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Arthur Hiller, (November 22, 1923 – August 17, 2016) was a Canadian film and television director. He directed over 33 feature films during a 50-year career. He began his career directing television in Canada and later in the U.S. By the late 1950s, he was directing films, most often comedies, but also dramas and romantic subjects, such as in Love Story (1970), which was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including for Best Director.
Hiller collaborated on films with screenwriters Paddy Chayefsky and Neil Simon. Among his other notable films were The Americanization of Emily (1964), Tobruk (1967), The Hospital (1971), The Out-of-Towners (1970), Plaza Suite (1971), The Man in the Glass Booth (1975), Silver Streak (1976), The In-Laws (1979), Making Love (1982), and Outrageous Fortune (1987).
Hiller served as the 19th President of the Directors Guild of America from 1989 to 1993 and President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1993 to 1997. He was the recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2002. An annual film festival in Hiller's honor was held from 2006 until 2009 at his alma mater, Victoria School of Performing and Visual Arts.
Early life
Hiller was born in November 1923 in Edmonton, Alberta, the son of Rose (née Garfin) and Harry Hiller. His family was Jewish, and had emigrated from Congress Poland (then part of the Russian Empire) in 1912. He had two sisters, one 13 years older and one 11 years older. His father operated a second-hand musical instruments store in Edmonton. Hiller recalled that when he occasionally traveled home while he was in college, the black people he met with "treated me like a king. Why? Because they loved my father. They told me that unlike other shopkeepers, he treated them like normal folks when they went to his store. He didn't look down on them".
Although his parents were not professionals in theater or had much money, notes Hiller, they enjoyed putting on a Jewish play once or twice a year for the Jewish community of 450 people, mainly to keep in touch with their heritage. Hiller recalls they started up the Yiddish theatre when he was seven or eight years old; he helped set carpenters build and decorate the sets. When he was eleven, he got a role acting as an old man, wearing a long beard and the payot. He says that "the love of theater and music and literature my parents instilled in me" contributed to his later choosing to direct TV and films.
Military service
After he graduated from high school, he briefly attended the University of Alberta, before joining the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 during World War II. He served with 427 Lion Squadron as a navigator on four-engine Handley Page Halifax heavy bombers flying from Yorkshire on operations over Nazi-controlled territory in Europe.
After he returned from serving in the military, Hiller enrolled in and later graduated from University College, Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts in 1947. After Israel was declared a state in 1948, he and his wife unsuccessfully tried to join the Israeli army because the country came under attack.
Hiller returned to college and earned a Master of Arts in psychology in 1950. One of his early jobs, after graduating, was with Canadian radio directing various public affairs programs.
Hiller began his career as a television director with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. NBC, one of the main networks in the United States, seeing his work in Canada, offered him positions directing television dramas. Over the next few years, his work for the small screen included episodes of Thriller, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Rifleman, Gunsmoke, Naked City, Perry Mason, and Playhouse 90.
1950s–1960s
Hiller directed his first film, The Careless Years (1957), the story of a young couple eloping developed by Bryna Productions. This was followed by This Rugged Land (1962), originally made for television but then released as a film, and then Miracle of the White Stallions (1963), a Walt Disney Productions film. With these first films, Hiller already showed competence in directing unrelated subjects successfully.
In 1964 Hiller also directed the first episode of the television series The Addams Family. This was followed by the comedy Promise Her Anything (1965), with Warren Beatty and Leslie Caron and Penelope (1966), starring Natalie Wood. In a move away from comedy, he directed the desert warfare drama, Tobruk (1967), starring Rock Hudson and George Peppard, about a North African Campaign during World War II. The film was nominated for one Academy Award and showed Hiller capable of handling action films as well as comedy.
1970s
Hiller directed Love Story (1970), his best known work and most successful at the box-office.
The following year Hiller again collaborated with screenwriter Paddy Chayevsky in directing The Hospital (1971), a satire starring George C. Scott which has been described as being his best film. The first film was The Out-of-Towners (1970), starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis, who were both nominated for Golden Globe awards for their roles. Their next collaboration was Plaza Suite (1971), starring Walter Matthau, which was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture. Both films were driven by intense comedy dialogue and were considered "crisply directed" by reviewers.
Returning to comedy, Hiller directed Silver Streak (1976), starring Gene Wilder, Jill Clayburgh and
Richard Pryor. The film was well received by critics and is rated No. 95 on the AFI's best comedy films. He directed another comedy, The In-Laws (1979), with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin, which was also a critical and commercial success.
1980s
Hiller directed the film Making Love, which was released in February 1982, a story of a married man coming to terms with his homosexuality. Author! Author! (also 1982), starred Al Pacino. The following year Hiller directed Romantic Comedy (1983), starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen. His next comedy, The Lonely Guy (1984), starred Steve Martin as a greeting card writer and was followed by Teachers (1984), a comedy-drama film starring Nick Nolte.
Outrageous Fortune (1987) stars Shelley Long and Bette Midler. The film was successful at the box office, with Midler being nominated or winning various awards. The film was followed by See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989), another comedy again starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. Pryor plays a blind man and Wilder a deaf man who work together to thwart a trio of murderous thieves.
Directorial influences
In an interview with journalist Robert K. Elder for The Film That Changed My Life,
Hiller preferred his scripts to contain "good moral values," a preference which he says came from his upbringing. He wanted high quality screenplays whenever possible, which partly explains why he collaborated on multiple films with both Paddy Chayefsky and Neil Simon. Hiller explains his rationale:
Honours
thumb|left|Hiller in the 1970s
Hiller served as president of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) from 1989 to 1993 DGA presented Hiller with the Robert B. Aldrich Award in 1999 and the DGA Honorary Life Member Award in 1993. In 1970 he received a DGA Award nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for Love Story. He also served on the board of the National Student Film Institute.
He received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2002 Academy Awards ceremony in recognition of his humanitarian, charitable and philanthropic efforts. In 2002, he was honoured with a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto. In 2006, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Writer and producer William Froug said that "Hiller is that rare and hugely successful gentleman who has remained humble all his life." He received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D) from the University of Toronto in November 1995.
Personal life
In 1948, he married Gwen Pechet, who was also Jewish; they had two children and two grandchildren. His wife died on June 24, 2016. They were married for 68 years.
Portrayal in media
Hiller was portrayed by actor Jake Regal in the 2022 miniseries The Offer.
Filmography
Feature films
- The Careless Years (1957)
- Miracle of the White Stallions (1963)
- The Wheeler Dealers (1963)
- The Americanization of Emily (1964)
- Promise Her Anything (1965)
- Penelope (1966)
- Tobruk (1967)
- The Tiger Makes Out (1967)
- Popi (1969)
- The Out-of-Towners (1970)
- Love Story (1970)
- The Hospital (1971)
- Plaza Suite (1971)
- Man of La Mancha (1972)
- The Crazy World of Julius Vrooder (1974)
- The Man in the Glass Booth (1975)
- Silver Streak (1976)
- W. C. Fields and Me (1976)
- Nightwing (1979)
- The In-Laws (1979)
- Making Love (1982)
- Author! Author! (1982)
- Romantic Comedy (1983)
- The Lonely Guy (1984)
- Teachers (1984)
- Outrageous Fortune (1987)
- See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989)
- Taking Care of Business (1990)
- Married to It (1991)
- The Babe (1992)
- Carpool (1996)
- An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997)
- National Lampoon's Pucked (2006)
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Institution
! Year
! Category
! Nominated work
!Result
|-
| rowspan="2" | Academy Awards
| 1971
| Best Director
|Love Story
|
|-
|2002
|Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
|
|
|-
|Avoriaz International Fantastic Film Festival
|1980
|Grand Prize
|Nightwing
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |Berlin International Film Festival
| rowspan="3" |1972
|Golden Bear
| rowspan="3" |The Hospital
|
|-
|Silver Bear Jury Prize
|
|-
|OCIC Award
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |Directors Guild of America Awards
|1971
|Outstanding Directing – Feature Film
|Love Story
|
|-
|1993
|Honorary Life Member Award
|
|
|-
|1999
|Robert B. Aldrich Award
|
|
|-
|Directors Guild of Canada Awards
|2004
|Lifetime Achievement Award
|
|
|-
|Golden Globe Awards
|1971
|Best Director
|Love Story
|
|-
|Golden Raspberry Awards
|1999
|Worst Director
|An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn
|
|-
|Palm Springs International Film Festival
|2002
|Director's Achievement Award
|
|
|-
|Primetime Emmy Awards
|1962
|Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
|Naked City
|
|}