William Wyler
William Wyler (1902–1981) was one of the most honored and successful directors from Hollywood’s golden age. One of the film industry’s most influential artists, he received three Academy Awards, twelve nominations for his direction and five nominations for his work as a producer. No film director in history has guided more actors to Academy Award nominations (thirty-one). During his fifty-year career, he directed some of Hollywood’s most enduring films—among them Ben-Hur, The Best Years of Our Lives, Funny Girl, Jezebel, The Letter, The Little Foxes, Mrs. Miniver, Roman Holiday, and Wuthering Heights.
William Wyler: Interviews spans his career and includes three previously unpublished exchanges. Despite the accolades, Wyler has not received the kind of academic and critical appraisal lavished on contemporaries such as John Ford, Orson Welles, Frank Capra, George Stevens, and Billy Wilder. In his later interviews, he seems good-natured about this neglect, but it clearly rankled. He dismisses detractors by explaining that he was always interested in trying out new forms, variety being more important to him than mining the same territory.
Gabriel Miller is chair of the English department at Rutgers University, Newark. He is author of The Films of Martin Ritt: Fanfare for the Common Man and editor of Martin Ritt: Interviews and Fred Zinnemann: Interviews, all published by University Press of Mississippi.
