Influential director was 95

Billy Wilder, the prolific director whose work included Some Like It Hot and Sunset Boulevard, has died of pneumonia in his Beverly Hills home, aged 95.

He fled Nazi-occupied Austria in 1933 to become one of Hollywood's most influential film-makers, with a 60-year career that would net him six Oscars.

Wilder made more than 50 movies, including The Apartment with Jack Lemmon, Seven Year Itch with Marilyn Monroe, and Sabrina with Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn.

His long-time friend, producer George Schlatter, said: "We've lost a biggie," and publicist Dan Olson said: "He's the idol of almost every other director who's come along."

Image from the cover of Conversations With Billy Wilder, by Cameron Crowe

Published: 29 Mar 2002