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Robert Wise

Highest Rated: 100% Executive Suite (1954)

Lowest Rated: 10% Rooftops (1989)

Birthday: Sep 10, 1914

Birthplace: Winchester, Indiana, USA

Veteran Hollywood director Robert Wise was credited with helming 39 feature films from 1944 to 1989, establishing an admirable reputation in such a wide variety of genres as to prompt some critics to unfairly posit that there was no "Wise style." At the beginning of his career, he worked with equal facility in horror ("The Curse of the Cat People") (1944), film noir ("Born to Kill") (1947), Westerns ("Blood on the Moon") (1948), sports ("The Set-Up") (1949) and sci-fi ("The Day the Earth Stood Still") (1951), demonstrating a visual and narrative dexterity that other filmmakers could only marvel at. After earning his stripes in the 1950s, Wise went on to become one of the most successful and revered directors of the following decade, winning four Oscars for his work on the musical extravaganzas "West Side Story" (1961) and "The Sound of Music" (1965). As film budgets - and studio expectations - skyrocketed, more personal projects, such as the uncompromising Steve McQueen war drama "The Sand Pebbles" (1966), became increasingly difficult for Wise to mount. And although one of his final directorial efforts, the big-budget spectacular "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979), may not have been greeted with the unqualified praise the studio had hoped for, it nonetheless demonstrated the work of a master craftsman, still in full possession of his artistic powers. When responding to the charges of some that Wise never left a personal, artistic imprint on his films, the director replied that it was not the director's job to tailor the film to themselves, but rather, to tailor themselves to the film.

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Highest rated movies

100% 79% Run Silent, Run Deep
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100% 83% The Devil and Daniel Webster
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100% 75% Executive Suite
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100% 89% Bachelor Mother
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100% 71% The Desert Rats
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99% 90% Citizen Kane Watchlist
95% 87% The Day the Earth Stood Still
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94% 83% I Want to Live!
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92% 84% West Side Story
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89% 84% The Magnificent Ambersons
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Filmography

Movies

Credit
No Score Yet 57% A Storm in Summer Director - 2000
No Score Yet No Score Yet All Is Brazil Unknown (Character) - 1998
10% 36% Rooftops Director $1.1M 1989
52% 42% Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director - 1979
57% 42% Audrey Rose Director - 1977
31% 38% The Hindenburg Director,
Producer
- 1975
No Score Yet No Score Yet Two People Director - 1973
68% 72% The Andromeda Strain Director,
Producer
- 1971
No Score Yet 50% The Baby Maker Producer - 1970
No Score Yet 75% Star! Director - 1968
85% 88% The Sand Pebbles Director,
Producer
- 1966
83% 91% The Sound of Music Director,
Producer
$109.0K 1965
87% 82% The Haunting Director,
Producer
- 1963
33% 57% Two for the Seesaw Director - 1962
92% 84% West Side Story Director,
Producer
- 1961
88% 84% Odds Against Tomorrow Director,
Producer
- 1959
100% 79% Run Silent, Run Deep Director - 1958
94% 83% I Want to Live! Director - 1958
67% 62% Until They Sail Director - 1957
No Score Yet 46% This Could Be the Night Director - 1957
86% 86% Somebody Up There Likes Me Director - 1956
No Score Yet 48% Tribute to a Bad Man Director - 1956
No Score Yet 59% Helen of Troy Director - 1955
100% 75% Executive Suite Director - 1954
No Score Yet 0% Return to Paradise Producer - 1953
100% 71% The Desert Rats Director - 1953
No Score Yet 38% Destination Gobi Director - 1953
No Score Yet 70% So Big Director - 1953
No Score Yet No Score Yet Something for the Birds Director - 1952
70% 67% The Captive City Director - 1952
No Score Yet 62% The House on Telegraph Hill Director - 1951
95% 87% The Day the Earth Stood Still Director - 1951
No Score Yet 22% Two Flags West Director - 1950
85% 89% The Set-Up Director - 1949
No Score Yet 75% Three Secrets Director - 1949
83% 64% Blood on the Moon Director - 1948
No Score Yet 29% Mystery in Mexico Director - 1948
83% 75% Born to Kill Director - 1947
No Score Yet 33% Criminal Court Director - 1946
No Score Yet No Score Yet A Game of Death Director - 1945
86% 75% The Body Snatcher Director - 1945
89% 65% The Curse of the Cat People Director - 1944
67% 50% Mademoiselle Fifi Director - 1944
No Score Yet 50% The Fallen Sparrow Film Editing - 1943
89% 84% The Magnificent Ambersons Film Editing - 1942
100% 83% The Devil and Daniel Webster Film Editing - 1941
99% 90% Citizen Kane Film Editing $977.3K 1941
86% 82% My Favorite Wife Film Editing - 1940
83% 64% Dance, Girl, Dance Film Editing - 1940
No Score Yet 61% Fifth Avenue Girl Film Editing - 1939
100% 89% Bachelor Mother Film Editing - 1939