Back to : Westwood Memorial Park - Celebrity Graves
The Final Resting Place of Cornel Wilde.
Cornel Wilde
13th.October 1915 -
16th.October 1989.
Actor who appeared in many films throughout the 1940's and 50's.
Located in the lawned center section just as you enter by the trees.
Cause of Death - Leukemia.
Cornelius Louis Wilde was an American actor. Born in New York City to Jewish immigrants from Austria-Hungary, Wilde traveled throughout Europe in his youth, acquiring the ability to speak many languages. He qualified for the United States fencing team prior to the 1936 Summer Olympic Games, but quit the team just prior to the games in order to take a role in the theater. Hired as a fencing teacher by Laurence Olivier for his 1940 Broadway production of Romeo and Juliet, Wilde was given the role of Tybalt in the production. Because of this role, he was noticed by Hollywood.
Wilde had several small film roles until he played the role of Frédéric Chopin in 1945's A Song to Remember, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. He spent the rest of the decade appearing in romantic and swashbuckling films, but he also appeared in some significant films noir Leave Her to Heaven (1945), Road House (1948) and Shockproof (1949). Wilde's career entered an interesting creative stretch when in the 1950s he created his own film production company, producing the film noir The Big Combo (1955) and played the lead. He eventually produced, directed and starred in The Naked Prey (1966), in which he played a naked man being tracked by hunters from an African tribe affronted by the
behavior of members of a safari party. His other notable directing efforts include Beach Red (1967) and No Blade of Grass (1970).
He married actress Jean Wallace, the former Mrs. Franchot Tone, who starred with him in several films including The Big Combo and Sword of Lancelot (1963). They divorced in 1981.
Cornel Wilde died of leukemia at the age of 74.
Cornel Wilde has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.