One of the most acclaimed film-makers of the world, Billy Wilder was a multi - faceted personality who doned the hats of a director, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist. Noted for his comedies and film noir type dramas, Wilder was born in a Jewish family in Sucha Beskidzka, Austria-Hungary. He won several awards including American Film Institute (AFI) Life Achievement Award in 1986, the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award and the National Medal of Arts in 1993. Known as the world’s greatest filmmaker, he spent more than 50 years in Hollywood making critically acclaimed movies such as Double Idemnity (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), Sunset Boulevard (1950), and The Apartment (1960). He died on March 27, 2002. He was aged 95 at the time of his death.

Early Life
Billy Wilder was born as Samuel Wilder to Max and Eugenia Wilder on June 22, 1906. His mother gave him the nickname ‘Billie’ which he changed to ‘Billy’ as he arrived in America. While his parents wanted him to join their successful cake shop, Wilder decided to work as a taxi dancer (hired people to dance with customers) in Berlin so that he could focus on his career.

Personal Life
On December 22, 1936, Wilder married Judith Coppicus Iribe, a painter. The couple had twins, Victoria and Vincent in the year 1939. Unfortunately, one of the twins, Vincent, died after death. In 1946, Wilder and Iribe decided to divorce each other. Before getting the divorce, in 1945, Wilder met Audrey Young, singer and an actress. They married on June 30, 1949. Young remained his wife until his death.

Movie Career
As a Writer
In 1933, Wilder arrived in Hollywood to work as a screen writer. He found his first success in the year 1939 with a movie called Ninotchka. It was a critically acclaimed, screwball comedy movie which starred the tragic queen, Greta Garbo. The movie helped Garbo reach a new career high. The film was also nominated for Academy Award which Wilder shared it with the co-writer Charles Brackett with whom he shared a working partnership from 1938 till 1950. Wilder went on to give several box office hits after Ninotchka. As a writer he has made two movies where he was uncredited for his work - Ocean's Eleven (1960) and Casino Royale (1967). As a writer, Wilder has worked on movies such as Music in the Air (1934), That Certain Age (1938), Rhythm on the River (1940), and A Song is Born (1948).

As a Director
Wilder made his directing debut with the movie Mauvaise Graine, a French drama starring Danielle Darrieux and Pierre Mingand. In the next decade, he directed only three films – The Major and the Minor (1942), Five Graves to Cairo (1943), and Double Idemnity (1944), which went on to become one of the classics of Hollywood. Nominated for seven academy awards, the movie went on to inspire many other movies in the genre 'film noir'. In the following year, Wilder directed, Death Mills (1945), a movie about educating German audience on the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. His 1948 musical The Emperor Waltz was appreciated by the critics with many critics praising Wilder's writing and direction.

Wilder began the '50s on a high note with his movie Sunset Boulevard being nominated for 11 Academy Awards: winning three – Wilder won the Award for Best Writing, Story, and Screenplay. The year 1951, marked the arrival of an 'auteur Billy Wilder' as he wrote, produced, and directed the movie Ace in the Hole starring Kirk Douglas. The movie that highllighted the working of the press, was Wilder's first critical and commercial failure, however, he did win the International Award for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival in 1951. Later in the fifties, Wilder also directed two adaptations of Broadway, a war drama Stalag 17 in the year 1953, and Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution in the year 1957.

Wilder had a knack to get unexpected performances from the actors and this was evident with the films Double Idemnity, Sabrina (1954), and One, Two, Three (1961). In Sabrina, the otherwise tough-guy of Hollywood, Humprey Bogart, completely mellowed down to to play a workaholic. In One, Two, Three, James Cagney who was not known for his comedy, gave one of the most memorable comedic acts.

In 1959, Wilder directed Some Like It Hot, starring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, and Tony Curtis. Getting out one of the most effective performances from Monroe, Wilder was highly prasied for his direction, while the movie went on to become of the greatest comedies of all time. In the following year, he directed another successful movie The Apartment starring Jack Lemmon, Fred MacMurray, and Shirley MacLaine. Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, the film won five – with Wilder winning the Best Director and Best Writing, Story, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Awards. This also marks the last of the Academy Awards he won.

In subsequent years, he directed movies such as Kiss Me Stupid (1964), The Fortune Cookie (1966), and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970). In 1972, he scripted, produced and directed Avanti! an American Italian comedy on illicit affair, missing dead bodies, blackmail and American visa. His last movie as a writer, director, and producer was Fedora, a German French drama film about an ageless actress, released in 1978. Three years later, Wilder went on to direct the comedy movie Buddy Buddy, which turned out to be his last.