Question 1

True or false: Billy Wilder directed 'The Sound of Music' but turned down credit for it.

Accepted Answer

False. Robert Wise directed 'The Sound of Music'. Wilder admired it but had no involvement; he did direct 'The Apartment' and 'Sunset Boulevard'.

Question 2

True or false: Billy Wilder co-wrote the screenplay for 'Casablanca' but was uncredited due to contract issues.

Accepted Answer

False. The credited writers were Julius and Philip Epstein and Howard Koch. Wilder never worked on 'Casablanca'; he was busy with other projects in the 1940s.

Question 3

True or false: Wilder's film 'Double Indemnity' was based on a true crime story that shocked 1920s America.

Accepted Answer

True. It was inspired by the 1927 Ruth Snyder–Jud Gray murder case, where a wife and her lover killed her husband for insurance money.

Question 4

True or false: Billy Wilder's first career was as a journalist in Vienna before he became a screenwriter.

Accepted Answer

True. Wilder worked as a crime reporter in Vienna and Berlin before fleeing the Nazis and reinventing himself as a Hollywood writer.

Question 5

True or false: Billy Wilder directed only one musical, which was a box office flop despite starring Audrey Hepburn.

Accepted Answer

False. Wilder directed 'Irma la Douce' (1963) with Shirley MacLaine, but it wasn't a musical; his only musical was 'The Emperor Waltz' (1948), which starred Bing Crosby.

Question 6

True or false: Wilder originally wanted Marilyn Monroe to star in 'Sunset Boulevard', but she turned it down.

Accepted Answer

False. Wilder intended Norma Desmond to be played by a former silent-screen star. Marilyn Monroe, a rising starlet, was not considered for the lead. Gloria Swanson, a genuine silent icon, was cast.

Question 7

True or false: Wilder's film 'Some Like It Hot' was initially banned in several US states for its cross-dressing themes.

Accepted Answer

False. Only Kansas officially banned it. The Catholic Legion of Decency condemned the film, but no other US state banned it.

Question 8

True or false: Billy Wilder was the first person to win Oscars as a writer, director, and producer for the same film.

Accepted Answer

False. False. The first person to achieve this 'triple crown' was Leo McCarey, who won Oscars for producing, directing, and writing 'Going My Way' (1944). Wilder later did the same with 'The Apartment' (1960).

Billy Wilder Trivia Questions