| Name | Sidney Lumet |
|---|---|
| Caption | Lumet at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival |
| Birth date | June 25, 1924 |
| Birth place | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Years active | 1939–present |
| Spouse | Rita Gam (1949–1954) Gloria Vanderbilt (1956–1963) Gail Jones (1963–1978) Mary Gimbel (1980–) |
Sidney Lumet (, loo-MET; born June 25, 1924) is an American film director, with over 50 films to his name, including 12 Angry Men (1957), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976) and The Verdict (1982), all of which earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director.
According to The Encyclopedia of Hollywood, Lumet is one of the most prolific directors of the modern era making more than one movie per year on average since his directorial debut in 1957. He is especially noted for his ability to draw major actors to his projects, "because of his visual economy, strong direction of actors, vigorous storytelling and use of the camera to accent themes," notes Turner Classic Movies. "Lumet produced a body of work that could only be defined as extraordinary."
with Henry Fonda and Lee J. Cobb (1957)]] His first movie, 12 Angry Men, was typical of his best work, writes film historian Stephen Bowles, and was an auspicious beginning for Lumet. It was a critical success and established Lumet as a director skilled at adapting theatrical properties to motion pictures. For Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, seeing the film became a "pivotal moment" in her life, as she was at that time considering a career in law. "It sold me that I was on the right path," she said. He divided his energies among other idealistic problem pictures, adaptations of plays and novels, big stylish pictures, tense melodramas, and New York-based black comedies dealing with society and American culture. A controversial TV show he directed in 1960 gained him notoriety: The Sacco-Vanzetti Story on NBC; According to the NY Times, "the drama drew flack from the state of Massachusetts (where Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were tried and executed) because it was thought to postulate that the condemned murderers were, in fact, wholly innocent. But the brouhaha actually did Lumet more good than harm, sending several prestigious film assignments his way." According to film historians Gerald Mast and Bruce Kawin, Lumet’s "sensitivity to actors and to the rhythms of the city have made him America’s longest-lived descendant of the 1950s Neorealist tradition and its urgent commitment to ethical responsibility." His debut film, Twelve Angry Men, was an acclaimed picture in its day: it was a model for liberal reason and fellowship in the Eisenhower era; or maybe it was an alarming example of how easily any jury could be swayed.” The film and its director were nominated for Academy Awards. Lumet was nominated for the Director’s Guild Award and the film was widely praised by critics.
The Encyclopedia of World Biography states that his films often feature actors who studied "Method acting", "characterized by an earthy, introspective style. A leading example of such "Method" actors would be Al Pacino, who, early in his career, studied under Method acting guru Lee Strasberg. Lumet also prefers the appearance of spontaneity in both his actors and settings, an "improvisational look achieved by shooting much of his work on location." He was able to prepare and execute a production in rapid order, allowing him to consistently stay within a modest budget. When filming Prince of the City, for example, although there were over 130 speaking roles and 135 different locations, he was able to coordinate the entire shoot in fifty-two days. As a result, write historians Charles Harpole and Thomas Schatz, performers were eager to work with him as they considered him to be an "outstanding director of actors." And they note that "whereas many directors disliked rehearsals or advising actors on how to build their character, Lumet excelled at both." As a result, he was able to give his performers a cinematic showcase for their abilities and help them deepen their acting contribution.
Joanna Rapf, writing about the filming of The Verdict, states that Lumet gives a lot of personal attention to his actors, "listening to them, touching them." She describes how Lumet and star Paul Newman sat on a bench secluded from the main set, where Newman had taken his shoes off, in order to privately discuss an important scene about to be shot. . . . The actors walk through their scenes before the camera rolls. Lumet likes to shoot a scene in one take, two at the most. "I call him Speedy Gonzales, the only man I know who'll double-park in front of a whorehouse," kids Paul Newman privately. "He's arrogant about not shooting more than he has to. He doesn't give himself any protection. I know I would," Newman adds.
Actor Christopher Reeve, who co-starred in Deathtrap, said that Lumet "knows how to talk technical language—if you want to work that way—he knows how to talk Method, he knows how to improvise, and he does it all equally well."
Throughout a 2006 interview, he reiterated that "he is fascinated by the human cost involved in following passions and commitments, and the cost those passions and commitments inflict on others." This theme is at the "core" of most of his movies, notes Rapf, "including his stories of corruption in the New York police department and family dramas such as in Daniel.
"As a child of the Depression," writes Joanna Rapf, "growing up poor in New York City with poverty and corruption all around him, Lumet became concerned with the importance of justice to a democracy. He says he likes questioning things, people, institutions, what is considered by society as 'right' and 'wrong.'" He admits, however, that he does not believe that art itself has the power to change anything. "There is, as he says, a lot of 'shit' to deal with in the entertainment industry, but the secret of good work is to maintain your honesty and your passion."
Film historian David Thomson writes "He has steady themes: the fragility of justice, and the police and their corruption.". He adds, "Lumet quickly became esteemed…[and he] got a habit for big issues – Fail-Safe, The Pawnbroker, The Hill, – and seemed torn between dullness and pathos. … Network …was the closest he had come to a successful comedy. He was that rarity of the 1970s, a director happy to serve his material—yet seemingly not touched or changed by it."
He used New York time and again as the backdrop—if not the symbol—of his "preoccupation with America’s decline," according to film historians Scott and Barbara Siegel.
In a 2007 interview with New York Magazine, he was asked, "Almost all of your films—from The Pawnbroker to your latest—have an intense level of that famous New York grit. Is being streetwise really such a difference between us and Hollywood?" Lumet replied: "In L.A., there’s no streets! No sense of a neighborhood! They talk about us not knowing who lives in the same apartment complex as us—bullshit! I know who lives in my building. In L.A., how much can you really find out about anybody else? ... Really, it’s just about human contact. It seems to me that our greatest problems today are coming out of the increasing isolation of people, everywhere."
Partly because he has been willing and able to take on so many significant social issues and problems, "he can deliver powerhouse performances from lead actors, and fine work from character actors," writes film historian Thomson. He is "one of the stalwart figures of New York moviemaking. He abides by good scripts, when he gets them."
According to Katz's Film Encyclopedia, “Although critical evaluation of Lumet’s work wavered widely from film to film, on the whole the director’s body of work has been held in high esteem. Critical opinion has generally viewed him as a sensitive and intelligent director who possesses considerable good taste, the courage to experiment with a variety of techniques and styles, and an uncommon gift for handling actors."
In a quote from his book, Lumet emphasized the logistics of directing:
:"Someone once asked me what making a movie was like. I said it was like making a mosaic. Each setup is like a tiny tile (a setup, the basic component of a film’s production, consists of one camera position and its associated lighting). You color it, shape it, polish it as best you can. You’ll do six or seven hundred of these, maybe a thousand. (There can easily be that many setups in a movie.) Then you literally paste them together and hope it’s what you set out to do."
Lumet's published memoir about his life in film, Making Movies (1996), is "extremely lighthearted and infectious in its enthusiasm for the craft of moviemaking itself," writes Bowles, "and is in marked contrast to the tone and style of most of his films. Perhaps Lumet's signature as a director is his work with actors—and his exceptional ability to draw high-quality, sometimes extraordinary performances from even the most unexpected quarters" Jake Coyle, Associated Press writer, agrees: "While Lumet has for years gone relatively underappreciated, actors have consistently turned in some of their most memorable performances under his stewardship. From Katharine Hepburn to Faye Dunaway, Henry Fonda to Paul Newman, Lumet was known as an actor's director,"
;Quotes by others
Category:1924 births Category:Living people Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients Category:American film directors Category:American Jews Category:Best Director Golden Globe winners Category:Jewish actors Category:People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:Yiddish theatre performers Category:American writers Category:Columbia University alumni Category:American film actors Category:American film producers Category:American screenwriters Category:Writers from New York
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| Name | Arthur Miller |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Birthdate | October 17, 1915 |
| Birthplace | New York City, New York |
| Deathdate | February 10, 2005 |
| Deathplace | Roxbury, Connecticut, USA |
| Occupation | Playwright, essayist |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan| notableworks = Death of a Salesman, The Crucible and A View From The Bridge |
| Awards | Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1949),Kennedy Center Honors (1984) |
| Spouse | Mary Slattery (1940–1956)Marilyn Monroe (1956–1961)Inge Morath (1962–2002) |
| Relatives | Joan Copeland (sister) Kermit Miller (brother) Rebecca Miller (daughter) Daniel Miller (son)Daniel Day-Lewis (son-in-law) |
Miller was often in the public eye, particularly during the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, a period during which he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and was married to Marilyn Monroe.
In 1938, Miller received a BA in English. After graduation, he joined the Federal Theater Project, a New Deal agency established to provide jobs in the theater. He chose the theater project although he had an offer to work as a scriptwriter for 20th Century Fox. However, Congress, worried about possible Communist infiltration, closed the project in 1939. Miller began working in the Brooklyn Navy Yard while continuing to write radio plays, some of which were broadcast on CBS.
On August 5, 1940, he married his college sweetheart, Mary Slattery, the Catholic daughter of an insurance salesman. Robert, a writer and film director, produced the 1996 movie version of The Crucible. one of the classics of world theater.
In 1952, Kazan appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC); fearful of being blacklisted from Hollywood, Kazan named eight members of the Group Theatre, including Clifford Odets, Paula Strasberg, Lillian Hellman, Joe Bromberg, and John Garfield, The Crucible, in which Miller likened the situation with the House Un-American Activities Committee to the witch hunt in Salem, and was adapted into an opera by Robert Ward which won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1962. Miller and Kazan remained close friends throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, but after Kazan's testimony to the HUAC, the pair's friendship ended, and they did not speak to each other for the next ten years. The HUAC took an interest in Miller himself not long after The Crucible opened, denying him a passport to attend the play's London opening in 1954. Kazan defended his own actions through his film On the Waterfront, in which a dockworker heroically testifies against a corrupt union boss.
Miller's experience with the HUAC affected him throughout his life. In the late 1970s he became very interested in the highly publicized Barbara Gibbons murder case, in which Gibbons' son Peter Reilly was convicted of his mother's murder based on what many felt was a coerced confession and little other evidence. City Confidential, an A&E; Network program about the murder, postulated that part of the reason Miller took such an active interest (including supporting Reilly's defense and using his own celebrity to bring attention to Reilly's plight) was because he had felt similarly persecuted in his run-in with the HUAC. He sympathized with Reilly, whom he firmly believed to be innocent and to have been railroaded by the Connecticut State Police and the Attorney General who had initially prosecuted the case. Miller and Monroe had first met in April 1951, when they had a brief affair, and had remained in contact since then.
When Miller applied in 1956 for a routine renewal of his passport, the HUAC used this opportunity to subpoena him to appear before the committee. Before appearing, Miller asked the committee not to ask him to name names, to which the chairman agreed. he gave the committee a detailed account of his political activities (leaving out the fact that he was a communist party member). Reneging on the chairman's promise, the committee asked him to reveal the names of friends and colleagues who had participated in similar activities. Miller refused to comply with the request, saying "I could not use the name of another person and bring trouble on him." As a result a judge found Miller guilty of contempt of Congress in May 1957. Miller was fined $500, sentenced to thirty days in prison, blacklisted, and disallowed a U.S. passport. In 1958 his conviction was overturned by the court of appeals, which ruled that Miller had been misled by the chairman of the HUAC.
After his conviction was overturned, Miller began work on The Misfits, starring his wife. Miller said that the filming was one of the lowest points in his life, and shortly before the film's premiere in 1961, the pair divorced. Nineteen months later, Monroe died of an apparent drug overdose.
Miller married photographer Inge Morath on February 17, 1962, and the first of their two children, Rebecca, was born that September. Their son Daniel was born with Down syndrome in November 1966, and was consequently institutionalized and excluded from the Millers' personal life at Arthur's insistence. That same year, Miller produced Incident at Vichy. In 1965, Miller was elected the first American president of International PEN, a position which he held for four years. It was Miller's most successful play since Death of a Salesman. Throughout the 1970s, Miller spent much of his time experimenting with the theatre, producing one-act plays such as Fame and The Reason Why, and traveling with his wife, producing In The Country and Chinese Encounters with her. Both his 1972 comedy The Creation of the World and Other Business and its musical adaptation, Up from Paradise, were critical and commercial failures. and in 1984, Salesman in Beijing, a book about Miller's experiences in Beijing, was published. Around the same time, Death of a Salesman was made into a TV movie starring Dustin Hoffman as Willy Loman. Shown on CBS, it attracted 25 million viewers. During the early 1990s Miller wrote three new plays, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991), The Last Yankee (1992), and Broken Glass (1994). In 1996, a film of The Crucible starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder opened. Miller spent much of 1996 working on the screenplay to the film. Mr. Peters' Connections was staged off-Broadway in 1998, and Death of a Salesman was revived on Broadway in 1999 to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. The play, once again, was a large critical success, winning a Tony Award for best revival of a play.
In December 2004, the 89-year-old Miller announced that he had been in love with 34-year-old minimalist painter Agnes Barley and had been living with her at his Connecticut farm since 2002, and that they intended to marry. Within hours of her father's death, Rebecca Miller ordered Barley to vacate the premises, having consistently opposed the relationship. Miller's final play, Finishing the Picture, opened at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, in the fall of 2004, with one character said to be based on Barley. Miller said that the work was based on the experience of filming The Misfits.
When interviewed by BBC4 for The Atheism Tapes, he stated that he had been an atheist since his teens. After his death, many respected actors, directors, and producers paid tribute to Miller,
Miller's papers are housed at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin.
;Interviews
;Obituaries
Category:American dramatists and playwrights Category:Jewish American writers Category:Jewish dramatists and playwrights Category:Writers from Connecticut Category:Writers from New York City Category:University of Michigan alumni Category:American atheists Category:Jewish atheists
Category:Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners Category:Tony Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Olivier Award winners Category:Abraham Lincoln High School (Brooklyn, New York) alumni Category:People from New York City Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent Category:Cardiovascular disease deaths in Connecticut Category:Deaths from heart failure Category:Marilyn Monroe Category:PEN Category:1915 births Category:2005 deaths
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| Name | Henry Fonda |
|---|---|
| Caption | Fonda in the 1937 film Slim. |
| Birth date | May 16, 1905 |
| Birth place | Grand Island, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Death date | August 12, 1982 |
| Death place | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Birth name | Henry Jaynes Fonda |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1935–1982 |
| Spouse | Margaret Sullavan (1931-1932) Frances Ford Seymour (1936-1950) Susan Blanchard (1950-1956) Afdera Franchetti (1957-1961) Shirlee Mae Adams (1965-1982) |
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American film and stage actor. He was both fascinated by the stage, learning everything from set construction to stage production, and also profoundly embarrassed by his acting ability. Henry Fonda Theater is located at 6126 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
Henry Fonda received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1978. |rowspan=4|Academy Awards |1940 |Best Actor |The Grapes of Wrath |Nominated |- |1957 |Best Picture |12 Angry Men |NominatedProducer |- |1981 |Best Actor |On Golden Pond |Won |- |1980 |Honorary Award | |Lifetime Achievement |- |rowspan=2|BAFTA Awards |1958 |Best Actor |12 Angry Men |Won |- |1981 |Best Actor |On Golden Pond |Nominated |- |rowspan="3"|Emmy Awards |- |1973 |Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie |The Red Pony |Nominated |- |1980 |Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie |Gideon's Trumpet |Nominated |- |rowspan="3" |Golden Globes |1958 |Best Motion Picture Actor - Drama |12 Angry Men |Nominated |- |1980 |Cecil B. DeMille Award |Lifetime Achievement |Honorary |- |1982 |Best Motion Picture Actor - Drama |On Golden Pond |Won |- |rowspan="3"|Tony Awards |1975 |Best Actor |Clarence Darrow |Nominated |- |1979 |Special Award |Lifetime Achievement |Honorary |- |1948 |Best Actor |Mister Roberts |Won |}
Category:1905 births Category:1982 deaths Category:20th-century actors Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients Category:Actors from Omaha, Nebraska Category:American Christian Scientists Category:American film actors Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Beekeepers Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Foreign Actor BAFTA Award winners Category:California Democrats Category:Cardiovascular disease deaths in California Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Nebraska Democrats Category:Recipients of the Bronze Star Medal Category:Spaghetti Western actors Category:Tony Award winners Category:United States Navy officers Category:Vaudeville performers Category:Western (genre) film actors
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![Director Sidney Lumet, left, actress Amy Ryan and actor Ethan Hawke, right, attend a New York Film Festival screening of "Before The Devil Knows You´re Dead", Friday, Oct. 12, 2007, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini) nf2](http://web.archive.org./web/20110414123921im_/http://cdn.wn.com/ph/img/05/9e/f90dfc2e9e7a9490b4d440bbe820-medium.jpg "Director Sidney Lumet, left, actress Amy Ryan and actor Ethan Hawke, right, attend a New York Film Festival screening of "Before The Devil Knows You´re Dead", Friday, Oct. 12, 2007, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini) nf2")
