Oscar Profile #395: Stanley Donen

Born April 13, 1924 in Columbia, South Carolina to Moses and Helen Donen, Stanley Donen was a lonely and unhappy child who spent much of his youth in movie theatres. His favorite film was the 1933 Astaire-Rogers film, Flying Down to Rio which he saw between thirty and forty times. He shot and screened home movies with an 8mm camera and projector that his father bought for him.

Inspired by Astaire, Donen took dance lessons in Columbia and performed at a local theatre. His family often traveled to New York City during summer vacations where he saw Broadway musicals and took further dance lessons. After graduating from high school at sixteen, he attended the University of South Carolina for one summer semester, studying psychology. Encouraged by his mother, he moved to New York to pursue dancing on stage in the fall of 1940. After two auditions he was cast as a chorus dancer in the original Broadway production of Rodgers and Hart’s Pal Joey, starring Gene Kelly. He was next cast in the chorus of Best Foot Forward choreographed by Kelly who made Donen his assistant choreographer.

Donen came to Hollywood in 1943 to play an uncredited role in the film version of Best Foot Forward. He then assisted Kelly as choreographer on 1944’s Cover Girl. In 1948, he eloped with Jeanne Coyne, Kelly’s assistant, whom he first met in the Broadway production of Best Foot Forward. In 1949, he received his first screen credit as co-director with Kelly of On the Town. His marriage to Coyne was an unhappy one as he (Donen) was reportedly in love with Kelly’s wife, Betsy Blair, while Coyne was in love with Kelly with whom she reportedly had been having an on-going affair. Donen and Coyne divorced in 1951. Kelly and Blair divorced in 1957. Coyne would eventually marry Kelly in 1960. In the meantime, Donen married actress Marion Marshall with whom he had two children. The marriage would last through 1959.

The 1950s was Donen’s most prolific decade, the one in which he directed such films as Royal Wedding, Singin’ in the Rain (with Kelly), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, It’s Always Fair Weather (with Kelly), Funny Face, The Pajama Game (with George Abbott), Indiscreet and Damn Yankees (with Abbott).

In 1960, Donen married Countess Adelle O’Connor Beatty with whom he had a third child. The marriage would last through 1971. During this period, Donen’s films included Charade, Arabesque and Two for the Road. In 1972, he married actress Yvette Mimeux. The marriage would last through 1985. His films during this period included The Little Prince, Lucky Lady, Movie Movie and Blame it on Rio.

Donen’s last marriage was to Pamela Baden, thirty years his junior, from 1990-1994. He was presented with an honorary Oscar at the 1997 awards. His companion since 1999 has been writer-director Elaine May. May, who keeps turning down his proposals of marriage, is now 86. Stanley Donen is 94.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952), directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen

Often cited as Hollywood’s greatest musical, MGM, having won the Best Picture Oscar the year before for An American in Paris, figured lightning wouldn’t strike in the same place two years in a row and promoted the more expensive Ivanhoe for the 1952 Oscar instead. As a result, the film was only nominated for two Oscars – Best Supporting Actress (Jean Hagen) and Best Scoring. Gene Kelly pretty much played himself while Donald O’Connor played a thinly disguised version of Donen with Debbie Reynolds in the tole that made her a star in this iconic tribute to the transition from silent films to talkies.

SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954), directed by Stanley Donen

MGM put its money on Vincente Minnelli’s Brigadoon, which cost three times as much as Donen’s beguiling Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, but critics and the public went for this beautifully written, sung and acted gem in a much bigger way. It was the only one of the year’s big musicals to earn a Best Picture Oscar nomination over A Star Is Born, White Christmas, Brigadoon, et. al. Jane Powell, Howard Keel, Russ Tamblyn, Tommy Rall and the rest of the cast have never been used to greater advantage. The barn dance remains the greatest dance sequence in film history.

FUNNY FACE (1957), directed by Stanley Donen

Donen first got to direct his childhood idol Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding in which Astaire danced on the ceiling opposite Jane Powell. Here, opposite Audrey Hepburn, in a Gershwin musical that took its title and some of its songs from the Adele and Fred Astaire Broadway musical of thirty years earlier, Astaire plays a photographer based on Richard Avedon. He himself may have thought he was too old for Hepburn, who was a toddler when Astaire did the Broadway version, but audiences loved the pairing. Indefatigable Kay Thompson has her best on-screen role ever as an effervescent fashion magazine owner.

CHARADE (1963), directed by Stanley Donen

This mystery-comedy was the height of sophistication at the time of its release and still is, thanks to the enduring charm of its stars, Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn in their only pairing. Hepburn plays a Paris based American who plans to divorce her husband after finding both he and all their money have disappeared, only to discover that he’s been murdered. She seeks help of Grant, whom she recently met at a ski resort. Together, they try to get at the truth which involves a bunch of crooks played by the likes of Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy and Ned Glass.

MOVIE MOVIE (1978), directed by Stanley Donen

Acclaimed by the critics, but largely ignored by the public, Donen’s ambitious novelty film plays like a night at the movies in the 1930s. There are two features, a boxing drama and a backstage musical with coming attractions in the middle for a World War I aviation film. The film uses the same cast which includes George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Red Buttons and Art Carney to tell its stories, but the standouts are the then unknown Harry Hamlin as the young boxer in the first feature and Barry Bostwick as a singing piano player in the second feature. Hamlin was nominated for a Golden Globe while Bostwick was up for several critics’ awards.