Director Robert Wise – An Amazing Career

The Life of Robert Wise

Robert Wise was born to a working-class family in 1914 in Indiana. While attending Connersville High School, he wrote for the school newspaper and initially planned to be a journalist. He started college at Franklin College in Indianapolis. In the height of the Great Depression, Wise was not able to attend his Sophomore year.

Wise followed his brother, who was working for RKO, to Hollywood. At the age of 19, he got a job in the RKO shipping department. His natural talents were recognized and he was mentored by T.K. Wood’s, the head of the sound effects, as he slowly moved up through the RKO system, eventually landing in the editing room. He eventually moved into film editing.

Wise was assigned to work with Orson Welles for Citizen Kane (1941). For this work, Wise was nominated for the Best Editor Oscar. He did some uncredited editing on The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) and became credited for directing beginning with Mademoiselle Fifi (1944).

He went on to direct some of the best-loved and important films in American cinema. These films include The Curse of the Cat People (1944), The Body Snatcher (1945), Film-Noirs Born to Kill (1947), Blood on the Moon (1948), Mystery in Mexico (1948), and The Set-Up (1949).

He directed The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), The House on Telegraph Hill (1951), Destination Gobi (1953), The Desert Rats (1953), Executive Suite (1954), and the Rocky Graziano story Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956).

Wise directed the Susan Hayward Film-Noir I Want to Live! (1958) where he was nominated for the Best Director Oscar, Run Silent Run Deep (1958), and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).

He co-directed West Side Story (1961) and split the Best Director Oscar with the dancing director, and the film won the Best Picture Oscar.  

Wise directed the musical The Sound of Music (1965) for which he won the Best Director Oscar again. He was nominated for the Best Director Oscar for the anti-war film The Sand Pebbles (1966).

He directed Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain (1971), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), and his final film Rooftops (1989).

During his life, Robert Wise also served as the President of the Directors Guild of America from 1971—1975. He served as the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1985—1988. In 1998, the American Film Institute awarded Robert Wise a Lifetime Achievement Award.

On the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, Wise has three films that he edited on the list: Dance, Girl, Dance (1940), Citizen Kane (1941), and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). Three films that he directed are also on the list: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), West Side Story (1961), and The Sound of Music (1965).

This great director died shortly after his 91^st birthday in 2005.

Reviewed Robert Wise Films

Other Films Directed by Robert Wise

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) – additional sequences, uncredited
Mademoiselle Fifi (1944)
The Curse of the Cat People (1944)
A Game of Death (1945)
Criminal Court (1946)
Three Secrets (1950)
Two Flags West (1950)
The House on Telegraph Hill (1951)
Something for the Birds (1952)
The Captive City (1952)
Destination Gobi (1953)
So Big (1953)
The Desert Rats (1953)
Executive Suite (1954)
Helen of Troy (1956)
Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
Tribute to a Bad Man (1956)
This Could Be the Night (1957)
Until They Sail (1957)
Run Silent Run Deep (1958)
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
West Side Story (1961)
Two for the Seesaw (1962)
The Haunting (1963)
The Sound of Music (1965)
The Sand Pebbles (1966)
Star! (1968)
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Two People (1973)
The Hindenburg (1975)
Audrey Rose (1977)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Rooftops (1989)

References for Director Robert Wise

Robert Wise: The Motion Pictures (Revised Edition) by  J.R. Jordan

More about Director Robert Wise from iMDB.com