Erich von Stroheim

Austrian-American film director and actor, born in 1885. One of the great and most notoriously uncompromising directors of the silent era, known for extravagant productions that ran over budget and over length. He directed Foolish Wives (1922), Greed (1924), and The Wedding March (1928), the last of which the studio cut heavily. After his directing career collapsed he became a character actor, notably in Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion (1937) and Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard (1950).