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Stanley Donen ( ; born April 13, 1924) is an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are ''Singin' in the Rain'' and ''On the Town'', both of which he co-directed with actor and dancer Gene Kelly. His other noteworthy films include ''Royal Wedding'', ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'', ''Funny Face'', ''Indiscreet'', ''Damn Yankees!'', ''Charade'', and ''Two for the Road''. He received an Honorary Academy Award in 1998 for his body of work and a Career Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival in 2004. He was hailed by film critic David Quinlan as "the King of the Hollywood musicals".〔Quinlan, David. ''The Illustrated Guide to Film Directors''. Rowman & Littlefield. 1983. ISBN 0-389-20408-0. pp. 78.〕 Donen married five times and had three children. His current long term partner is film director and comedian Elaine May. He began his career in the chorus line on Broadway for director George Abbott, where he befriended Kelly. In 1943 he went to Hollywood and worked as a choreographer before he and Kelly made ''On the Town'' in 1949. He then worked as a contract director for MGM under producer Arthur Freed producing hit films amid critical acclaim, both as a solo director and with Kelly. In 1952 Donen and Kelly co-directed the musical ''Singin' in the Rain'', regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. Donen's relationship with Kelly deteriorated in 1955 during their final collaboration on ''It's Always Fair Weather''. He then broke his contract with MGM to become an independent producer in 1957. As musicals began to lose public appeal, Donen switched to comedies. He continued to make hit films until the late 1960s, after which his career slowed down. He briefly returned to the stage as a director in the 1990s and again in 2002. Donen is credited with transitioning 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 Lubitsch ... What ''we'' did was not geared towards realism but towards the unreal." Film critic Jean-Pierre Coursodon has said that Donen's contribution to the evolution of the Hollywood musical "outshines anybody else's, including Vincent Minnelli's."〔 He is the last surviving notable director of Hollywood's Golden Age. ==Early life and stage career== Stanley Donen was born in Columbia, South Carolina to Mordecai Moses Donen, a dress-shop manager, and Helen (Cohen), the daughter of a jewelry salesman.〔 His younger sister Carla Donen Davis was born in August 1937. Although born to Jewish parents, he became an atheist in his youth.〔 Donen described his childhood as lonely and unhappy as one of the few Jews in Columbia,〔 and he was occasionally bullied by anti-semitic classmates at school.〔 To help cope with his isolation, he spent much of his youth in local movie theaters and was especially fond of Westerns, comedies and thrillers. The film that had the strongest impact on him was the 1933 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical ''Flying Down to Rio''. Donen said that he "must have seen the picture thirty or forty times. I was transported into some sort of fantasy world where everything seemed to be happy, comfortable, easy and supported. A sense of well-being filled me." He shot and screened home movies with an 8 mm camera and projector that his father bought for him.〔 Inspired by Astaire, Donen took dance lessons in Columbia〔 and performed at the local Town Theater.〔 His family often traveled to New York City during summer vacations where he saw Broadway musicals and took further dance lessons.〔 One of his early instructors in New York was Ned Wayburn, who had taught eleven-year-old Astaire in 1910.〔 After graduating from high school at sixteen, Donen attended the University of South Carolina for one summer semester, studying psychology.〔 Encouraged by his mother, he moved to New York City 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'', directed by the legendary George Abbott. The title role of Pal Joey was played by the young up-and-comer Gene Kelly, who became a Broadway star in the role.〔 Abbott asked Donen to appear in the chorus of his next Broadway show ''Best Foot Forward''. He quickly became the show's assistant stage manager, and Kelly asked him to be his assistant choreographer.〔 Eventually Donen was fired from ''Best Foot Forward'',〔 but in 1942 was the stage manager and assistant choreographer for Abbott's next show ''Beat the Band''.〔 In 1946, Donen briefly returned to Broadway to help choreograph dance numbers for ''Call Me Mister''.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Stanley Donen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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