Cornel Wilde
{{Short description|Hungarian-American actor and film director (1912–1989)}}
{{Hungarian name|Weisz Kornél Lajos}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Cornel Wilde
| image = Press Photo of Cornel Wilde 02.jpg
| alt = A man wearing a suit and tie is smiling while looking towards the right.
| caption = Wilde in the 1940s
| birth_name = Kornél Lajos Weisz
| birth_date = {{birth date|1912|10|13|}}United States Census 1930; Manhattan, New York, New York; Roll: 1576; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 1009; Image: 1057.0. This record dated April 9, 1930, gives Wilde's birthplace as Hungary and his birth year as approximately 1912
| birth_place = Privigye, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary (now Prievidza, Slovakia)
| death_date = {{death date and age|1989|10|16|1912|10|13|mf=y}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| resting_place = Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California
| other_names = Clark Wales, Jefferson Pascal
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Patricia Knight|1937|1951|end=div}}
- {{marriage|Jean Wallace|1951|1981|end=div}}
}}
| children = 2
| years_active = 1935–1987
| education = Columbia University
| occupation = {{hlist|Actor|filmmaker}}
}}
Cornel Wilde (born Kornél Lajos Weisz; October 13, 1912 – October 16, 1989) was a Hungarian-American actor and filmmaker.
Wilde's acting career began in 1935, when he made his debut on Broadway. In 1936 he began making small, uncredited appearances in films. By the 1940s he had signed a contract with 20th Century Fox, and by the mid-1940s he was a major leading man. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in 1945's A Song to Remember. In the 1950s he moved to writing, producing and directing films, and still continued his career as an actor. He also went into songwriting during his career.
Early life
Wilde was born in 1912{{cite web |title=Cornel Wilde |url=http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/18413308/person/656253550 |url-access=subscription |website=Ancestry.com}}United States Census 1930; Manhattan, New York; Roll: 1576; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 1009; Image: 1057.0. This record dated April 9, 1930, gives Wilde's birthplace as Austrian-Hungarian Empire and his birth year as approximately 1912. Furthermore, it indicates his emigration to the United States as a first class passenger on a Dutch steamer in 1920. in Privigye, Kingdom of Hungary (now Prievidza, Slovakia),List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the United States, S.S. Noordam, Passengers Sailing from Rotterdam, May 4, 1920, New York Passenger Lists, 1820–1957. iProvo, Utah, 2010.Air Passenger Manifest, Transcontinental and Western Air, Inc. Flight 971/05, December 5, 1948. New York Passenger Lists, 1820–1957. Provo, Utah, 2010. In this immigration record, Wilde gives his birthplace as Hungary and his birth year as 1912. although his year and place of birth are usually and inaccurately given as 1915 in New York City.{{cite news |last=Flint |first=Peter B. |date=October 17, 1989 |title=Cornel Wilde, 74, a Performer and Film Producer |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/17/obituaries/cornel-wilde-74-a-performer-and-film-producer.html |url-status=live |access-date=February 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003174652/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/17/obituaries/cornel-wilde-74-a-performer-and-film-producer.html |archive-date=October 3, 2016}}{{cite news |date=October 16, 1989 |title=Actor-Director Cornel Wilde Dies at 74 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-16-mn-241-story.html |url-status=live |access-date=March 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309233853/http://articles.latimes.com/1989-10-16/news/mn-241_1_cornel-wilde |archive-date=March 9, 2012}} Wilde's Hungarian Jewish parents were Vojtech Béla Weisz (anglicized to Louis Bela Wilde) and Renée Mary Vid (Rayna Miryam), and he was named Kornél Lajos after his paternal grandfather. The family emigrated to the United States via first class passage aboard a Dutch steamer in 1920, when Kornél was seven years old. His name was anglicized (as was commonly done at the time in the United States) to Cornelius Louis Wilde.
His father's job with a cosmetics firm meant that as a child he travelled in Europe, where he picked up several languages.{{Cite news |date=17 October 1989 |title=Obituaries: Cornel Wilde |work=The Daily Telegraph |issue=41777 |page=19}}{{Cite news |date=17 October 1989 |title=Cornel Wilde: A sharp sword to remember |work=The Times |issue=63527 |page=18}} Wilde entered Columbia University in New York City as a freshman in the fall of 1929. He fenced for the Columbia Lions fencing team, and won the National Novice Foils Championship held at the New York Athletic Club in 1929.{{cite news |title=Columbia Freshman Wins Novice Foils Championship |newspaper=Columbia Daily Spectator |date=November 27, 1929 |url=http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19291127-01.2.4&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22Cornel+Wilde%22------ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925003007/https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19291127-01.2.4&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22Cornel+Wilde%22------ |archive-date=September 25, 2022 |access-date=November 17, 2024 |volume=LIII |number=44}}
Wilde qualified for the United States fencing team for the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Third Reich Berlin, but he quit the team before the games and took a role in the theater.{{cite book |last1=Tibbetts |first1=John C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LpcWzZfVEa4C&dq=%22cornel+wilde%22+%22fencing%22&pg=PA78 |title=American Classic Screen Profiles |last2=Welsh |first2=James M. |date=2010-08-12 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7677-4 |page=78 |language=en}}{{cite book |last=Freese |first=Gene |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=79g1DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22cornel+wilde%22+%22fencing%22+%22olympic%22&pg=PA72 |title=Classic Movie Fight Scenes: 75 Years of Bare Knuckle Brawls, 1914-1989 |date=2017-09-11 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-2935-3 |page=72 |language=en}} In preparation for an acting career, he and his new wife Marjory Heinzen (later to be known as Patricia Knight) shaved years off their ages, three for him and five for her. As a result, most publicity records and subsequent sources wrongly indicate a 1915 birth for Wilde.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}
Career
=Theatre=
After studying at Theodora Irvine's Studio of the Theatre, Wilde began appearing in plays in stock and in New York.{{sfn|Coen|1970|p=53}} He made his Broadway debut in 1935 in Moon Over Mulberry Street.{{sfn|Coen|1970|p=53}} He also appeared in Love Is Not So Simple, Daughters of Etreus, and Having Wonderful Time.
He did the illustrations for Fencing, a 1936 textbook on fencing{{cite news |date=October 1, 1947 |title=Cornel Wilde adds new skill |newspaper=The Washington Post |id={{ProQuest|151896525}}}} {{closed access|date=November 2017}} and wrote a fencing play, Touché, under the pseudonym of Clark Wales in 1937.Ingram, Frances Cornel Wilde: Gentle Swashbuckler, Classic Images, February 5, 2009 He toured with Tallulah Bankhead in a production of Antony and Cleopatra; during the run he married his co-star Patricia Knight.
Acting jobs were sporadic over the next few years. Wilde supplemented his income with exhibition fencing matches; his wife also did modelling work. Wilde wrote plays, some of which were performed by the New York Drama Guild.{{cite news |last=Masters, M. |date=December 23, 1945 |title=Cornel Wilde strong on psychological drama |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}
Wilde was hired as a fencing teacher by Laurence Olivier for his 1940 Broadway production of Romeo and Juliet and was given the role of Tybalt in the production. Although the show had only a small run, his performance in this role netted him a Hollywood film contract with Warner Bros.
=Films=
Wilde had an uncredited bit part in Lady with Red Hair (1940), then got a small part in High Sierra (1941), which included a scene with Humphrey Bogart. He also had small roles in Knockout (1941) and Kisses for Breakfast (1941).{{cite news |last=Hopper |first=Hedda |date=September 19, 1954 |title=That Wilde Man |page=V30 |newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune}}
Signed by 20th Century Fox, he got above-title billing in The Perfect Snob (1941); studio publicity falsely claimed it was his first film.{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/26862|title=The Perfect Snob|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}} It was followed by a war movie Manila Calling (1942).{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/27339|title=Manila Calling|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}} He was the romantic male lead in Life Begins at Eight-Thirty (1942), supporting Monty Woolley,{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/27312|title=Life Begins at Eight-Thirty|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}} and supported Sonja Henie in Wintertime (1943).{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/765|title=Wintertime|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}}
In 1945, Columbia Pictures began a search for someone to play the role of Frédéric Chopin in A Song to Remember. They eventually tested Wilde, and agreed to cast him in the role after some negotiation with Fox, who agreed to lend him to Columbia and one film a year for several years. Part of the deal involved Fox borrowing Alexander Knox from Columbia to appear in Wilson (1944).{{cite news |last=Challert |first=Edwin |date=December 3, 1943 |title=Drama And Film |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |id={{ProQuest|165466539}}}}{{closed access|date=November 2017}} A Song to Remember was a big hit, made Wilde a star and earned him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor.
Columbia promptly used him in two more films, both swashbucklers: as Aladdin in A Thousand and One Nights with Evelyn Keyes{{cite news |date=July 13, 1945 |title=Cornel Wilde, Evelyn Keyes In New Technicolor Arabia |page=4 |newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor}} and as the son of Robin Hood in The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (made 1945, released 1946).{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/24685|title=The Bandit of Sherwood Forest|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-04-14}}
Back at Fox, he played the male lead in Leave Her to Heaven (1945), with Gene Tierney and Jeanne Crain,{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/24478|title=Leave Her to Heaven|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-04-14}} an enormous hit at the box office.{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Geoff |date=25 September 2012 |title=DVD: Leave Her to Heaven |work=The Arts Desk |url=https://theartsdesk.com/film/dvd-leave-her-heaven |access-date=11 May 2025}} Bandit was also a big hit when it was released.
In 1946, Wilde was voted the 18th-most popular star in the United States, and in 1947 the 25th-.{{cite news |last=Richard L. Coe |date=January 3, 1948 |title=Bing's Lucky Number: Pa Crosby Dons 4th B.O. Crown |newspaper=The Washington Post}} Fox announced him for Enchanted Voyage.{{cite news |date=March 27, 1945 |title=News of the Screen |newspaper=The New York Times |id={{ProQuest|107254401}}}} {{closed access|date=November 2017}} It ended up not being made; instead he was reunited with Crain in Fox's musical Centennial Summer (1946).
In January 1946, Wilde was suspended by Fox for refusing the male lead in Margie (1946).{{cite news |last=Hopper |first=Hedda |date=January 11, 1946 |title=Studio suspends Cornel Wilde |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |id={{ProQuest|165657309}}}} {{closed access|date=November 2017}} This suspension was soon lifted so Wilde could play the male lead in the studio's big budget version of Forever Amber (1947).{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/25169|title=Forever Amber|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-04-14}}{{efn|The budget was estimated as over $3,000,000.}} Filming started, then was halted when the studio decided to replace Peggy Cummins, the female star. In October 1946, Wilde refused to return to work unless he was paid more; his salary was $3,000 a week, with six years to run – he wanted $150,000 per film for two films per year.{{cite news |date=October 16, 1946 |title=Fox's 'Forever Amber' in trouble again as Cornel Wilde holds out for salary rise. |newspaper=The New York Times |id={{ProQuest|107755306}}}} {{closed access|date=November 2017}} The parties came to an agreement and filming resumed. Wilde also appeared with Maureen O'Hara in The Homestretch (1947).{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/25203|title=The Homestretch|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}}
He was in a comedy at Columbia with Ginger Rogers, It Had to Be You (1947).{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/25215|title=It Had to Be You|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-04-14}} At Fox he turned down a role in That Lady in Ermine (1948). Not wanting to go on suspension again he agreed to make The Walls of Jericho (1948), from the same director as Leave Her to Heaven but less popular. Road House (1948), for Fox, was a highly regarded film noir and a decent-sized hit. He then left Fox, which he later regarded as a mistake.
=Freelance=
File:Cornel Wilde in The Greatest Show on Earth trailer 2.jpg (1952) |alt=Frame from a film showing the torso of a bare-chested man standing on a circus trapeze; the man's arms are extended outwards from his body, and he's facing somewhat left of the camera.]]
At Columbia, Wilde was in Shockproof (1949), another noir, with his then-wife Patricia Knight. They appeared together in Western Wind, a play at the Cape Playhouse.{{cite news |date=August 5, 1949 |title=Cornel Wilde from Hollywood |newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor |id={{ProQuest|508069729}}}} {{closed access|date=November 2017}}
Wilde starred opposite Simone Signoret in Swiss Tour, aka Four Days' Leave (1949), a romantic comedy about American servicemen in Switzerland.{{cite book |last=David |first=Catherine |author-link=Catherine David (writer) |year=1993 |title=Simone Signoret |location=Woodstock, New York |url=https://archive.org/details/simonesignoret0000davi |url-access=registration |translator-last=Sampson|translator-first=Sally|publisher=Overlook Press |page=209 |isbn=0-87951-491-4}}{{cite book |last=Bouchardeau |first=Huguette |author-link=Huguette Bouchardeau |year=2005 |title=Simone Signoret: Biographie |language=French |location=Paris |url=https://archive.org/details/simonesignoretbi0000bouc |url-access=registration |publisher=Flammarion |page=269 |isbn=2-08-068749-2}}{{cite book |last=Monserrat |first=Joëlle |year=1983 |title=Simone Signoret |language=French |location=Paris |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9782853361934 |url-access=registration |publisher=PAC |pages=308-309, 349-350 |isbn=9782853361934}} He returned to Fox for Two Flags West (1950),{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/26542|title=Two Flags West|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}} then went to RKO for At Sword's Point (filmed in 1949, but not released until 1952), a swashbuckler with Maureen O'Hara.{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50400|title=At Sword's Point|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}}
Cast in a leading role, he played a trapeze artist in The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) for Cecil B. de Mille, an enormous ensemble cast hit.{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50496|title=The Greatest Show on Earth|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-04-14}}
At Columbia, he was in California Conquest (1952), a Western for producer Sam Katzman.{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/53598|title=California Conquest|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}} He went over to Warner Bros. for Operation Secret (1952),{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50607|title=Operation Secret|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}} then was back at Fox for Treasure of the Golden Condor (1952).{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/05/23/archives/article-8-no-title-treasure-of-the-golden-condor-fox-technicolor.html | work=The New York Times | page=19 | title='Treasure of the Golden Condor,' Fox Technicolor Adventure Yarn, Opens at Globe | last=H.H.T. | author-link=Howard Thompson (film critic) | date=23 May 1953 |url-access=subscription | access-date=4 May 2025}}
He focused on adventure stories: Saadia (1953) for MGM,{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/51000|title=Saadia|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}} Star of India (1954) for United Artists.{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/52014|title=Star of India|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}} He had a part in the all-star executive drama Woman's World (1954) for Fox,{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/51407|title=Woman's World|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}} then went back to action and adventure with Passion (1954) for RKO.{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/53466|title=Passion|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}}
Producer and director
In the 1950s Wilde and his second wife, Jean Wallace, formed their own film production company, Theodora, named after Theodora Irvine.{{efn|Film critic Tim Lucas states that the move made Wilde "only the second actor - after Burt Lancaster - to form his own production company, thus declaring himself a herdsman rather than cattle".{{cite web |url=http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/4247 |title=The running man |first=Tim|last=Lucas|author-link=Tim Lucas |work=Sight and Sound |access-date=4 May 2025}}}} Their first movie was the film noir The Big Combo (1955), a co production with Security Pictures that was released through Allied Artists. Wilde and Wallace played the leads. That year he also directed an episode of General Electric Theatre.{{cite news |last=Schallert |first=Edwin |date=March 15, 1955 |title=Jack Hawkins New Space Conqueror; French King Set for John Williams |page=B7 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}{{cite news |last=Pryor |first=Thomas M. |date=June 22, 1954 |title=Palladium Stars Sought for Movie: History of Famous London Music Hall Would Include American Entertainers |page=24 |newspaper=The New York Times}}
That same year, he appeared in an episode of I Love Lucy as himself and starred in The Scarlet Coat (1956) for MGM.{{cite news |last=Schallert |first=Edwin |date=June 23, 1954 |title='Big Combo' Will Star Cornel Wilde; Vanessa Brown Debates Musical |page=B7 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}
Wilde produced and starred in another film for Theodora with Wallace, Storm Fear (1956) from a script by Horton Foote. This time Wilde also directed "to save money".{{cite news |last=Pryor |first=Thomas M. |date=March 7, 1955 |title=Theodora Plans Its Second Movie. |newspaper=The New York Times |id={{ProQuest|113204307}}}} {{closed access|date=November 2017}}
Theodora announced Wilde would play Lord Byron, but the film was never made.{{cite news |last=Pryor |first=Thomas M. |date=December 21, 1954 |title=Independents Buy Two New Stories |newspaper=The New York Times |id={{ProQuest|113000136}}}} {{closed access|date=November 2017}} He later stated that not playing the part was one of his great regrets. Other announced projects included Curly and Second Act Curtin.
Wilde was meant to appear as Joshua in de Mille's The Ten Commandments (1956) but was not in the final film – he turned down the role, saying it was too small and the pay was too little (John Derek ended up playing it). Wilde later said it was his worst mistake because having even a small role in a big blockbuster would have given him career momentum.{{cite news |last=Pryor |first=Thomas M. |date=September 5, 1954 |title=Hollywood Canvas |newspaper=The New York Times |id={{ProQuest|113071008}}}} {{closed access|date=November 2017}}
As an actor only, he appeared in Hot Blood (1956) with Jane Russell for director Nicholas Ray, and Beyond Mombasa (1956), shot in Kenya; both were released by Columbia.{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/53604|title=Hot Blood|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}}{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/52105|title=Beyond Mombasa|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}} In 1957, he guest-starred as himself in an episode of Father Knows Best titled "An Evening to Remember."{{cite web |title=Episodes {{!}} Season 3 {{!}} #88 An Evening to Remember |url=https://fatherknowsbest.us/season-3/ |website=fatherknowsbest.us |access-date=21 May 2025}} Also in 1957, he played the role of the 11th century Persian poet Omar Khayyám in the film Omar Khayyam.{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/52310|title=Omar Khayyam|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-21}}
Wilde produced, directed and starred in two films for Theodora that were released through Paramount Pictures: The Devil's Hairpin (1957), a car-racing drama, and Maracaibo (1958). Wilde called them "an acceptable A-B, meaning a picture with a B budget but A pretensions".{{cite book |last1=Bawden |first1=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZQ0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT71 |title=You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet: Interviews with Stars from Hollywood's Golden Era |last2=Miller |first2=Ron |year=2017 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-7423-5}}
He had the lead in Edge of Eternity (1959) for director Don Siegel.{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/52872|title=Edge of Eternity|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-04-14}}
Wilde went to Italy to star in Constantine and the Cross (1962).{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/03/14/archives/the-screenconstantine-tramples-history-to-death-the-cast.html | work=The New York Times | page=8 | title='Constantine' Tramples History to Death | first=Bosley | last=Crowther | author-link=Bosley Crowther | date=14 March 1963 |url-access=subscription | access-date=14 April 2025}} In Britain, he wrote, produced, directed and starred in Lancelot and Guinevere (1963).{{Cite news |last=Bentley |first=Jack |date=25 February 1962 |title=Church-Deacon Pat Finds His Sexy Film Scenes a Problem |work=The Sunday Mirror |issue=2445 |page=23}}{{Cite news |last=North |first=Rex |date=9 April 1963 |title=Life in the Mirror |work=The Daily Mirror |issue=18445 |page=13}}
Wilde produced, directed, and starred in The Naked Prey (1965), in which he played a man stripped naked and chased by hunters from an African tribe that was affronted by the behavior of other members of his safari party. The original script was largely based on a true historical incident about a trapper named John Colter being pursued by Blackfeet Indians in Wyoming. Lower shooting costs, tax breaks, and material and logistical assistance offered by Rhodesia persuaded Wilde and the other producers to shoot the film on location in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). It is probably his most highly regarded film as director.{{cite web |title=The Naked Prey |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/naked_prey/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190524012733/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/naked_prey/ |archive-date=May 24, 2019 |access-date=October 5, 2018 |website=Rotten Tomatoes}}{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/movies/homevideo/15dvds.html | work=The New York Times | title=Critic's Choice: New DVDs | first=Dave | last=Kehr | author-link=Dave Kehr | date=15 January 2008 |url-access=subscription | access-date=4 May 2025}}
Wilde followed this with a war movie, Beach Red (1967), shot in the Philippines. He announced Namugongo, another movie in Africa, about the White Fathers missionaries in the Kingdom of Buganda, but it was never made.{{cite news |date=September 10, 1969 |title=Cornel Wilde screenplay |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |id={{ProQuest|156304920}}}} {{closed access|date=November 2017}} He had a supporting role in The Comic (1969), directed by Carl Reiner.{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/21110|title=The Comic|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-04-14}}
He wrote, produced, and directed the science fiction film No Blade of Grass (1970).{{cite book |editor-last=Hardy |editor-first=Phil |editor-link=Phil Hardy (journalist) |year=1984 |title=The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction |publisher=Aurum Press |page=295 |isbn=0-906053-82-X}}{{efn|Wilde's script contribution was credited under the pseudonym "Jefferson Pascal".{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/22222|title=No Blade of Grass|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}}}} Later he wrote, directed, and starred in the exploitation film Sharks' Treasure,{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/09/11/archives/sharks-treasure.html | work=The New York Times | page=35 | title=Sharks' Treasure | first=Richard | last=Eder | author-link=Richard Eder | date=11 September 1975 |url-access=subscription | access-date=4 May 2025}} a 1975 film released during the "Shark Fever" of the mid-1970s in the wake of the success of Peter Benchley's Jaws.{{Cite news |last=French |first=Philip |author-link=Philip French |date=21 November 1975 |title=Ignoble savage: a famous mystery reworked |work=The Times |issue=59558 |page=14}}{{Cite news |last=Powell |first=Dilys |author-link=Dilys Powell |date=23 November 1975 |title=A Phoenix rises in Finchley |work=The Sunday Times |issue=7954 |page=36}}{{efn|When pre-production began at Columbia Pictures in 1968, the film's working title was The Raging Sea, later altered to The Treasure. Sharks' Treasure was chosen by United Artists, who ultimately distributed it.{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/55631|title=Sharks' Treasure|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-04-14}}}}
At the end of the decade, he acted in The Norseman (1978){{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/56952|title=The Norseman|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-04-14}} and The Fifth Musketeer (1979).{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/56765|title=The Fifth Musketeer|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-04-14}} On the small screen, Wilde appeared as an unethical surgeon in the 1971 Night Gallery episode "Deliveries in the Rear",{{cite web |title=Episode Guide {{!}} The Second Season {{!}} Night Gallery #25 |url=https://www.nightgallery.net/episode-guide-season-two |website=nightgallery.net |access-date=20 May 2025}} and portrayed an anthropologist in the 1972 TV movie Gargoyles.{{cite book |last=Kaminsky |first=Stuart M. |year=2000 |editor1-last=Pendergast |editor1-first=Tom |editor2-last=Pendergast |editor2-first=Sara |title=International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. 3: Actors and Actresses |edition=4th |location=Farmington Hills, MI |url=https://archive.org/details/International_Dictionary_of_Film_and_Filmmakers_Volume_3_Actors_And_Actresses/page/1287/mode/2up |publisher=St. James Press |pages=1287–1289 |chapter=Wilde, Cornel |isbn=1-55862-452-X}}{{cite news| url=https://www.filmink.com.au/vintage-telemovie-of-the-week-gargoyles-1972/ | work=FilmInk | title=Vintage Telemovie Of The Week: Gargoyles (1972) | first=Erin | last=Free | date=30 March 2025 | access-date=20 May 2025}}
Personal life
In 1937, he married actress Patricia Knight. She starred alongside him in Shockproof (1949). Their daughter, Wendy, was born on February 22, 1943. The family lived at Country House on Deep Canyon Road, Los Angeles.{{cite web |title=Search | 1950 Census |url=https://1950census.archives.gov/search/?county=Los%20Angeles&ed=66-681&page=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220416192257/https://1950census.archives.gov/search/?county=Los%20Angeles&ed=66-681&page=1 |archive-date=April 16, 2022 |access-date=April 11, 2022}} They divorced in 1951.{{cite news |date=August 31, 1951 |title=Mrs. Mary J. M'Elhiney Funeral at St. Charles |page=21 |newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18922774/st-louis-post-dispatch/ |url-status=live |access-date=June 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605222658/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18922774/st-louis-post-dispatch/ |archive-date=June 5, 2020}}
Five days after his divorce, he married actress Jean Wallace.{{cite news |date=September 5, 1951 |title=Cornel Wilde Weds Jean Wallace |language=en-US |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/09/05/archives/cornel-wilde-weds-jean-wallace.html |url-status=live |access-date=June 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605224042/https://www.nytimes.com/1951/09/05/archives/cornel-wilde-weds-jean-wallace.html |archive-date=June 5, 2020 |issn=0362-4331}}{{cite web |title=Patricia Knight |url=http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/150/Patricia+Knight/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605222734/http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/150/Patricia+Knight/index.html |archive-date=June 5, 2020 |access-date=June 5, 2020 |website=Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen}} Wilde became stepfather to Wallace's two sons, Pascal and Thomas, from her marriage to Franchot Tone.{{cite news |last=Folkart |first=Burt A. |date=October 17, 1989 |title=Cornel Wilde, Dashing Film Star, Dies at 74 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-17-mn-328-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605222648/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-17-mn-328-story.html |archive-date=June 5, 2020 |access-date=June 5, 2020 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} Their son, Cornel Wallace Wilde, was born on December 19, 1967. Wilde senior and Wallace starred together in several films including The Big Combo (1955), Lancelot and Guinevere (1963), and Beach Red (1967). They divorced in 1981.{{cite news |last=Fowler |first=Glenn |date=February 18, 1990 |title=Jean Wallace, 66, Screen Actress Known for 1940's and 50's Roles |language=en-US |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/18/obituaries/jean-wallace-66-screen-actress-known-for-1940-s-and-50-s-roles.html |url-status=live |access-date=June 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719234904/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/18/obituaries/jean-wallace-66-screen-actress-known-for-1940-s-and-50-s-roles.html |archive-date=July 19, 2018 |issn=0362-4331}}
At the time of his death in 1989 he was engaged to Colleen Conte, the widow of actor Richard Conte.{{cite web |title=Movie star Cornel Wilde dead at 74 |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/10/17/Movie-star-Cornel-Wilde-dead-at-74/4325624600000/ |access-date=2024-03-19 |website=UPI |language=en}} Richard Conte had starred in Wilde's film The Big Combo.{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/51442|title=The Big Combo|website=afi.com|access-date=2025-05-04}}
A Democrat, Wilde supported the campaign of Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election.Motion Picture and Television Magazine. November 1952. page 33. He expressed liberal views about race and homosexuality,{{Cite news |last=Billington |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Billington (critic) |date=8 August 1970 |title=From hero to director |work=The Times |issue=57939 |page=7}} and was proud of the anti-war message of Beach Red.{{sfn|Coen|1970|p=56}} His hobbies included riding, hunting and deep-sea fishing:{{sfn|Coen|1970|p=54}} in the 1960s he appeared on the TV show The American Sportsman shooting an Alaskan grizzly, but may have had a change of heart about bloodsports later in life.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/13/archives/they-kill-animals-and-they-call-it-art-more-and-more-directors-are.html | work=The New York Times | title=They Kill Animals And They Call It Art | first=T.E.D. | last=Klein | author-link=T.E.D. Klein | date=13 January 1974 |url-access=subscription | access-date=9 May 2025}}
Death
Wilde died of leukemia on October 16, 1989, three days after his 77th birthday and just weeks after he had been diagnosed with the blood disease. He is interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, Los Angeles.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Cornel Wilde has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1635 Vine Street.{{cite web|url=https://walkoffame.com/cornel-wilde/|title=Cornel Wilde|website=walkoffame.com|access-date=2025-05-04}}
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| rowspan=2 | 1937
| The Rhythm Party | Party Guest | Short film |
| Exclusive
| Reporter | Uncredited |
| 1940
| Mr. Williams | Uncredited |
| rowspan=4 | 1941
| Louis Mendoza | |
| Knockout
| Tom Rossi | |
| Kisses for Breakfast
| Chet Oakley | |
| The Perfect Snob
| Mike Lord | |
| rowspan=2 | 1942
| Jeff Bailey | |
| Life Begins at Eight-Thirty
| Robert Carter | |
| 1943
| Freddy Austin | |
| rowspan=4 | 1945
| The Bandit of Sherwood Forest | Robert of Nottingham | |
| A Song to Remember
| |
| A Thousand and One Nights
| Aladdin | |
| Leave Her to Heaven
| Richard Harland | |
| rowspan=2 | 1946
| The Bandit of Sherwood Forest | Robert of Nottingham | |
| Centennial Summer
| Philippe Lascalles | |
| rowspan=4 | 1947
| Jock Wallace | |
| Forever Amber
| Bruce Carlton | |
| It Had to Be You
| George McKesson/Johnny Blaine | |
| Stairway for a Star
| Jimmy Banks | Utilized scenes from an unfinished 1940 film {{cite book| last=Sheppard| first=Gene| chapter=Cornel Wilde| title=American Classic Screen Profiles| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LpcWzZfVEa4C&q=wilde&pg=PP1| pages=78–81| editor1-first=John C.| editor1-last=Tibbetts| editor2-first=James M.| editor2-last=Welsh| publisher=Scarecrow Press| date=August 12, 2010| isbn=978-0-8108-7677-4}} |
| rowspan=2 | 1948
| Dave Connors | |
| Road House
| Pete Morgan | |
| 1949
| Griff Marat | |
| 1950
| Captain Mark Bradford | |
| rowspan=4 | 1952
| The Great Sebastian | |
| At Sword's Point
| D'Artagnan Jr. | |
| California Conquest
| Don Arturo Bordega | |
| Operation Secret
| Peter Forrester | |
| rowspan=3 | 1953
| Treasure of the Golden Condor | Jean-Paul | |
| Main Street to Broadway
| Himself | |
| Saadia
| Si Lahssen | |
| rowspan=3 | 1954
| Pierre St. Laurent | |
| Woman's World
| Bill Baxter | |
| Passion
| Juan Obreón | |
| rowspan=3 | 1955
| Lieutenant Leonard Diamond | Also associate producer |
| The Scarlet Coat
| Major John Boulton | |
| Storm Fear
| Charlie Blake | Also director and producer |
| rowspan=2 | 1956
| Stephano Torino | |
| Beyond Mombasa
| Matt Campbell | |
| rowspan=2 | 1957
| Omar Khayyam | |
| The Devil's Hairpin
| Nick Jargin | Also director, writer and producer |
| 1958
| Vic Scott | Also director and producer |
| 1959
| Les Martin |
| 1961
| |
| 1963
| Also director, writer (as Jefferson Pascal) and producer |
| 1965
| Man | Also director and producer |
| 1967
| Captain MacDonald | Also director, writer (as Jefferson Pascal) and producer |
| 1969
| Frank Powers | |
| 1970
| Radio Voice | Also director, writer (as Jefferson Pascal) and producer |
| 1975
| Jim Carnahan | Also director, writer and producer |
| 1978
| Ragnar | |
| 1979
| Charles de Batz de Castelmore d'Artagnan | |
| 1985
| Police Captain |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1955
| Peter Maresy | Episode "The Blond Dog" |
| 1955
| Himself | Episode "The Star Upstairs"{{Cite web |title=The Star Upstairs |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0609383/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027061937/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0609383/ |archive-date=October 27, 2021 |access-date=October 27, 2021 |website=IMDb}} |
| 1956
| Author | Episode "Screen Credit" |
| 1957
| Himself | Episode "An Evening to Remember" |
| 1958
| Damon Phillips | Episode "Coast to Coast" |
| 1960
| Steve Roberts/German Captain/Count/Jaque/Sheik | Episode "Around the World with Nellie Bly" |
| 1961
| Rudy Alberti | Episode "The Great Alberti" |
| 1972
| Dr. John Fletcher | Episode "Deliveries in the Rear" |
| 1972
| Dr. Mercer Boley | Television film |
| 1978
| Daring Danny Ryan | Episode "Charlie's Cherubs/Stalag 3" |
| 1983
| Edgar Dolan | Episode "Youth Takes a Holiday/Don't Leave Home Without It/Prisoner of Love" |
| 1986
| George Burnett | Episode "Mike's Baby" |
| 1987
| Duncan Barnett | Episode "The Way to Dusty Death" |
Radio appearances
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
Bibliography
- {{cite journal|title=Producer/Director: Cornel Wilde |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43451108 |url-access=registration |access-date=May 20, 2025|journal=Film Comment|date= 1970|volume= 6|pages=52–61|last1=Coen |first1=John |issue = 1|jstor=43451108 }}
External links
{{Portal|Biography}}
{{Commons}}
- {{IMDb name|0664273}}
{{Cornel Wilde}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilde, Cornel}}
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:American male film actors
Category:Jewish American male actors
Category:20th Century Studios contract players
Category:Columbia Lions fencers
Category:Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni
Category:Townsend Harris High School alumni
Category:Deaths from leukemia in California
Category:Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Category:American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
Category:Hungarian emigrants to the United States
Category:20th-century American Jews