Billy Wilder made films and wrote screenplays for a living.
Samuel `` Billy '' Wilder [ ˈwaɪldər ] [ ˈvɪldɐ ] ( June 22 , 1906March 27 , 2002 ) was an Austrian-born Jewish-American filmmaker , screenwriter , producer , artist , and journalist whose career spanned more than five decades . With The Apartment , Wilder became the first person to win Academy Awards as producer , director , and screenwriter for the same film . Wilder earned the Best Director and Best Screenplay Academy Awards for the adaptation of a Charles R. Jackson story The Lost Weekend ( 1945 ) , about alcoholism .