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Stanley Donen (born April 13, 1924) is an American film director and choreographer hailed by David Quinlan as "the King of the Hollywood musicals". His most famous work is Singin' in the Rain, which he co-directed with Gene Kelly.

Early life

Born in Columbia, South Carolina to Mordecai Moses Donen and Helen Cohen, both of whom were Jewish. Donen himself became an atheist in his youth [1]. He attended the University of South Carolina. He went to New York City as a teenager and at age sixteen was a dancer in the original production of Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey, which starred Kelly.

Film Career

Donen went to Metro Goldwyn Mayer in 1943 as a choreographer and appeared with Kelly in Cover Girl in 1944. His first chance to direct was an adaptation of the Comden and Green musical about sailors on leave in New York City, On the Town (1949), which he co-directed with Gene Kelly. This was the first movie musical to be filmed on location.

With Kelly again, Donen co-directed Singin' in the Rain (1952) and by himself directed such classics as Royal Wedding (1951), where Donen let Fred Astaire dance on the ceiling; Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) the musical with Jane Powell and Howard Keel; Funny Face (1957) the musical romantic comedy with Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn; the Pajama Game (1957) with Doris Day; Indiscreet (1958) the romance with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman; Damn Yankees (1958) a musical comedy with Tab Hunter, Gwen Verdon, and Ray Walston; the comedic thriller Charade (1963) with Hepburn, Grant, and Walter Matthau; Bedazzled (1967) a satirical updating of the Faust legend starring and written by British comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore; and Two for the Road (1967) a drama with Hepburn and Albert Finney. He also directed the out-of-character science fiction film Saturn 3 when the film's original director resigned. His last theatrical film to date was the May-December romance Blame It on Rio (1984) with Michael Caine and Demi Moore, though he would go on to do additional work for television, including directing a musical sequence for the TV series Moonlighting, Lionel Richie's music video for "Dancing on the Ceiling", and a 1999 made-for-TV movie on ABC entitled Love Letters.

Donen was nominated for five Directors Guild of America Awards, but never nominated for a single Oscar. (He did produce the 58th Academy Awards ceremony in 1986.) In 1998, Donen was granted an honorary Academy Award "in appreciation of a body of work marked by grace, elegance, wit and visual innovation." In his acceptance speech, he danced with his Oscar statue while singing Irving Berlin's "Cheek to Cheek" and declared one of the secrets to being a great director is "You show up--and stay the hell out of the way. But you gotta show up or else you can't take the credit and win one of these guys."

Personal life

He has married five times:

1. Jeanne Coyne (1948–1949)
2. Marion Marshall (1952–1959), two children
3. Adelle Beatty (1960–1971), one child
4. Yvette Mimieux (1972–1985)
5. Pamari Brden (1990–1994)

Filmography

As Director:

• On the Town (1949) (w/ Gene Kelly)
• Royal Wedding (1951)
• Love Is Better Than Ever (1952)
• Singin' in the Rain (1952) (w/ Gene Kelly) (also choreographer)
• Fearlesss Fagan (1952)
• Give a Girl a Break (1953) (also choreographer)
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
• Deep in My Heart (1954)
• It's Always Fair Weather (1955) (w/ Gene Kelly) (also choreographer)
• Kismet (1955) (uncredited)
• Funny Face (1957)
• The Pajama Game (1957)
• Kiss Them for Me (1957)
• Indiscreet (1958)
• Damn Yankees! (1958)
• Once More, with Feeling! (1960)
• Surprise Package (1960)
• The Grass Is Greener (1960)
• Charade (1963)
• Arabesque (1966)
• Two for the Road (1967)
• Bedazzled (1967)
• Staircase (1969)
• The Little Prince (1974)
• Lucky Lady (1975)
• Movie Movie (1978)
• Saturn 3 (1980)
• Blame It on Rio (1984)

As Choreographer:

• Best Foot Forward (1943)
• Cover Girl (1944)
• Hey, Rookie (1944)
• Holiday in Mexico (1946)
• No Leave, No Love (1946)
• Living in a Big Way (1947)
• This Time for Keeps (1947)
• Killer McCoy (1947)
• Big City (1948)
• A Date with Judy (1948)
• The Kissing Bandit (1948)
• Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)

External links

• TV tome page (sketchy)
• Extracts from Silverman's biography on Donen

References

Stephen M. Silverman. Dancing on the Ceiling: Stanley Donen and His Movies, Knopf, New York, 1996

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