Stanley Donen, Musicals Legend and director of Singin' in the Rain, dies aged 94

Stanley Donen, director of Singin' in the Rain, dies aged 94 On the Eve of the Oscars ( Academy Awards) 2019

Donen, who received an honorary Oscar in 1997, also directed On the Town, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Charade

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/feb/23/stanley-donen-director-singin-in-the-rain-dies

Stanley Donen Receives an Honorary Award: 1997 Oscars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMC8kHycgwM

Stanley Donen, the director of Singin’ in the Rain and other classics of the golden age of Hollywood, has died. He was 94.

Singin’ in the Rain, from 1952, starred Gene Kelly and became a mainstay of popular culture. Donen was also a dancer and choreographer. Among other films he directed were the musicals On the Town (his first film, from 1949 and starring Kelly, his co-director, and Frank Sinatra), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) and Funny Face (1957), starring Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn.

He made four films with Cary Grant: Kiss Them For Me (1957), Indiscreet (1958), The Grass is Greener (1960) and Charade, also starring Hepburn (1963).

His last theatrically released film was the Michael Caine sex comedy Blame it on Rio, which flopped in 1984.

Donen was born in Columbia, South Carolina on 13 April 1924. His career in Hollywood was so long, he told Vanity Fair in 2013, “sound was still a fairly new thing when I came into movies. And the reason musicals happened is because of sound. They could put music in the picture! That’s how it all began.”

In a tweet on Saturday which said one of Donen’s sons had confirmed his father’s death, the Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips said the director was “a huge, often neglected talent”.

At the 1997 Oscars, Donen was given an honorary award. Introducing it, the director Martin Scorsese, then himself unrecognised by the Academy, said: “Once upon a time, a lonely boy in South Carolina was sparked by the wonder of movies, captivated by everything from cowboys to comedians to movie monsters. And then he saw his first musical, Flying Down to Rio.”

In his Vanity Fair interview in 2013, Donen said: “I saw Fred Astaire in Flying Down to Rio when I was nine years old, and it changed my life. It just seemed wonderful, and my life wasn’t wonderful. The joy of dancing to music! And Fred was so amazing, and Ginger [Rogers] – Oh, God! Ginger!”

Donen danced on Broadway, where he met Kelly, with whom he worked as a choreographer in Hollywood. They co-directed On the Town but the partnership was not a smooth one, as Donen told the New York Times in 1996.

“Gene, as a performer, was among the wonders of the 20th century,” he said. “His agility and his talents at being what he would call a song and dance man were very winning.

“What I didn’t like … was his manner offscreen. He could be difficult with me and everyone else. It was always a complicated collaboration, partly because when we began he was a star and I was in the chorus. Then we became co-choreographers. It wasn’t always the happiest thing.”

After Donen’s first marriage ended in divorce, Kelly married his ex-wife, Jeanne Coyne.

Accepting his Oscar from Scorsese, Donen focused on sunnier themes. “Tonight,” he said, “words seem inadequate. In musicals, that’s when we do a song.”

To the delight of the audience, he then sang and danced Cheek to Cheek, from the 1935 Astaire-Rogers classic Top Hat, with his statuette.

The secret of directing success, he confided, was to get the best writers, songwriters and actors and then, “when filming starts, you stay the hell out of the way.

“But you’ve got to show up, otherwise you can’t take the credit and get one of these fellas.”

Donen was married five times and had a famous affair with Elizabeth Taylor. In later years he was “happily unmarried” to the comedian, actor and director Elaine May, with whom he collaborated on theatrical projects.

In 2014, the Nickelodeon Theatre in Columbia staged a season of Donen’s films, entitled A Lotta Talent and a Little Luck. The organiser said: “Though so many people love his work, too few people know who he is, much less that he’s a native.”

Despite this, among film cognoscenti his place is secure. The British critic David Thomson, author of the New Biographical Dictionary of Film, called him “a central figure in the story of the MGM musical”.

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Stanley Donen, Famed Director of Mirthful Movie Musicals, Dies at 94

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/stanley-donen-dead-famed-director-720663

Stanley Donen, Director of Iconic Movie Musicals, Dies at 94

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/stanley-donen-dead-dies-singin-in-the-rain-1203146964/

Louis Jourdan, French actor and star of Gigi, dies aged 93

Louis Jourdan, French actor and star of Gigi, dies aged 93

The French actor Louis Jourdan, best known for his role in the multi-Oscar winning 1958 musical Gigi, has died in California aged 93.

Born in Marseilles, he began his career acting in French films before being lured to the US.

Often seen in roles that capitalised on his Gallic charm, he described himself as Hollywood's "French cliche".

His later years saw him play evil villains, including in the 1983 Bond film Octopussy.

Jourdan died at his home in Los Angeles, his official biographer Olivier Minne said.

"He embodied French elegance and Hollywood offered him the parts to go with that," he told the AFP news agency.

Among those paying tribute on Twitter was Indian film star Kabir Bedi, who played Jourdan's bodyguard Gobinda in Octopussy.

Deeply saddened to hear, from @twitter friends, of the passing of Louis Jordan," he wrote.
Cassian Elwes, producer of films including Monster's Ball and Dallas Buyers Club, wrote: "Louis Jourdan was an absolutely charming man who was always elegant in everything he did it was no wonder he was friends w [sic] everyone he met."

American actress Rose McGowan, whose films include The Black Dahlia, wrote: "Louis Jourdan, thank you for the entertainment. Your elegant beauty and wit were a joy to behold."
French resistance
Born Louis Gendre in 1921, he changed his name to Pierre Jourdan, then Louis Jourdan when he became an actor.

According to a biography by the late Hollywood correspondent Bob Thomas, Jourdan's father owned a seaside hotel in Cannes, where he met artists, actors and directors who encouraged him to study drama in Paris.

His early career in France was interrupted by World War Two. He refused to star in Nazi propaganda films and escaped to join the French resistance.

After the war, he resumed his film career, eventually becoming one of Hollywood's favourite French actors.

Jourdan played opposite leading ladies Joan Fontaine, Jennifer Jones, Grace Kelly and Shirley MacLaine in films during the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s.

Gigi, a musical romantic comedy in which he played the suave Gaston Lachaille, was one of the most successful films of the 1950s. It won nine Oscars, including best picture.

Despite this, Jourdan did not consider Gigi his best achievement, reportedly saying: "It was a wonderful story for Leslie and Maurice Chevalier, but I played a colourless leading man.

"You'll note that none of the actors was nominated for Academy Awards."
'Perpetually cooing'
Other key roles included a part in Alfred Hitchcock's 1947 film The Paradine Case, and with Grace Kelly in The Swan.

He played concert pianist Stefan Brand opposite actress Joan Fontaine in the 1948 film Letter from an Unknown Woman.

He also showed that he could play a villain in the 1956 film Julie, in which he played Doris Day's husband, a psychopathic killer.

But despite his 15 years as a leading man, Jourdan felt he was often subject to Hollywood typecasting.

"Any actor who comes here with an accent is automatically put in roles as a lover," the Associated Press news agency reported him as once saying. "I didn't want to be perpetually cooing in a lady's ear."

Jourdan has two stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame and in 2010 he was given France's highest honour, Legion D'Honneur.

His wife of more than 60 years, Berthe Frederique Jourdan, died last year.
 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUDY GARLAND

Happy Birthday Judy Garland

It's so hard to believe that singer/actress Judy Garland, who starred in countless film classics including "The Wizard of Oz," "Meet Me in St. Louis" and "A Star is Born," died on this date in 1969 at the age of 47. Do you remember hearing the news on the radio or TV of her death? Do you have a favorite Garland film? Here's a lovely photo of Garland with Tom Drake from the believe "Meet Me In St. Louis" from the L.A. Times files.