Oscar-winning director Robert Wise dead

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- The Oscar-winning producer/director of "West Side Story" and "The Sound of Music," Robert Wise, has died in Los Angeles at age 91.

Wise died Wednesday of heart failure, just four days after celebrating his birthday with friends, a family friend told the Los Angeles Times.

Wise began as a film editor --he edited "Citizen Kane" -- and turned to directing in 1944 when he took over the horror classic "The Curse of the Cat People" in mid-production. The Winchester, Ind., native went on to make 40 films that crossed every genre, the Times said.

Among his accomplishments were the sci-fi thriller, "The Day the Earth Stood Still," Paul Newman in "Somebody Up There Likes Me," Susan Heyward's Oscar-winning performance in "I Want to Live!" and Steve McQueen's Oscar-nominated performance in "The Sand Pebbles."

Wise received the Irving G. Thalberg Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1967 and was honored with the American Film Institute's life achievement award in 1998.

Wise's final project was the 2000 Showtime movie starring Peter Falk, "A Storm in Summer." He shot it in 21 days, the Times said.

Wise's first wife, Patricia, whom he married in 1942, died in 1975.

He is survived by his second wife, Millicent, a son, a daughter and a granddaughter.