Motion Picture Director, Producer, Editor. Orson Welles tabbed him to be editor for the film "Citizen Kane." Welles was impressed enough with his work that he was hired to edit his next motion picture "The Magnificent Ambersons." Wise then started as a director, and for the next three decades, he was one of the most prolific filmmakers in Hollywood with films including "Born to Kill" (1947), "Three Secrets" (1950), "The House on Telegraph Hill" (1951), "The Desert Rats" (1953), "Executive Suite" (1954), "Run Silent, Run Deep" (1958), "The Sand Pebbles" (1966) and "The Andromeda Strain" (1971). His career reached its peak in 1961 with "West Side Story," for which he shared an Academy Award for Best Director with Jerome Robbins. He then directed the extremely successful musical film "The Sound of Music" in 1965, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and won Wise his second Award for Best Director. In 1966 he was also honored with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for lifetime achievement as a producer. Other notable and popular films he directed include "The Body Snatcher," "The Set-Up," the 1951 science-fiction cult movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." His favorite films that he directed were "The Haunting" (1963) and the drama "I Want to Live!" (1958). In 1959, he filmed "Odds Against Tomorrow," an anti-racist drama with Harry Belafonte and Robert Ryan. His last work was for the television movie "A Storm in Summer" (2000) and for screen "Rooftops" in 1989. He passed away in Westwood, Los Angeles while his wife was attending the 53th edition of the Festival de Cine de San Sebastíán where Robert Wise was being honored.
Bio by: José L Bernabé Tronchoni
Family Members
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Earl Waldo Wise
1885–1961
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Olive Roxey Longenecker Wise
1886–1976
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Lloyd Eugene Wise
1905–1983
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David Edwin Wise
1907–1980
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Baby Girl Wise
1945–1945
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Richard Wise
1947–1947
Flowers
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