INTERVIEWS WITH ACTORS AND FILMMAKERSINTERVIEWS WITH ACTORS AND FILMMAKERS
“Welcome to Disneyland!” Those were the first words Canadian-born film director Arthur Hiller said to me with his arms wide open as I entered his office in April 1999. It couldn’t be more accurate because Disneyland it was; looking out the window, you had this spectacular view over the Hollywood Hills, and the Hollywood Sign…
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FILM TALK
“Welcome to Disneyland!” Those were the first words Canadian-born film director Arthur Hiller said to me with his arms wide open as I entered his office in April 1999. It couldn’t be more accurate because Disneyland it was; looking out the window, you had this spectacular view over the Hollywood Hills, and the Hollywood Sign in the far distance. I had arrived in Los Angeles the day before for a two-week visit to interview actors and filmmakers. He made me feel at home right away.

Mr. Hiller entered films in the 1950s, pretty much like Robert Mulligan, Arthur Penn, Sidney Lumet, John Frankenheimer, Franklin J. Schaffner, Sydney Pollack, and John Schlesinger—all great and influential filmmakers for many years to come, all filmmakers with a solid body of work. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, on November 23, 1923, as the son of Jewish Polish immigrants, Mr. Hiller worked extensively for television from 1954 until 1965, and made his feature film debut with the drama “The Careless Years” (1957), only two years after he arrived in Hollywood. It was the first of more than thirty mainstream movies; two of them, “The Americanization of Emily” (1964) and “The Hospital” (1971), were satires written by Paddy Chayefsky. Mr. Hiller also directed “The Out-of-Towners” (1970) and “Plaza Suite” (1971), two comedies based on Neil Simon screenplays..

The romantic tragedy “Love Story” (1970) was his landmark film and biggest hit; the tagline of the film, ‘Love means never having to say you’re sorry,’ became a much-repeated catchphrase. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, including for Mr. Hiller as Best Director, but won only one, in the category ‘Best Music, Original Score,’ written by Francis Lai.

He also had a hit film with the comedy “Silver Streak” (1976) starring Gene Wilder, Jill Clayburgh and Richard Pryor. Comedy had become his niche, as he was known to move easily to lighter fare with films such as “The Wheeler Dealers” (1963) starring James Garner and Lee Remick, “Promise Her Anything” (1966) with Warren Beatty and Leslie Caron, “Penelope” (1966) starring Natalie Wood, “The In-Laws” (1979), with Alan Arkin and Peter Falk, “Author! Author!” (1982) starring Al Pacino, “The Lonely Guy” (1984) with Steve Martin playing the title character, and “Outrageous Fortune” (1987) with Shelley Long and Bette Midler.

Yet he was equally at ease when doing a war movie such as “Tobruk” (1967) with Rock Hudson, the musical “Man of La Mancha” (1972), starring Peter O’Toole and Sophia Loren, a biographical film “W.C. Fields and Me” (1976), with Rod Steiger as Fields, the horror movie “Nightwing” (1979), or dramas like “Miracle of the White Stallions” (1963) with Robert Taylor, and “The Man in the Glass Booth” (1975). A lot of names; it looks like he worked with the entire Who’s Who in Hollywood.

He directed five actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Ryan O’Neal, Ali MacGraw, and John Marley in “Love Story” (1970), George C. Scott in “The Hospital” (1971), and Maximilian Schell in, again, “The Man in the Glass Booth” (based on a play co-written by actor Robert Shaw).

He also had a few misses at the U.S. box office; one of them was “An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn” (1997), a satire written by Joe Eszterhas, starring Ryan O’Neal, with several cameos by celebrities such as Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert Evans, and Norman Jewison. Alan Smithee was the official Directors Guild of America-sanctioned pseudonym given when directors, dissatisfied with a film’s final cut, requested their names removed from the credits.

In between, he played small parts and appeared as a bar patron in “Beverly Hills Cop III” (1994), a scientist in “Roswell” (1994, TV movie), a clergyman in “Merchants of Venus” (1998), a judge in “Land of the Free” (1998), an evangelist in “Lost in the Pershing Point Hotel” (2000), and a red carpet star in “The A-List” (2006).

In 1948, he married Gwen Pechet, also born in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1923. They married in 1948; he first proposed when they were eight-year-old schoolchildren. She passed away on June 24, 2016, after a marriage that lasted 68 years. About two months later, Mr. Hiller died in Beverly Hills from natural causes at age 92.

During this interview from 1999, Mr. Hiller talks about his childhood, his craft as a filmmaker, his friendship with three-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, his highlights and the one thing he regrets, and how he created the chemistry for “Love Story.”

Mr. Hiller, when you were young, was it your ambition to become a filmmaker?

No, but I always loved the theater. In fact, next Friday, I will be a speaker in West Palm Beach for a convention with university instructors and professors in film. Tuesday morning, my wife and I will get on a flight here at 08:00 AM to New York, so we’re able to go to the theater that night, also on Wednesday matinee, Wednesday night, Thursday night, and on Friday we fly to West Palm Beach. So that love has never changed. Now, what was I trying to say… Oh, yes. My parents grew up in Western Canada, and they always loved culture. They had started a Yiddish theater in Edmonton, Alberta. Not professionally, but once or twice a year, they’d do a play for the community, just to keep the culture alive. And so, when I was seven or eight years old, I was helping to build and paint the sets; by the time I was eleven, I was acting. In high school, I had a wonderful drama teacher who also introduced me further to the theater. And fortunately, my parents and the teacher emphasized more on values, also within the theater, by selecting plays that had something to say. They reminded you that you were a human being. When I finished high school—through a series of circumstances—a drama professor from Ohio State University was teaching teachers in Alberta how to teach drama. They had to build the sets, create the costumes, find the props, and he was short two more actors. So he called the high school drama teacher and asked him, ‘Who are the best kid actors?’ And that’s how I ended up playing Donald, the black servant, in “You Can’t Take It With You.” Then I was offered a drama scholarship at Ohio State, but I turned it down. I thought, ‘That’s something you do on the weekends. That’s not what you do for a living.’ But then World War II broke out; I was a navigator at the Canadian Air Force. I flew out of Yorkshire, England.

How long were you in Europe during the War?

I was over there for a year and a half. After the War, I came back and went to the University of Toronto; I was busy in theater and variety shows, that sort of thing. Then I studied a year of law, but that wasn’t for me, and I had a master’s degree in psychology. The communications part and social relations in psychology interested me a lot, so I thought, ‘Why am I not doing what I want to do?’ I decided to walk into the headquarters of the Canadian Broadcast Corporation; when they asked me what I wanted to do, I said, ‘I want to be a director.’ It just came out like that, I didn’t think about it; three weeks later, I was working in radio, directing talk shows. Because of my love of theater, they let me do radio drama documentaries about social problems or civic issues. Then I moved over into a general direction and directed drama. The wonderful thing about radio was that you could do seventeen shows a week. Then along came live television, and I had to make a choice. ‘Do I want to stay with drama?’ NBC invited me down to Hollywood to do live television. Everybody told me, ‘Hollywood?! Oh, you gotta go to Hollywood!’ But first, I was afraid, what did I know about Hollywood, except what I had read in the gossip magazines. So my wife and I said, ‘What’s the worst that can happen? Six months of California, and then we go back home.’ But then, you make new friends and have your own life; it’s not at all what you read in the gossip columns. The casting person on the show I worked on—we were doing an hour drama every day, so there were like ten to twelve directors—talked to me about film “Playhouse 90s” [1956-1958; 6 episodes]. I said, ‘I’m sorry, I have never seen a film camera.’ They took me over, the next week I shot a half-hour, and another one, until one day somebody called and said, ‘Do you want to make a movie?’

So you learned your craft in theater, radio and television?

Yes. Very much so. I made several comedies, but it’s the same with every film, in the sense that in each one, you need collaboration. You need a wonderful script, a story with emotions in it, visuals to reach your audience, and the right actor to play the right part. Basically, theater, radio and television are all the same; you’re telling a story. And even though they’re different mediums, in each one, you need that collaboration. What I love about movies is that it’s a group activity; all those creative juices are coming together. My job is to create a climate where they can all do their best work.

You acted when you were a child, but you never considered working as an actor later on?

No. I always loved acting, but when I would be on stage or was playing a scene, my mind always said, ‘Who am I to stand here in front of all these people?’ I could never ease myself in a performance. When we’re rehearsing for a film, and we don’t have the full cast, I read the other part, and sometimes they call me to play a scene in other director’s films, just for fun, as a scientist or something—it’s my hair, they’re all looking for my long hair [laughs]—but that’s where it ends.

Your comedies have a serious undertone. Is that important to you?

That’s reality. I prefer that they all have something to say, like “The Americanization of Emily” [1964]. That’s one of my first films, but it’s still my favorite one. I think it’s Julie Andrews’ favorite film too. I always thought the film told a wonderful message in a very entertaining way. It was a black comedy, but it was anti-glorification of war. Yes, there are times when you have to go to war to defend yourself, but don’t make it seem wonderful and heroic that kids want a war so they can be heroes. That’s so wrong! “The Hospital” [1971] was also a black comedy, both, by the way, written by Paddy Chayefsky, the most amazing genius I ever worked with—if you look at what he could do with his words… It said basically, ‘It isn’t enough to see a problem. You also have to do something about it.’ You won’t be able to do that with every film you make, but that’s what I always hoped to do.

Is “The Americanization of Emily” so important to you, maybe because of your personal experience during World War II?

I’m sure that influenced me to some extent. You’re influenced by everything that happens in your life, but I’m not good at coming up with an idea or a great concept on my own. A writer or a studio always calls me to ask, ‘Would you like to do this?’

And is that difficult? To know if a script will work or not?

Yes. Making that choice is the most challenging decision. There are a few screenplays you can read, and you know right away, ‘I want to do this one,’ or ‘This is not for me.’ The hardest part is those in the middle when you’re not quite sure. ‘Should I? Shouldn’t I?’ It reminds me of [executive] David V. Picker when he was head of United Artists; when he talked about the films that United Artists made, he had a phrase that said, ‘If I had not made the ones I made, and had made the ones that I considered and turned down, I’d be in the same position.’ You can say yes, and you can say no, and then you can be sorry afterwards. I turned down films that became Academy Award movies. Take a film like “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” [1975]. Why did they go with Miloš Forman, this new kid from Czechoslovakia? So many directors had turned it down, and they ended up with the perfect director. Miloš was wonderful, but so many didn’t see how wonderful a film it could be.

When you accept a job offer, what’s the whole process you’re going through?

I read the script, and I read the script, and I read the script, and as I keep reading it, it starts forming; you feel the visuals and the characters. I’m very prepared; I like to be able to answer any question that anybody—cast or crew—asks me a couple of weeks before we start shooting the film. That’s because of my own insecurity. Other directors just let loose on the set, but I find the more organized I am, the more flexible I am. If I know that I have something to fall back on, I’m open to suggestions and changes; I don’t have to panic about it. That makes me feel much easier. Of course, each person is different; some people are very prepared, others are prepared to a point. I like to have discussions with the writer, or, like with Paddy Chayefsky and “Emily”—no work at all. What you see on the screen was his first draft of the screenplay. Almost to the day he died, he and I would sit in the Carnegie Deli in New York every once in a while, and we would still be rewriting the ending because we thought we should have been better [laughs]. ‘What if this character had done this or that?’ That’s creativity, I guess [laughs]. If you look back at it, you laugh at it, but you feel it. I also talk to my cinematographer, like what he is looking for. I’m very open to thoughts from other people. Out of all the suggestions I’ll get from everybody, how many are going to amount to something? But a director needs to listen, and sometimes you just know, ‘Oh, that’s so much better than I was thinking.’ It’s always very rewarding to be listening and talking.

“The Americanization of Emily” (1964, trailer)

So you’re not the boss per se?

As I told you, I like to direct because it’s a group activity. But considering the way films are made, the director has to be the boss. He’s the only one in touch with all those other people. That doesn’t mean the director is smarter than the writer, or that he is smarter than the producer. Not at all. But you can only have one vision. If you’re going to put fifteen visions on the screen, you’re gonna have a wobbly movie out there. You need a clear vision of where you’re going and bring everybody together on that vision. So, again, the way films are made, the director has to be the boss—on those terms, yes.

And at the same time, you have to be very flexible?

Well, you don’t have to be, but you should be [laughs].

Robert Wise once told me that on one of his movies [“Two for the Seasaw,” 1962], he had problems with ‘this bottle man,’ referring to Robert Mitchum. Did you ever have problems with any of your actors?

Oh yeah. Not serious, but yeah. But that’s part of directing; the hardest part is that human relation. You have to feel how to handle, or how to work with and how to get the best out of each person, each actor, and everybody else you’re working with. And don’t forget, the actors are insecure too. Creative people can’t help but being insecure. When you build a table, there’s a table. And when you build a building, there are certain ways to do it, right and wrong. But in creativity, what’s right and what’s wrong? Is Picasso right and another painter wrong? How do you know which is which? So there’s this insecurity, and the director is like daddy. He has to give his actors the confidence they need. He has to pat them on the back or slap them on the wrist too. Depending on each person, a director has to work in different ways to get what he wants and what he feels they can bring to that film.

Over the years, you have worked with so many talented actors. What does it take to be a good actor? Présence?

That’s what it takes to be a star. A lot of actors are not necessarily stars, but they capture the character, and they make you feel who they are and what they’re doing on stage or on screen. An actor can come into a room and make you feel not only that he’s looking out a window—even if there’s no window at all—but he can also make you feel what he’s seeing. He can transmit that to you, and that’s an inner talent. If you work with Natalie Wood, Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, or John Goodman, all you need to do is throw a thought at them, and they will give you the whole thing. That’s the joy of working with such talented people. You can teach any reasonably intelligent person to paint, but you can’t teach them to be Picasso. Just like I am not a writer. People often say to me, ‘You’ve directed a lot of films. You can also write a script.’ Then I’d say, ‘Yes. I’m not stupid. I could write a script. There’s a beginning, a middle, and an end, but you wouldn’t want to see the movie.’ Because that’s where the writer comes in, the writer creates something, then hopefully the director brings something to it that the writer can’t, and then the actors bring something that the writer and the director can’t. We all contribute something a little different.

“Penelope” (1966, trailer)

Some directors like to work with certain actors more than once. I have the impression you like to work with different actors all the time. Is that by choice?

No. It depends on the project. I would like to have worked with Natalie Wood, Jack Lemmon, or George C. Scott a hundred times. There are hardly any actors that I worked with and that I wouldn’t want to work with again. It is amazing how they can inspire you. When you’re auditioning people in the casting process, and you’re turned on by their work but yet, you feel they’re not quite right for that particular part, I’m sure they think, ‘Why doesn’t he cast me?’ It all depends on who’s right for the part. And that will eventually bring you to the most rewarding thing: doing it, making the film.

Do you need to decompress in any way after you have finished a film?

What I usually do, I try to go away for a week or ten days to relax my mind. And when I come back, I always think, ‘I don’t have a job now. Am I ever gonna work again?’ Your insecurities come along, but then you start focusing on the editing, and you’re back where you want to be.

If you look at the films you made, that’s a very impressive list. What films, other than “The Americanization of Emily,” would you consider the highlights of your career so far?

“Love Story” [1970], “Silver Streak” [1976], also “Man in the Glass Booth” [1975]; that film was made for less than $1 million, so obviously I didn’t get much salary. Maximilian Schell didn’t get much salary. When we were on a publicity tour, I got the question, ‘Why did you work with so little money?’ And I said, ‘Because nobody else would let me make this movie.’ We made it because we wanted to make it, and we all knew it wouldn’t make any money. It was a part of a series of films, American Film Theatre; none of those movies made any money.

Speaking of money, do you think the film industry can keep paying those high salaries when they cast A-list stars for their films?

I don’t know. My mind never gets organized financially, although I am always very aware of my budget. Very aware. “Love Story” was a small film; I had to swear to bring it in for under $2 million, or they wouldn’t make it because Paramount was going under at the time, but [executive] Robert Evans really fought for it. And in the end, I brought it in for $25,000 under budget. But to get back to your question, I honestly don’t know; you’d think it has to stop somewhere.

You just mentioned “Love Story”; is it true that, at first, everybody had turned it down?

It was a screenplay [written by Erich Segal] before it was a book, so it was not an adaptation of a book. He wrote the book from the screenplay. After Erich had finished the script and submitted it to the studios, they all said, ‘No.’ Nobody was interested until Howard G. Minsky, who worked at the William Morris Agency, stepped in; he saw that it had a lot of potentials. I can tell you that, if it hadn’t been for him, the film would never have been made. He got the project to Ali MacGraw, and once she was interested, Paramount agreed to do it. I did the film for a quarter of my salary because we all thought we were making a nice little movie—except for Howard G. Minsky, who was the producer. ‘Arthur, believe me. This will be big,’ he said. I told him, ‘Howard, I understand. You have to say that, but I’m the director. I have to be objective.’ He thought in terms of the biggest blockbuster of its time, or people lined up four blocks. But we had no idea that it would become such a success and that people lined up to see it.

“Love Story” (1970, trailer)

What was your secret then, if there was any? Did you do anything in particular to make sure the chemistry between the two leading characters was there?

Well, there was no secret, I can tell you that. There’s no formula to know whether a film will work or not. But what I did was this: the three of us rehearsed for about twelve days. Nobody else was there, only Ali MacGraw, Ryan O’Neal, and me—always from ten till four. After four o’clock, others could come in for hair, makeup, costumes, or whatever. I wanted Ali and Ryan to concentrate on the characters, work on the characters, get them to know each other and like each other. The film could never work if you didn’t have the feeling of their love for each other. It was necessary to create that atmosphere, and it worked out really well. Ali was not an experienced actress [“Love Story” was her third film and second leading role], but it was my job to give her enough confidence, so she didn’t need quite as much help. And her performance was great.

Looking back, do you have any regrets career-wise?

Yes. I was set to direct “The Verdict” [1982, with Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, and James Mason]. That film felt perfect for me. When we were preparing it and working on the script, Fox sent me another script, “Making Love” [1982]. They told me—or talked me into it—that if I did “Making Love” first, then I would be able to do “The Verdict.” But that didn’t happen, and I remember that I thought, ‘Why did I leave a perfect script like “The Verdict”?’

You began making films forty years ago, which makes you a screen veteran now. Is it tough to compete with young filmmakers when you want to get a new project financed?

The people who finance films today are probably looking for young ideas coming from young people. I remember when I was a young man, I was also talking about the ‘old guys,’ so I think that’s a normal change. And there are many young people in the directing field who are very talented. But keep in mind that Billy Wilder was 75 when he made his final film [“Buddy Buddy,” 1981], and Frank Capra was only 64 when he made his last film [“Pocketful of Miracles,” 1961]. And then he couldn’t make another film anymore. Can you imagine that a wonderful film director like Frank Capra was considered too old to make another film?! So I’m 76 now, and I’m still working; I consider myself very fortunate.

You served as President of the Directors Guild of America [1989-1993] and the Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Science [1993-1997]. What are your responsibilities when you are in charge of those organizations?

You have a lot of responsibilities. More so at the Directors Guild, because you’re dealing with people’s livelihood, their job, pension plan… You’re dealing with that sort of thing, and that’s very hard. While the Academy is like a club; it’s a lot of work, but it’s not people’s lives you’re dealing with. We’re rewarding excellence, and we’re nurturing excellence. People often think that the Academy is only there for the Academy Awards, but they don’t realize what the Academy does. It’s also the center of motion pictures. The Academy has the best research center in the world for motion pictures, with a library, papers and archives from many directors and actors. They have vaults for films and they restore films. They have scholarships, workshops, tributes…

And the President supervizes all those activities?

Oh yeah, but you have a wonderful, unbelievable and knowledgeable staff. And you have to make so-called presidential decisions, but the Board is there to work with you. None of those people are getting paid, but they believe in what they do. People sometimes ask me, ‘You don’t get paid?’ No, nobody gets paid. We’re doing it because we care.

You were nominated for an Academy Award for directing “Love Story.” How important was that to you?

Your colleagues nominate you, so that makes it very important because you’re nominated only by the people from your branch. It’s very gratifying to be nominated. It’s really a funny story, you know. When I was nominated for an Emmy [1962], Franklin J. Schaffner won. And then when I got nominated for an Oscar, Franklin J. Schaffner won again [laughs]. During the Oscars, I was in New York, filming “The Hospital” with George C. Scott. The Oscars were on a Monday, so I got on a flight at the end of the day, and my son met me at LAX with my tuxedo. I dressed in the TWA dressing room and went straight to the Oscars. I didn’t win, so I flew right back to continue filming the next morning. George didn’t bother to come over; he stayed in New York, but he won for “Patton” [laughs].

Hollywood, California

April 8, 1999

Mr. Hiller didn’t win the Best Director Oscar for “Love Story,” but on March 24, 2002, he was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 74th Academy Awards ceremony

FILMS

THE CARELESS YEARS (1957) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Edward Lewis SCR Edward Lewis [John Howard Lawson, Mitch Lindemann] CAM Sam Leavitt ED Leon Barsha MUS Leith Stevens CAST Dean Stockwell, Natalie Trundy, John Larch, Barbara Billingsley, John Stephenson, Maureen Cassidy, Mason Alan Dinehart, Virginia Christine

MIRACLE OF THE WHITE STALLION (1963) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Walt Disney SCR A.J. Catothers (book “The White Stallons of Vienna” [1963] by Alois Podhaisky) CAM Günther Anders ED Cotton Warburton, Alfred Srp MUS Paul J. Smith CAST Robert Taylor, Lilli Palmer, Curt Jurgens, Eddie Albert, James Franciscus, John Larch, Philip Abbott, Charles Regnier, Edward Albert

THE WHEELER DEALERS (1963) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Martin Ransohoff SCR George J.W. Goodman, Ira Wallach (novel “The Wheeler Dealers” [1963] by George J.W. Goodman) CAM Charles Lang ED Tom McAdoo MUS Frank De Vol CAST James Garner, Lee Remick, Phil Harris, Chill Wills, Jim Backus, Louis Nye, John Astin, Elliott Reid, Patricia Crowley

THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY (1964) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Martin Ransohoff SCR Paddy Chayefsky (novel “The Americanization of Emily” [1959] by William Bradford Hule) CAM Philip H. Lathrop ED Tom McAdoo MUS Johnny Mandel CAST James Garner, Julie Andrews, Melvyn Douglas, James Coburn, Joyce Grenfell, Keenan Wynn, Edward Binns, Lil Fraser, Judy Carne

PROMISE HER ANYTHING (1966) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Stanley Rubin SCR William Peter Blatty (story by Arne Sultan, Marvin Worth) CAM Douglas Slocombe ED John Shirley MUS Lyn Murray CAST Warren Beatty, Leslie Caron, Bob Cummings, Keenan Wynn, Hermione Gingold, Lionel Stander, Asa Maynor, Cathleen Nesbitt

PENELOPE (1966) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Arthur M. Loew Jr. SCR George Wells (novel “Penelope” [1965] by E.V. Cunningham [Howard Fast]) CAM Harry Stradling Jr. ED Rita Roland MUS John Williams CAST Natalie Wood, Ian Bannen, Dick Shawn, Peter Falk, Jonathan Winters, Lila Kedrova, Lou Jacobi, Norma Crane, Arthur Malet

TOBRUK (1967) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Gene Corman SCR Leo Gordon CAM Russell Harlan ED Robert C. Jones MUS Bronislau Kaper CAST Rock Hudson, George Peppard, Guy Stockwell, Nigel Green, Jack Watson, Percy Herbert, Norman Rossington, Liam Redmond, Leo Gordon, Joseph Sargent

THE TIGER MAKES OUT (1967) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, George Justin SCR Murray Schisgal (also play) CAM Arthur J. Ornitz ED Robert C. Jones MUS Milton Shorty Rogers CAST Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, Bob Dishy, John Harkins, Ruth White, Roland Wood, Rae Allen, Sudie Bond, Dustin Hoffman

POPI (1969) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Herbert B. Leonard SCR Tina Pine, Lester Pine CAM Andrew Laszlo ED Anthony Ciccolini MUS Dominic Frontiere CAST Alan Arkin, Rita Moreno, Reuben Figueroa, Miguel Alejandro, Arny Freeman, Joan Tompkins, Anthony Holland, Louis Zorich, Antonia Rey

THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS (1970) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Paul Nathan SCR Neil Simon CAM Andrew Laszlo ED Fred A. Chulak MUS Quincy Jones CAST Jack Lemmon, Sandy Dennis, Sandy Baron, Anne Meara, Robert Nichols, Ann Prentiss, Ron Carey, Philip Bruns, Graham Jarvis, Carlos Montalban, Billy Dee Williams

LOVE STORY (1970) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Howard G. Minsky SCR Erich Segal CAM Richard C. Kratina ED Robert C. Jones MUS Francis Lai CAST Ali MacGraw, Ryan O’Neal, John Marley, Ray Milland, Russell Nype, Katharine Balfour, Sydney Walker, Robert Modica, Walker Daniels, Tommy Lee Jones, Julie Garfield

PLAZA SUITE (1991) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Howard W. Koch SCR Neil Simon (also play “Plaza Suite” [1968]) CAM Jack A. Marta ED Frank Bracht MUS Maurice Jarre CAST Walter Matthau, Maureen Stapleton, Barbara Harris, Lee Grant, Louise Sorel, Dan Ferrone, José Ocasio, Thomas Carey, Jenny Sullivan

THE HOSPITAL (1971) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Howard Gottfried SCR Paddy Chayefsky CAM Victor J. Kemper ED Eric Albertsen MUS Morris Surdin CAST George C. Scott, Diana Rigg, Bernhard Hughes, Richard Dysart, Stephen Elliott, Donald Harron, Andrew Duncan, Nancy Marchand, Frances Sternhagen, Paddy Chayefsky

“MAN OF LA MANCHA” (1971) DIR – PROD Arthur Hiller SCR Dale Wasserman (musical play “Man of La Mancha” [1966] by Dale Wasserman; novels “El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha” [1605] and “Segunda Parte del Ingenioso Cavallero Don Quixote de la Mancha” [1615] by Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra) CAM Giuseppe Rotunno ED Robert C. Jones CAST Peter O’Toole, Sophia Loren, James Coco, Harry Andrews, John Castle, Brian Blessed, Ian Richardson, Julie Gregg, Rosalie Crutchley

THE CRAZY WORLD OF JULIUS VROODER (1974) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Arthur Hiller, Edward Rissien SCR Daryl Henry CAM David M. Walsh ED Robert C. Jones MUS Bob Alcivar CAST Timothy Bottoms, Barbara Seagull [Barbara Hershey], George Marshall, Lawrence Pressman, Albert Salmi, Richard Dysehart, Dena Dietrich, Michael Cristofer

THE MAN IN THE GLASS BOOTH (1975) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Ely A. Landau SCR Edward Anhalt (novel “The Man in the Glass Booth” [1967] and play “The Man in the Glass Booth” [1968] by Robert Shaw) CAM Sam Leavitt ED David Bretherton CAST Maximilian Schell, Lois Nettleton, Lawrence Pressman, Luther Adler, Lloyd Bochner, Robert H. Harris, Henry Brown, Norbert Schiller, Berry Kroeger

W.C. FIELDS AND ME (1976) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Jay Weston SCR Bob Merrill (memoir “W.C. Fields and Me” [1971] by Carlotta Monti and Cy Rice) CAM David M. Walsh ED John C. Howard MUS Henry Mancini CAST Rod Steiger, Valerie Perrine, John Marley, Jack Cassidy, Bernadette Peters, Dana Elcar, Paul Stewart, Billy Barty, Linda Purl, Carlotta Monti

SILVER STREAK (1976) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Edward K. Milkis, Thomas L. Miller SCR Colin Higgins CAM David M. Walsh ED David Bretherton MUS Henry Mancini CAST Gene Wilder, Jill Clayburgh, Richard Pryor, Ned Beatty, Clifton James, Patrick McGoohan, Ray Walston, Stefan Glerasch, Scatman Crothers, Richard Kiel, Robert Culp

THE IN-LAWS (1979) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Arthur Hiller, William Sackheim SCR Andrew Bergman CAM David M. Walsh ED Robert Swink MUS John Morris CAST Peter Falk, Alan Arkin, Richard Libertini, Nancy Dussault, Penny Peyser, Arlene Golonka, Paul L. Smith, Carmine Caridi, Ed Begley Jr.

NIGHTWING (1979) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Martin Ransohoff SCR Martin Cruz Smith, Steve Shagan, Bud Shrake (novel “Nightwing” [1977] by Martin Cruz Smith) CAM Charles Rosher Jr. ED John C. Howard MUS Henry Mancini CAST Nick Mancuso, David Warner, Kathryn Harrold, Stephen Macht, Strother Martin, George Clutesi, Ben Piazza, Donald Hotton

MAKING LOVE (1982) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Allen Adler, Daniel Melnick SCR Barry Sandler (story by A. Scott Berg) CAM David M. Walsh ED William Reynolds MUS Leonard Rosenman CAST Michael Ontkean, Kate Jackson, Harry Hamlin, Wendy Hiller, Arthur Hill, Nancy Olson, John Dukakis, Terry Kiser, Dennis Howard

AUTHOR! AUTHOR! (1982) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Irwin Winkler SCR Israel Horovitz CAM Victor J. Kemper ED William Reynolds MUS Dave Grusin CAST Al Pacino, Dyan Cannon, Tuesday Weld, Bob Dishy, Alan King, Bob Elliott, Ray Goulding, Eric Gurry, Elva Josephson, B.J. Barrie, Ari Meyers, Benjamin H. Carlin

ROMANTIC COMEDY (1983) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Walter Mirisch, Morton Gottlieb SCR Bernard Slade (also play “Romantic Comedy” [1979]) CAM David M. Walsh ED John C. Howard MUS Marvin Hamlisch CAST Dudley Moore, Mary Steenburgen, Frances Sternhagen, Janet Eilber, Robyn Douglass, Ron Leibman, Rozsika Halmos, Alexander Lockwood, Erica Hiller

THE LONELY GUY (1984) DIR – PROD Arthur Hiller SCR Stan Daniels, Ed. Weinberger (adaptation by Neil Simon; book “The Lonely Guy’s Book of Life” [1978] by Bruce Jay Friedman) CAM Victor J. Kemper ED William Reynolds, Raja Gosnell MUS Jerry Goldsmith CAST Steve Martin, Charles Grodin, Judith Ivey, Steve Lawrence, Robyn Douglass, Merv Griffin, Joyce Brothers, Candi Brough, Randi Brough

TEACHERS (1984) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Aaron Russo SCR W.R. Mckinney CAM David M. Walsh ED Don Zimmerman CAST Nick Nolte, JoBeth Williams, Judd Hirsch, Ralph Macchio, Allen Garfield, Lee Grant, Richard Mulligan, Royal Dano, William Schallert, Laura Dern, Morgan Freeman

OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE (1987) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Ted Field, Robert W. Cort SCR Leslie Dixon CAM David M. Walsh ED Tom Rolf MUS Alan Silvestri CAST Shelley Long, Bette Midler, Peter Coyote, George Carlin, Robert Prosky, John Schuck, Anthony Heald, Ji-Tu Cumbuka, Florence Stanley

SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL (1989) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Marvin Worth SCR Earl Barret, Arne Sultan, Gene Wilder, Andrew Kurtzman, Eliot Wald (story by Earl Barret, Arne Sultan, Marvin Worth) CAM Victor J. Kemper ED Robert C. Jones MUS Stewart Copeland CAST Richard Pryor, Gene Wilder, Joan Severance, Kevin Spacey, Alan North, Anthony Zerbe

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS (1990) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Geoffrey Taylor SCR Jill Mazursky, J.J. Abrams CAM David M. Walsh ED William Reynolds MUS Stewart Copeland CAST James Belushi, Charles Grodin, Anne De Salvo, Loryn Locklin, Stephen Elliott, Hector Elizondo, Veronica Hamel, Mako, Gates McFadden

MARRIED TO IT (1991) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Thomas Baer SCR Janet Kovalcik CAM Victor J. Kemper ED Robert C. Jones MUS Henry Mancini CAST Beau Bridges, Stockard Channing, Robert Sean Leonard, Mary Stuart Masterson, Cybill Shepherd, Ron Silver, Don Francks, Donna Vivino, Jimmy Shea

THE BABE (1992) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD – SCR John Fusco CAM Haskell Wexler ED Robert C. Jones MUS Elmer Bernstein CAST John Goodman, Kelly McGillis, Trini Alvarado, Bruce Boxleitner, Peter Donat, James Cromwell, J.C. Quinn, Joseph Ragno, Richard Tyson, Ralph Marrero

CARPOOL (1996) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Arnon Milchan, Michael G. Nathanson SCR Don Rhymer CAM David M. Walsh ED William Reynolds, L. James Langlois MUS John Debney CAST Tom Arnold, David Paymer, Rhea Perlman, Rachael Leigh Cook, Rod Steiger, Kim Coates, Mikey Kovar, Micah Gardener

BURN HOLLYWOOD BURN (1997) DIR Alan Smithee [Arthur Hiller] PROD Ben Myron SCR Joe Eszterhas CAM Reynaldo Villalobos ED L. James Langlois MUS Chuck D, Joel Diamond, Gary G-Wiz CAST Ryan O’Neal, Coolio, Chuck D, Eric Idle, Richard Jeni, Leslie Stefanson, Sandra Bernhard, Cherie Lungli, Gavin Polone, MC Lyte, Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg, Jackie Chan, Robert Evans, Joe Eszterhas, Larry King, Peter Bart, Billy Bob Thornton, Billy Barty, Norman Jewison

PUCKED (2006) DIR Arthur Hiller PROD Matty Simmons, William R. Greenblatt, Phil Smoot SCR Matty Simmons, William Dozier, Shakes Multin, Sal Catalano (story by Matty Simmons) CAM Alton Chewning ED Dan Schalk MUS Stewart Copeland, Rich McCulley, Kat Green, Billy Lincoln CAST Jon Bon Jovi, Estella Warren, David Faustino, Curtis Armstrong, Nora Dunn, Cary Elwes, Pat Kilbane, Danielle James