William Wyler
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.
57 directing credits · 22 acting credits
Directing · 57
Roman Holiday
1953
Ben-Hur
1959
The Best Years of Our Lives
1946
Wuthering Heights
1939
The Big Country
1958
Mrs. Miniver
1942
How to Steal a Million
1966
Funny Girl
1968
Jezebel
1938
The Collector
1965
The Letter
1940
The Desperate Hours
1955
The Children's Hour
1961
Friendly Persuasion
1956
Dead End
1937
The Heiress
1949
Dodsworth
1936
The Little Foxes
1941
Carrie
1952
Detective Story
1951
The Westerner
1940
The Liberation of L.B. Jones
1970
These Three
1936
Come and Get It
1936
The Good Fairy
1935
The Gay Deception
1935
Thunderbolt
1947
The Memphis Belle
1944
Glamour
1934
Hell's Heroes
1929
The Love Trap
1929
Counsellor at Law
1933
The Storm
1930
The Border Cavalier
1927
The Stolen Ranch
1926
Don't Shoot
1926
The Shakedown
1929
Tom Brown of Culver
1932
A House Divided
1931
Thunder Riders
1928
Her First Mate
1933
Lazy Lightning
1926
The Crook Buster
1925
The Gunless Bad Man
1926
Anybody Here Seen Kelly?
1928
Martin of the Mounted
1926
Blazing Days
1927
The Fighting Lady
1944
Desert Dust
1927
Hard Fists
1927
Ridin' for Love
1926
The Two Fister
1927
History Rediscovered: The Memphis Belle
2011
The Ore Raiders
1927
The Horse Trader
1927
Straight Shootin'
1927
The Fire Barrier
1926
Acting · 22
Great Performances
1971
The Oscars
1953
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948
Cinépanorama
1956
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
1973
The Best Years of Our Lives
1946
Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film
2002
Five Came Back
2017
Dodsworth
1936
Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema
2005
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
2001
The Cold Blue
2018
Directed by William Wyler
1986
Sword-and-Sandal: The Story of the Period Epic
2019
Fun in the Big Country
1958
The Screen Director
1951
Hollywood's Second World War
2019
Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic
1993
Backstory: 'How Green Was My Valley'
2000
Stars of Cabaret
1956
Laurence Olivier: a life
1982
William Wyler: Forty Takes Willy
2025