Robert Wise, a conscientious craftsman in many movie genres who twice received Academy Awards as best director, died yesterday at the U.C.L.A. [8] Wise worked odd jobs at the studio before moving into editing. This was the director's final project before his death. Wise was promoted to director. Celebrities and Notable People Who Have Had Coronavirus. Other films by Mr. Birthday: September 10, 1914Date of Death: September 14, 2005Age at Death: 91. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), the first of the feature films based on the popular television series, was a difficult shoot for Wise. [68], In the 1970s, Wise directed such films as The Andromeda Strain (1971), The Hindenburg (1975), the horror film Audrey Rose (1977) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), the first Star Trek feature film. Mr. Among his other films are The Body Snatcher (1945), Born to Kill (1947), The Set-Up (1949), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Destination Gobi (1953), This Could Be The Night (1957), Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), I Want to Live! [82], On May 25, 1942, Wise married actress Patricia Doyle. [91], In 2012, the Motion Picture Editors Guild published a list of the 75 best-edited films of all time based on a survey of its membership. Wise was 83 he told The New York Times that "Citizen Kane" was not particularly difficult to edit, partly because of the masterly cinematography by Gregg Toland. [13] Wise's first solo film editing work was on Bachelor Mother (1939) and My Favorite Wife (1939).[14]. [57] West Side Story was a box-office hit, and critics have declared it "a cinema masterpiece". Field: Entertainment: Info: Director of numerous acclaimed films, including "The Day the Earth Stood Still", "West Side Story", and "The Sound of Music" Date of Birth: 09/10/1914: Date of Death: 09/14/2005: Age at Death: 91: Cause of Death: Heart failure: Link(s) with more info: (opens in a new window) Robert Earl Wise (September 10, 1914 – September 14, 2005) was an American film director, producer, and editor. [32] Fifi's feminist perspective and a memorable chase sequence helped make it a "template picture for Wise". [9] At RKO, Wise became an assistant to T.K. [59] Wise's big-budget adaptation of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's family-oriented musical The Sound of Music, with Julie Andrews as Maria and Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp, became one of film history's highest grossing movies. [56] In 1968, Wise was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Franklin College and in 1981 co-chaired a $10 million fundraising campaign for the college. [56] Connersville, Indiana, proclaimed June 4, 1968, as Robert Wise Day, while his birthplace, Winchester, Indiana, made a similar proclamation the following day. [11], As Wise gained experience, he became more interested in editing film content, rather than sound, and went to work for RKO film editor William "Billy" Hamilton. "[45], The biography of convicted killer Barbara Graham in I Want to Live! Remarkable really." Your contribution is much appreciated! "[68] Andrews was cast against type, but Wise, as the film's director, took responsibility for the film's shortcomings. [38][39], In the 1950s, he proved adept in several genres, including science fiction in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951); melodrama in So Big (1953);[40] Western in Tribute to a Bad Man (1956), starring James Cagney;[41] fictionalized biography in the boardroom drama Executive Suite (1954); and the epic Helen of Troy (1955) based on Homer's The Illiad. [12] In The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) and 5th Ave Girl (1939), Hamilton and Wise, as assistant film editor, shared screen credit; it was Wise's first credit on a feature film. He was a former chairman of the guild and a president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who had the respect of many associates for striving to strike a balance between commerce and art, for professionalism and patience and for helping novice moviemakers. Barnes. Despite Mr. It lost for Best Screenplay based on material from another medium to Judgement at Nuremberg (1961). [20], For Wise, connecting to the viewer was the "most important part of making a film. Robert's cause of death was heart failure. Robert Earl Wise was born on Sept. 10, 1914, in Winchester, Ind., the son of a meatpacker and his wife. For example, before directing Until They Sail (1957), set in New Zealand during World War II, Wise traveled to New Zealand to interview women whose lives were similar to those portrayed in the film. His career soared with "West Side Story," the 1961 filming of the landmark Broadway musical, for which he shared an Oscar as best director with the choreographer Jerome Robbins. "His films became increasingly fascinating to me because of the editing style, a very crisp, clear style of editing that kind of points the audience toward where to look in a scene," Mr. Scorsese said. Robert Wise received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1998. [6] In 1933, due to the family's poor financial situation during the Great Depression, Wise was unable to return to college for his second year and moved to Hollywood to begin a lifelong career in the film industry. Robert Earl Wise Jr.,Robert E Wise Died: September 14, 2005: Born: September 10, 1914: Cause of Death: heart failure: Birth Place: Winchester, Indiana, USA: Profession: Director ... producer director editor music editor assistant cutter sound effects apprentice Soon he was learning sound effects and music editing, and working his way up to film editing. [63], The Sound of Music was an interim film for Wise, produced to mollify the studio while he developed the difficult film The Sand Pebbles (1966), starring Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, and Candice Bergen. Bobby was raised and remained in Paterson until his untimely death on Tuesday April 21, 2020. He had some memorable box-office flops as well, among them "The Hindenburg" (1975) and "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979). Welles denounced the editing of "The Magnificent Ambersons," saying the film was mutilated, "cut by the studio gardener." He won Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for both West Side Story (1961) and The Sound of Music (1965). He received a second Academy Award as producer when the film was voted best picture. [84] The couple had one son, Robert, who became an assistant cameraman. The Depression force him to quit college in 1933, and he headed for Hollywood, where his older brother, Dave, was an accountant at RKO. Robert Wise arrived at the delight of parents Robert James (Onancock, VA) and Clero Wise (Macon, GA) on October 19, 1951 in Paterson, New Jersey. [12] Wise's first film as Hamilton's assistant was Alfred Santell's Winterset (1936). [75] Wise also made a cameo performance in John Landis’ The Stupids (1996). He believed that actors had a special language of their own and, with typical diligence, enrolled in an acting class to learn how performers viewed moviemaking. Wise also was honored at the Academy Awards ceremony in 1966 with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for lifetime achievement as a producer. Mr. Wise's meticulous preparation may have been largely motivated by studio budget constraints, but advanced the moviemaking art. He had previously been president of the Director's Guild of America from 1971 to 1975. Later cineastes, such as Martin Scorsese, insist that despite Wise's legendary workaday concentration on stylistic perfection within the confines of genre and budget, his choice of subject matter and approach still functioned to identify Wise as an artist and not merely an artisan. The carefully composed images, tight editing, and unflagging pace make one wish that Wise had not stayed away from the camera for very long. [10] Wise's first screen credit was a ten-minute short subject called A Trip through Fijiland (1935), which was made from RKO footage salvaged from an abandoned feature film. [7], Wise began his film career at RKO as a sound and music editor. Wise considered himself a director of content, not messages, and he was not afraid to experiment. In 1988 he received the highest honor of the Directors Guild of America, its D.W. Griffith Award for career achievement. The film was hailed as one of the best of the psychological thrillers produced by Val Lewton and became a cult classic, and Mr. [36] The film earned the Critic's Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. "[71] The Hindenburg (1975), which profiles the 1937 crash of the eponymous blimp, was panned by critics, although it won Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Effects. He is survived by his current wife, Millicent, of Los Angeles; a son from an earlier marriage, Robert E. Wise of California; a stepdaughter, Pamela Rosenberg of New York; and a granddaughter. [77], As Wise's directing career slowed, he took a more active role in supporting the film industry.