Robert Wise

Robert Earl Wise (September 10, 1914 to September 14, 2005) was an American filmmaker regarded as one of Hollywood's most versatile and acclaimed directors. He won four Academy Awards, taking Best Director and Best Picture for both West Side Story in 1961 and The Sound of Music in 1965, and had earlier received a Best Film Editing nomination for Citizen Kane in 1941. He directed across many genres, including the horror films The Body Snatcher and The Haunting, the science fiction films The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Andromeda Strain, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the film noir Born to Kill, and the biographical drama I Want to Live!. He served as president of the Directors Guild of America from 1971 to 1975 and president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1985 to 1988, and received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1998, and the National Medal of Arts in 1992. His directing career spanned from 1944 to 2000.