William Augustus Wellman (February 29, 1896 – December 9, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and military pilot.

He was previously a decorated combat pilot during World War I, serving in the Lafayette Flying Corps of the French Air Force, and earning a Croix de Guerre with two palms for valorous action.

[7] Later, young William worked as a salesman, as a general laborer in a lumber yard, and as a player on a minor-league hockey team.

[8] While in Paris, Wellman joined the French Foreign Legion and was assigned on December 3, 1917, as a fighter pilot, becoming the first American to join Escadrille N.87 in the Lafayette Flying Corps (not the sub-unit Lafayette Escadrille as usually stated),[9][10] where he earned himself the nickname "Wild Bill", and was awarded the Croix de Guerre with two palms.

Wellman's combat experience culminated in three recorded "kills", along with five probables, although he was ultimately shot down by German anti-aircraft fire on March 21, 1918.

While in San Diego, Wellman flew to Hollywood for the weekends in his Spad fighter, using Douglas Fairbanks' polo field in Bel Air as a landing strip.

[8] Fairbanks was fascinated with the true-life adventures of "Wild Bill"[8] and promised to recommend him for a job in the movie business; he was responsible for Wellman being cast in the juvenile lead of The Knickerbocker Buckaroo (1919).

[5] Wellman was hired for the role of a young officer in Evangeline (1919), but he was fired for slapping Miriam Cooper, the film's star and also the wife of the production's director, Raoul Walsh.

[7] Wellman hated being an actor, thinking it an "unmanly" profession,[14] and was miserable watching himself on screen while learning the craft.

One strict rule that Durning enforced was no fraternization with screen femme fatales, which almost immediately Wellman broke, leading to a confrontation and a thrashing from the director.

In the 1st Academy Awards it was one of two films to win Best Picture (the other was Sunrise), although, due to tensions within the studio regarding time and budget overages, Wellman wasn't invited to the event.

Joe (1945), The Iron Curtain (1948), Battleground (1949) and three films starring and produced by John Wayne: Island in the Sky (1953), The High and the Mighty (1954), and Blood Alley (1955).

Wellman's work was influenced by his good friend and fellow film director Howard Hawks, with whom he rode motorcycles together in a group called the Moraga Spit and Polish Club.

[15] Despite his reputation for not coddling his leading men and women, he coaxed Oscar-nominated performances from seven actors: Fredric March and Janet Gaynor (A Star Is Born), Brian Donlevy (Beau Geste), Robert Mitchum (The Story of G.I.

Wellman reportedly hung a microphone from a broom so Beery could walk and talk within the scene, avoiding the static shot required for early sound shoots.

[21] Wellman revealed near the end of his life that he had married a French woman named Renee during his time in The Lafayette Flying Corps.