked Wilder's first Academy Award nomination, which he shared with co-writer Charles Brackett (although their collaboration on Bluebeard's Eighth Wife and Midnight had been well received). For twelve years Wilder co-wrote many of his films with Brackett, from 1938 through 1950. He followed Ninotchka with a series of box office hits in 1942, including his Hold Back the Dawn and Ball of Fire, as well as his directorial feature debut, The Major and the Minor. during filming of Sunset Boulevard]]

He had a major impact his third film as director with Double Indemnity (1944), a film noir, nominated for Best Director and Screenplay, which was co-written with mystery novelist Raymond Chandler; the two men though did not get along. Double Indemnity not only set conventions for the noir genre (such as "venetian blind" lighting and voice-over narration), but was also a landmark in the battle against Hollywood censorship. The original James M. Cain novel Double Indemnity featured two love triangles and a murder plotted for insurance money. While the book was highly popular with the reading public, it had been considered unfilmable under the Hays Code, because adultery was central to its plot. Double Indemnity is credited by some as the first true film noir, combining the stylistic elements of Citizen Kane with the narrative elements of The Maltese Falcon (1941). Wilder was the Editors Supervisor in the 1945 US Army Signal Corps documentary/propaganda film Death Mills.

Two years later, Wilder earned the Best Director and Best Screenplay Academy Awards for the adaptation of a Charles R. Jackson story The Lost Weekend (1945), the first major American film to make a serious examination of alcoholism, another difficult theme under the Production Code. In 1950, Wilder co-wrote and directed the dark and cynical and critically acclaimed Sunset Boulevard, which paired rising star William Holden with Gloria Swanson. Swanson played Norma Desmond, a reclusive silent film star who dreams of a ; Holden is an aspiring screenwriter who becomes a kept man.

In 1951, Wilder followed Sunset Boulevard with Ace in the Hole (aka The Big Carnival), a tale of media exploitation of a caving accident. It was a critical and commercial failure at the time, but its reputation has grown over the years. In the fifties, Wilder also directed two adaptations of Broadway plays, the prisoner of war drama Stalag 17 (1953), which resulted in a Best Actor Oscar for William Holden, and the Agatha Christie mystery Witness for the Prosecution (1957). In the mid 1950s, Wilder became interested in doing a film with one of the classic slapstick comedy acts of the Hollywood Golden Age. He first considered, and rejected, a project to star Laurel and Hardy. He then held discussions with Groucho Marx concerning a new Marx Brothers comedy, tentatively titled "A Day at the U.N." This project was abandoned when Chico Marx died in 1961.

From the mid-1950s onwards, Wilder made mostly comedies. Wilder was skilled at working with actors, coaxing silent era legends Gloria Swanson and Erich von Stroheim out of retirement for roles in Sunset Boulevard. For Stalag 17, Wilder squeezed an Oscar-winning performance out of a reluctant William Holden (Holden wanted to make his character more likeable; Wilder refused). Wilder sometimes cast against type for major parts such as Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity and The Apartment. Many today know MacMurray as a wholesome family man from the television series My Three Sons, but he played a womanizing schemer in Wilder's films. Humphrey Bogart shed his tough guy image to give one of his warmest performances in Sabrina. James Cagney, not usually known for comedy, was memorable in a high-octane comic role for Wilder's One, Two, Three. Wilder coaxed a very effective, and in some ways memorable performance out of Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot.

In total, he directed fourteen different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity, Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend, William Holden in Sunset Boulevard and Stalag 17, Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard, Erich von Stroheim in Sunset Boulevard, Nancy Olson in Sunset Boulevard, Robert Strauss in Stalag 17, Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina, Charles Laughton in Witness for the Prosecution, Elsa Lanchester in Witness for the Prosecution, Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot and The Apartment, Jack Kruschen in The Apartment, Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment and Irma la Douce and Walter Matthau in The Fortune Cookie. Milland, Holden and Matthau won Oscars for their performances in Wilder films. Wilder mentored Jack Lemmon and was the first director to pair him with Walter Matthau, in The Fortune Cookie (1966). Wilder had great respect for Lemmon, calling him the hardest working actor he had ever met. Lemmon starred in seven of Wilder's films.

Wilder's work has had to meet some critical challenges. Although he is admired by many critics and filmgoers, he has not won approval from noted critic David Thomson, author of A Biographical Dictionary of Film, and other works. Thomson summarizes his attitude toward Wilder by saying, "I remain skeptical." Thomson emphasizes that, although Wilder created some brilliant films, he also directed some poor ones, especially at the end of his career. Thomson notes that critic Andrew Sarris did not approve of Wilder for a long time but then changed his attitude much later.

Wilder's films often lacked any discernible political tone or sympathies, which was not unintentional. He was less interested in current political fashions than in human nature and the issues that confronted ordinary people. He was not affected by the Hollywood blacklist, and had little sympathy for those who were. Of the blacklisted 'Hollywood Ten' Wilder famously quipped, "Of the ten, two had talent, and the rest were just unfriendly". Wilder reveled in poking fun at those who took politics too seriously. In Ball of Fire, his burlesque queen 'Sugarpuss' points at her sore throat and complains "Pink? It's as red as the Daily Worker and twice as sore." Later, she gives the overbearing and unsmiling housemaid the name "Franco". Wilder is sometimes confused with director William Wyler; the confusion is understandable, as both were German-speaking Jews with similar backgrounds and names. However, their output as directors was quite different, with Wyler preferring to direct epics and heavy dramas and Wilder noted for his comedies and film noir type dramas.

Later life

Wilder was recognized with the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1986. In 1988, Wilder was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. In 1993, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Wilder became well known for owning one of the finest and most extensive art collections in Hollywood, mainly collecting modern art. As he described it in the mid 80’s, “It’s a sickness. I don’t know how to stop myself. Call it bulimia if you want – or curiosity or passion. I have some Impressionists, some Picassos from every period, some mobiles by Calder. I also collect tiny Japanese trees, glass paperweights and Chinese vases. Name an object and I collect it.” A few years before he died, Wilder agreed to a sale of most of the collection at an auction, netting a very large sum of money. He said that he was not selling the art to make money, but that he had enjoyed it as much as he could; he wanted others to have a chance to own it.

Wilder’s artistic ambitions led him to create a series of works all his own. By the early 90’s, Wilder had amassed a beguiling assortment of plastic-artistic constructions, many of which were made in collaboration with artist Bruce Houston. In 1993, art dealer Louis Stern, a long time friend, helped organize an exhibition of Wilder’s work at his Beverly Hills gallery. The exhibition was entitled Billy Wilder’s Marché aux Puces and the Variations on the Theme of Queen Nefertete segment was an unqualified crowd pleaser. This series featured busts of the ravishing Egyptian queen wrapped a la Christo or splattered a la Jackson Pollock or sporting a Campbell’s soup can in homage to Warhol.

Wilder died in 2002 of pneumonia at the age of 95 after battling health problems, including cancer, in Los Angeles, California and was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, Los Angeles, California near Jack Lemmon. Marilyn Monroe's crypt is located in the same cemetery. Wilder died the same day as two other comedy legends: Milton Berle and Dudley Moore. The next day, French top-ranking newspaper Le Monde titled its first-page obituary, "Billy Wilder is dead. Nobody is perfect." This was a reference to the famous closing line of his film Some Like it Hot spoken by Joe E. Brown after Jack Lemmon reveals he is not female.

Legacy

Wilder holds a significant place in the history of Hollywood censorship for expanding the range of acceptable subject matter. He is responsible for two of the film noir era's most definitive films in Double Indemnity and Sunset Boulevard. Along with Woody Allen and the Marx Brothers, he leads the list of films on the American Film Institute's list of 100 funniest American films with 5 films written and holds the honor of holding the top spot with Some Like it Hot. Also on the list are The Apartment and The Seven Year Itch which he directed, and Ball of Fire and Ninotchka which he co-wrote. The American Film Institute has ranked four of Wilder's films among their top 100 American films of the 20th century: Sunset Boulevard (no. 12), Some Like It Hot (no. 14), Double Indemnity (no. 38) and The Apartment (no. 93). For the tenth anniversary edition of their list, the AFI moved Sunset Blvd. to #16, Some Like it Hot to #22, Double Indemnity to #29 and The Apartment to #80.

Spanish filmmaker Fernando Trueba said in his acceptance speech for the 1993 Best Non-English Speaking Film Oscar: "I would like to believe in God in order to thank him. But I just believe in Billy Wilder... so, thank you Mr. Wilder." According to Trueba, Wilder called him the day after and told him: "Fernando, it's God." Wilder's 12 Academy Award nominations for screenwriting were a record until 1997 when Woody Allen received a 13th nomination for Deconstructing Harry.

Filmography

Awards

With eight nominations for Academy Award for Best Director, Wilder is the second most nominated director in the history of the Academy Awards, behind William Wyler. Out of these nominations, Wilder won two Oscars.

Writers Guild of America west (WGAw) - Laurel Award, 1957 (with Charles Brackett) and 1980 (with I.A.L. Diamond)

Directors Guild of America (DGA) - D.W. Griffith Award, 1985 (renamed the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999)

WGAw/DGA - Preston Sturges Award, 1991

Academy Award Nominations

Director

Trivia

Wilder's assistant was producer Thomas L. Miller, who is known for his work on such shows as Happy Days.

Wilder used the song "Isn't It Romantic" in many of his films.

Notes

See also

Billy Wilder filmography

List of film collaborations

David Niven

Ruth Chatterton

Laurence Olivier

References

Literature

Phillips, Gene D., "Some Like it Wilder" (The University Press of Kentucky: 2010)

Armstrong, Richard, Billy Wilder, American Film Realist (McFarland & Company, Inc.: 2000)

Dan Auiler, "Some Like it Hot" (Taschen, 2001)

Chandler, Charlotte, Nobody's Perfect. Billy Wilder. A Personal Biography (New York: Schuster & Schuster, 2002)

Crowe, Cameron, Conversations with Wilder (New York: Knopf, 2001)

Guilbert, Georges-Claude, Literary Readings of Billy Wilder (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007)

Hermsdorf, Daniel, Billy Wilder. Filme - Motive - Kontroverses (Bochum: Paragon-Verlag, 2006)

Hopp, Glenn, Billy Wilder (Pocket Essentials: 2001)

Hopp, Glenn / Duncan, Paul, Billy Wilder (Köln / New York: Taschen, 2003)

Horton, Robert, Billy Wilder Interviews (University Press of Mississippi, 2001)

Hutter, Andreas / Kamolz, Klaus, Billie Wilder. Eine europäische Karriere (Vienna, Cologne, Weimar: Boehlau, 1998)

Gyurko, Lanin A., The Shattered Screen. Myth and Demythification in the Art of Carlos Fuentes and Billy Wilder (New Orleans: University Press of the South, 2009)

Jacobs, Jérôme, Billy Wilder (Paris: Rivages Cinéma, 2006)

Lally, Kevin, Wilder Times: The Life of Billy Wilder (Henry Holt & Co: 1st ed edition, May 1996)

Sikov, Ed, On Sunset Boulevard. The Life and Times of Billy Wilder (New York: Hyperion, 1999)

Neil Sinyard & Adrian Turner, "Journey Down Sunset Boulevard" (BCW, Isle of Wight, UK, 1979)

Wood, Tom, The Bright Side of Billy Wilder, Primarily (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1969)

Zolotow, Maurice, Billy Wilder in Hollywood (Pompton Plains: Limelight Editions, 2004)

Hellmuth Karasek, Billy Wilder, eine Nahaufnahme (Heyne, 2002)

External links

American Master - Billy Wilder

Wilder Bibliography (via UC Berkeley)

Billy Wilder Tribute at NPR

Lifetime Honors - National Medal of Arts.

Writers Guild of America, west - Laurel Award Recipients

Directors Guild of America

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