Robert Wyler  

Biography

Robert Wyler (September 25, 1900 – January 17, 1971) was a Swiss-American film producer and associate producer. He was the older brother of film director William Wyler and a nephew of Universal Studios head, Carl Laemmle. Wyler was born in Mülhausen, Alsace, Germany (now Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin, France). His first credit was as a producer in 1928, and he made several unsuccessful attempts at directing in the early 1930s. Wyler found success in the late 1940s and 1950s. He was associate producer of his brother's adaptation of The Heiress (1949), which was nominated for Best Film at the Academy Awards and won its star, Olivia de Havilland, her second Oscar. Wyler himself was nominated for Best Screenplay for Detective Story (1951), another film directed by his brother and a controversial hit in its day. He was involved as an associate producer on most of his brother's films through the 1950s, such as Roman Holiday (1953) and Friendly Persuasion (1956). Then 47-year-old Wyler married 24-year-old actress Cathy O'Donnell on April 11, 1948. They had met two years earlier, while she was being directed by his brother in The Best Years of Our Lives. She died in 1970, on their 22nd wedding anniversary, following a long illness. Robert Wyler died nine months later, on January 17, 1971.