Known for Directing
William Wyler (July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a German-born film director, producer, and screenwriter. Notable works include Ben-Hur (1959), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Mrs. Miniver (1942), all which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture. He earned his first Oscar nomination for directing Dodsworth in 1936, sparking a 20-year run of almost unbroken greatness. Film historian Ian Freer calls Wyler a "bona fide perfectionist," whose penchant for retakes and an attempt to hone every last nuance "became the stuff of legend." His ability to direct a string of classic literary adaptations into huge box office and critical successes made him one of Hollywood's most bankable moviemakers during the 1930s and 1940s.
Born
July 1, 1902
Died
July 27, 1981 (age 79)
Birthplace
Mülhausen, Alsace-Lorraine, German Empire [now Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin, France]
Filmography
97 films, 6 shows


History Rediscovered: The Memphis Belle
2011 · 1h 11m
country: Unknown
A compilation of four WWII documentary shorts, including a restored version of "The Memphis Belle", which chronicles the 25th and final mission of an Eighth Air Force B-17 in the skies over Axis-occupied Europe.


The Liberation of L.B. Jones
1970 · 1h 42m
country: United States
A successful African American businessman has a quarrel with a white policeman, suspecting that he is having an affair with his wife. The policeman's colleagues are seeking to avoid publicity.


Funny Girl
1968 · 2h 35m
country: United States
The life of famed 1930s comedienne Fanny Brice, from her early days in the Jewish slums of New York, to the height of her career with the Ziegfeld Follies, as well as her marriage to the rakish gambler Nick Arnstein.


How to Steal a Million
1966 · 2h 3m
country: United States
A woman must steal a statue from a Paris museum to help conceal her father's art forgeries.


The Collector
1965 · 1h 59m
country: United Kingdom
A man kidnaps a woman and holds her hostage just for the pleasure of having her there.


The Children's Hour
1961 · 1h 48m
country: United States
An unruly student at a private all-girls boarding school scandalously accuses the two women who run it of having a romantic relationship.


Ben-Hur
1959 · 3h 32m
country: United States
In ancient Judea, a Jewish aristocrat opposing Roman occupation of his homeland reunites with his childhood friend, now a Roman commander — setting in motion a saga of betrayal, adventure, tragedy, revenge, and faith.


The Big Country
1958 · 2h 47m
country: United States
Retired wealthy sea captain Jim McKay arrives in the Old West, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between his future father-in-law, Major Terrill, and the rough and lawless Hannasseys over a valuable patch of land.


Friendly Persuasion
1956 · 2h 17m
country: United States
The story of a family of Quakers in Indiana in 1862. Their religious sect is strongly opposed to violence and war. It's not easy for them to meet the rules of their religion in everyday life but when Southern troops pass the area they are in real trouble. Should they fight, despite their peaceful attitude?
The Letter
The Letter
1956 · 1h 25m
country: United States
The wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense; a letter in her own hand may prove her undoing. Producer's Showcase Teleplay.


The Desperate Hours
1955 · 1h 52m
country: United States
Escaped convicts terrorize a suburban family they're holding hostage.


Roman Holiday
1953 · 1h 59m
country: United States
Overwhelmed by her suffocating schedule, touring European princess Ann takes off for a night while in Rome. When a sedative she took from her doctor kicks in, however, she falls asleep on a park bench and is found by an American reporter, Joe Bradley, who takes her back to his apartment for safety. At work the next morning, Joe finds out Ann's regal identity and bets his editor he can get exclusive interview with her, but romance soon gets in the way.


Carrie
1952 · 1h 58m
country: United States
In the late 1890s, the ambitious, innocent Carrie arrives in Chicago’s South Side and stays with her nagging, dullish married sister. She then runs for help to traveling salesman Charles Drouet. She soon becomes his mistress, but falls in love with married restaurant manager George Hurstwood.


Detective Story
1951 · 1h 43m
country: United States
Tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detective squad. An embittered cop, Det. Jim McLeod, leads a precinct of characters in their grim daily battle with the city's lowlife. The characters who pass through the precinct over the course of the day include a young petty embezzler, a pair of burglars, and a naive shoplifter.


The Heiress
1949 · 1h 55m
country: United States
In 1840s New York, the uneventful and boring days of the daughter of a wealthy doctor come to an end when she meets a dashing poorer man — who may or may not be after her inheritance.


Thunderbolt
1947 · 44m
country: United States
Documentary about the U.S. Air Force's P-47 Thunderbolt bomber's role in the Italian Campaign during WW2.


The Best Years of Our Lives
1946 · 2h 51m
country: United States
It's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.


The Fighting Lady
1944 · 1h 1m
country: United States
Oscar winner William Wyler directed this 1944 "newsdrama," narrated by Lieut. Robert Taylor, USNR (Bataan), and photographed in zones of combat by the U.S. Navy. The film follows one of the many new aircraft carriers built since Pearl Harbor, known as THE FIGHTING LADY in honor of all American carriers, as it goes into action against the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean in 1943. See the ship and its pilots undergo their baptism of fire, attacking the Japanese base on Marcus Island. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation.


The Memphis Belle
1944 · 45m
country: United States
This WW2 documentary centers on the crew of the American B-17 Flying Fortress Memphis Belle as it prepares to execute a strategic bombing raid on Nazi submarine pens in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.


Mrs. Miniver
1942 · 2h 14m
country: United States
Middle-class housewife Kay Miniver deals with petty problems. She and her husband Clem watch her Oxford-educated son Vin court Carol Beldon, the charming granddaughter of the local nobility as represented by Lady Beldon. Then the war comes and Vin joins the RAF.


The Little Foxes
1941 · 1h 57m
country: United States
In 1900, a clan attempts to strike a deal with a Chicago industrialist to get him to build cotton mills in their Deep South town.


The Letter
1940 · 1h 35m
country: United States
After a woman shoots a man to death, a damning letter she wrote raises suspicions.


The Westerner
1940 · 1h 40m
country: United States
Drifter Cole Harden is accused of stealing a horse and faces hanging by self-appointed Judge Roy Bean, but Harden manages to talk his way out of it by claiming to be a friend of stage star Lillie Langtry, with whom the judge is obsessed, even though he has never met her. Tensions rise when Harden comes to the defense of a group of struggling homesteaders who Judge Bean is trying to drive away.


Wuthering Heights
1939 · 1h 44m
country: United States
Young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back.


Jezebel
1938 · 1h 43m
country: United States
In 1850s Louisiana, the willfulness of a tempestuous Southern belle threatens to destroy all who care for her.


Dead End
1937 · 1h 33m
country: United States
The lives of a young man and woman, an infamous gangster and a group of street kids converge one day in a volatile New York City slum.


Come and Get It
1936 · 1h 39m
country: United States
An ambitious lumberjack abandons his saloon girl lover so that he can marry into wealth, but years later becomes infatuated with the woman's daughter.


Dodsworth
1936 · 1h 41m
country: United States
A retired auto manufacturer and his wife take a long-planned European vacation only to find that they want very different things from life.


These Three
1936 · 1h 33m
country: United States
Close friends Martha and Karen build a private boarding school together with the aid of the local doctor Joe. The school takes off and many students enroll, one of whom is a trouble-maker who tells a scandalous lie that threatens to destroy the trio's lives.


The Gay Deception
1935 · 1h 17m
country: United States
A wide-eyed working girl wins a $5,000 sweepstakes and plunges into the lush life of New York City, where she meets a bellboy who is more than he seems.


The Good Fairy
1935 · 1h 38m
country: United States
In 1930s Budapest, naïve orphan Luisa Ginglebuscher becomes an usherette at the local movie house, determined to succeed in her first job by doing good deeds for others and maintaining her purity. Luisa's well-meaning lies get her caught between a lecherous businessman, Konrad, and a decent but confused doctor, Max Sporum. When Luisa convinces Konrad that she's married to Max, Konrad tries everything he can to get rid of the baffled doctor.


Glamour
1934 · 1h 14m
country: United States
An ambitious chorus girl finds fame, marriage, and motherhood with a talented composer, only to leave him for a handsome singer.


Counsellor at Law
1933 · 1h 22m
country: United States
A successful lawyer struggles to deal with his wife's unfaithfulness and his own hidden past.


Her First Mate
1933 · 1h 6m
country: United States
A camp butcher on an Albany night boat dreams of the South Seas.


Tom Brown of Culver
1932 · 1h 22m
country: United States
Boy who thought his father a war hero finds he was really a deserter.


A House Divided
1931 · 1h 10m
country: United States
A New England fisherman's second wife prefers his son.


The Storm
1930 · 1h 20m
country: United States
Burr and Dave, two close friends who have backed each other up in countless difficulties, are torn apart by the arrival of a woman, Manette, who becomes stranded with them in their cabin during a raging blizzard.


Hell's Heroes
1929 · 1h 8m
country: United States
Three bank robbers on the run happen across a woman about to give birth in an abandoned covered wagon. Before she dies, she names the three bandits as her newborn son's godfathers. Remade as Three Godfathers (1936) and 3 Godfathers (1949).


The Love Trap
1929 · 1h 11m
country: United States
A chorus girl loses her job and thus the room she owes back rent on, and ends up being rescued from the street by a dashing rich man. But his family isn't over-accepting of chorus girls joining their family.


The Shakedown
1929 · 1h 5m
country: United States
A grifter in a boxing scam learns a better way from an orphan and a beautiful girl.


Anybody Here Seen Kelly?
1928
country: Unknown
A French girl falls in love with an American soldier, and after the War she follows him to New York, where he is a police officer. A lost film.


Thunder Riders
1928 · 50m
country: Unknown
As Betty arrives from the East Coast to take over the ranch and fortune left by her late father, the trip is interrupted by an Indian attack.
Desert Dust
Desert Dust
1927 · 50m
country: Unknown
Frank Fortune, a young rancher, is jailed along with two of his men for fighting with rival ranchers. Helen Marsden, daughter of a wealthy senator who is interested in prison reform, prevails on the judge to parole them into her custody and work at her ranch. Frank falls in love and, so as to stay on at the ranch, convinces her he is a notorious criminal. When the senator visits her with a large sum of money belonging to the state, three "reformed" crooks on the premises plan to steal it. Fortune's friends learn of the plot and decide to take the money for safekeeping, but Fortune intervenes; the real crooks do steal the funds, however, and depart with Helen in an automobile. Fortune overtakes the speeding car and rescues Helen.


The Border Cavalier
1927 · 50m
country: United States
Vic Harding, a crooked Eastern land speculator, learns of a proposed railroad spur that will increase the value of the Lawton ranch and conspires with Hank Martin to buy the property. A lost film.
The Horse Trader
The Horse Trader
1927 · 20m
country: United States
The Ore Raiders
The Ore Raiders
1927 · 20m
country: Unknown


Hard Fists
1927 · 50m
country: United States
The story is about a fake army colonel who blackmails Alvord into doing his bidding, including smearing a rancher and his pretty daughter .


Straight Shootin'
1927 · 46m
country: United States
Bandits kidnap an old prospector, threatening to let him starve if he refuses to reveal the location of his gold mine. The old man's partner, hoping to get a share of the loot, tells the place to the crooks.


Blazing Days
1927 · 50m
country: United States
While he goes to his lender to repay his debts, Sam Perry is robbed. He decides to hunt down the bandit, whose description corresponds strangely to that of Dutton, known as "Dude".


The Two Fister
1927 · 21m
country: Unknown
Cobb plays a Mountie called Field, who protects a girl from Jackson Rasker, the leader of an outlaw gang. Field falls for the girl, but her father's dying wish is that she should marry Rasker, who will stop at nothing to get the gal.


The Stolen Ranch
1926 · 56m
country: United States
Returning home from the Great War, "Breezy" Hart (Fred Humes) and his shell-shocked buddy Frank Wilcox (Ralph McCullough) discover the Wilcox property in the hands of evil Sam Hardy (William Norton Bailey). Frank, who is the rightful heir to the ranch, goes into hiding, while "Breezy" takes a job in the ranch kitchen. Learning of Frank's whereabouts, Hardy plots to have the young heir killed. Luckily, Breezy overhears the villain plotting with his henchmen and is able to rescue his friend. Hardy and his men are arrested, and Frank, now cured of his illness, is reunited with his girl, June Marston (Nita Cavalier). Breezy, meanwhile, is busy romancing his kitchen staff colleague, Mary Jane (Louise Lorraine).


Lazy Lightning
1926 · 50m
country: United States
Lance Lighton is arrested for vagrancy and taken by the sheriff to the Rogers Ranch. Dickie Rogers takes a liking to the stranger who is allowed to remain to do odd jobs and to entertain the boy. An old man who is hard of hearing mistakes Lighton for "Lightning" and the nickname sticks. Uncle Henry, heir to Dickie's share of the estate in the event of the latter's death, has been systematically cheated at cards by Bill Harvey, who now demands his money, using dire threats. Fearing a penitentiary sentence, Uncle Henry sees Dickie rolling helplessly in his wheel chair towards a cliff and does nothing to save him. Lazy Lightning saves the boy's life and the uncle covers himself by pretending to have sprained his ankle. Following the fright, the boy weakens and is close to death. The doctor thinks he can save him with serum. Uncle Henry goes in the car to get the serum. Mistrusting him, Lazy follows him to town on horseback through a driving rainstorm. A lost film.


Martin of the Mounted
1926 · 20m
country: United States
Martin, the heroine's father is falsely believed to be in league with fur thieves, but the real villain, not content with robbing the old man of his furs, also plots the theft of his fair daughter. He nearly succeeds, but the resourceful Martin blocks both games.


Don't Shoot
1926 · 20m
country: United States
Nancy Burton, niece of the sheriff, is in love with Deputy Tom Farrell, but she as an aversion to bloodshed. She overhears that he shot and killed an outlaw three years in the past. He swears to her that it never happened but she does not believe him. Later her uncle tells he that it was he who killed the outlaw, Trevis, in the line of duty. She also learns that the brother of Trevis, seeking revenge, is on his way to kill Farrell.
The Fire Barrier
The Fire Barrier
1926 · 24m
country: Unknown
An irascible and brutal boss, Will King, owner of the Deux Croix ranch, sends his employees back on the slightest pretext. Only his wife resists him. Burke, a bum who is looking for a bad move, shows up on the ranch pretending to be an experienced cowboy.


Ridin' for Love
1926 · 20m
country: Unknown
Robert Kane, owner of the Bar-L Ranch, has received word from his attorney that he will have to marry Ann Scott before the 15th of the month, whom he has never met, or else lose the title to the Vista Water Company, which Ann has inherited under the condition that she be married. There is dirty-work afoot, instigated by a lawyer.
The Gunless Bad Man
The Gunless Bad Man
1926 · 20m
country: United States
A band of desperadoes employed as cow punchers take advantage of an ordinance prohibiting the carrying of firearms to hold up the owner and escape with the payroll. The new foreman Jack trails them and in a running fight unhorses them, one by one. He fights with the leader of the outlaws but subdues him and wins the girl.


The Crook Buster
1925 · 20m
country: United States
A 1925 silent Western