Robert Wise
Biography
Robert Wise was an American filmmaker born in Indiana who began at RKO, first in shipping and later as a sound and music editor. His editing of Citizen Kane (1941) earned an Oscar nomination, and by the mid-1940s he was directing, including horror films with Val Lewton. He moved among horror, science fiction, westerns and musicals, directing The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), I Want to Live! (1958), and The Haunting (1963). He won Best Director and Best Picture Academy Awards for the musical West Side Story (1961), and he repeated that double win with The Sound of Music (1965). He also directed The Sand Pebbles (1966), a Best Picture nominee, The Andromeda Strain (1971), and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). From 1971 to 1975 he led the Directors Guild of America, and from 1985 through 1988 he served as president of the motion picture academy, receiving the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1998.
91years old at death
- Born Winchester
- Died Los Angeles
- Star sign: VirgoThe sign runs August 23 to September 22
- Robert Earl Wise (birth name)
Movie Career
- Films
- 3
- Career span
- 4 years1992 to 1996
Every film, newest first
- 1996The Battle Over Citizen KaneIMDb rating 7.7
- 1996The StupidsIMDb rating 4.4
- 1992Visions of LightIMDb rating 7.7
Genres
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First role
At RKO, Wise worked for Hollywood horror producer Val Lewton. In 1944 Wise got his first credited directing job, taking over The Curse of the Cat People when the original director left and the film fell behind schedule.
Behind the award
In 1961, Wise and Jerome Robbins won the Academy Award for Best Director for West Side Story, which Wise also produced. No earlier pair had ever shared the directing award.
A role that slipped away
After Richard Lester left the franchise, Ilya and Alexander Salkind wanted Wise to direct the Superman spin-off Supergirl, but he turned the offer down.
First role
Wise's first screen credit came from A Trip through Fijiland, a ten-minute short subject released in 1935. It was assembled using RKO footage that had been salvaged from an abandoned feature film.
A first
Wise was 86 when he made A Storm in Summer, a Showtime cable movie starring Peter Falk. It was the only made-for-television movie he directed, and it earned a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Children's Special.
Robert Wise movies on Netflix
Worked with
Robert Wise made one film with each of them. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Christopher Lee's page
Tom Arnold's page
Orson Welles's page
Frankie Faison's page
Peter Bogdanovich's page
Norman Lloyd's page
All films by John Landis
Arnold GlassmanDirector, 1 film, 1992
All films by Arnold Glassman
All films by Todd McCarthy
Awards
Nine awards and honors from 1962 to 1998, four of them major.
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | |||
| 1966 | Best Director | The Sound of Music | Won |
| 1966 | Best Picture | The Sound of Music | Won |
| 1962 | Best Director | West Side Story | Won |
| 1962 | Best Picture | West Side Story | Won |
| Other honors | |||
| 1998 | AFI Life Achievement Award | Won | |
| 1967 | Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award | Won | |
| Directors Guild of America Award | Won | ||
| National Medal of Arts | Won | ||
| Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame | Honored | ||
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.