The Older Wilder

He was Billy Wilder's brother, older by one year. His name was Willie Wilder and he made a good living selling women's handbags in New York. An apt example of the American dream (hardworking immigrant version), and wanting to share his new world success, in 1935 he asked his younger brother Billy to come to America. With his movie career at a standstill and the Nazis in power, Billy jumped at the opportunity. Just as plucky and interprising as his brother Willie was in accumulating his fortune, Billy went west to California, roomed with Peter Lorre, learned English from listening to baseball games on the radio, teamed with Charles Brackett, and started writing and then directing some great movies. Soon, Billy's success and wealth surpassed his older brother's. Apparently, this didn't sit well with Willie.

Evidently thinking that if his brother could, he could too, Willie sold his business and moved his family to Hollywood in 1945. He had enough connections (and, no doubt, enough liquid cash) to start producing and directing films. These films were produced in the depths of Poverty Row, with emaciated budgets, skeletal sets, and schedules that hardly lasted a week. When he first started directing, he used the name William Wilder in the credits. He then changed it to W. Lee Wilder, in order not to confuse his film credits with his much more famous (and Oscar winning) brother. He needn't have bothered. The older Wilder's most famous film is probably Killers From Space, which is probably best known for the ludicrous appearance of its aliens. Other highlights from his filmography include Phantom From Space, The Snow Creature, and The Man Without a Body.

Despite living in the same town, and sharing the same profession, the two brothers rarely spoke. Billy saw one of his brother's films, didn't like it, and never saw another one. Billy rarely discussed his brother, but when he did, he was usually dismissive. "He was a fool," he once said. "He lived in America many years before I even came here. I came here, really kind of pushed by Hitler. He was in the leather-goods business—he manufactured handbags. And then one day he said, ‘Well, if my brother can do it, I can do it too.’ He sold his business, he bought a house here, and started making pictures, one worse than the other, and then he died." Billy also referred to his brother as a "dull son of a bitch".

Sibling rivalry? It's quite apparent some odd fraternal dynamic existed between the two Wilders. One can see resentment, embarassment, envy, snobbery and arrogance. There's no doubt more to the story, but the secrets probably died with the principals. For a lot more info, here's an interesting piece by Allen Frost on the films of W. Lee Wilder, and considers what moviemaking lessons he may have learned from his more illustrious brother. Very little, it appears, but was it because the older Wilder was too arrogant to listen, or was Billy too disdainful to even offer advice?