William A . Wellman William Augustus Wellman ( February 29 , 1896 – December 9 , 1975 ) was an American film director . Although Wellman began his film career as an actor , he worked on over 80 films , as director , producer and consultant , but most often as a director , notable for his work in crime , adventure and action genre films , often focusing on aviation themes , a particular passion . He also directed several well - regarded satirical comedies . Wellman directed the 1927 film " Wings " , which became the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture at the 1st Academy Awards ceremony . Early life . Wellman ' s father , Arthur Gouverneur Wellman , was a New England Brahmin of English - Welsh - Scottish and Irish descent . William was a great - great - great - great - great - grandson of Puritan Thomas Wellman who immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony about 1640 . William was a great - great - great grandson of Francis Lewis of New York , one of the signatories to the Declaration of Independence . His much beloved mother was an Irish immigrant named Cecilia McCarthy . Wellman was expelled from Newton High School in Newton Highlands , Massachusetts , for dropping a stink bomb on the principal ' s head . Ironically , his mother was a probation officer who was asked to address Congress on the subject of juvenile delinquency . Wellman worked as a salesman and then at a lumber yard , before ending up playing professional ice hockey , which is where he was first seen by Douglas Fairbanks , who suggested that with Wellman ' s good looks he could become a film actor . World War I . In World War I Wellman enlisted in the Norton - Harjes Ambulance Corps as an ambulance driver . While in Paris , Wellman joined the French Foreign Legion and was assigned on December 3 , 1917 as a fighter pilot and the first American to join N . 87 " escadrille " in the Lafayette Flying Corps ( not the sub - unit Lafayette Escadrille as usually stated ) , where he earned himself the nickname " Wild Bill " and received the Croix de Guerre with two palms . N . 87 , " les Chats Noir " ( Black Cat Group ) was stationed at Lunéville in the Alsace - Lorraine sector and was equipped with Nieuport 17 and later Nieuport 24 " pursuit " aircraft . Wellman ' s combat experience culminated in three recorded " kills " , along with five probables , although he was ultimately shot down by German anti - aircraft fire on March 21 , 1918 . Wellman survived the crash but he walked with a pronounced limp for the rest of his life . ( He used the limp to his advantage , often exaggerating it when he had to " meet a pretty girl . " ) Maréchal des Logis ( Sergeant ) Wellman received a medical discharge from the Foreign Legion and returned to the United States a few weeks later . He spoke at War Savings Stamp rallies in his French uniform . In September 1918 his book about French flight school and his eventful four months at the front , " Go Get ' Em ! " ( written by Wellman with the help of Eliot Harlow Robinson ) was published . He joined the United States Army Air Service but too late to fly for America in the war . Stationed at Rockwell Field , San Diego , he taught combat tactics to new pilots . Film career . While in San Diego , Wellman would fly to Hollywood for the weekends in his Spad fighter , using Fairbanks ' polo field in Bel Air as a landing strip . Fairbanks was fascinated with the true - life adventures of " Wild Bill " and promised to recommend him for a job in the movie business ; he was responsible for Wellman being cast in the juvenile lead of " The Knickerbocker Buckaroo " ( 1919 ) . Wellman was hired for the role of a young officer in " Evangeline " ( 1919 ) , but was fired for slapping the leading lady , the actress Miriam Cooper , who happened to be the wife of director Raoul Walsh . It did not matter , because Wellman hated being an actor , thought it was unmasculine , and disliked how he looked on film . He soon switched to working behind the camera , aiming to be a director , and progressed up the line as " a messenger boy , as an assistant cutter , an assistant property man , a property man , an assistant director , second unit director and eventually . . . director . " His first assignment as an assistant director for Bernie Durning provided him with a work ethic that he adopted for future film work . One strict rule that Durning enforced was no fraternization with screen femme fatales , which almost immediately Wellman broke , leading to a confrontation and a thrashing from the director . Despite his transgression , both men became lifelong friends , and Wellman steadily progressed to more difficult first unit assignments . Wellman made his uncredited directorial debut in 1920 at Fox with " The Twins of Suffering Creek " . The first films he was credited with directing were " The Man Who Won " and " Second Hand Love " , released on the same day in 1923 . After directing a dozen low - budget ' horse opera ' films ( some of which he would rather forget ) , Wellman was hired by Paramount in 1927 to direct " Wings " , a major war drama dealing with fighter pilots during World War I that was highlighted by air combat and flight sequences . The film culminates with the epic Battle of Saint - Mihiel . In the 1st Academy Awards it was one of two films to win Best Picture ( the other was " ) . Wellman ' s other notable films include " The Public Enemy " ( 1931 ) , the first version of " A Star Is Born " ( 1937 ) , " Nothing Sacred " ( 1937 ) , the 1939 version of " Beau Geste " starring Gary Cooper , " Thunder Birds " ( 1942 ) , " The Ox - Bow Incident " ( 1943 ) , " Lady of Burlesque " ( 1943 ) , " The Story of G . I . Joe " ( 1945 ) , " Battleground " ( 1949 ) and two films starring and co - produced by John Wayne , " Island in the Sky " ( 1953 ) and " The High and the Mighty " ( 1954 ) . While he was primarily a director , Wellman also produced ten films , one of them uncredited , all of which he also directed . His last film was " Lafayette Escadrille " ( 1958 ) , which he produced , directed , wrote the story for and narrated . He wrote the screenplay for two other films that he directed , and one film that he did not direct , 1936 ' s " The Last Gangster " . He also wrote the story for " A Star Is Born " and received a story credit for both remakes in 1954 and 1976 . Wellman was known for his disdain for actors in general , and actresses in particular , " Movie stardom isn ' t about acting ability - it ' s personality and temperament " , he stated in 1952 , and added , " I once directed Clara Bow . She was mad and crazy but WHAT a personality ! " Many actors disliked working with him , because he bullied them to get the performance he wanted . Wellman liked to work fast . Even though he hated their narcissism , he preferred working with men , because they did not need as much preparation time before shooting as women did . Despite all this , Wellman managed to elicit Oscar - nominated performances from seven different actors : Fredric March and Janet Gaynor ( " A Star Is Born " ) , Brian Donlevy ( " Beau Geste " ) , Robert Mitchum ( " The Story of G . I . Joe " ) , James Whitmore ( " Battleground " ) , and Jan Sterling and Claire Trevor ( " The High and Mighty " ) . In his career , Wellman won a single Academy Award , for the story of " A Star Is Born " . He was nominated as best director three times , for " A Star Is Born " , " Battleground " and " The High and Mighty " , for which he was also nominated by the Directors Guild of America as best director . In 1973 , the DGA honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award . Wellman also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame , at 6125 Hollywood Blvd . Several filmmakers have examined Wellman ' s career . Richard Schickel devoted an episode of his PBS series " The Men Who Made the Movies " to Wellman in 1973 , and in 1996 , Todd Robinson made the feature - length documentary " Wild Bill : Hollywood Maverick " . Family . Wellman married four times : Dorothy starred in Wellman ' s 1933 film " Wild Boys of The Road " and had seven children with Wellman , including actors Michael Wellman , William Wellman Jr . , Maggie Wellman , and Cissy Wellman . His daughter Kathleen " Kitty " Wellman married actor James Franciscus , although they later divorced . His first daughter is Patty Wellman , and he had a third son , Tim Wellman . His son William Jr . wrote a book about Wellman , " The Man And His Wings : William A . Wellman and the Making of the First Best Picture " , and has appeared a number of times on Turner Classic Movies to introduce films made by his father . William Wellman died in 1975 of leukemia . He was cremated , and his ashes were scattered at sea . His widow , Dorothy Wellman , died on September 16 , 2009 , in Brentwood , California , at the age of 95 .