Few film directors have demonstrated the depth, range, longevity, and sensitivity that William Wyler gave to the American screen. Yet like many of the early Hollywood destiny shapers, Wyler possessed neither a background in the arts nor even an all-American upbringing. Born in Alsace-Lorraine of German-Swiss-Jewish parentage, he was schooled in Switzerland and prepared for a career as a haberdasher in Paris. During a visit to his parents' home in 1920 he met Carl Laemmle, his mother's cousin from America and president of Universal Studios. Laemmle, a former clothing merchant himself, had no problem coaxing young Willie into working for him in America.

Wyler spent the next year in the publicity department of Universal's New York offices. He was then transferred to Hollywood and accepted several menial studio jobs until 1925, when he was offered the chance to cut his directorial teeth on low-budget westerns. By 1928 he had completed two dozen two-reelers, seven feature-length westerns and one comedy. He was also granted his United States citizenship that year.

Over the next decade Wyler built a reputation as a director of popular and respectable film adaptations of classic literary works and contemporary theater. In 1936 he signed with Samuel Goldwyn Productions and established a working relationship with playwright Lillian Hellman. They reworked her controversial Broadway drama, "The Children's Hour," into a sensitive (if sanitized) film titled "These Three" (1936). At this time Wyler also teamed with cameraman Gregg Toland, who would develop the deep-focus technique that would enhance such Wyler films as "The Little Foxes" (1941), another Hellman collaboration. "Dodsworth" (1936), "Dead End" (1937) and "Jezebel" (1938) followed, all critical and commercial successes. Wyler's amazing string of hits continued with "Wuthering Heights" (1939), "The Letter" (1940) and "The Little Foxes." Oscar-nominated for all three films, Wyler won his first Academy Award for "Mrs. Miniver" (1942), an uplifting tale of a British family's fortitude in the face of the hardships of WWII.

Ironically, later that year Wyler was commissioned as a major in the US Army Air Force. While stationed in England he produced documentaries and undertook several dangerous missions to gather air combat footage. Over Italy he suffered injuries that left him partially deaf. Following the war he ended his long association with Goldwyn on an exceptionally high note with "The Best Years Of Our Lives" (1946), a story of three returning American war veterans which won Wyler his second Oscar and proved to be the top box office draw of the decade. In 1947 he rallied to counteract the stinging accusations of the Congressional HUAC investigations of Hollywood by helping to form, along with John Huston and Phillip Dunne, the Committee for the First Amendment. In 1948, he and fellow directors Frank Capra, George Stevens and Samuel Briskin formed their own production company, Liberty Films, which was later taken over by Paramount.

"The Heiress" (1949) found Wyler demonstrating his knack for bringing rich, visual staging to the literary classics. During the 1950s Wyler's work embraced several genres: urban melodrama ("Detective Story" 1951), romantic comedy ("Roman Holiday" 1953), and western ("The Big Country" 1958). He capped the decade with "Ben-Hur" (1959), the Biblical spectacle that garnered a record 11 Academy Awards including best picture and best director--Wyler's third Oscar.

The next ten years presented a variety of cinematic challenges for Wyler, including his first musical, "Funny Girl" (1968). That Barbra Streisand won an Oscar in this, her debut film, owed something to the Wyler touch which had guided so many other performers to award-winning performances. His last film, "The Liberation of L.B. Jones" (1970), proved a critical and box-office disappointment and Wyler retired shortly thereafter. In 1976 he became the third recipient of the prestigious Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute.