William Wyler

ActorWriterDirectorProducerCinematographer Jul 1 (died age 79) Mülhausen, Alsace-Lorraine, German Empire [now Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin, France] 1923–2025 (102 year career)

6.8 avg rating

Biography

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 reta…

Known For

Film

Ben-Hur

Director

Film

Roman Holiday

Director

Film

The Best Years of Our Lives

Drug Store customer (uncredited)

Film

How to Steal a Million

Director

Film

The Big Country

Director

Film

The Children's Hour

Director

Film

Funny Girl

Director

Film

The Heiress

Director

Filmography

Acting (22)

Movies (17)

William Wyler: Forty Takes Willy

2025

as Himself (Archival)

Sword-and-Sandal: The Story of the Period Epic

2019

as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)

7.0

Hollywood's Second World War

2019

as Self (archive footage)

8.0

The Cold Blue

2018

as Himself (archive footage)

6.7

Five Came Back

2017

as Self (archive footage)

7.9

Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema

2005

as Self (archive footage)

6.6

Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film

2002

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies

2001

as Self

8.0

Backstory: 'How Green Was My Valley'

2000

as Self (archive footage)

Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic

1993

as Self - Director (archive footage)

7.4

Directed by William Wyler

1986

as Self

Laurence Olivier: a life

1982

as Self

10.0

Fun in the Big Country

1958

as Self

Stars of Cabaret

1956

as Self (archive footage)

The Screen Director

1951

as Self (staged 'archive' footage) (uncredited)

6.0

The Best Years of Our Lives

1946

as Drug Store customer (uncredited)

7.8

Dodsworth

1936

as Violin Player in Dance Orchestra (uncredited)

7.1

Television (5)

The American Film Institute Salute to ...

as Self

Great Performances

as Self

Cinépanorama

as Self

The Oscars

as Self

The Ed Sullivan Show

as Self

Crew (76)

Movies (76)

Roman Holiday

2016

Writer

History Rediscovered: The Memphis Belle

2011

Director

The Liberation of L.B. Jones

1970

Director

5.8

The Liberation of L.B. Jones

Producer

Funny Girl

Director

How to Steal a Million

Director

The Collector

Director

The Children's Hour

Director

The Children's Hour

Producer

Ben-Hur

Director

The Big Country

Director

The Big Country

Producer

Friendly Persuasion

Director

Friendly Persuasion

Producer

The Desperate Hours

Director

The Desperate Hours

Producer

Roman Holiday

Director

Roman Holiday

Producer

Carrie

Director

Carrie

Producer

Detective Story

Director

Detective Story

Producer

The Heiress

Director

The Heiress

Producer

Thunderbolt

Director

The Best Years of Our Lives

Director

The Fighting Lady

Director

The Memphis Belle

Director

The Memphis Belle

Director of Photography

The Memphis Belle

Writer

Mrs. Miniver

Director

Mrs. Miniver

Producer

The Little Foxes

Director

The Letter

Director

The Letter

Producer

The Westerner

Director

Wuthering Heights

Director

Jezebel

Director

Jezebel

Producer

The Cowboy and the Lady

Co-Director

Dead End

Director

Dodsworth

Director

Come and Get It

Director

These Three

Director

The Gay Deception

Director

The Good Fairy

Director

Glamour

Director

Her First Mate

Director

Counsellor at Law

Director

Tom Brown of Culver

Director

A House Divided

Director

The Storm

Director

The Love Trap

Director

The Love Trap

Producer

Hell's Heroes

Director

The Shakedown

Director

Thunder Riders

Director

Anybody Here Seen Kelly?

1928

Director

The Border Cavalier

1927

Director

The Horse Trader

1927

Director

The Ore Raiders

1927

Director

Straight Shootin'

1927

Director

Desert Dust

1927

Director

Blazing Days

1927

Director

The Two Fister

1927

Director

4.5

Hard Fists

1927

Director

The Gunless Bad Man

1926

Director

Ridin' for Love

1926

Director

Ridin' for Love

1926

Story

Martin of the Mounted

1926

Director

Lazy Lightning

1926

Director

The Fire Barrier

1926

Director

Don't Shoot

1926

Director

The Stolen Ranch

1926

Director

5.1

The Crook Buster

1925

Director

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

1923

Assistant Director

6.5