Born Wilhelm Dieterle in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. (His name is pronounced "Dett-err-lee," not, as is often mispronounced, "Dee-tur-lee.") Beginning an acting career in his teens, he appeared with various theatrical groups in Germany and Switzerland before joining Max Reinhardt in Berlin in 1918. At the same time, he appeared in scores of German silent films, including FIESCO (1913), THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN (1918), LUCRECIA BORGIA (1922)/LUKREZIA BORGIA, WAXWORKS (1924), and FAUST (1926). From 1923 he directed German films in which he invariably appeared. In 1930 he emigrated to Hollywood, where he developed into a dependable craftsman in the Warner Bros. mold. His best work for the company came at the very beginning of his contract, with such films as the exciting THE LAST FLIGHT (1931) and the delicious HER MAJESTY, LOVE (1931), and toward its end, when he handled the company's prestigious biopics of Pasteur (1935), Zola (1937), Juarez (1940) and others. In 1939 he moved to RKO, for which he directed a masterful version of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1939) and one of his best films, THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER (1941)/ALL THAT MONEY CAN BUY, a classic of Americana adapted from Stephen Vincent Benét's The Devil and Daniel Webster. If during the 1930s Dieterle was mostly respected for his pedantic technical proficiency and meticulous craftsmanship -- he was nicknamed "The Iron Stove" -- , in the 1940s he occasionally demonstrated a capacity for romantic expression in such films as Paramount's LOVE LETTERS (1945) and Selznick's PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (1948). His work in the 50s was progressively less distinguished. In 1958 he returned to Europe, to turn out one Italian and two German films before retiring in 1960. He came out of retirement to direct the dreadful cheapie QUICK, LET'S GET MARRIED (1964) that reunited him with Ray Milland and Ginger Rogers. He died in Bavaria in 1972.    Nominated for Directing 1937: THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA 1 nomination