What year did Billy Wilder pass away?

Billy Wilder passed away in 2002. He died on March 27, 2002, in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 95, concluding a career that stretched across more than five decades of international and Hollywood filmmaking.

Born Samuel Wilder in 1906 in Sucha, then part of Austria-Hungary, Wilder first worked as a journalist in Vienna and Berlin. He moved to Paris after the rise of Nazism and emigrated to Hollywood in 1934. His experiences as a journalist, immigrant, and Jewish refugee informed the sharp social observation found throughout his films.

Wilder directed and co-wrote classics including Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot, and The Apartment. He won Academy Awards for directing and screenwriting The Lost Weekend, and later won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay for The Apartment.

The year 2002 can be confused with the dates of his final major filmmaking work, since Wilder largely retired from directing after 1981. His death therefore came roughly two decades after his last feature, Buddy Buddy.