A Talent For Trouble: The Life Of Hollywood's Most Acclaimed Director, William Wyler

by Jan Herman

The films of William Wyler (1902–1981) include some of the most memorable and honored motion pictures of all time; Jezebel, The Letter, The Little Foxes, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Heiress, Detective Story, Roman Holiday, Ben-Hur, Funny Girl, and more than two dozen others. His great ability to conceal his directorial presence in order to better serve his material, coupled with the variety of genres in which he excelled, have earned his films 127 Academy Award nominations, winning Wyler three best-director Oscars. Based on his previously undiscovered papers, and hundreds of interviews, this perceptive, spellbinding biography reveals both the director and the private man in startling close-ups as he lived his turbulent life at a bit more than twenty-four frames per second.

Genres: Film, Media Tie In, Nonfiction

544 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 1996

Reviews

[Nancy Loe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delight from start to finish. Wyler's probably my favorite director, if I had to choose only one. Herman did great research, distills it in to good writing, and didn't fall into the trap of describing plots of his movies, rather than putting the movies into the context of Wyler's life. Excellent.

[John Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A terrific biography of the man behind such great films as "Dodsworth," "Mrs. Miniver," "The Best Years of Our Lives," "Friendly Persuasion" and "Ben-Hur." In this meticulously researched book, Herman provides insights into the stories behind all these movies, as well as a look at the times, from the advent of the Production Code in the 1920s, to race relations in the 1960s. Wellman covered all genres, and he did it well.

[Amy Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I see one of the reviewers has confused Wyler with William Wellman, another Golden Age director. Wyler was one of the Hollywood greats: Wuthering Heights (39), Jezebel, Best Years Of Our Lives, Jezebel, Funny Girl. He carried on a torrid affair with Bette Davis & fought with Streisand in the days where she would listen to no one.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't usually read about directors but Wyler is one of the greats and with such films as Roman Holiday, Ben Hur, Friendly Persuasion, Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives and Jezebel, he is one interesting guy. The chapter on the chariot race in Ben Hur alone merits reading this book.

[Neil Alcock · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute page-turner about one of the all-time greats. Anyone interested in Golden Age Hollywood will get a kick out of this never-less-than-fascinating biography. Herman is a zippy writer, and Wyler comes across as genuine, principled and affable -for the most part. My only concern is that whenever Herman allows Wyler's dark side to appear, usually with regard to female actors who aren't cutting the mustard for him, the author feels duty bound to come to Wyler's defence and dismiss the claims. I don't believe Wyler was a 100% great guy, but I also think he was probably a saint compared to Hitchcock, Kubrick, or any of the studio heads that ruled mid-20th century Hollywood. What is for sure is that Wyler made a shitload of completely brilliant movies, and this book carries you through their making in glorious detail. If the hallmark of a great movie biography is that it makes you want to immediately watch, or rewatch, all the films it covers, then this is a great movie biography. Highly recommended.

[Cyndy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great biography about director William Wyler who was just a name that scrolled across the screen of some of my favorite movies before I read this book. A great man, I learned a lot about him and his directing of movies and the stars and other movie people he worked with.
This was very well written, it had a good blend of the personal and professional aspects of Mr Wyler’s life.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, 2nd time reading, this book was perfection. Well-researched and well-written.

William Wyler directed such films as Best Years of Our Lives, Roman Holiday, Jezebel, Counselor at Law, Wuthering Heights, Funny Girl, Dodsworth, The Letter, The Little Foxes, The Westerner, and The Big Country.

This book is rather long, but enjoyable. The length was necessary, as he had a long & varied career. Just enough background detail to enable me to understand who he was, his family, where he came from and why he was such a talented director who couldn't exactly articulate what he wanted, but knew it when he saw it. And when he made a sub-standard picture, Jan Herman wasted little space discussing it.

The AA have often been likened to, with good reason, a popularity contest. But it's what we've got, and more often than not, they are awarded to quality films & performances. "Between 1926 and 1970, Wyler directed 44 narrative feature films, 22 of which earned a collective total of 127 Oscar nominations and 39 wins." (GoldDerby.com) Those 39 wins on his pictures were far and away more than by any other director at the time this book was published in 1996 - I'm not sure if that has changed in 30 years.