Billy Wilder is a director.
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 . Wilder established his directorial reputation with an adaption of James M. Cain 's Double Indemnity ( 1944 ) , a film noir . Among the classics Wilder created in this period are the farces The Seven Year Itch ( 1955 ) and Some Like It Hot ( 1959 ) , and satires such as The Apartment ( 1960 ) . Some Like It Hot is a 1959 American romantic comedy film set in 1929 , directed and produced by Billy Wilder , starring Marilyn Monroe , Tony Curtis , and Jack Lemmon . William Lee Wilder ( August 22 , 1904 in Sucha , Galicia , Austria-Hungary -- February 14 , 1982 in Los Angeles , California ) was an Austrian-born American screenwriter , film producer and director .