Arthur Hiller, OC

Arthur Hiller, OC (November 13, 1923 – August 17, 2016) was a Canadian-American television and film director, having directed over 33 films during his 50-year career. He began his career directing television in Canada and later in the U.S. By the late 1950s he began directing films, most often comedies. He also directed dramas and romantic subjects, such as Love Story (1970), which was nominated for seven Oscars.

Hiller collaborated on a number of films with award-winning 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) and The In-Laws (1979).

Hiller served as 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 Edmonton, Alberta to a Jewish family that had immigrated from Poland in 1912. He had two sisters, one thirteen years older and one eleven years older. His father operated a second-hand musical instruments store in Edmonton. Hiller recalls that when he occasionally traveled home while he was still in college, the blacks 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."[1] 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 the Yiddish theater they started up:

When I was seven or eight years old, I was helping the man building and decorating the sets. By the time I was eleven, I was acting with the long beard and the payot. Little did I know that the love of theater and music and literature my parents instilled in me would one day lead to a career directing films.[2]

After he graduated high school, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force at the start of World War II and navigated bombers over enemy territory in Europe. After he returned from serving in the military, Hiller enrolled in and later graduated from University College, University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1947, followed by a Master of Arts degree in psychology in 1950. One of his first jobs after graduating was with Canadian radio directing various public affairs programs.

Hiller remembers that he was still in college when Israel was declared an 'official' state "for the first time since the Romans expelled them:" Israel was immediately attacked by five different Arab armies.... I volunteered but they turned me down because I was married. I drove down to Seattle to try to volunteer from the United States but again was turned down because I was married. My wife agreed to volunteer too, but again, "No." . . . I admire their determination and dignity of purpose with high ethical standards as they try to make their country safe for democracy, while the countries around them try to make the Arab world safe from democracy.

Directing experience When television entered mainstream media in the early 1950s, he began directing for Canadian TV broadcasters. NBC, a major broadcaster in the U.S., seeing his work in Canada, offered him positions directing U.S. television dramas, including episodes of Thriller, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Gunsmoke, Naked City, and Playhouse 90.[4] TV actress Jean Byron describes Hiller's method of directing television:

For more of Hiller's movies and positions of non-profit organisations see http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Hiller