| Stanley Donen |
 |
| Born |
(1924-04-13) April 13, 1924 (age 88)
Columbia, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Occupation |
Film director, film producer, choreographer, dancer, stage director |
| Years active |
1940–2003 |
| Known for |
On the Town, Singin' in the Rain |
| Influenced by |
George Abbott, Fred Astaire, René Clair, Ernst Lubitsch |
| Influenced |
British New Wave, Bill Condon, Bob Fosse, Rob Marshall |
| Spouse |
Jeanne Coyne (1948–1951)
Marion Marshall (1952–1959)
Adelle Beatty (1960–1971)
Yvette Mimieux (1972–1985)
Pamela Braden (1990–1994) |
| Partner |
Elaine May |
Stanley Donen (pronounced /ˈdɔːnən/ DAWN-ən; born April 13, 1924) is an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are Singin' in the Rain and On the Town, both of which he co-directed with actor and dancer Gene Kelly. His other noteworthy films include Royal Wedding, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Funny Face, Indiscreet, Damn Yankees!, Charade, and Two for the Road. He received an Honorary Academy Award in 1998 for his body of work and a Career Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival in 2004.
Donen has been hailed by film critic David Quinlan as "the King of the Hollywood musicals".[1] He began his career in the chorus line on Broadway for director George Abbott, where he befriended Gene Kelly. In 1943 he went to Hollywood and worked as a choreographer for several years before he and Kelly made On the Town in 1949. He then worked as a contract director for MGM under producer Arthur Freed and continued to make hit films and gain critical acclaim, both as a solo director and for his work with Kelly. In 1952 Donen and Kelly co-directed the musical Singin' in the Rain, which went on to become regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. Donen's relationship with Kelly had been shaky for several years and deteriorated in 1955 during the making of their final collaboration: It's Always Fair Weather. He then broke his contract with MGM and became an independent producer of his own work in 1957. By the end of the 1950s musical films were losing popularity and Donen began to focus on comedies instead, continuing to make hit films until the late 1960s. After that his films became fewer and his last theatrical film was released in 1984. He briefly returned to the stage as a director in the 1990s and again in 2002. Donen was married five times and had three children. His current long term partner is film director and comedian Elaine May.
Donen is credited with transitioning Hollywood musical films from realistic backstage dramas where the songs were motivated by a stage setting or the physical presence of musicians to a more integrated art form where the music was unmotivated and the songs were a natural continuation of the story being told. Before Donen and Kelly made their films, musicals (such as the extravagant and stylized work of Busby Berkeley) were often set in a Broadway stage environment where the musical numbers were justified realistically. Donen and Kelly's films created a more cinematic form of movie musicals and included dances that could only be achieved in the medium of film. Donen has stated that what he was doing was a "direct continuation from the Astaire–Rogers musicals...which in turn came from René Clair and from Lubitsch...What we did was not geared towards realism but towards the unreal." Film critic Jean-Pierre Coursodon has said that Donen's contributions to the evolution of the Hollywood musical "outshines anybody else's, including Vincent Minnelli's." He is currently the last surviving notable film director of Hollywood's Golden Age
Stanley Donen was born in Columbia, South Carolina to Mordecai Moses Donen, a dress-shop manager, and Helen (Cohen), the daughter of a jewelry salesman. His younger sister Carla Donen Davis was born in August 1937. Although born to Jewish parents, he became an atheist in his youth. Donen has described his childhood as lonely and unhappy due to being one of the few Jews in Columbia and he was occasionally bullied and called names by anti-semitic classmates at school. To help cope with his isolation, he spent much of his youth in the local movie theaters in Columbia and was especially fond of westerns, comedies and thrillers. The film that had the strongest impact on him at that time was the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical Flying Down to Rio in 1933. Donen said that he "must have seen the picture thirty or forty times. I was transported into some sort of fantasy world where everything seemed to be happy, comfortable, easy and supported. A sense of well-being filled me." He also shot and screened home movies with an 8 mm camera and projector that his father bought for him.
Inspired by Astaire, Donen began to take dance lessons in Columbia and performed at the local Town Theater. His family would often travel to New York City during summer vacations where he frequently saw Broadway musicals and took further dance lessons. One of his early dance instructors in New York was Ned Wayburn, who had taught an eleven-year-old Fred Astaire in 1910. After graduating from high school at the age of sixteen, Donen attended the University of South Carolina for one summer semester, studying psychology. Encouraged and supported by his mother, he moved to New York City to pursue dancing on the stage in the fall of 1940. After two auditions he was cast as a chorus dancer in the original Broadway production of Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey, which was directed by the legendary George Abbott and starred Gene Kelly in his star making role. Abbott then asked Donen to appear in the chorus of his next Broadway show Best Foot Forward. He quickly became the show's assistant stage manager and Kelly asked him to be his assistant choreographer. Eventually Donen was fired from Best Foot Forward, but in 1942 he was the stage manager and assistant choreographer for Abbott's next show Beat the Band.[11] In 1946, he briefly returned to Broadway to help choreographer a few dance numbers for the show Call Me Mister.
In 1943 Arthur Freed, the successful producer of musical films at Metro Goldwyn Mayer, bought the film rights to Best Foot Forward and made a film version starring Lucille Ball and William Gaxton. Donen moved to Hollywood to audition for the film and ended up signing a one-year contract with MGM. In Best Foot Forward, Donen both appeared as a chorus dancer and was made assistant choreographer by Charles Walters. At MGM Donen renewed his friendship with Gene Kelly, who was quickly becoming a popular supporting actor in musicals. When Kelly was loaned out to Columbia Pictures for a film with Rita Hayworth, he was also offered the chance to choreograph his own dance numbers and asked Donen to be his assistant choreographer. Kelly stated that "Stanley needed a job. I needed someone to count for the cameraman, someone who knew the steps and could explain what I was going to do so the shot was set up correctly."[16] Donen accepted and helped choreograph three dance sequences with Kelly in Cover Girl, released in 1944. Donen came up with the idea for the "Alter Ego" dance sequence where Kelly's reflection jumps out of a shop window and dances with him. Director Charles Vidor insisted that the idea would never work, so Donen and Kelly directed the scene themselves and Donen spent over a year perfecting it in editing before the films release. The film made Gene Kelly a movie star and is considered by many film critics to be an important and innovative musical. Donen signed a one-year contract with Columbia and choreographed several films there,[22] but returned to MGM the following year when Kelly wanted his assistance on his next film.
In 1944 Donen and Kelly choreographed the musical Anchors Aweigh, released by MGM in 1945 and starring Kelly and Frank Sinatra. The most famous scene in this film is when Kelly dances with the cartoon mouse Jerry. The animation was supervised by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and is credited to cartoonist Fred Quimby, however the idea for the scene was Donen's. Originally Donen and Kelly had wanted to use either Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck for the sequence and met with Walt Disney to discuss the project. At the time Disney was working on a similar idea in The Three Caballeros and was unwilling to allow one of his characters to appear in an MGM film. The scene took two months to shoot Kelly's dancing and Donen spent a year perfecting it frame by frame. According to Joseph Barbera "the net result at the preview of Anchors Away that I went to, blew the audience away."
While Kelly completed his service in the U.S. Naval Air Service as a photographer from 1944 to 1946 Donen worked uncredited as a choreographer on a number of musical films. Of this period Donen said "I practiced my craft, working with music, track and photography. I often directed the sequences. I always tried to have an original idea about how to do musical sequences." Donen has stated that he was rejected from military service as 4-F for having high blood pressure. When Kelly returned to civilian life, he and Donen directed and choreographed Kelly's dance scenes in Living in a Big Way. They then began work on an original story about two baseball players in the early 20th century who spend their off season as vaudevillian song and dance men. This film would eventually become Take Me Out to the Ball Game in 1949. Kelly and Donen had hoped to co-direct the film, but Arthur Freed hired Busby Berkeley instead and they only directed Kelly's dance numbers. The film starred Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munshin.
[edit] 1949: On the Town
Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin, and Gene Kelly perform "New York, New York"
After the success of Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Arthur Freed gave Donen and Kelly the chance to direct On the Town, released in 1949. The film was an adaptation of the Betty Comden and Adolph Green Broadway musical about sailors on leave in New York City and was the first movie musical to be filmed on location. Donen and Kelly had wanted to shoot the entire film in New York, but Freed would only allow them to spend one week away from the studio. From this week they created the films famous opening number New York, New York. On the Town stars Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin, Ann Miller, Betty Garrett and Vera-Ellen. Kelly, Sinatra and Munshin play three sailors on a 24-hour shore leave in New York whose romantic ambitions get them more than they bargained for. The film was an instant success both financially and critically. It won the Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture and screenwriters Comden and Green won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical.
Like Orson Welles, Donen made his directorial debut at the age of 25. Donen has stated that Kelly was "responsible for most of the dance movements. I was behind the camera in the dramatic and musical sequences." Kelly believed that he and Donen “were a good team. I thought we complimented each other very well.”[32] With cinematographer Harold Rosson, Donen took full advantage of the opportunity to shoot on location, especially in the films opening song New York, New York. Away from both studio interference and sound stage constrictions, Donen shot a dazzling scene on the streets of New York City that utilizes many cinematic techniques which would not be used again until they were popularized by the French New Wave ten years later. These techniques included spacial jump cuts, 360 degree pans, hidden cameras, abruptly changing screen direction and non-professional actors. Never gratuitous or amateurish, this scene also establishes character development and sets up the plot of the film while creating a fun, fast paced, kinetic energy that influenced all musicals that came after it. Donen 's biographer Joseph A. Casper has said that "Today the film is regarded as a turning point: the first bona fide musical that moved dance, as well as the musical genre, out of the theater and captured it with and for film rather than on film; the first to make the city an important character; and the first to abandon the chorus."
Fred Astaire dancing on the walls and ceiling in
Royal Wedding
After the enormous success of On the Town Donen was able to sign a seven year contract with MGM as a director. His next two films would both be made for producer Arthur Freed, but without Gene Kelly. After being replaced as director on Pagan Love Song over personal differences with the film's star Esther Williams, Donen was given the chance to direct his boyhood idol Fred Astaire.
Royal Wedding starred Astaire and Jane Powell as a brother-sister American dancing team performing in England during the occasion of the royal wedding of Elizabeth and Philip in 1947. Judy Garland was originally cast in the lead role, but was fired for absenteeism (and made her first suicide attempt shortly afterwards) and was replaced by Powell. In the film Powell's love affair with a wealthy Englishman (Peter Lawford) threatens to ruin the brother-sister act, while Astaire has found his own local love interest (Sarah Churchill). The film is loosely based on Astaire's real life career with his sister and early dancing partner Adele Astaire, who retired after marrying an English Lord in 1932. The film contains one of Astaire's most famous dance sequences: the You're All the World to Me number where Astaire defies gravity by dancing first on the walls and then on the ceiling. The shot was achieved by building the set inside a rotating reinforced-steel cylindrical chamber with the camera attached to the base. Both Astaire and the films lyricist Alan Jay Lerner have claimed that they thought of the idea for the scene. The film included music by Lerner and Burton Lane and was released in 1951.
Later in 1951 Donen made Love Is Better Than Ever. The film stars Larry Parks, whose recent Oscar nominated performance in The Jolson Story had made him a star. In the film Parks plays a streetwise show-biz agent who finds himself compelled to marry an innocent young dance teacher played by Elizabeth Taylor. Donen and Gene Kelly briefly appear in cameo roles. The film remained unreleased for over a year after Parks admitted to the House Un-American Activities Committee that he had been a member of the Communist party and named the names of other members. When the film was finally released it was unsuccessful at the box office.
[edit] 1952: Singin' in the Rain
In 1952, Donen reteamed with Gene Kelly, who had just made An American in Paris and was at the height of his fame. The second Donen-Kelly collaboration as directors was Singin' in the Rain, which would become one of the most highly praised movies in film history. The film was produced by Arthur Freed, written by Comden and Green, photographed by Harold Rosson and starred Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor and Jean Hagen.
Freed wanted to make a musical using old songs that he and composer Nacio Herb Brown had written in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He hired Comden and Green to write a script around the concept, with Donen and Kelly involved from the early development stages. Comden and Green struggled to find a suitable story for the film, but realized that since all the songs reminded them of the time period in which they were written the film could be a satire of Hollywood's transition from silent films to "talkies" in the late 1920s. Comden, Green and Donen interviewed everyone at MGM who was in Hollywood during that time period and incorporated many of the anecdotes that they heard into the film, poking fun at both the first movie musicals and the technical difficulties with early sound films. These "Hollywood in-jokes" include the characters of producer R. F. Simpson and director Roscoe Dexter being loosely based on Arthur Freed and Busby Berkeley, and the audience laughing when Gene Kelly utters the trite dialogue "I love you, I love you" just like an audience allegedly did when silent film star John Gilbert uttered similar dialogue in the 1929 film His Glorious Night. Donen and Kelly also made use of MGM's large collection of sets, props, costumes and even outdated filming equipment from the 1920s. In the film Don Lockwood (Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Hagen) are two silent film stars in Hollywood whose careers are threatened by the invention of "talkies" and must train their voices to better suit the new medium. With help from his best friend Cosmo Brown (O'Connor) and love interest Kathy Selden (Reynolds), Lockwood saves his career by turning his latest film into a musical and helps Selden become a movie star. Kelly and Donen got along together during the making of the film, but Donen's objection to Kelly's "Broadway Melody" ballet sequence being too long was overruled by Kelly.
The film was a hit when it was released in April 1952, earning over $7.6 million. Kelly's An American in Paris had been the surprise Best Picture winner at the Oscars in March 1952 (where Arthur Freed also won the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award and Kelly won an Honorary Academy Award for his career achievements). MGM decided to re-release the film and Singin' in the Rain got pulled from many theaters in order to showcase the new Best Picture winner. Singin' in the Rain was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actress for Hagen and Best Original Score. Donald O'Connor won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy and Comden and Green once again won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical. Initially the film received only moderately good reviews from film critics such as Bosley Crowther and did not begin to be regarded as one of the greatest films ever made until the late 1960s. One of its earliest supporters was film critic Pauline Kael, who said that it "is perhaps the most enjoyable of all movie musicals–just about the best Hollywood musical of all time." It was re-released in 1975 to enormous critical and popular success. Among the its many honors, Singin' in the Rain was included in the first group of films to be inducted into the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress in 1989 and has been included on Sight and Sound's prestigious list of "Top Ten Films" twice, in 1982 and in 2002. Charlie Chaplin and Francois Truffaut were among its earliest fans, and Billy Wilder called the film "one of the five greatest pictures ever made."
Now established as a successful film director, Donen continued his solo career at MGM with Fearless Fagan in 1952. Based on a true story, the film stars Carleton Carpenter as a GI who brought his tamed lion with him when he joined the army. In 1953 Donen made the musical Give a Girl a Break. The film stars Debbie Reynolds, Marge Champion and Helen Wood as three aspiring dancers all competing for the lead role in a new Broadway musical. Bob Fosse, Gower Champion and Kurt Kasznar also appear in the film, with music by Burton Lane and Ira Gershwin. The films most famous sequence is the Give a Girl a Break dance between Reynolds and Fosse. The scene was choreographed backwards and then played back in reverse so as to create the illusion that the two are being surrounded by hundreds of balloons that instantly appear at the touch of their fingers. Shooting the film became a bitter experience for Donen due to a major on-set fight over the film's choreography between Fosse and Gower Champion. The fight split the cast and crew with Reynolds and Marge Champion taking Gower Champion's side and Donen taking Fosse's side. The film was not well reviewed upon release, but its reputation has grown over the years.
Donen solidified his solo career and scored another hit with the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Based on a short story by Stephen Vincent Benét, the film had music by Saul Chaplin and Gene de Paul, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer and choreography by Michael Kidd. In the film Jane Powell plays Milly, an 1850s frontierswoman who marries Adam (Howard Keel) only hours after meeting him. When she returns with Adam to his log cabin in the Oregon backwoods, Milly discovers that her husbands six brothers are uncivilized and oafish. She makes it her duty to domesticate them and, upon Milly's sarcastic suggestion, the brothers kidnap six women from a neighboring town in order to marry them. The film was shot in the new CinemaScope format and is remembered for its dance sequences, particularly the "barn raising scene" in which architecture and construction become aerobatic ballet steps. Since its release, the film has been criticized for being anti-woman by novelist Francine Prose, who has said that it is "one of the most repulsive movies about men and women that has ever been made" and calls it a musical about rape. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was one of the highest grossing films of 1954 and appeared on many critics 10 Best Films lists. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture), which it won. Its success was a surprise to MGM, which had invested more money in two of its other 1954 musicals: Rose Marie and Brigadoon, starring Gene Kelly. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was more profitable than both films, as well as On the Town and Singin' in the Rain and its success was a major turning point for Donen's career.
Later in 1954 Donen made Deep in My Heart, a biography of the Hungarian-born American operetta composer Sigmund Romberg starring José Ferrer. The film included cameo appearances by many of MGM's contract actors, including the only screen pairing of Gene Kelly and his brother Fred Kelly. Although it received mediocre reviews, Romberg's cult status and popularity helped make the film a hit financially.
In 1955 Donen teamed up with Gene Kelly for the third and final time. The musical It's Always Fair Weather was produced by Arthur Freed, written by Comden and Green and had music by André Previn. It starred Kelly, Dan Dailey, Cyd Charisse, Michael Kidd, and Dolores Gray and was shot in CinemaScope. Originally envisioned as a sequel to On the Town, Kelly, Dailey and Kidd play three ex-GIs who reunite 10 years after World War II and discover that none of their lives have turned out quite how they had expected. Kelly had approached Donen with this project as their next collaboration and at first Donen was reluctant to accept the offer now that he was an established director on his own. Their friendship deteriorated during production of the film and Donen has said that "the atmosphere from day one was very tense and nobody was speaking to anybody." Unlike their experience on On the Town, MGM would not allow Donen and Kelly to shoot on location in New York. It's Always Fair Weather was a moderately profitable film, but no where near the hit that On the Town or Singin' in the Rain had been. It was Donen's last film with Kelly, as well as his last with Arthur Freed. After the films completion he fulfilled his MGM contract agreement as a loan out to other studios over the next few years. His last project for MGM was completing the final four days of shooting Kismet in July 1955 when director Vincent Minnelli had other commitments.[61]
Donen's next film was at Paramount Pictures for producer Roger Edens. Funny Face contains four of the original George and Ira Gershwin songs from the 1927 Broadway musical of the same name that had starred Fred Astaire, although it is not an adaptation of that show. The film was loosely based on the life of fashion photographer Richard Avedon, who was also the visual consultant and designed the opening title sequence for the film. It was written by Leonard Gershe and included additional music by Gershe and Edens. Donen and Edens began pre-production at MGM, but had difficulty juggling Astaire and Audrey Hepburn's Paramount contracts, the Warner Brothers owned rights to the Gershwin music that they wanted and their own contracts at MGM. Eventually a deal was reached that both released Donen from his MGM contract and allowed him to make his next two films at Paramount and Warner Brothers respectively. In the film Astaire plays an aging fashion photographer who discovers the intellectual bohemian Hepburn at a used bookstore in Greenwich Village and turns her into his new model while falling in love with her in Paris. Donen, Avedon and cinematographer Ray June collaborated very closely to give the film an abstract, smokey look that resembled the fashion photography of the time period despite the protests of Paramount, which had recently spent a fortune developing the crisp VistaVision. Funny Face was screened in competition at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival and received good reviews from critics like Bosley Crowther, however Sight and Sound accused it of being anti-intellectual. While in pre-production on Funny Face, Donen received a letter from his old boss George Abbott inviting him to make a film version of his stage hit The Pajama Game at Warner Brothers. As part of the deal to secure the Gershwin music he wanted for Funny Face Donen was able to accept and the two co-directed the film version in 1957. The Pajama Game stars Doris Day and John Raitt, with music by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross and choreography by Bob Fosse. In the film, Raitt plays a plant supervisor at a nightwear factory who is in constant disputes with the plant's union organizer (Day), until they end up falling in love. The film was shot in six weeks and Donen described his working relationship with Abbott as relaxed, stating that "[Abbott would] play tennis, come watch on the set for an hour, then watch the rushes, then go home." It was only a modest financial success, but film critic Jean-Luc Godard praised it and declared "Donen is surely the master of the movie musical. The Pajama Game exists to prove it."
Donen's next film was Kiss Them for Me. He was personally asked by Cary Grant to direct the film and began developing it while still under contract at MGM. With a plot that strongly resembles On the Town, Grant, Ray Walston and Larry Blyden star as three navy officers on leave in San Francisco in 1944. Unlike On the Town this film is a dark comedy that contrasts the officers selfless heroism with their self-absorbed hedonism while on leave. The film was released in 1957 and received mostly poor reviews. It is also more famous for being the fourth and last mainstream Hollywood film that Jayne Mansfield would receive top billing in, despite her role being a supporting one.
After making three films in 1957 Donen became an independent producer and director. He had reluctantly agreed to direct Kiss Them for Me on condition that 20th Century Fox bought out his remaining contract with MGM. Now free from any legal obligations, he formed his own production company with Cary Grant: Grandon Productions, with a distribution deal through Warner Brothers. Donen would produce nearly all of his films for the rest of his career, sometimes under the name "Stanley Donen Productions". Donen and Grant inaugurated their company in 1958 with Indiscreet, based on a play by Norman Krasna and starring Grant and Ingrid Bergman. Because of Bergman's schedule, the film was shot on location in London where, much like he had in his directorial debut, Donen utilized such landmarks as the Leicester Galleries, the Royal Opera House and the Garrick Club. In the film Bergman plays a famous and reclusive actress who falls in love with the playboy-diplomat Grant, who tells her that he is already married and that his wife refuses to divorce him. When Bergman discovers that he has been lying about having a wife she invents a charade with another man in order to win Grant's full affection. The film's most famous scene involves Donen's clever circumvention of the strict Production Code. In the scene, Grant is in Paris while Bergman is still in London and the two exchange pillow talk over the phone. Donen used a split screen of the two stars with synchronized movements to make it appear as though they were in the same bed together. The film was a financial and critical success and Donen was compared to such great directors of comedy films as Ernst Lubitsch and George Cukor.
Donen briefly returned to the musical genre in 1958 with Damn Yankees!, based on George Abbott's Broadway hit. He again co-directed with Abbott in the same hands-off method of collaboration as their first film. Like The Pajama Game the film includes music by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross and choreography by Bob Fosse. It starred Tab Hunter, Gwen Verdon, and Ray Walston. Damn Yankees! is an adaptation of the Faust legend about a fan of the baseball team the Washington Senators who mentions that he would sell his soul to give the losing team a good hitter. Walston plays the Brooks Brothers suit wearing Devil who grants the fan his wish and transforms him into the muscular young hitter Joe Hardy (Hunter). Donen was able to shoot three real Senator-Yankee games on location with as many as seven hidden cameras at once. The low budget film was a moderate financial success and received good reviews. It was also Donen's last musical film for many years.
After the production of Indiscreet Donen made England his home base until the early 1970s. The waning popularity of musicals caused Donen to focus on comedy films during his time pin England. He said that his "London base afforded me the advantage of being away from the Hollywood rat race. Just going your own way in spite of whatever anyone else is doing or in spite of what you've done already was satisfying. I also had the advantage of the European influence: their way of looking at life, of making movies." While in England in the early 1960s Donen was praised as an early influence on the then emerging British New Wave film movement.
In the late 1950s Donen signed a non-exclusive, three film deal with Columbia Pictures. His first film to fulfill this contract was Once More, with Feeling! in 1960. Adapted by Harry Kurnitz from his own stage play, the film was shot in Paris and starred Yul Brynner and Kay Kendall. In the film Brynner plays a tyrannical orchestra conductor whose mistress (Kendall) grows tired of his tantrums and plots to marry him in order to quickly divorce him for his money. Kendall was terminally ill with leukemia during the shooting of the film and died before its release. It was not successful financially or critically. Donen quickly re-teamed with Brynner and Kurnitz for the film Surprise Package, also released in 1960. In this film Brynner plays an American gangster who is deported to the Greek island of Rhodes. Mitzi Gaynor plays the "surprise package" who is sent to the island to appease Brynner and Noël Coward plays the King of Rhodes who Brynner plots to dethrone. The film was not a financial success and Donen has stated that it was made because he "desperately needed money for personal reasons...it was one of the few times I've made a movie for money." These were the only two films that Donen completed for his Columbia contract. The studio cancelled the deal after their poor box office results and Donen was unable to produce the projects that he was pursuing at that time: playwright Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons and A Patch of Blue, both of which would go on to be successful films by other directors.
Grandon Productions produced Donen's next film: The Grass Is Greener, released through Universal Pictures in 1960. In the film Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr play the earl and countess of a large estate in England who are forced to permit guided tours of their mansion in order to help their financial problems. Robert Mitchum plays an American oil tycoon who falls in love with Kerr and Jean Simmons plays an eccentric American heiress who is Grant's former girlfriend. The film was a financial disappointment in the US, but successful in England where the original stage version had been a West End hit.
Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn in
Charade.
In 1963 Donen made one of his most praised films: Charade, starring Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy and Ned Glass. Donen has said that he had "always wanted to make a movie like one of my favorites, Hitchcock's North by Northwest" and the film has been referred to as "the best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made."[84] Charade was produced by Stanley Donen Productions, released through Universal and was adapted by Peter Stone from his own novel. In the film Reggie Lampert (Hepburn) discovers that her husband has been murdered and (at least) three sinister men are all searching for the $250,000 in gold that he had hidden somewhere. Peter Joshua (Grant) befriends Reggie and helps her fight off the three thugs while the two begin to fall in love, and in the end no one is quite who they seem to be. The film was released in December 1963, only two weeks after the Kennedy Assassination and the word "assassinate" had to be redubbed twice. It was Donen's most financially successful film and influenced a number of romantic comedy-thrillers released in the years preceding it. Film critic Judith Crist called it a "stylish and amusing melodrama" and Pauline Kael said it had "a freshness and spirit that makes [it] unlike the films of any other country" and was "probably the best American film of [1963]". In 2002 it was remade as The Truth About Charlie, directed by Jonathan Demme.
In 1966 Donen made another Hitchcock inspired film: Arabesque, starring Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren. The film was written by Julian Mitchell and Stanley Price, with Peter Stone brought in to do an uncredited rewrite. In the film Peck plays an American professor at Oxford University who is an expert in ancient hieroglyphics. He is approached by a Middle Eastern Prime Minister to investigate an organization that is attempting to assassinate him and uses hieroglyphic codes to communicate. The investigation leads Peck to one mystery after another, often involving the Prime Minister's mysterious mistress (Loren). The film was Donen's second box office hit in a row.
In 1967 Donen made Two for the Road, starring Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney with supporting roles by Eleanor Bron and Jacqueline Bisset early in her career. The film was conceived by Donen and written by novelist Frederic Raphael, who was nominated for an Academy Award. It has been called one of Donen's most personal films, "with glints of passion never disclosed before" and is "a veritable textbook on film editing." The films complicated and non-linear story is about the 12-year relationship between Hepburn and Finney over the course of four separate (but interwoven) road trips that they took together throughout the years in the south of France. It was moderately successful at the box office while the critical reception was extremely mixed. Bosley Crowther called the film "just another version of commercial American trash." Since its release the film has attained a cult following and been cited as an early example of non-linear storytelling in film. It is also the film that Donen is most frequently asked about by film students.
While living in England Donen had become a fan of the British variety show Beyond the Fringe and wanted to work with the shows comedy duo Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. The resulting film was Bedazzled, an updated version of the Faust legend in 1967. It was written by Cook with music by Moore, and also starred Eleanor Bron and Raquel Welch. In the film Moore plays a lonely young man whose unrequited love of his co-worker (Bron) drives him to attempt suicide. Just then the devil (Cook) appears and offers him seven wishes in exchange for his soul. The films fun-loving association with the Swinging London of the 1960s divided critics, but Roger Ebert called its satire "barbed and contemporary ... dry and understated," and overall, a "magnificently photographed, intelligent, very funny film."[92] On the other hand, Time Magazine called it the feeblest of all known variations on the Faust theme. The film was a hit and was especially popular among American college students. Donen considered it one of his favorites of his own films and called it "a very personal film in that I said a great deal about what I think is important in life." It was remade by director Harold Ramis in 2000.
In 1969 Donen directed Staircase, an adaptation of the autobiographical stage play by Charles Dyer with music by Dudley Moore. Rex Harrison and Richard Burton star as a middle-aged gay couple who run a London barber shop and live together in a "bad marriage". The film was shot in Paris for tax purposes and was not a financial success. It received poor reviews upon release, but has since been reevaluated by film critic Armond White in 2007. White called the film "a rare Hollywood movie to depict gay experience with wisdom, humor and warmth", and "a lost treasure".[96]
After Donen's marriage to Adelle Beatty ended he moved back to Hollywood in 1970. Producer Robert Evans asked Donen to direct an adaptation of the beloved children's book The Little Prince. Lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe wrote the music and screenplay and filming was done on location in Tunisia. The Little Prince stars Steven Warner in the title role, with Richard Kiley, Bob Fosse, Gene Wilder and Donna McKechnie. It was Donen's first musical film since Damn Yankees! Although it contained very little dancing, Fosse choreographed his own dance scenes as the snake. Lerner has stated that Donen "took it upon himself to change every tempo, delete musical phrases at will and distort the intention of every song until the entire score was unrecognizable".[98] It was released in 1974 and was considered a financial disaster.
Donen's next film was Lucky Lady, starring Liza Minnelli, Gene Hackman and Burt Reynolds. In the film Minnelli plays a Prohibition era bootlegger who smuggle alcohol from Mexico to California with the help of Hackman and Reynolds, who both compete for her affection. Donen has stated that he "really cared about [the film] and gave three years of my life to it...I think its a very good movie." It went over-budget and was unsuccessful at the box office. Most critics were unenthusiastic, however Jay Cocks praised the film for having "the glistening surface and full-throttle frivolity that characterized Hollywood films in the 1930s."
Nostalgia for old Hollywood movies would be a theme of Donen's next film: Movie Movie, produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment and scripted by Larry Gelbart. The film is actually two shorter films presented as an old fashioned double feature, complete with a fake movie trailer and an introduction by comedian George Burns. It starred George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Red Buttons, Michael Kidd and Eli Wallach and premiered in competition at the 29th Berlin International Film Festival in 1978. The first of the two films is Dynamite Hands, a black and white tribute to boxing–morality films. The second film is Baxter's Beauties of 1933, a tribute to the extravagant musicals of Busby Berkely. Like Donen's previous two films, it was unsuccessful both financially and critically.
In 1980 Donen made the science fiction film Saturn 3, starring Kirk Douglas, Farrah Fawcett and Harvey Keitel. Donen first read the script when its writer (and Movie Movie's set designer) John Barry showed it to him, prompting Donen to pass it along to Lew Grade. Donen was initially hired as the film's producer but Grade asked him to complete the film when first time director Barry was unable to direct. According to Donen "only a tiny bit of what Barry shot ended up in the finished film." It was a critical and financial disaster and initially Donen did not want to be credited as director.
Donen's last theatrical film to date was the May–December romance Blame It on Rio in 1984. The film is a remake of the 1977 Claude Berri film Un moment d'égarement and was written by Larry Gelbert and Charlie Peters. It stars Michael Caine, Joseph Bologna, Michelle Johnson, Valerie Harper and Demi Moore and was shot on location in Rio de Janeiro. In the film Caine and Bologna play wealthy executives on vacation with their families in Rio, where Caine has an affair with Bologna's teenage daughter (Johnson). It received poor reviews, but was a modest success financially.
In 1986 Donen produced the televised ceremony of the 58th Academy Awards, which included a musical performance of the song "Once a Star, Always a Star" with June Allyson, Leslie Caron, Marge Champion, Cyd Charisse, Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Jane Powell, Debbie Reynolds, and Esther Williams. Later in the show Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds presented the awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. Also in 1986 Donen directed a musical sequence for an episode of the popular TV series Moonlighting and directed the music video for Lionel Richie's song "Dancing on the Ceiling".
In 1989 Donen was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from the University of South Carolina. In his commencement address Donen stated that he thought he was unique in being the first tap dancer to be a doctor and then tap danced for the graduates. At around the same time Donen taught a seminar on film musicals at the Sundance Institute at the request of Robert Redford.
In 1993 Donen was preparing to produce and direct a movie musical adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring Michael Jackson. After allegations that Jackson had molested young boys at his Neverland ranch became a tabloid scandal, the project was abandoned. Later that year Donen directed a stage version of The Red Shoes at the George Gershwin Theater. He replaced the original director Susan Schulman just six weeks before the show opened. It closed after four days.
In 1998 Donen was awarded an Honorary Academy Award "in appreciation of a body of work marked by grace, elegance, wit and visual innovation."[108] In his acceptance speech he danced with his Oscar statue while singing Irving Berlin's "Cheek to Cheek", a song first popularized by his boyhood idol Fred Astaire. Martin Scorsese presented the award and created a montage of Donen's films for the show.
Donen's last film to date was the made-for-TV movie Love Letters, which aired on ABC in April 1999. The film starred Steven Weber and Laura Linney and was based on the play by A.R. Gurney. In the film, Webber plays a successful US Senator who finds out that his long lost love (Linney) has recently died. The two had only corresponded through mail over the years, and Webber remembers Linney through his collection of old love letters. Donen had wanted to make a theatrical film version of the play, but was unable to secure financing from any major studio and instead took the project to ABC.[109]
In 2002 Donen directed Elaine May's musical play Adult Entertainment starring Danny Aiello and Jeannie Berlin in Stamford, Connecticut.[110]
Kelly, Reynolds and O'Connor
Along with making a number of critically acclaimed and popular films, Donen's most important contribution to the art of film is helping to transition movie musicals from the realistic backstage settings of filmed theater to a more cinematic art form that integrates film with dance. Eventually film scholars would call this concept "cine-dance" (a dance that can only be created in the medium of film) and its origins are traced to the films that Donen choreographed and directed with Gene Kelly.
When "talkies" began to gain momentum in the film industry the Hollywood studios recruited the best talent from Broadway to make the first musicals. These films included Broadway Melody, which was promoted as the first "all singing, all talking, all dancing" film and had music by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown, and 42nd Street, the first major success of Busby Berkeley. These films helped establish the backstage musical, a sub-genre in which the films plot revolves around a stage show and the people involved in putting the show on. Although these first musicals set the basic standard for the genre, their musical numbers were either within the context of a stage performance or seemed tacked on and gratuitous, doing nothing to further the story or develop the characters. Donen has stated that he disliked the musicals of Busby Berkeley and that his own films were "a reaction against those backstage musicals." Donen credits producer Arthur Freed as being the driving force behind the evolution in movie musicals, adding that Freed "had some sort of instinct to change the musical from a backstage world into something else. He didn't quite know what to change it into, just that it had to change." Kelly stated that Donen was the only person he knew that understood how musicals could progress and better suite the film medium.[115] Donen and Kelly's films advanced the movie musical and set new standards with special effects, animation, editing and cinematography.
Donen and Kelly's first collaboration Cover Girl firmly established their intentions for musicals, particularly in the "Alter Ego" dance sequence. Aside from being a carefully crafted and perfected special effects shot that can only be achieved in the film medium, it also related to the film's story and the character's inner conflict. Donen and Kelly then tested the limits of films potential with the Jerry the Mouse dance in Anchors Aweigh, one of the most sophisticated combinations of live action and animation made at the time. By the time they made Take Me Out to the Ball Game they had perfected what Martin Rubin called an "indication of changing trends in musical films" which differed from the Berkeley spectacles towards "relatively small-scale affairs that place the major emphasis on comedy, transitions to the narrative, the cleverness of the lyrics and the personalities and performance skills of the stars, rather than on spectacle and group dynamics." Rubin credits Donen and Kelly with making musicals more realistic, compared to Berkeley's style of a "separation of narrative space from performance space" Take Me Out to the Ball Game was Berkeley's last film as a director and today can be viewed as a passing of the torch. Both Donen and Kelly found working with Berkeley difficult, and the director left before the film's completion. When Donen and Kelly directed their own work they were able to bring their ideas of what musicals could be to full fruition, including techniques that were later referred to as "cine-dance". Film scholar Casey Charness described "cine-dance" as “a melding of the distinctive strengths of dancing and filmmaking that had never been done before” and adds that Donen and Kelly “seem to have elevated Hollywood dance from simplistic display of either dancing or photographic ability into a perception that incorporates both what the dancer can do and what the camera can see...[They] developed a balance between camera and dancer that…encouraged both photographer and choreographer to contribute significantly to the creation and final effectiveness of dance.”
When Donen and Kelly made their directorial debut with On the Town, they boldly chose to open the film with a big, extravagant musical number that was shot on location in New York with fast paced editing and experimental camera work, thus making a strong and clean break from all stage-bound musicals that had been made up to that time. The opening number, and the entire film, were unlike any musicals of the past and made a giant leap forward for the genre. Their achievements reached a level of perfection on Singin' in the Rain, which appropriately is a musical about the birth of the movie musical. The film includes a musical montage that Donen says was “doing Busby Berkeley here, only we’re making fun of him.” Charness states that Singin' in the Rain's references to Berkeley “marks the first time the Hollywood musical had ever been reflexive, and amused at its own extravagant non-dancing inadequacy, at that” and that Berekeley’s “overhead kaleidoscope floral pattern is predominantly featured, as is the line of tap-dancing chorines, who are seen only from the knees down." Charness also states that the film's cinematography “moves the audience perspective along with the dance.” Charness also singles out the films famous title number and states that “it’s a very kinetic moment, for though there is no technically accomplished dance present, the feeling of swinging around in a circle with an open umbrella is a brilliantly apt choice of movement, one that will be readily identifiable by an audience which might know nothing kinesthetically of actual dance…Accompanying this movement is a breathless pullback into a high crane shot that takes place at the same time Kelly is swinging into his widest arcs with the umbrella. The effect is dizzying. Perhaps the finest single example of the application of camera knowhow to a dance moment in Donen-Kelly canon.” He goes on to compliment Donen's camera direction in the Moses Supposes number, stating that “certain camera techniques which Donen had by now formularized.”…”the dolly shot into medium shot to signify the ending of one shot and the beginning of another.” Although Donen credits earlier musicals by René Clair, Ernst Lubitsch, and Fred Astaire as having been integrated musicals, he also states that "in the early musicals of Lubitsch and Clair, they made it clear from the beginning that their characters were going to sing operatically. Gene and I didn't go that far. In 'Moses Supposes', he and Donald sort of talk themselves into a song." Donen's Royal Wedding and Give A Girl A Break continued to use special effect shots to create elaborate dance sequences, and Kelly used even more sophisticated animation in his film Invitation to Dance.
During his career Donen's biggest rival was Vincent Minnelli, director of such films as Meet Me in St. Louis, The Band Wagon, An American in Paris and Gigi. Like Donen, Minnelli was a contract director at MGM who was most famous for the musicals he made in the Freed Unit, and film scholars have often compared the careers of both directors. According to Donen's biographer Stephen Silverman, critics tend to "express a distinct preference for Donen's bold, no-nonsense style of direction over Minnelli's Impressionist visual palette and Expressionist character motivations", while most film directors are said to prefer the work of Minnelli. Michael Kidd, who worked with both directors early in his career, describes Minnelli as being much less open to collaborative suggestions than Donen. Film critics have also pointed out that the two directors camera work differs in that Minnelli would often use forward and backwards tracking shots while Donen would use horizontal tracking shots and crane shots, with critics considering Donen's approach to be better suited for dance sequences.
Not all film critics have praised Donen. David Thomson dismisses most of his later comedy films, but praises him for leading "the musical in a triumphant and personal direction: out of doors...Not even Minnelli can rival the fresh-air excitement of such sequences. And few can equal his integration of song, dance and story."[128] Andrew Sarris dismisses Donen as being without a personal style of his own and as being dependent upon his collaborators on his better films.
Among Donen's admirers are film directors Lindsay Anderson, Charlie Chaplin, Jules Dassin, Jean-Luc Godard, Stanley Kubrick, Karel Reisz, Martin Scorsese, and Francois Truffaut. Donen's skill as a director has been praised by such actors as Cyd Charisse and Audrey Hepburn. Debbie Reynolds has downplayed his contributions to Singin' in the Rain, stating that "Stanley just operated the camera, because Stanley didn't dance." Donen's work has been influential on such contemporary directors of film musicals as Bill Condon and Rob Marshall.[136] The 2011 film The Artist pays tribute to Singin' in the Rain (amongst other films),[137] and Donen praised the film after attending its Los Angeles premiere.[138]
Donen's relationship with Gene Kelly was complicated and he often spoke bitterly about his former friend and mentor decades after having last worked with him. Kelly was never explicitly negative about Donen in later years, however Donen's biographer Stephen Silverman has asserted that Kelly's comments were often condescending and demonstrated "a long-standing attempt to diminish Donen's contributions to their collective work." The reasons for their conflict were both personal (due to both men having been married to dancer Jeanne Coyne) and professional differences (due to Donen always feeling that Kelly did not respect him or treat him as an equal). It is also debatable as to which of the two deserves more credit for the films that they made together. Between 1944 and 1955 Donen and Kelly co-directed three films and choreographed (and unofficially co-directed) the dance sequences in four other films.
Jeanne Coyne was a professional dancer, choreographer and actress born in 1923. At the age of 7 Coyne enrolled in the Gene Kelly Studio of Dance in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and developed a schoolgirl crush on Kelly that lasted her entire life. In her twenties she pursued her dancing career in New York City and was cast in Best Foot Forward, where she reconnected with Kelly and first met Donen. Like both Donen and Kelly, she moved to Hollywood in the early 1940s and worked as a dancer and choreographer at MGM. She and Donen eloped in 1948, but their marriage became strained in 1949 until they separated in 1950 and finally divorced in 1951. During their marriage Donen confided to Coyne his frustration with Kelly while making On the Town, only to find that she immediately took Kelly's side. Coyne worked as Kelly's personal assistant on such films as On the Town, Summer Stock and An American in Paris while married to Donen and continued assisting Kelly until her death. There had been rumors that Kelly and Coyne were having an affair both during and after Coyne's marriage to Donen, as well as rumors that Donen was in love with Kelly's first wife Betsy Blair. Blair's autobiography makes no mention of an affair between Kelly and Coyne nor of any romantic attachments to or from Donen. However she does state that Donen's marriage to Coyne was unhappy and that Donen was very close to both her and Kelly. Kelly always thought that Donen's impulsive marriage to Coyne showed an emotional immaturity and lack of good judgement and in an interview Kelly stated that "Jeannie's marriage to Stanley was doomed from the start. Because every time Stanley looked at Jeannie, he saw Betsy, whom he loved; and every time Jeannie looked at Stanley, I guess she saw me. One way or another it was all pretty incestuous."[152] Kelly's marriage to Blair ended in 1957, after which he moved in with Coyne. They married in 1960 and had two children together. Coyne was diagnosed with leukemia and died in 1973.
Donen and Kelly first met during the Broadway production of Pal Joey, and became collaborators and friends during the production of Best Foot Forward in 1941. Their relationship has been described as similar to that of the characters Don Lockwood and Cosmo Brown in Singin' in the Rain, with Kelly as the star performer and Donen as his trusted sidekick. Kelly described Donen as being like a son to him and Donen initially idolized Kelly, while still finding him to be "cold, egotistical and very rough."[158] Although Donen has credited Kelly for "jump-starting his career as a filmmaker",[159] he has also stated that MGM producer Roger Edens was his biggest promoter. Many people believe that Donen owes everything to Kelly and Kelly biographer Clive Hirschhorn has described Donen as having "no particular identity or evident talent...and was just a kid from the south who wanted to make it in show business." However it is also true that a sixteen-year-old Donen came to New York with no connections or friends and after only two auditions landed a role on Broadway with one of its most successful directors. Donen has stated that he moved to Hollywood of his own accord, however other sources claim that he followed Kelly, who then helped him get his first job. Kelly would sometimes embarrass and patronize Donen in public, such as berating Donen for not being able to keep up with his dance steps during the rehearsals for Cover Girl. Donen has admitted that he did not consider himself to be a very good performer. Despite Donen's growing resentment of Kelly he was able to compartmentalize his personal feelings and professional attitude during their collaborations. Tensions between the two exploded on the set of It's Always Fair Weather. Donen had recently had a major hit with Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and did not want to make another film with Kelly. They fought on the set for the first time, with the now more confident Donen asserting himself. Donen almost quit the film and his friendship with Kelly ended. During the making of It's Always Fair Weather, Donen's self-confidence was high due to having just made two hit films: Deep in My Heart and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, while Vincent Minnelli's Brigadoon (which Kelly was closely involved in and had wanted to direct) was a flop and Kelly's own ambitious film Invitation to Dance was completed in 1954 but was not released by MGM until 1956, and was then financially unsuccessful despite having won the prestigious Golden Bear at the 6th Berlin International Film Festival.[175] Kelly's problems at that time also included unsuccessfully attempting to branch out into dramatic acting with The Devil Makes Three and Seagulls Over Sorrento, both of which had flopped, as well as his marriage to Betsy Blair beginning to fall apart. During the shooting of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Donen often complained about his budgetary constraints preventing him from having better sets or the luxury of shooting on location, while Brigadoon had a much larger budget. In later years Donen would state that he had nothing nice to say about Kelly.[176] At a 1991 tribute to Comden and Green, Kelly said in a public speech that Donen "needed [him] to grow up with" but added "I needed Stanley at the back of the camera." He also described Donen as being thought of as his whipping-boy at MGM.[115] Although Donen often complained that Kelly never gave him enough credit for their work, Kelly did credit him for the Jerry the Mouse and "Alter Ego" dance sequences. In 1992 Donen said "I'm grateful to him, but I paid back the debt, ten times over. And he got his money's worth out of me." Betsy Blair claimed to be "surprised and bemused" of Donen's bitterness towards Kelly in later interviews.
The equality of contributions of Donen and Kelly's collaborations is debatable. David Thomson has written about "the problem in assessing [Donen's] career: who did what in their collaboration? And what is Donen's real standing as a director?"[181] Thomson goes on to hypothesize that "nothing in his career suggests that Gene Kelly could have filmed himself singing in the rain with the exhilaration of Donen's retreating crane shot."[181] However set reports state that Kelly rode the camera boom between shots and during camera set-ups. Donen has stated that "by the time you hash it through from beginning to end ten million times, you can't remember who did what except in a few instances where you remember getting an idea." Composer Saul Chaplin said that "Gene was the prime mover and Stanley an eager and talented pupil."[183] During the shooting of On the Town, all memos and correspondence from MGM to the production were addressed exclusively to Donen, and not to Kelly. However, actress Kathleen Freeman stated that when people visited set of Singin' in the Rain to relate their experiences during the silent era, they would ask to speak Kelly. Singin' in the Rain art director Randall Duell has stated "Gene ran the show. Stan had some good ideas and worked with Gene, but he was still the 'office boy' to Gene, in a sense, although Gene had great respect for him. But they made a good team, because they were very compatible." Kelly also became heavily involved with the Singin' in the Rain script during its third draft, which is when the structure of the script in progress began to resemble the finished film. Comparing Donen and Kelly's films as solo directors, Donen's were usually more critically acclaimed and financially successful than Kelly's films. Kelly's 1969 film Hello Dolly! was the most expensive musical ever made upon its release and is credited with effectively killing the Hollywood musical. The two men were competitive about their separate careers.
Donen with
Mike Nichols at a 2010 Lincoln Center retrospective
Donen was married five times and had three children. All of his marriages ended in divorce. His first wife was dancer, choreographer and actress Jeanne Coyne. They married on April 14, 1948 and divorced in May 1951. Donen's second wife was actress Marion Marshall, who had been the girlfriend and protégé of Howard Hawks and later married actor Robert Wagner. Donen and Marshall had two sons together: Peter Donen, born in 1953, and Joshua Donen, born in 1955. These sons comprise the name of Cary Grant's character in the film Charade. Donen and Marshall were married from 1952 until 1959. They had a lengthy custody battle over their two sons after Marshall married Robert Wagner and Donen moved to England.[188] Donen's third wife was Adelle, Countess Beatty. She had previously been the second wife of the 2nd Earl Beatty. They had one son: Mark Donen, born in 1962, and lived together in London. They were married in 1960 and separated in 1969 before divorcing in 1971. Donen's fourth wife was the French actress Yvette Mimieux. They were married from 1972 until 1985, but remained close friends after their divorce. Donen's fifth wife was Pamela Braden, who was thirty-six years younger than him. Donen proposed to her four days after having met her. They were married from 1990 until 1994.
In the early 1940s Donen dated actress Judy Holliday while still working on Broadway. He also dated Elizabeth Taylor for a year between his first and second marriages. Donen's current long time companion is writer and director Elaine May.[195]
Donen's eldest son Peter Donen was a successful visual effects artist who worked on such films as Superman III, Spaceballs, The Bourne Identity, and The Truth About Charlie. He also designed the title credits for Blame It on Rio. Peter Donen died of a heart attack in 2003 at the age of 50.[196] Donen's second son Joshua Donen is a film producer who has worked on such films as The Quick and the Dead, Drag Me to Hell, and the television series Spartacus: Blood and Sand.[197] Donen's third son Mark worked as a production assistant on Blame It on Rio.[198]
In 1959, Donen's father Mordecai Donen died at the age of 59 in Beaufort, South Carolina. His mother Helen Donen died in 1989 at the age of 84 in South Carolina. Donen delivered the eulogy at his mother's funeral.
With the deaths in the 2000s of Billy Wilder, Elia Kazan, Robert Wise, and Jules Dassin, Stanley Donen became the last surviving notable film director of Hollywood's Golden Age. He has never officially retired and occasionally makes appearances at film festivals and retrospectives of his work.[200][201][202] He was the subject of the 2010 documentary Stanley Donen: You Just Do It.[203]
| As director |
| Year |
Title |
Cast |
Notes |
| 1949 |
On the Town |
Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin, Ann Miller, Betty Garrett, Vera-Ellen |
co-directed with Gene Kelly |
| 1951 |
Royal Wedding |
Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, Peter Lawford, Sarah Churchill |
|
| 1952 |
Love Is Better Than Ever |
Larry Parks, Elizabeth Taylor |
|
| Singin' in the Rain |
Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen |
co-directed with Gene Kelly, also choreographer |
| Fearless Fagan |
Janet Leigh, Carleton Carpenter |
|
| 1953 |
Give a Girl a Break |
Debbie Reynolds, Marge Champion, Helen Wood, Gower Champion, Bob Fosse, Kurt Kasznar |
also choreographer |
| 1954 |
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers |
Howard Keel, Jane Powell |
|
| Deep in My Heart |
José Ferrer, Helen Traubel, Merle Oberon |
|
| 1955 |
It's Always Fair Weather |
Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey, Michael Kidd, Cyd Charisse, Dolores Gray |
co-directed with Gene Kelly, also choreographer |
| 1957 |
Funny Face |
Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Kay Thompson |
|
| The Pajama Game |
Doris Day, John Raitt, Carol Haney |
co-directed with George Abbott, also producer |
| Kiss Them for Me |
Cary Grant, Suzy Parker, Jayne Mansfield, Ray Walston, Larry Blyden |
|
| 1958 |
Indiscreet |
Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman |
also producer |
| Damn Yankees! |
Tab Hunter, Gwen Verdon, Ray Walston |
co-directed with George Abbott, also producer |
| 1960 |
Once More, with Feeling! |
Yul Brynner, Kay Kendall |
also producer |
| Surprise Package |
Yul Bryner, Mitzi Gaynor, Noël Coward |
also producer |
| The Grass Is Greener |
Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons |
also producer |
| 1963 |
Charade |
Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy |
also producer |
| 1966 |
Arabesque |
Gregory Peck, Sophia Loren |
also producer |
| 1967 |
Two for the Road |
Audrey Hepburn, Albert Finney |
also producer |
| Bedazzled |
Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Eleanor Bron, Raquel Welch |
also producer |
| 1969 |
Staircase |
Rex Harrison, Richard Burton |
also producer |
| 1974 |
The Little Prince |
Steven Warner, Richard Kiley, Bob Fosse, Gene Wilder |
also producer |
| 1975 |
Lucky Lady |
Liza Minnelli, Gene Hackman, Burt Reynolds |
|
| 1978 |
Movie Movie |
George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Red Buttons, Eli Wallach, Barry Bostwick, George Burns, Michael Kidd, Art Carney |
also producer |
| 1980 |
Saturn 3 |
Kirk Douglas, Farrah Fawcett, Harvey Keitel |
also producer |
| 1984 |
Blame It on Rio |
Michael Caine, Joseph Bologna, Michelle Johnson, Demi Moore, Valerie Harper |
also producer |
| 1999 |
Love Letters |
Steven Weber, Laura Linney |
Television movie |
| As choreographer |
| Year |
Title |
Cast |
Director |
| 1943 |
Best Foot Forward |
Lucille Ball, William Gaxton |
Edward Buzzell |
| 1944 |
Cover Girl |
Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly |
Charles Vidor |
| Hey, Rookie |
Ann Miller, Joe Besser, Larry Parks |
Charles Barton |
| Jam Session |
Ann Miller, Jess Barker, Louis Armstrong |
Charles Barton |
| Kansas City Kitty |
Joan Davis, Bob Crosby, Jane Frazee |
Del Lord |
| 1945 |
Anchors Aweigh |
Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson |
George Sidney |
| Holiday in Mexico |
Walter Pidgeon, Ilona Massey, Roddy McDowall |
George Sidney |
| 1946 |
No Leave, No Love |
Van Johnson, Keenan Wynn, Patricia Kirkwood |
Charles Martin |
| 1947 |
Living in a Big Way |
Gene Kelly, Marie McDonald, Charles Winninger |
Gregory La Cava |
| This Time for Keeps |
Esther Williams, Jimmy Durante |
Richard Thorpe |
| Killer McCoy |
Mickey Rooney, Brian Donlevy, Ann Blyth |
Roy Rowland |
| 1948 |
Big City |
Margaret O'Brien, Robert Preston, Danny Thomas |
Norman Taurog |
| A Date with Judy |
Wallace Beery, Jane Powell, Elizabeth Taylor, Carmen Miranda, Robert Stack |
Richard Thorpe |
| The Kissing Bandit |
Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, J. Carrol Naish, Ricardo Montalban, Ann Miller, Cyd Charisse |
Laslo Benedek |
| 1949 |
Take Me Out to the Ball Game |
Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, Betty Garrett, Jules Munshin, Edward Arnold |
Busby Berkeley |
| 1951 |
Double Dynamite |
Jane Russell, Groucho Marx, Frank Sinatra |
Irving Cummings |
| 1953 |
Sombrero |
Vittorio Gassman, Nina Foch, Pier Angeli, José Greco |
Norman Foster |
| Other work |
| Year |
Title |
Notes |
Director |
| 1943 |
Best Foot Forward |
chorus dancer |
Edward Buzzell |
| 1949 |
Take Me Out to the Ball Game |
co-wrote the original story with Gene Kelly |
Busby Berkeley |
| 1955 |
Kismet |
uncredited director of the last three days of shooting and one day of re-shoots when director Vincent Minnelli left the production |
Vincent Minnelli |
| 1986 |
Moonlighting |
Television episode: "Big Man on Mulberry Street", directed dance sequences |
Christian I. Nyby II, Stanley Donen |
| Dancing on the Ceiling |
Directed the music video for the Lionel Richie song |
Stanley Donen |
| 58th Academy Awards |
Producer of the Academy Awards ceremony |
Marty Pasetta |
| 2000 |
Love's Labour's Lost |
Presenter (U.S. release) |
Kenneth Branagh |
| 2010 |
Stanley Donen: You Just Do It |
Interviewee, documentary feature on Donen's life and career |
Clara Kuperberg, Julia Kuperberg |
| Stage |
| Dates |
Title |
Role/Position |
Notes |
| December 25, 1940 – November 29, 1941 |
Pal Joey |
Albert Doane, dancer |
|
| October 1, 1941 – July 4, 1942 |
Best Foot Forward |
Ensemble, dancing boy, assistant choreography |
|
| Oct 14, 1942 – Dec 12, 1942 |
Beat the Band |
Stage manager, assistant choreographer |
|
| Apr 18, 1946 – Jan 10, 1948 |
Call Me Mister |
Additional choreography |
uncredited |
| Jul 2, 1985 – May 18, 1986 |
Singin' in the Rain |
Original film choreography |
|
| Dec 16, 1993 – Dec 19, 1993 |
The Red Shoes |
Director |
|
| December 11, 2002 – April 13, 2003 |
Adult Entertainment |
Director, choreographer |
Written by Elaine May |
- Blair, Betsy (2003). The Memory of All That. Alfred A. Knopf.
- Casper, Joseph A. (1983). Stanley Donen. Scarecrow Press.
- Charness, Casey (1977). Hollywood cine-dance: a description of the interrelationship of camerawork and choreography in films by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly. New York University.
- Hess, Earl J.; Dabholkar, Pratibha (2009). Singin' in the Rain: The Making of an American Masterpiece. University Press of Kansas.
- Silverman, Stephen M. (1996). Dancing on the Ceiling: Stanley Donen and His Movies. New York: Knopf.
- Wakeman, John (1988). World Film Directors, Volume 2. The H. W. Wilson Company. pp. 273–282.
- Yudkoff, Alvin (1999). Gene Kelly: A Life of Dance and Dreams. Back Stage Books.
- ^ Quinlan, David. The Illustrated Guide to Film Directors. Rowman & Littlefield. 1983. pp. 78.
- ^ "Donen interview with the DGA". http://www.dga.org/Craft/VisualHistory/Interviews/Stanley-Donen.aspx. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ Morley, Sheridan & Leon, Ruth. Gene Kelly: A Celebration. Pavilion Books Ltd. 1996. pp. 88.
- ^ Hirschhorn, Clive. The Hollywood Musical. Crown Publishing, Inc. 1981. pp. 242, 247.
- ^ Kelly, Gene. Dialouge on Film. American Film 4, #4 (February 1979)pp. 37.
- ^ "Kismet description on tcm.com". http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/411149%7C97644/Kismet.html. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ "Decent Films Guide: Charade". http://decentfilms.com/sections/reviews/charade.html. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ "Review of Bedazzled, from Roger Ebert, published January 30, 1968". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19680130/REVIEWS/801300301/1023. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ "Bosom Buddies, Armond White, July 25, 2007". http://www.nypress.com/article-16861-bosom-buddies.html. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ Lerner, Alan J.. The Street Where I Live, Coronet Books, London, 1978, ISBN 0-340-25453-XLerner, pp. 242
- ^ "Official Academy Awards website". http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1325063963107. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ Givens, Ron (April 11, 1999). "New York Daily News review". http://articles.nydailynews.com/1999-04-11/entertainment/18100048_1_pete-gurney-love-letters-two-chairs-and-two. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
- ^ Brantley, Ben (December 12, 2002). "New York Times review of "Adult Entertainment"". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/12/theater/theater-review-is-she-a-serious-actress-xxxtremely.html?n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fT%2fTheater. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ a b Hirshhorn. pp. 156.
- ^ Thomson, David. The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, Fifth Edition. Alfred A. Knopf. 2010. pp. 274.
- ^ "New York Daily News article on Israel Film Festival". http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/showandtell/2011/04/stanley-donen-to-be-honored-at-new-york-israel-film-fest. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ "Boston Herald review of "The Artist"". http://bostonherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/view.bg?articleid=1390590&srvc=next_article. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ "showbiz411 article on "The Artist" premiere". http://www.showbiz411.com/2011/11/18/the-artist-gets-thumbs-up-from-hollywood-vets. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ Hirschhorn, Clive. Gene Kelly: a Biography. W.H. Allen. 1984. pp. 235.
- ^ Hirschhorn. pp. 74.
- ^ Feeney, Mark (October 4, 2009). "Boston.com article on Donen". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2009/10/04/stanley_donen_visits_town_this_week_during_a_retrospective_at_harvard_film_archive/?page=1. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ "6th Berlin International Film Festival: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1956/03_preistr_ger_1956/03_Preistraeger_1956.html. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
- ^ "PBS interview with Gene Kelly documentarian". http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/gene-kelly/filmmaker-interview-robert-trachtenberg/518/. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ a b Thomson. pp. 274.
- ^ Chaplin, Saul. The Golden Age of Movie Musicals and Me. University of Oklahoma Press. 1994. pp. 59.
- ^ Wagner, Robert. Pieces of My Heart – A Life. New York: Harper Collins. 2008. pp. 174.
- ^ Feeney, Mark (October 4, 2009). "Boston.com article on Donen". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2009/10/04/stanley_donen_visits_town_this_week_during_a_retrospective_at_harvard_film_archive/?page=3. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ "Peter Donen's obituary". Variety. January 12, 2004. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117898343?refCatId=25. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ "New York Times filmography for Joshua Donen". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/person/532602/Josh-Donen. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ "New York Times filmography for Mark Donen". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/person/741971/Mark-Donen/filmography. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ "Israel Film Festival press release". http://www.israelfilmfestival.com/press/press-releases/may-3-2011-new-york. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ "Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts website". http://filmlinccom.siteprotect.net/wrt/onsale10/donen.html. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ "theatermania.com news". http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city/news/06-2009/2009-astaire-awards-are-presented_18859.html. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
- ^ "Witchita Films website page on Donen documentary". http://www.wichitafilms.com/en/documentary-01.php. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
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Films directed by Stanley Donen
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| 1940s |
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| 1950s |
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| 1960s |
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| 1970s |
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| 1980s |
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| 1990s |
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| Persondata |
| Name |
Donen, Stanley |
| Alternative names |
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| Short description |
Film director and choreographer |
| Date of birth |
April 13, 1924 |
| Place of birth |
Columbia, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Date of death |
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| Place of death |
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![Charade (1963) [10/12]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130123055939im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/H8ofbtvCMGU/default.jpg "Charade (1963) [10/12]")
![Breakfast at Tiffany's (Original Soundtrack) - 1961 - Henry Mancini & His Orchestra [Full Album]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130123055939im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cxlGLbJtexE/default.jpg "Breakfast at Tiffany's (Original Soundtrack) - 1961 - Henry Mancini & His Orchestra [Full Album]")
![Charade (Original Soundtrack) - 1963 - Henry Mancini & His Orchestra [Full Album]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130123055939im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-OK93IxYSas/default.jpg "Charade (Original Soundtrack) - 1963 - Henry Mancini & His Orchestra [Full Album]")
![Funny Face (Original Soundtrack) - 1957 - Gershwin & Roger Edens [Full Album]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130123055939im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Lg-t0kKfjjk/default.jpg "Funny Face (Original Soundtrack) - 1957 - Gershwin & Roger Edens [Full Album]")
![Two for the Road (Original Soundtrack) - 1967 - Henry Mancini & His Orchestra [Full Album]](http://web.archive.org./web/20130123055939im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n9QgtYxrLy4/default.jpg "Two for the Road (Original Soundtrack) - 1967 - Henry Mancini & His Orchestra [Full Album]")
_interviewed_by_Mike_Nichols.jpg)
