William Wyler
William Wyler (born Willi Wyler ; July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter.
Notable works include "Ben-Hur" (1959), "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946), and "Mrs. Miniver" (1942), all of which won Academy Awards for Best Director, as well as Best Picture in their respective years, making him the only director of three Best Picture winners as of 2019.
Wyler received his first Oscar nomination for directing "Dodsworth" in 1936, starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton and Mary Astor, "sparking a 20-year run of almost unbroken greatness."
Film historian
Ian Freer calls Wyler a "bona fide perfectionist", whose penchant for retakes and an attempt to hone every last nuance, "became the stuff of legend.
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His ability to direct a string of classic literary adaptations into huge box-office and critical successes made him one of "Hollywood's most bankable moviemakers" during the 1930s and 1940s and into the '60s.
Through his talent for staging, editing, and camera movement, he turned dynamic theatrical spaces into cinematic ones.
He helped propel a number of actors to stardom, finding and directing Audrey Hepburn in her Hollywood debut film, "Roman Holiday" (1953), and directing Barbra Streisand in her debut film, "Funny Girl" (1968).
Both of these performances won Academy Awards.
He directed Olivia de Havilland to her second Oscar in "The Heiress" (1949) and Laurence Olivier in "Wuthering Heights" (1939), for his first Oscar nomination.
Olivier credited Wyler with teaching him how to act for the screen.
And Bette Davis, who received three Oscar nominations under his direction and won her second Oscar in "Jezebel" (1938), said Wyler made her a "far, far better actress" than she had ever been.
Other popular Wyler films include: "Hell's Heroes" (1929), "Dodsworth" (1936), "The Westerner" (1940), "The Letter" (1940), "Friendly Persuasion" (1956), "The Big Country" (1958), "The Children's Hour" (1961) and "How to Steal a Million" (1966).
Christopher Severn
Christopher Aubrey Reginald Severn( born Los Angeles, August 21, 1935) is an American former screen actor.
He was the son of Dr. Clifford Brill Severn( 1890- 1981).
His parents had emigrated from South Africa to Los Angeles shortly before he was born.
He had seven siblings who were all child actors: Venetia Severn, Clifford Severn, Yvonne Severn, Raymond Severn, Ernest Severn, William Severn and Winston Severn.
Christopher Severn made his first film appearance as Mrs. Miniver's younger son Toby in" Mrs. Miniver".
He and his brothers Ernest and Raymond all acted in the 1943 film" The Man from Down Under".
Mrs. Miniver
Mrs. Miniver is a 1942 American romantic war drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon.
Inspired by the 1940 novel" Mrs. Miniver" by Jan Struther, the film shows how the life of an unassuming British housewife in rural England is touched by World War II.
Produced and distributed by Metro- Goldwyn- Mayer, the film features a strong supporting cast that includes Teresa Wright, Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Henry Travers, Richard Ney, and Henry Wilcoxon.
" Mrs. Miniver" won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director( William Wyler), Best Actress( Greer Garson), and Best Supporting Actress( Teresa Wright).
It was the first film with a plot line centered on World War II to win an Oscar for Best Picture.
In 1950, a film sequel" The Miniver Story" was made with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon reprising their roles.
In 2006, the film was ranked number 40 on the American Film Institute's list celebrating the most inspirational films of all time.
In 2009, the film was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being" culturally, historically, or aesthetically" significant.
Charles K. Gifford
Charles K. Gifford is an American banker and businessman.
He is the chairman emeritus of Bank of America having served on its board of directors from 2004 to 2016.
Mrs. Miniver (1960 film)
Mrs Miniver is a 1960 TV adaptation of the novel" Mrs Miniver".
Franz Antel
Franz Antel( 28 June 1913 – 11 August 2007) was a veteran Austrian filmmaker.
Born in Vienna,
Antel worked mainly as a film producer in the interwar years.
After World War II, he began writing and directing films on a large scale.
In the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s these were mainly comedies( romantic, slapstick, and/ or musical) and" K.u.k. films" all of which, for Austrian and German TV stations alike, have been a staple of weekend afternoon programming ever since.
In between there is quite a sober film about the Oberst( Colonel) Redl affair that shook the Austro- Hungarian Monarchy on the eve of World War I.
Antel himself later commented on this period," I always wanted to provide good entertainment for the people at the cinema.
After the screening, people should say: Well now, I am in a good mood, I will go out and have a glass of wine."
( German original:" Ich wollte die Leute im Kino immer gut unterhalten.
Die Besucher sollten nach der Filmvorführung sagen:
So, jetzt bin ich gut aufgelegt, jetzt geh ich auf ein Viertel Wein.")
From the late 1960s, encouraged by the new opportunities in the film industry brought about by the sexual revolution, Antel gradually switched his main interest to soft porn and ribaldry.
It was in particular his series of" Frau Wirtinhostess") films, directed under the pseudonym François Legrand, with which he tried to win international recognition.
Titles included" The Sweet Sins of Sexy Susan"( 1967)," Sexy Susan Sins Again"( 1968)," Wild, Willing& Sexy"( 1969) and" Do n't Tell Daddy"( aka" Naughty Nymphs" in the U.S.A.)( 1972).
Antel would recount an anecdote about himself describing how, in order to live up to his reputation as a womanizer, he used to carry a pair of high heels in his luggage which he then would occasionally place in the corridor in front of his hotel room – especially when he was travelling alone.
Among the best known actors Antel had worked with from the 1940s to the 1970s were Hans Moser, Paul Hörbiger, Oskar Werner, Curd Jürgens, Tony Curtis, Herbert Fux, Heinrich Schweiger, Arthur Kennedy, Carroll Baker, Edwige Fenech, George Hilton, Marisa Berenson, Britt Ekland, Andréa Ferréol.
1981 was a turning point in Antel's career when he adapted for the big screen a stage play by Ulrich Becher and Peter Preses.
Set from the days of the Anschluss of 1938 until after the end of the war," Der Bockerer" is about a Viennese butcher named Karl Bockerer( Karl Merkatz) whose common sense rather than intellect tells him to oppose the Nazis and who dares to show resistance just because he is never fully aware of the possible fateful consequences of his actions.
While Bockerer and his wife survive the war unscathed, their son joins the SA but, after some internal intrigue, is sent to the front and killed.
The film was entered into the 12th Moscow International Film Festival.
The film's strong anti-fascist message, the moving dialogue, and performances by the" crème de la crème" of Austrian actors and actresses( Ida Krottendorf, Alfred Böhm, Heinz Marecek, Hans Holt, Dolores Schmidinger and many more) made" Der Bockerer" an unusually successful film and gave new impetus to Antel's career.
He made three sequels, which follow the lives of the Bockerers well into the 1960s, each depicting a crucial historical event in Austria or one of its neighbouring countries:
Matt Corboy
Matt Corboy( born June 4, 1973) is an American actor.
He has appeared in both films and television series.
Sexy Susan Sins Again
Sexy Susan Sins Again( German:" Frau Wirtin hat auch einen Grafen", Italian:" Susanna ... ed i suoi dolci vizi alla corte del re") is a 1968 Austrian- Italian costume drama- adventure- sex comedy film directed by Franz Antel.
It is the first film of the series" Frau Wirtin", following the 1967 film" The Sweet Sins of Sexy Susan".
William Henry (actor)
William Albert Henry( November 10, 1914 – August 10, 1982) was an American actor who worked in both films and television.
George Froeschel
George Froeschel( 9 March 1891 – 22 November 1979) was an Austrian- American novelist and screenwriter.
In 1943, he received two Academy Award nominations for co-writing screenplays for" Mrs. Miniver" and" Random Harvest", winning for the former of which.

Question: Do both films Mrs. Miniver and Sexy Susan Sins Again have the directors from the same country?
Answer: no