Stanley Donen

Stanley Donen (/ˈdɒnən/ DON-ən;  April 13, 1924 – February 21, 2019) was an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are On the Town (1949) and Singin' in the Rain (1952), both of which starred Gene Kellywho co-directed.

His other films include Royal Wedding (1951), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), Funny Face (1957), Indiscreet (1958), and Charade (1963). He began his career in the chorus line on Broadway for director George Abbott, where he befriended Kelly.

From 1943, he was in Hollywood and worked as a choreographer before beginning to collaborate with Kelly. After On the Town, Donen worked as a contract director for MGM under producer Arthur Freed producing critically well-received box-office hits. Donen and Kelly co-directed the musical Singin' in the Rain, released in April 1952, which has appeared on lists of the best films ever made. Donen's relationship with Kelly deteriorated during their final collaboration, It's Always Fair Weather (1955). He then broke his contract with MGM to become an independent producer in 1957. He continued making films throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, often financial successes that gained positive attention. His film output became less frequent in the early 1980s and he briefly returned to the stage as a director in the 1990s and again in 2002.

Donen is credited with having transitioned Hollywood musical films from realistic backstage dramas to a more integrated art form in which the songs were a natural continuation of the story. 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 part of a stage show. Donen and Kelly's films created a more cinematic form and included dances that could only be achieved in the film medium. Donen 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."

Donen is highly respected by film historians; however his career is often compared to Kelly's, and there is debate over who deserves more credit for their collaborations. Donen and Kelly's relationship was complicated, both professionally and personally, but Donen's films as a solo director are generally better regarded by critics than Kelly's. French film critic Jean-Pierre Coursodon has said that Donen's contribution to the evolution of the Hollywood musical "outshines anybody else's, including Vincente Minnelli's". David Quinlan called him "the King of the Hollywood musicals". 

Among his awards are an Honorary Academy Award in 1998 and a Career Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival in 2004. Donen married five times and had three children. Film director and comedian Elaine May was his partner from 1999 until his death in 2019. He was the last surviving notable director of Hollywood's Golden Age.

Legacy

During his career Donen's biggest rival was Vincente Minnelli, to whom he is often compared. Like Donen, Minnelli was a contract director at MGM known for the musicals he made in the Freed Unit. According to Donen 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 Minnelli's work. Michael Kidd, who worked with both directors early in his career, describes Minnelli as being much less open to collaborative suggestions than Donen. The two directors' camera work differs in that Minnelli often used forward and backwards tracking shots while Donen preferred horizontal tracking shots and crane shots. Silverman said film critics consider Donen's approach to be better suited for dance sequences.

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." Andrew Sarris dismisses Donen as being without a personal style of his own and as being dependent upon his collaborators on his better films. Debbie Reynolds downplayed his contributions to Singin' in the Rain, stating that "Stanley just operated the camera, because Stanley didn't dance."

Among Donen's admirers are film directors Pedro Almodóvar, Lindsay Anderson, Charlie Chaplin, Damien Chazelle, Jules Dassin, Guillermo Del Toro William Friedkin, Jean-Luc Godard, Stanley Kubrick, Karel Reisz, Martin Scorsese, François Truffaut, and Edgar Wright. Donen's skill as a director has been praised by such actors as Cyd Charisse and Audrey Hepburn. Donen's work influenced later directors of film musicals Bill Condon, Rob Marshall and Baz Luhrmann The 2011 film The Artist pays tribute to Singin' in the Rain (among other films), and Donen praised the film after attending its Los Angeles premiere.

Singin' in the Rain is Donen's most revered film and it 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. Chaplin and Truffaut were among its earliest fans, and Billy Wilder called the film "one of the five greatest pictures ever made."

Cine-dance

Donen made a host of critically acclaimed and popular films. His most important contribution to the art of film was helping to transition movie musicals from the realistic backstage settings of filmed theater to a more cinematic form that integrates film with dance. Eventually film scholars named this concept "cine-dance" (a dance that can only be created in the medium of film), and its origins are in the Donen/Kelly films. 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 "talkies" began to gain momentum in the film industry, the Hollywood studios recruited the best talent from Broadway to make musical films, such as Broadway Melody and Berkley's 42nd Street. These films established the backstage musical, a subgenre in which the plot revolves around a stage show and the people involved in putting it on. They set the standard for the musical genre, placing their musical numbers either within the context of a stage performance or tacked on and gratuitous, without furthering the story or developing the characters. Donen stated that he disliked them and that his own films were "a reaction against those backstage musicals." Donen credited producer Freed as the driving force behind the transition, 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 suit the film medium.

Relationship with Gene Kelly

Donen's relationship with Gene Kelly was complicated and he often spoke bitterly about his former friend and mentor decades after they worked together. Kelly was never explicitly negative about Donen in later years. However, 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 (both men married dancer Jeanne Coyne) and professional (Donen always felt that Kelly did not treat him as an equal). They disagreed over who deserved more credit for their joint projects: three films as co-directors and four as co-choreographers.

Jeanne Coyne

At age 7 Coyne enrolled in the Gene Kelly Studio of Dance in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and developed a schoolgirl crush on him In her twenties she was cast in Best Foot Forward, where she reconnected with Kelly and first met Donen, later moving to Hollywood with them. She and Donen eloped in 1948, but their marriage became strained. They separated in 1950 and 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 several films while married to Donen and continued assisting Kelly until her death. Rumors held that Kelly and Coyne were having an affair both during and after Coyne's marriage to Donen, as well as 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 relationship with 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 said that Donen's impulsive marriage to Coyne showed an emotional immaturity and lack of good judgment, and 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."  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 died of leukemia in 1973.[42]:253 In November 2012 the musical What A Glorious Feeling depicted both the making of Singin' in the Rain and the love triangle between Donen, Kelly and Coyne.

Professional conflict

Donen and Kelly's 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." Although Donen credited Kelly for "jump-starting his career as a filmmaker", he also stated that MGM producer Roger Edens was his biggest promoter.

Many people believe that Donen owed everything to Kelly, and Kelly biographer Clive Hirschhorn 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." Donen stated that he moved to Hollywood of his own accord; other sources state that he followed Kelly, who then helped him get his first job. Kelly would sometimes embarrass and patronize Donen in public, such as berating him 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 great performer. Despite Donen's growing resentment of Kelly, he was able to contain his feelings and professional attitude during their collaborations. Tensions between the two exploded on the set of It's Always Fair Weather. After Donen's recent hits Deep in My Heart and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers he 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.

Other tensions included Donen's hit films compared to Vincente Minnelli's Brigadoon (which Kelly was closely involved in and had wanted to direct) flop, and Kelly's own ambitious film Invitation to Dance, both financially unsuccessful. During the shooting of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Donen often complained about his budgetary constraints, while Brigadoon had a much larger budget. Around that time Kelly's unsuccessfully attempted dramatic acting with The Devil Makes Threeand Seagulls Over Sorrento also flopped, and his marriage to Betsy Blair was ending.

In later years Donen would state that he had nothing nice to say about Kelly. 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. 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" about Donen's bitterness towards Kelly.

Personal life

Donen married and divorced five times and had three children. 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 (1953-2003) and Joshua Donen, born in 1955. They provided the name of Cary Grant's character in Charade. Donen and Marshall were married from 1952 until 1959. They had a lengthy custody battle over their two sons after Marshall married Wagner and Donen moved to England. Donen's third wife was Adelle, Countess Beatty. She had previously been the second wife of the 2nd Earl Beatty. They married in 1960, had one son (Mark Donen, born 1962), and lived together in London. They separated in 1969 before divorcing in 1971.[4]:276 Donen's fourth wife was American actress Yvette Mimieux. They were married from 1972 until 1985, but remained close friends after their divorce. Donen's fifth wife was Pamela Braden, thirty-six years his junior. 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 working on Broadway. He also dated Elizabeth Taylor for a year between his first and second marriages. In his final years Donen's longtime companion was writer and director Elaine May, who he dated from 1999 until his death and claimed to have proposed marriage to "about 172 times."

Donen's eldest son Peter Donen was a 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. He died of a heart attack in 2003 at age 50. Donen's second son Joshua Donen is a film producer who worked on such films as The Quick and the Dead and Gone Girl. Mark Donen, Stanley's third son, worked as a production assistant on Blame It on Rio.

In 1959, Donen's father, Mordecai, died at 59 in Beaufort, South Carolina. His mother, Helen, died in 1989 at 84 in South Carolina, and Donen delivered the eulogy at her funeral.

With the deaths in the 2000s of Billy Wilder, George Sidney, Elia Kazan, Robert Wise, and Jules Dassin, Donen became the last surviving notable film director of Hollywood's Golden Age. In his final years he occasionally appeared at film festivals and retrospectives and continued to develop ideas for film projects. He was the subject of the 2010 documentary Stanley Donen: You Just Do It.

In December 2013 it was announced that Donen was in pre-production for a new film co-written with Elaine May, to be produced by Mike Nichols. A table reading of the script for potential investors included such actors as Christopher Walken, Charles Grodin, Ron Rifkin and Jeannie Berlin. In celebration of Donen's 90th birthday in 2014, a retrospective of his work titled "A Lotta Talent and a Little Luck: A Celebration of Stanley Donen" was held from July to August in Columbia, South Carolina. This retrospective included a tour of Donen's childhood neighborhood, a lecture by Steven Silverman and film screenings at the Nickelodeon movie theater, which Donen frequented as a child.

On February 21, 2019, Donen died at age 94 from heart failure in New York City. In addition to May, he is survived by two sons and a sister.

Filmography

Feature films

• 1949 On the Town
• 1951 Royal Wedding
• 1952 Love Is Better Than Ever
• 1952 Singin' in the Rain
• 1952 Fearless Fagan
• 1953 Give a Girl a Break
• 1954 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
• 1954 Deep in My Heart
• 1955 It's Always Fair Weather
• 1957 Funny Face
• 1957 The Pajama Game
• 1957 Kiss Them for Me
• 1958 Indiscreet
• 1958 Damn Yankees!
• 1960 Once More, with Feeling!
• 1960 Surprise Package
• 1960 The Grass Is Greener
• 1963 Charade
• 1966 Arabesque
• 1967 Two for the Road
• 1967 Bedazzled
• 1969 Staircase
• 1974 The Little Prince
• 1975 Lucky Lady
• 1978 Movie Movie
• 1980 Saturn 3
• 1984 Blame It on Rio
• 1999 Love Letters