Bizarre Facts About Billy Wilder

Video Transcript

"The real Billy Wilder. Now, Billy Wilder, the well known director was actually born in nineteen-oh-six with the name of Samuel because he already had a brother born two years earlier in nineteen-oh-four named William. The mother however loved Buffalo Bill Cody, so she called Sammie, Billy. A lot of confusion there. By the way they were born in Poland. Billy made it to Hollywood first, then when the real Billy arrived, he was using the name William Wilder in productions such as "The Grateful Married" in nineteen forty-four. He then changed his name slightly to F. Lee Wilder, to distinguish himself from his more successful brother. And he made a number of successful, but I think excellent, low budget films such as "The Phantom from Space", "Killers from Space" and a number of other entries in the horror sci-fi genre such as "The Omegans" and "The Big Bluff" and "The Glass Alibi". Now the two brothers apparently hated each other, and never resolved their conflict. The real Billy died in nineteen eighty-two, the Billy we all know from films such as "Double Indemnity" and "Witness For The Prosecution" died in two thousand and two. Twenty years later. But I enjoyed both of their films."