Tuesday Quote

Billy and Audrey Wilder

Billy Wilder (1906 – 2002) was an Austrian-born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist and journalist. He became a screenwriter whilst living in Berlin in the 1920’s but, being Jewish, left for Paris as the Nazi Party grew in power. In 1933 he left Paris for Hollywood where his career spanned over 60 films. He is one of only 5 people to have won Oscars as producer, director and writer, for a 1960 turkey of a movie that also won the best pic, The Apartment. 

In 1957 Wilder was filming Love in the Afternoon in Paris, with Audrey Hepburn, Gary Cooper and Maurice Chevalier. 

The following anecdote is from the book Billy Wilder in Hollywood by Maurice Zolotow. 

Much of Love in the Afternoon was filmed on location in Paris. While Billy was over there, Audrey [Wilder] suddenly got the most irresistible craving for...a bidet! She had to have a bidet. She could not live without her very own bidet in the master bedroom. She cabled Billy to purchase a bidet and ship it to their Westwood apartment. Unable to locate a French plumbing supply firm which exported bidets, Wilder replied: IMPOSSIBLE TO OBTAIN BIDET STOP SUGGEST YOU DO HANDSTANDS IN SHOWER.