Stanley Donen, who filled cinemas with joy and music thanks to a varied career behind (and occasionally in front of) the camera, has died. He was 94.
Donen was born in Columbia, South Carolina in 1924 and found solace from the prejudice that his Jewish family faced in movie theaters. That sparked a desire to create, and he began making 8mm home movies, also showing a propensity for dance through tap lessons. After briefly attending the University of South Carolina, he left for New York, where he'd decided to pursue a career as a dancer. His first stage job in the city was as part of the chorus for Pal Joey, where he fatefully met Gene Kelly, who would go on to become a big collaborator on stage and in film.
Though his performance career was beginning to take off, Donen made the choice to move again, this time with Kelly to Hollywood, where he appeared in the film of Best Foot Forward and scored a contract with MGM. A brief stint at Columbia Pictures followed, but he was back at MGM for a job as dance director on Anchors Aweigh. From there, he choreographed several films before co-writing (with Kelly) and choreographing Take Me Out To The Ballgame. Another jump came with 1949's On The Town, which saw him as co-director with Kelly. Donen had found his true calling, and he'd go on to make movies such as Royal Wedding, Singin' In The Rain, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Funny Face, Damn Yankees, Charade, Two For The Road, Bedazzled, Lucky Lady and Blame It On Rio. Despite becoming one of the most influential musical directors in Hollywood history, he also tried other genres, such as thriller Saturn 3.
For all his success in film, theatre still held a place in Donen's heart, and he would return to Broadway several times, directing play and musicals. In possibly his most unusual – though perfectly in keeping with his other productions – credit, he made the music video for Lionel Richie's Dancing On The Ceiling. While his films would win various Oscars, Donen never nominated personally, a serious mistake the academy attempted to rectify in 1998 when it gave him a lifetime achievement statuette.
Married five times, he's survived by long-time partner Elaine May and two sons, Josh and Mark.
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