LOS ANGELES - During his half-century career, Robert Wise was nominated for seven Academy Awards, had hits in a variety of genres and worked with Orson Welles on "Citizen Kane."
But he gained his greatest acclaim - and four Oscars - with the big-budget productions of "West Side Story" and "The Sound of Music," two of the most popular musicals of all time.
Wise died Wednesday of heart failure. He was 91.
In all, Wise directed 39 films, ranging from science fiction ("The Day the Earth Stood Still") to drama ("I Want to Live!") to war stories ("Run Silent Run Deep") to Westerns ("Tribute to a Bad Man").
He also was nominated for an Oscar for editing "Citizen Kane."
"I'd rather do my own thing, which has been to choose projects that take me into all different kinds of genres," he once told The Associated Press. "I don't have a favorite kind of film to make. I just look for the best material I can find."
Wise died after falling ill and being rushed to the University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center, family friend and longtime entertainment agent Lawrence Mirisch told The Associated Press.
The director had appeared to be in good health Saturday when he celebrated his 91st birthday with friends, Mirisch said.
Wise's wife, Millicent, learned of her husband's death while in Spain for the inauguration ceremony of the San Sebastian Film Festival, which was featuring a retrospective of his work.
While many of his films were classics of their genre, his two revered musicals towered over all of them.
Wise won the best director Oscar for 1961's "West Side Story" (shared with Jerome Robbins) and for 1965's "The Sound of Music." He also received producer Oscars for each film for winning best picture.
"West Side Story" was the tale of "Romeo and Juliet" set in the New York City tenement slums. Co-directed by Wise and Jerome Robbins, with music by Leonard Bernstein, it won 10 Academy Awards.
"The Sound of Music," which told the story of the singing von Trapp family's escape from Nazi-ruled Austria, won five Oscars. It was for many years the top-grossing film of all time.
Wise gave much of the credit for the film's success to its stars, Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.
"A big part of a director's job is done if he gets the right actors in the right roles," he once said. "That doesn't mean you don't help actors, but once we thought about Julie and Chris, we didn't seriously consider anyone else."
He also credited Welles, for whom he edited "The Magnificent Ambersons" as well as "Citizen Kane," as a major influence, adding that the actor-director-writer was "as close to a genius as anyone I have ever met."
"Citizen Kane" was "a marvelous film to work on - well-planned and well-shot," Wise once said. It has topped many polls over the years as the best film ever made.
More recently, he served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the Directors Guild of America.
Born Sept. 10, 1914, in Winchester, Ind., Wise dropped out of college during the Depression after his brother, an accountant at RKO, helped get him a job at the studio.
He worked his way up to film editor or co-editor on such movies as "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "The Devil and Daniel Webster."
He got his chance at directing almost by accident when he was assigned to finish the 1944 film "The Curse of the Cat People" after the original director fell too far behind schedule.
Pleased with his work, horror film producer Val Lewton assigned Wise to direct the Boris Karloff film "The Body Snatcher" the following year.
In addition to his four Oscars, Wise was awarded the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, a special Oscar for sustained achievement, in 1966. He also received the Directors Guild of America's highest honor, the D.W. Griffith Award, in 1988.
His last film, 1989's "Rooftops," was another try at an urban musical like "West Side Story" but with modern-day pop music and rough language. It wasn't successful but many critics praised Wise's effort.
Films of Robert Wise:
As director (sometimes also producer):
The Curse of the Cat People, 1944
Mademoiselle Fifi, 1944
The Body Snatcher, 1945
A Game of Death, 1945
Criminal Court, 1946
Born to Kill, 1947
Mystery in Mexico, 1948
Blood on the Moon, 1948
The Set-Up, 1949
Two Flags West, 1950
Three Secrets, 1950
The House on Telegraph Hill, 1951
The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951
The Captive City, 1952
Something for the Birds, 1952
The Desert Rats, 1953
Destination Gobi, 1953
So Big, 1953
Executive Suite, 1954
Helen of Troy, 1955
Tribute to a Bad Man, 1956
Somebody Up There Likes Me, 1956
This Could Be the Night, 1957
Until They Sail, 1957
Run Silent Run Deep, 1958
I Want To Live!, 1958
Odds Against Tomorrow, 1959
West Side Story, 1961 (co-director)
Two for the Seesaw, 1962
The Haunting, 1963
The Sound of Music, 1965
The Sand Pebbles, 1966
Star!, 1968
The Andromeda Strain, 1972
Two People, 1973
The Hindenburg, 1975
Audrey Rose, 1977
Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 1979
Rooftops, 1989
A Storm in Summer, 2000 (TV film)
As editor (selected films):
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, 1939
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1939
All That Money Can Buy, 1941
The Devil and Daniel Webster, 1941
Citizen Kane, 1941
The Magnificent Ambersons, 1942
The Fallen Sparrow, 1943
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