Celebrating The Legacy of Billy Wilder

With a Hollywood career of over 40 years, director Billy Wilder created 25 films, most of which are among the greatest movies of the 20th century. The Temple in Atlanta is offering a four-week zoom seminar on the movies of Wilder. It is called Billy Wilder Up Close for Film.

Wilder’s career spanned more than five decades, producing classics such as, “Double Indemnity,” “Some Like It Hot,” and “The Apartment.” Wilder was also the first person to win an Academy Award as producer, director, and screenwriter for the same film.

Film expert Bob Bahr and Professor Matthew Bernstein, chair of Film and Media Studies at Emory University, joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes for a conversation about Wilder’s historic and highly influential career and legacy in Hollywood film.

On Wilder’s “Some Like it Hot,” Bernstein said, “It’s a marvel of characterization. Marilyn Monroe has never appeared to better advantage in any Hollywood film. Wilder is an expert at using stars and their star images that are built up over time.”

Correction: This report has been corrected with the proper spelling of film expert Bob Bahr’s name. 

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