William Wyler (July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a three-time Academy Award-winning motion picture director.

Biography

Early life

Wyler was born Willi Weiller to a Jewish family in Mulhouse in the French region of Alsace (then part of the German Empire). Madsen 1973, p. 3.He was distantly related to Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal Pictures, through his mother Melanie (a cousin of Laemmle's). After realizing that Willi was not interested in the family business of haberdashery and suffering through a terrible year working at 100000 CHEMISES in Paris after World War I, Melanie contacted her distant cousin about opportunities for him. Carl Laemmle was in the habit of coming to Europe each year and finding promising young men who would work in America.