Austrian-
American filmmaker (1906-2002). He got his start as a
journalist and moved to
Berlin in the late 1920s, where he first began dabbling in
screenwriting. He fled
Germany after Hitler came to power in 1933, though his mother, grandmother, and stepfather all died in the
Holocaust. Knew no
English when he arrived in
Hollywood, but he learned the
language fast (he once described his English as a
combination of
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Archbishop
Desmond Tutu) and broke into American films with the assistance of former
roommate Peter Lorre and others.
His films include many
timeless classics, including "
Double Indemnity," "
The Lost Weekend," "
Sunset Boulevard," "
The Big Carnival," "
Stalag 17," "
Sabrina," "
The Seven Year Itch," "
Witness for the Prosecution," "
The Spirit of St. Louis," "
Some Like It Hot," and "
The Apartment." He won numerous
Academy Awards as a
writer,
director, and
producer. The last movie he directed was 1981's "
Buddy Buddy," though he considered directing "
Schindler's List" and turned down a role in "
Jerry MacGuire."
He died of
pneumonia on March 27, 2002, at his home in
Beverly Hills, California. His grave marker reads "I'm a writer but then nobody's perfect."