Movies: Wyler's Wiles

Movies are pre-eminently a director's medium, and of the Hollywood directors most actors would don a hair shirt to work for, William Wyler is near the top of the list. His own record as a director is unsurpassed: three Oscars (Mrs'. Miniver, Best Years of Our Lives, Ben-Hur) plus eight Oscar nominations. But what impresses actors is not so much that his expertise ranges from costume epics to light comedy; it is that under his guidance no fewer than a dozen stars have won Oscars for themselves.* Not that working under Willie Wyler...