High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! William Wyler (July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Notable works included Ben-Hur (1959), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Mrs. Miniver (1942), all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, as well as Best Picture in their respective years. Wyler won 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."