Born September 10, 1914 in Winchester, Indiana, Robert Wise was the youngest of three sons of a meatpacker and his wife. An avid moviegoer, he came into the film business through an odd job at RKO Radio Pictures when he was 19.

Initially a protégé to a sound effects editor, he worked in that capacity on such classic films as The Gay Divorcée, Top Hat, and The Informer. He became an assistant film editor on 1939’s The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle and a full editor on the same year’s Bachelor Mother. He followed that with Fifth Avenue Girl, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, My Favorite Wife, Dance, Girl, Dance, Citizen Kane, The Devil and Daniel Webster, and The Magnificent Ambersons.

Filling in for Orson Welles to direct additional scenes on 1942’s The Magnificent Ambersons led to Wise’s promotion to director on RKO’s 1944 classic horror film, The Curse of the Cat People. His work as a director continued with one success after another including such high points as 1945’s The Body Snatcher, 1948’s Blood on the Moon and 1949’s The Set-Up.

At Warner Bros. in 1950, he directed Three Secrets. Moving over to 20th Century-Fox for 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still and The House on Telegraph Hill, he was back at Warner Bros. for 1953’s So Big. He directed 1954’s Executive Suite for which he received his first Directors Guild of America nomination, 1956’s Somebody Up There Likes Me for which he received his second DGA nomination, and 1957’s Until They Sail for MGM.

Wise directed 1958’s Run Silent, Run Deep and I Want to Live! for United Artists. He earned his third DGA nomination and second Oscar nomination for the latter, his first Oscar nod for Best Director. His next film was 1959’s Odds Against Tomorrow, also for United Artists, followed by that studio’s 1961 film version of West Side Story for which he won the DGA award for Best Director and Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture.

It was back to his horror roots for 1963’s The Haunting and then back to 20th Century-Fox for 1965’s The Sound of Music and a second DGA award for Best Director two more Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture followed by the Thalberg award a year later.

Wise received his last Oscar nomination for 1966’s The Sand Pebblesbut he continued his extraordinary career with such further films as 1968’s Star! , 1971’s The Andromeda Strain, 1975’s The Hindenburg, and 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Robert Wise was president of the Directors Guild of America from 1971 to 1975 and President of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1985 through 1988. He died of a heart attack four days after his 91st birthday on September 18, 2005.

ROBERT WISE AND OSCAR

• Citizen Kane (1941) – nominated – Best Film Editing
• I Want to Live! (1958) – nominated – Best Director
• West Side Story (1961) – Oscar – Best Picture
• West Side Story (1961) – Oscar – Best Director (shared with Jerome Robbins)
• The Sound of Music (1965) – Oscar – Best Director
• The Sound of Music (1965) – Oscar – Best Director
• The Sand Pebbles (1966) – nominated – Best Picture
• Honorary Award (1965) – Oscar – Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award

ESSENTIAL FILMS

SO BIG (1953)

Although he worked in practically every film genre, Wise had been basically known as a director of horror and science fiction films like The Body Snatcher and The Day the Earth Stood Still. Here he proved that he could direct a woman’s film, a good old-fashioned tearjerker about a salt-of-the-earth widow played by Jane Wyman at the height of her reign as the queen of the genre. He not only elicits one of Wyman’s best performances from her, but also two of the best child performances of the era from Richard Beymer as the boy with a crush on her and Tommy Rettig as her son. Nancy Olson also shines as her grown son’s love interest.

EXECUTIVE SUITE (1954)

Wise received his first Best Director nomination from the Directors Guild of America for his handling of an all-star cast in a suspenseful tale of the search for the right man to fill the shoes of a suddenly deceased industrialist. William Holden leads the cast as the young exec with a cute wife played by June Allyson and the right ideas, with Fredric March as his main competition, and Walter Pidgeon, Paul Douglas, Dean Jagger, and Louis Calhern as other key players in the corporate game. Oscar nominated Nina Foch is the late CEO’s executive secretary while screen legend Barbara Stanwyck all but steals the film with a bravura late appearance.

WEST SIDE STORY (1965)

Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and winner of 10 including two for Wise (Picture and Director), the only nomination it didn’t win was for Best Adapted Screenplay by Ernest Lehman who had also written the screenplay for Executive Suite. Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer (who was so effective in Wise’s So Big), Russ Tamblyn and Oscar winners Rita Moreno and George Chakiris led the cast of the legendary film which still holds up extremely well despite having been successfully remade in 2021. Wise shared director honors with co-winner Jerome Robbins who directed the original Broadway version on his own.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)

Ernest Lehman also wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of another legendary Broadway musical, the final collaboration of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. This time around, he wasn’t nominated, leaving the film with just ten Oscar nominations of which it won five. Two of the film’s five Oscars went to Wise again in the same categories (Picture and Director) but this time there was no co-director to share it with. The still highly popular film was at the time of its release the highest grossing film of all time. Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, and Peggy Wood led the cast with Andrews and Wood securing Oscar nods for their performances.

THE SAND PEBBLES (1966)

Wise received his final Oscar nomination for Best Picture for this absorbing drama set in 1920s China. The film’s total eight Academy Award nominations included Steve McQueen’s only nomination for Best Actor for his definitive screen performance as the sailor who just wants to be left alone. Richard Attenborough won a Golden Globe for his supporting performance as an incurable romantic, but it was Mako who earned the film’s Best Supporting Actor nod from the Academy for his unforgettable portrayal of McQueen’s faithful Chinese “coolie”. Richard Crenna as the ship’s captain and Candice Bergen as a young missionary also stand out.