The Director - Robert Wise

Through his wide range of work, Robert Wise proved himself to be a highly versatile director. How else can it be explained that the same director staged horror classics like “The Haunting“ and “The Body Snatcher“ as well as family movies like “The Sound of Music” or “West Side Story”. For the former two, Robert Wise received Oscars for Best Director.

The son of a meat packer'born in Winchester, Indiana, on September 19th, 1914—Wise studied journalism at the Franklin College, but due to financial problems he had to leave school and find work. Aged 19, he was hired as assistant editor at Hollywood´s RKO studios, where his brother David was employed.

His first directorial opportunity just fell into his lap: Director Gunther von Fritsch, who was already half way through with “The Curse of the Cat People”, was dismissed because he was behind schedule. Robert Wise was the editor of the movie, and it was natural for him to take over and complete the film, since only he knew the continuity of what had already been shot. He did such an admirable job that his boss Val Lewton assigned him as full director for two more movies.

His cinematography continues with such films as “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, “Somebody Up There Likes Me” (with Paul Newman) and “Run Silent, Run Deep” (Burt Lancaster, Clark Gable).