Robert Wise

Director Robert Wise

Robert Wise (September 10, 1914 – September 14, 2005) was an Academy Award-winning American film producer and director.

Biography

Born in Winchester, Indiana, Wise began his movie career at RKO as a sound and music editor, but he soon grew to being nominated for the Academy Award for Film Editing for Citizen Kane in 1941. He was that film's last living crew member. He took his first directing job with the stylish horror film The Curse of the Cat People in 1944. In 1947 he directed the Lawrence Tierney noir classic Born to Kill and two years later directed the boxing movie The Set-Up, where his direction of the real-time setting got him noticed.

In the 1950s, Wise proved adept in several genres, from the science fiction of The Day the Earth Stood Still to the melodramatic So Big, to Susan Hayward's Oscar winner in I Want to Live!, for which he was nominated for Best Director.

In 1961, teamed with Jerome Robbins, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for West Side Story, which he also produced. He repeated this achievement in 1965 with The Sound of Music. In the 1970s he directed such films as The Andromeda Strain, The Hindenburg, the horror film Audrey Rose, and the first Star Trek film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In 1989 he directed Rooftops, his last theatrical feature film.

Even in his twilight years, Wise continued to be active in productions of DVD versions to his films, even making public appearances promoting those films.

Wise was a past president of both the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6338 Hollywood Blvd.

After suffering a heart attack at home, Wise was rushed to UCLA Medical Center, where he died from heart failure. He died on 14 September 2005, four days after his birthday.

Academy Awards and nominations

* 1967 Won Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
* 1967 Nominated for Best Picture The Sand Pebbles
* 1966 Won Best Director The Sound of Music
* 1966 Won Best Picture The Sound of Music
* 1962 Won Best Director West Side Story with Jerome Robbins
* 1962 Won Best Picture West Side Story
* 1959 Nominated for Best Director I Want to Live!
* 1942 Nominated for Best Film Editing Citizen Kane

Filmography

Top Hat (1935) (sound effects editor) (uncredited)
The Informer (1935) (sound effects editor) (uncredited)
The Gay Divorcee (1934) (sound effects editor) (uncredited)
Of Human Bondage (1934) (apprentice sound effects editor) (uncredited)
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) (assistant editor) (uncredited)
Bachelor Mother (1939) (editor)
5th Ave Girl (1939) (editor)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) (editor)
My Favorite Wife (1940) (editor)
Dance, Girl, Dance (1940) (editor)
Citizen Kane (1941) (editor)
The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) (editor)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) (editor)
Seven Days' Leave (1942) (editor)
Bombardier (1943) (editor)
The Fallen Sparrow (1943) (editor)
The Iron Major (1943) (editor)
Action in Arabia (1944) (second unit director) (uncredited)
Mademoiselle Fifi (1944) (director)
The Curse of the Cat People (1944) (director)
The Body Snatcher (1945) (director)
Game of Death (1945) (director)
Criminal Court (1946) (director)
Born to Kill (1947) (director)
Blood on the Moon (1948) (director)
Mystery in Mexico (1948) (director)
The Set-Up (1949) (director)
Three Secrets (1950) (director)
Two Flags West (1950) (director)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) (director)
The House on Telegraph Hill (1951) (director)
Something for the Birds (1952) (director)
The Captive City (1952) (director)
Return to Paradise (1953) (producer)
So Big (1953) (director)
Destination Gobi (1953) (director)
The Desert Rats (film) (1953) (director)
Executive Suite (1954) (director)
Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) (director)
Tribute to a Bad Man (1956) (director)
Helen of Troy (1956) (director)
Until They Sail (1957) (director)
This Could Be the Night (1957) (director)
Run Silent Run Deep (1958) (director)
I Want to Live! (1958) (director)
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) (director)
West Side Story (1961) (director) (producer)
Two for the Seesaw (1962) (director)
The Haunting (1963) (director) (producer)
The Sound of Music (1965) (director) (producer)
The Sand Pebbles (1966) (director) (producer)
Star! (1968) (director)
The Baby Maker (1970) (executive producer)
The Andromeda Strain (1971) (director) (producer)
Two People (1973) (director) (producer)
The Hindenburg (1975) (director)
Audrey Rose (1977) (director)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) (director)
Wisdom (1986) (executive producer)
Rooftops (film) (1989) (director)
The Stupids (1996) (actor, as Stanley's Neighbour)
A Storm in Summer (TV Movie) (2000) (director)

External links

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* Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Robert Wise