Filmmaker Robert Wise dies; won four Oscars
Robert Wise dies at 91; filmmaker won four Oscars
SepT 15, 2005
Robert Wise, a four-time Academy Award winner whose epic 65-year career ranged from editing Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" to directing the quintessential 1960s musical "The Sound of Music" to launching the first "Star Trek" film, died Wednesday of heart failure. He was 91.
Wise died at UCLA Medical Center, according to family friend Lawrence Mirisch, owner of The Mirisch Agency, a Hollywood talent agency.
Wise, who was honored with the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award in 1998, enjoyed a longevity that few filmmakers achieve: His resume ranged from his early work as a sound editor on Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musicals like "The Gay Divorcee" to his collaboration as a film editor with Welles on "Citizen Kane" and "The Magnificent Ambersons" to his emergence as a director, and later producer, of films as varied as "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "I Want to Live!" and "West Side Story," which he co-directed with Jerome Robbins. His filmography covers almost every genre except animation.
Musicals provided him with some of his biggest successes: He won Oscars for directing and best picture in 1962 as "West Side Story" danced across the screen, and he consolidated that success with two directing and best picture Oscars in 1966 for the runaway hit "The Sound of Music."
His big-screen adaptation of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical about the von Trapp Family singers proved disastrous for the film industry, however, as it led to a round of expensive musicals, including Wise's "Star!" that were costly boxoffice flops.
A recipient of the Irving G. Thalberg Award in 1967, Wise served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (1985-88) and president of the DGA (1971-75). He chaired the DGA's Special Projects Committee for nearly 26 years, from its inception until 2001. He also received the DGA's top honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award, in 1988.
"Bob's devotion to the craft of filmmaking and his wealth of head-and-heart knowledge about what we do and how we do it was a special gift to his fellow directors," DGA president Michael Apted said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. "As president of the guild and as co-founder of the DGA Special Projects Committee, his decades of hands-on leadership were an inspiration to us all. We will deeply miss him."
The son of a meatpacker, Wise was born Sept. 10, 1914, in Winchester, Ind. As a youngster, he became an avid movie fan, spending Saturdays at the dime matinee in his small hometown. He originally set his sights on a career in journalism, but with the help of his older brother Dave, who was an accountant with RKO, Wise got a job as a messenger in the studio's editing department. He soon became fascinated with the ways movies were cut, and, after nine months, he was made an apprentice editor.
He distinguished himself at RKO and began to work solo as an editor on "My Favorite Wife," which starred Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. At the time, Wise's editing mentor, Billy Hamilton, gave him what was to turn out to be the opportunity of a lifetime. He took the young Wise to meet another new young talent at the studio, Welles. After a brief chat, Welles approved of Wise as his editor for "Citizen Kane."
Characteristically modest, Wise always maintained that Welles chiefly took him on because they were about the same age and Welles preferred his attitude to that of the cynical old-timers in the studio's editing department. Wise received his first Academy Award nomination for editing the film.
After "Kane," Wise went on to cut "Ambersons" for Welles, but while the director was in South America as part of the U.S. government's Good Neighbor Policy, the studio decided after preview screenings that "Ambersons" needed some additional scenes to make it play better with audiences. In Welles' absence, Wise was assigned to direct the scenes, which were well received by RKO.
Wise then began to bombard studio executives with requests to direct. In 1943, while he was editing "The Curse of the Cat People," the film's director was removed because the project was behind schedule. Wise was handed the job, and he completed it within the 10 allotted days. The movie went on to become a hit and has since become a cult classic.
With that, Wise became a studio director. He signed on with a young agent, Phil Gersh, who remained his agent for a half-century. (Gersh died last year at the age of 92.)
When Howard Hughes bought RKO in the late 1940s, he shut down production, but Wise was allowed to continue to shoot a boxing movie, "The Set-Up." An industrious and meticulous researcher, Wise spent a long period in an arena in Long Beach, researching the fight game. The film went on to win the Critics Prize at the Festival de Cannes. His most challenging research came for the death-house drama "I Want to Live!" his film about the last days of Barbara Graham, a prostitute who died in the gas chamber. The last scene was of Graham, played by Susan Hayward, in her cell the night before the execution. In preparation for the scene, Wise watched an execution, which appalled him. He received his first directing Oscar nomination for the project.
After "Live!" Wise became a producer at United Artists. Although he established his reputation with horror and action films, his projects as a producer and director ranged through the whole spectrum of subject matter and genres. While some critics have maintained that Wise never possessed a directorial style, he claimed that his style always fit the pictures.
"Some of the more esoteric critics claim that there's no Robert Wise style or stamp. My answer to that is that I've tried to approach each genre in a cinematic style that I think is right for that genre. I wouldn't have approached 'The Sound of Music' the way I approached 'I Want to Live!' for anything, and that accounts for a mix of styles," he said in a Los Angeles Times interview.
Among Wise's many other films are "The Desert Rats," "Tribute to a Bad Man," "So Big," "Helen of Troy," "This Cold Be the Night," "Until They Sail," "Two for the Seesaw," "Two People," "The Hindenburg" and "Audrey Rose."
His last project was 2000's "A Storm in Summer," a television movie he directed from a Rod Serling screenplay, which starred Peter Falk.
Information about his survivors was not immediately available.
Jesse Hiestand contributed to this report.
Wise died at UCLA Medical Center, according to family friend Lawrence Mirisch, owner of The Mirisch Agency, a Hollywood talent agency.
Wise, who was honored with the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award in 1998, enjoyed a longevity that few filmmakers achieve: His resume ranged from his early work as a sound editor on Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musicals like "The Gay Divorcee" to his collaboration as a film editor with Welles on "Citizen Kane" and "The Magnificent Ambersons" to his emergence as a director, and later producer, of films as varied as "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "I Want to Live!" and "West Side Story," which he co-directed with Jerome Robbins. His filmography covers almost every genre except animation.
Musicals provided him with some of his biggest successes: He won Oscars for directing and best picture in 1962 as "West Side Story" danced across the screen, and he consolidated that success with two directing and best picture Oscars in 1966 for the runaway hit "The Sound of Music."
His big-screen adaptation of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical about the von Trapp Family singers proved disastrous for the film industry, however, as it led to a round of expensive musicals, including Wise's "Star!" that were costly boxoffice flops.
A recipient of the Irving G. Thalberg Award in 1967, Wise served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (1985-88) and president of the DGA (1971-75). He chaired the DGA's Special Projects Committee for nearly 26 years, from its inception until 2001. He also received the DGA's top honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award, in 1988.
"Bob's devotion to the craft of filmmaking and his wealth of head-and-heart knowledge about what we do and how we do it was a special gift to his fellow directors," DGA president Michael Apted said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. "As president of the guild and as co-founder of the DGA Special Projects Committee, his decades of hands-on leadership were an inspiration to us all. We will deeply miss him."
The son of a meatpacker, Wise was born Sept. 10, 1914, in Winchester, Ind. As a youngster, he became an avid movie fan, spending Saturdays at the dime matinee in his small hometown. He originally set his sights on a career in journalism, but with the help of his older brother Dave, who was an accountant with RKO, Wise got a job as a messenger in the studio's editing department. He soon became fascinated with the ways movies were cut, and, after nine months, he was made an apprentice editor.
He distinguished himself at RKO and began to work solo as an editor on "My Favorite Wife," which starred Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. At the time, Wise's editing mentor, Billy Hamilton, gave him what was to turn out to be the opportunity of a lifetime. He took the young Wise to meet another new young talent at the studio, Welles. After a brief chat, Welles approved of Wise as his editor for "Citizen Kane."
Characteristically modest, Wise always maintained that Welles chiefly took him on because they were about the same age and Welles preferred his attitude to that of the cynical old-timers in the studio's editing department. Wise received his first Academy Award nomination for editing the film.
After "Kane," Wise went on to cut "Ambersons" for Welles, but while the director was in South America as part of the U.S. government's Good Neighbor Policy, the studio decided after preview screenings that "Ambersons" needed some additional scenes to make it play better with audiences. In Welles' absence, Wise was assigned to direct the scenes, which were well received by RKO.
Wise then began to bombard studio executives with requests to direct. In 1943, while he was editing "The Curse of the Cat People," the film's director was removed because the project was behind schedule. Wise was handed the job, and he completed it within the 10 allotted days. The movie went on to become a hit and has since become a cult classic.
With that, Wise became a studio director. He signed on with a young agent, Phil Gersh, who remained his agent for a half-century. (Gersh died last year at the age of 92.)
When Howard Hughes bought RKO in the late 1940s, he shut down production, but Wise was allowed to continue to shoot a boxing movie, "The Set-Up." An industrious and meticulous researcher, Wise spent a long period in an arena in Long Beach, researching the fight game. The film went on to win the Critics Prize at the Festival de Cannes. His most challenging research came for the death-house drama "I Want to Live!" his film about the last days of Barbara Graham, a prostitute who died in the gas chamber. The last scene was of Graham, played by Susan Hayward, in her cell the night before the execution. In preparation for the scene, Wise watched an execution, which appalled him. He received his first directing Oscar nomination for the project.
After "Live!" Wise became a producer at United Artists. Although he established his reputation with horror and action films, his projects as a producer and director ranged through the whole spectrum of subject matter and genres. While some critics have maintained that Wise never possessed a directorial style, he claimed that his style always fit the pictures.
"Some of the more esoteric critics claim that there's no Robert Wise style or stamp. My answer to that is that I've tried to approach each genre in a cinematic style that I think is right for that genre. I wouldn't have approached 'The Sound of Music' the way I approached 'I Want to Live!' for anything, and that accounts for a mix of styles," he said in a Los Angeles Times interview.
Among Wise's many other films are "The Desert Rats," "Tribute to a Bad Man," "So Big," "Helen of Troy," "This Cold Be the Night," "Until They Sail," "Two for the Seesaw," "Two People," "The Hindenburg" and "Audrey Rose."
His last project was 2000's "A Storm in Summer," a television movie he directed from a Rod Serling screenplay, which starred Peter Falk.
Information about his survivors was not immediately available.
Jesse Hiestand contributed to this report.
Share on LinkedIn
