1906- . Austrian-born US screenwriter and
film director who arrived in the USA in 1934.
He directed and co-scripted Double Indemnity
1944, The Lost Weekend (Academy Award for
best director) 1945, Sunset Boulevard 1950,
Some Like it Hot 1959, and the Academy
Award-winning The Apartment 1960. He
specialized in `smart' romances and worked
with Charles Brackett on film scripts such as
Ninotchka 1939 directed by Lubitsch and
produced by Wilder. He won the Thalberg Award
1987.