DIRECTOR JUST CAN'T BEAT ADDICTION: BUYING ART

For Billy Wilder, AA could stand for something besides Alcoholics Anonymous. He's an art addict.

Wilder, a six-time Oscar winner and writer-director of such movies as "The Apartment" and "Sunset Boulevard," swore off collecting four years ago and auctioned more than 80 items for $32.6 million. Two months later, he was buying again."It was like I'd gone through AA. But then I fell off the wagon," he said.

Now 87, Wilder said he hopes only to "make room to buy new pieces." He is selling 65 pieces at a Beverly Hills art gallery. The sale includes a poster from the release of "Sunset Boulevard" in Poland; a leather chaise longue designed by architect Charles Eames; and an assortment of sculptures by Wilder.