Ebook: William Wyler: the life and films of Hollywood's most celebrated director

During his forty-five-year career, William Wyler (1902--1981) pushed the boundaries of filmmaking with his gripping storylines and innovative depth-of-field cinematography. With a body of work that includes such memorable classics as Jezebel (1938), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Ben-Hur (1959), and Funny Girl (1968), Wyler is the most nominated director in the history of the Academy Awards and bears the distinction of having won an Oscar for Best Director on three occasions. Both Bette Davis and Lillian Hellman considered him America's finest director, and Sir Laurence Olivier said he learned more a.;Discovering a vocation and a style: The shakedown (1929), The love trap (1929), Hell's heroes (1930), A house divided (1931) -- Coming into his own: counsellor-at-law (1933) -- First-class pictures: These three (1936) -- The Wyler touch: Dodsworth (1936) -- A concoction: Come and get it (1936) -- The street where they live: Dead end (1937) -- Gone with the plague: Jezebel (1938) -- Home on the moors and the range: Wuthering Heights (1939), The westerner (1940), The letter (1940) -- Bette Davis and the South redux: The little foxes (1941) -- War films: Mrs. Miniver (1942), Memphis Belle (1944), Thunderbolt (1945) -- The way home: The best years of our lives (1946) -- The American scene I: The heiress (1949) -- The American scene II: Carrie (1952) -- The House Un-American Activities Committee: Detective story (1951), Roman holiday (1953), The desperate hours (1955), The children's hour (1961) -- The pacifist dilemma: friendly persuasion (1956), The big country (1958), Ben-Hur (1959) -- Final projects: The collector (1965), How to steal a million (1966), Funny girl (1968), The liberation of L.B. Jones.