Billy Wilder dies, 95

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu Mar 28, 2002 4:23 pm

Wilder was an Austrian-born film director whose major career was entirely in the US. He shared writing credits with Lubitsch on the latter's great comedy, Ninotchka, and went on to direct a couple of Hollywood classics, Sunset Boulevard, and Some Like It Hot.

Kayless · Post by **Kayless** » Thu Mar 28, 2002 4:41 pm

God, another one bites the dust. Maybe we should have Buck make an obituary forum just to keep up.

Bloodstalker · Post by **Bloodstalker** » Thu Mar 28, 2002 4:46 pm

Wait, there is more........Randy Castillo, dummer for Ozzy throughout the 80's and last in the employ of Motley Crue passed away with cancer

Kayless · Post by **Kayless** » Thu Mar 28, 2002 4:56 pm

Okay, I added a new Obituaries thread so we won't spam up the board with all these threads.

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu Mar 28, 2002 5:32 pm

Sorry, but I think this is a perfect place to disguise Wilder's films and influence. He'd get lost quickly in a topic that was just generally for obits. Just my POV.

Kayless · Post by **Kayless** » Thu Mar 28, 2002 5:39 pm

It's all right, I'm not picking on you fable.

It's just that there've been, what 3 or 4 of these death threads now? I thought that by condensing them I'd be doing the board a service. Besides, no offense intended, but I don't see this as a particularly hot topic of conversation. Feel free to prove me wrong though.

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu Mar 28, 2002 6:05 pm

Well, I could ask--who's seen any of the films I've mentioned? They're all well worth it.

VoodooDali · Post by **VoodooDali** » Thu Mar 28, 2002 6:31 pm

He was a great filmmaker. I was surprised he was still alive, though.

I am even more surprised that Mickey Rooney is still alive.

Beldin · Post by **Beldin** » Fri Mar 29, 2002 12:29 am

Originally posted by fable
Well, I could ask--who's seen any of the films I've mentioned? They're all well worth it.

I've seen most of them - since he was born in Austria it's kind of mandatory for me...

Sorry to see him go .

fable · Post by **fable** » Fri Mar 29, 2002 7:13 am

Originally posted by VoodooDali
He was a great filmmaker. I was surprised he was still alive, though.

I am even more surprised that Mickey Rooney is still alive.

But Rooney was about ten in the early 1930s, when he played Puck in Reinhardt's celebrated filming of A Midsummer Night's Dream. That was about the same time that Wilder released his first film, in France.

Rooney was a sad case. A very fine actor with enormous energy and focus, who matured into a short, dumpy guy at a time when all film leads were expected to be tall, rugged and handsome.

On a separate note, Lubitsch and Wilder's Ninotchka is available from most good video stores, as are (definitely) Some Like It Hot and Sunset Boulevard. All three are highly recommended.