Robert Wise

Robert Earl Wise (Winchester, Indiana, September 10, 1914 – Los Angeles, California, September 14, 2005) was an American film editor, producer, and director.

Biography

He started working at the age of 19 at the production company RKO, given the economic crisis: first in the sound department and later in the editing department. While working as an editor, he met Orson Welles, who asked him to edit his film Citizen Kane (1941). For this film, he was nominated for an Oscar for best editing. He later collaborated on The Magnificent Ambersons, by Welles.

He had a long career that spans 57 years since 1944, and which is very eclectic: love stories, dramas, westerns, detective stories, musical comedies, fantastic themes, science fiction or catastrophes cross his films. Altogether, 40 films that have marked the history of cinema to varying degrees.

Retired from directing since 1989, he was awarded honorary awards from the American Society of Cinematographers (1997) and the American Film Institute (1998). He died on September 14, 2005 in Los Angeles, one day before the start of the San Sebastian Festival, which was going to dedicate a retrospective to him that year. His wife Millicent Wise received the tragic news in San Sebastián, leaving immediately for Los Angeles.

The filmmaker

He made his directorial debut in 1944 with The Curse of the Cat People, by chance: replacing Gunther von Fritsch in 1943 on the set of the film. His musical, black and fantastic films stood out for their technical mastery, sobriety and excellent storytelling.

He made several B-movies such as the excellent The Body Snatcher in 1945, based on a story by Robert Louis Stevenson and with Boris Karloff or Born to Kill (1947). In 1949 he signed one of the best films consecrated to boxing, where the action takes place in real time: The Set Up (1949 film) , which won the Prix de la Critique at Cannes.

His films include The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951), a parable about the proliferation of nuclear weapons; The House on Telegraph Hill (1951); The Captive City (1952); Scarred by Hate (1956), and a film against the death penalty that addressed the life of the first woman executed in the United States: I want to live!, (1958).

He then made his best-known film, West Side Story (along with Jerome Robbins, 1961); with which he won eight Oscars, including best film and best director in 1961. His film The Sound of Music won five Oscars in 1965, including best film and best director, and it was a huge box office success: it had cost nine million dollars and grossed more than a hundred in four years.

Other films of his are The Sand Pebbles (1966), The Andromeda Strain (1971), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and Rooftops (1989).

Filmography

Awards and distinctions

Oscar Awards

Golden Globe Awards

Venice International Film Festival