April 13 - Stanley Donen

Happy Birthday, Stanley Donen! Born today in 1924, this American choreographer, dancer, stage director, film producer and film director occasionally worked in the American theater. 

Among his credits, Donen is best known for directing the 1949 American Technicolor musical/comedy film 'On the Town', the 1952 American Technicolor/black and white musical romantic comedy 'Singin' in the Rain' and the 1954 American Ansco Color musical/drama film 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'. 

The former two features were co-directed by Gene Kelly. 

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 [Ernst] 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. However, Donen's films as a solo director are generally better regarded by critics than Kelly's.  

  

French critic and film historian Jean-Pierre Coursodon has said that Donen's contribution to the evolution of the Hollywood musical "outshines anybody else's, including Vincente Minnelli's". 

English film critic, journalist, film historian and author David Quinlan called Donen "the King of the Hollywood musicals".

In 1989, the United States Library of Congress selected ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ for preservation in the National Film Registry.  

In late March 1998, Martin Scorsese presented Donen with the Honorary Academy Award at the 70th Academy Awards. Other honorary awards include the Career Golden Lion from the 61st Venice Film Festival in September 2004.

Also that same year, ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers’ was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." 

In 2018, 'On the Town’ was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." 

Throughout his career, Donen had directed twenty-eight feature films and worked on various other films or television projects, often as a choreographer. 

   

Throughout his lifetime, Donen married five times and had three children. 

American comedian, film director, screenwriter, and actress Elaine May ('The Heartbreak Kid') was his partner from 1999 until his death on February 21, 2019. Donen was 94. He was the last surviving notable director of Hollywood's Golden Age. 

Donen had been active from 1940–2003. 

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