Happy Birthday, Stanley Kramer! Born today in 1913 as Stanley Earl Kramer, this American producer and film director was responsible for making many of Hollywood's most famous "message films".
As an independent producer and director, Kramer brought attention to topical social issues that most studios avoided.
Kramer made his reputation during the 1950s and 1960s as one of the few producers and directors willing to tackle issues most studios sought to avoid, such as racism, the Holocaust and nuclear annihilation.
He came to Hollywood an aspiring writer and hooked on with MGM, working first as a scenery mover and carpenter and then in their research department before spending three years there as an editor.
Kramer later wrote for radio as well as for Columbia and Republic Studios for a while, but it was as a strong-willed independent producer that Kramer would finally make his mark.
In the early 1950s, Kramer produced Austrian-born American film director Fred Zinnemann's ('From Here to Eternity') 1952 American black and white Western/drama film 'High Noon'.
The following year, Kramer produced Hungarian-born film director and cinematographer László Benedek's 1953 American black and white drama/outlaw biker noir crime film 'The Wild One'.
One year later, Kramer produced Canadian-born American film director Edward Dmytryk's ('Murder, My Sweet') 1954 American Technicolor war/drama film 'The Caine Mutiny'.
Two years later, Kramer produced and directed the film of which he is best known. This was the 1958 American black and white adventure drama/buddy film 'The Defiant Ones'.
Set in 1950s America, members of a chain gang are being transported through the South when their truck crashes. Two of the convicts, John "Joker" Jackson (Tony Curtis) and Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier), who are chained together, find an opportunity to escape.
Jackson is white, Cullen is black and, at first, the men appear to be opposites in every way. However, as they flee across the country, the two form a deep bond.
Later on, a female landowner (Cara Williams) leads Jackson to make a difficult decision about his own freedom.
Lon Chaney Jr. also appears in the film as "Big" Sam. He saves Jackson and Cullen by interfering in his neighbors' formation of a lynch mob, and is appalled at their bloodthirst.
'The Defiant Ones' had been adapted by American screenwriter Harold Jacob Smith from the story by American actor and screenwriter Nedrick Young, originally credited as Nathan E. Douglas (Young's pseudonym). He appears in the film as Prison Guard in Truck, but went uncredited.
The following year, 'The Defiant Ones' won a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. This occurred at the 16th Golden Globe Awards in early March 1959.
One month later, the film won two Oscars for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) and Best Cinematography. This occurred at the 31st Academy Awards in early April 1959.
Among his other credits, Kramer is also known for directing 'On the Beach' (1959), 'Inherit the Wind' (1960), 'Judgement at Nuremberg' (1961), 'It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), 'Ship of Fools' (1965), and 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' (1967).
The film was one of the few films of the time to depict an interracial marriage in a positive light, as interracial marriage historically had been illegal in most states of the United States.
It was also still illegal in seventeen states—mostly Southern states—until June 12, 1967, six months before the film was released.
'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' is notable for being the ninth and final on-screen pairing of Tracy and Hepburn, with filming ending just seventeen days before Spencer Tracy's death.
Katherine Hepburn never saw the completed film, saying the memories of Tracy were too painful. The film was released in December 1967, just six months after his death.
Kramer once said to a young lady at the Old Town Saloon who said she hated 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner': "Caution, my dear. Don't get irregular before your time."
Steven Spielberg described Kramer as an "incredibly talented visionary", and "one of our great filmmakers, not just for the art and passion he put on screen, but for the impact he has made on the conscience of the world.
Kramer was also recognized for his fierce independence as a producer-director, with American journalist, editor and academic Victor Navasky writing that "among the independents . . . none seemed more vocal, more liberal, more pugnacious than young Stanley Kramer."
Despite uneven critical reception, both then and now, Kramer's body of work has received many awards, including sixteen Academy Awards and eighty nominations, and he was nominated nine times as either producer or director.
In 1998, Kramer was awarded the first NAACP Vanguard Award in recognition of "the strong social themes that ran through his body of work".
Also, that same year, 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' was ranked in at #99 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list.
On AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs list, 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World' ranked in at #40.
In 2002, the Stanley Kramer Award was created, to be awarded to recipients whose work "dramatically illustrates provocative social issues".
In 2013, 'Judgment at Nuremberg' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"
Kramer's friend, Kevin Spacey, during his acceptance speech at the 72nd Golden Globes in January 2015, honored Kramer's work, calling him "one of the great filmmakers of all time."
In 2017, 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' 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, Kramer had created unconventional, socially conscious works on a variety of issues not usually addressed in mainstream Hollywood fare.
Kramer had been active from 1933–1979.
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