Oscar-winning film director Billy Wilder, who masterminded the classics Sunset Boulevardand Some Like it Hot, has died at the age of 95.
According to his producer friend George Schlatter, he died on Wednesday night at his home.
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Billy Wilder
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Mr Schlatter says Wilder's health had been failing in recent months, and his friend of 40 years had been suffering from pneumonia.
As co-writer, director and producer of the 1960 film The Apartment, Wilder collected three Oscars, the only person to do so for one film.
Among his other are classics are Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity, Stalag 17, The Lost Weekend, The Seven Year Itch, Some Like It Hotand Witness for the Prosecution.
Wilder was also noted as one of Hollywood's best wits. One fan, William Holden, said Wilder had "a mind full of razor blades."
The actors in his films won Oscars for their hard-bitten portrayals: Ray Milland as the unremitting alcoholic in The Lost Weekend, Holden as the suspected prison-camp traitor in Stalag 17, and Walter Matthau as an insurance cheat in The Fortune Cookie.
He said of movie-making: "Making movies is a little like walking into a dark room. Some people stumble across furniture, others break their legs, but some of us see better in the dark than others.
"The ultimate trick is to convince, persuade," he added.
Wilder's career peaked with The Apartment, a cynical tale of corporate corruption. Jack Lemmon played an underling who lends his apartment to company executives for trysts with secretaries.
PA