Director Robert Wise, who helmed "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" in 1979, passed away as a result of heart failure on Wednesday, September 14, at the age of 91, according to the New York Times.

A seven-time Oscar winner, Wise helped launch what would become the successful Star Trek movie franchise, reuniting the cast of the '60s television series 10 years after its cancellation.

With 39 films to his credit, Wise is also known to genre fans for helming the 1951 classic film, "The Day the Earth Stood Still," with Michael Rennie portraying an alien who has come to Earth to tell humanity just how dangerous nuclear wars really are.

He was comfortable directing movies of all types, and his body of work included working with Orson Welles on "Citizen Kane" and such landmark movies as "West Side Story" and "The Sound of Music," two of the most popular musicals of all time.