The Directors: Stanley Donen

He has been associated with some of the most innovative and magical Hollywood musicals of the late 1940's and 1950's.  It was decided he is the King of the Musicals and also Gene Kelly's invisible partner.  Stanley Donen was already a dancer himself when in 1941 he first teamed up with Kelly on Broadway.  They would go on to co-direct three successful musicals and Donen would later bring to life some sparkling romantic-comedies.


Born in Columbia, South Carolina in 1924, he would later say he detested living in the south because of anti-semitism and bullying.  To help cope with his sense of isolation, he spent much of his life at the movies, particularly loving westerns (he was so smart), comedies and thrillers.  But after seeing Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933), he became hooked on dancing.  He saw the film countless times and enrolled in dance classes around age 10. Later he appeared in local theater.

His family made numerous trips to New York where Donen (pronounced dawn-en) took in every Broadway play and musical he could manage and signed up for further dance lessons.  In 1940 his mother encouraged him to move to The Big Apple and pursue his dreams.  A year later he was hired by the legendary George Abbott as a chorus boy in Pal Joey.  The star was Gene Kelly.

In 1942 Abbott hired Donen for the chorus of Best Foot Forward where he became the assistant stage manager while at the same time Kelly asked for him to be his assistant choreographer.  

When MGM bought Best Foot Forward, Donen came with the package.  Kelly also was now working at the studio on other projects and as he gained a foothold in the industry with leading roles in musicals, he asked for Donen to join him in the choreography.  One of their best choreography segments was Kelly's innovative dance with Jerry the mouse in Anchors Aweigh (1945).

In 1948 Donen married (the first of five times) dancer Jeanne Coyne.  They divorced in 1950.  It was rumored that during the marriage she was having an affair with Kelly.  Whether true or not, Kelly and Coyne married in 1960, after his divorce from actress Betsy Blair.  It's been said in Donen bios that he was also in love with Blair.  Oh those Hollywood folks...

Finally MGM gave both Donen and Kelly a chance to direct when the studio bought the rights to On the Town (1949) with Kelly also starring.  It was the first movie musical to be filmed on location and would become the fashion on Donen musicals.  It is a rousing song and dance marathon of three sailors on leave in New York and the three women they meet.  It was Kelly's third and final pairing with Frank Sinatra and featured such great dancers as Vera-Ellen and Ann Miller.  The film was a huge success and Donen was on his way.

Royal Wedding (1951), loosely based on the early lives of Fred Astaire and his sister Adele, was to have starred Astaire and June Allyson and to have been directed by Charles Walters.  She dropped out because she became pregnant and Judy Garland was hired.  Walters then dropped out, reminding the MGM brass that he said he would never work with her again.  Then Donen was brought on board and then Jane Powell was hired.  The story of a brother and sister dance act in England at the time of Queen Elizabeth's marriage to Phillip never rocked my foundation.  But the film does contain a favorite musical sequence of mine... Astaire dancing on the ceiling and walls of his hotel room... a breathtaking tribute to ingenious set building.

O'Connor, Donen and Kelly

In only his third film, Donen reached the pinnacle of his success as a co-director with Kelly on Singin' in the Rain (1952).  It is often regarded as one of the most highly-praised films of all times.  Some regard it as the best musical ever made.  Kelly stars alongside the gifted Donald O'Connor (in his best role) and Miss Energetic herself, Debbie Reynolds.  It satirizes Hollywood's transition from silents to talkies in the funniest, most musical way possible.

Plaudits go to the direction, sensational dancing, great comedy (especially Jean Hagen) and one of the most famous musical numbers in the history of movies... Kelly's singing and dancing to the title tune in the rain with his umbrella.  I simply haven't the words to describe how much I love this number.

In 1952 Donen married actress Marion Marshall and they would have two sons.  The marriage lasted for seven years and the divorce was highly contentious.  She would go on to marry Robert Wagner, after and before his marriages to Natalie Wood.

One wonders how the current climate looks at a film where backwoods brothers kidnap women with the intention of forcing them into marriage.  But in 1954 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was an enormous success for Donen, MGM and everyone associated with the film.  It gives another look at how different and outdoorsy Donen musicals can be.  The barn-raising, acrobatic dance sequence is a sight to behold and one of the most joyous dances ever filmed.  Donen had a dust-up with Howard Keel who unsuccessfully tried to have the director replaced.

Deep in My Heart (1954) stars Jose Ferrer as the Hungarian operetta composer Sigmund Romberg.  It is a decent biography and contained many beautiful songs performed largely by singing stars in cameo parts.  It is not one of the director's more well-known efforts but it was very popular when first released.

It's Always Fair Weather (1955) about three ex-sailors bemoaning how their lives turned out is sometimes thought of as a sequel of sorts to On the Town.  The only thing I particularly liked about it was the dancing of Kelly, Michael Kidd and Dan Dailey... absolutely glorious.  It was the last of the three Donen-Kelly co-directed films.  It was also the last of their friendship as well as the end of Donen's contract with MGM.

Donen and Kelly had some fierce fights during the making of It's Always Fair Weather.  They had very different visions for the film, it seems.  Certainly their intertwining personal lives couldn't have promoted much harmony.  Donen had originally idolized Kelly but later called him egotistical, cold and tough, sentiments echoed by a number of other Kelly coworkers.  Donen never felt that Kelly treated him as an equal.  Kelly said that Donen was MGM's whipping boy while common coworkers claimed Donen was Kelly's whipping boy.  

Kelly & Donen

What is clearly a feather more in Donen's cap than Kelly's is that Donen's solo directorial assignments were far more successful than the films Kelly directed by himself.  In fact, Kelly's direction of Hello, Dolly (1969) is generally considered to be the death of the Hollywood musical.   In later life, both men publicly excoriated one another seemingly whenever they got the chance.

Funny Face (1957) is the story of an aging fashion photographer (Astaire) who turns a Greenwich Village beatnik-type (Audrey Hepburn) into a glamorous fashion model while falling in love with her.  I found her to be woefully miscast and as a result I didn't like the film.  Sometimes I do think I'm the only one with this opinion.  Oh well...

The Pajama Game (1957) is the only Doris Day movie I've never seen.  Adapted from George Abbott's Broadway play about the tussle between a nightwear factory plant supervisor and a union organizer, it sounded like a snooze to me and it wasn't very successful at the box office.  Abbott and Donen co-directed, something Donen was used to.

Indiscreet (1958) is a charming romantic-comedy with Cary Grant (who would be directed by Donen four times) and Ingrid Bergman (making a very rare comedy).  She plays a reclusive actress who falls in love with a married playboy.  When she finds out he is not really married, she invents a boyfriend to make him jealous enough to marry her.  It has crisp, funny dialogue and the Grant-Bergman pairing (first viewed in 1946's Notorious) is sheer perfection.  It was a big hit.

Damn Yankees (1958) became another co-directing job with Donen and Abbott.  It's about a fan who would sell his soul to have his favorite baseball team get a win.  I saw it only to gaze upon Tab Hunter and hear him sing.  I thought he was awkward and the film was another snore.

In 1960 Donen married some countess, the union lasting 11 years and producing another son.

Donen got a three-film contract with Columbia and quickly nabbed Once More, with Feeling (1960) as his maiden effort.  The comedy about a tyrannical orchestra leader whose girlfriend plans to marry him and then divorce him so she can soak him for big bucks was a rare Donen misfire.  I thought Yul Brynner and especially Kay Kendall were rather magical and I liked the movie.

I did an earlier posting on the amusing The Grass Is Greener (1960) with Grant, Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons.  It is one of my favorite Donen movies.

With Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum

Donen said he always wanted to direct a movie like Hitchcock did.  It has been said that Charade (1963) with Grant and Hepburn is a perfect pairing despite a 25-year age difference.  A romantic-chase-comedy has thugs pursuing Hepburn all over Paris who are looking for the fortune that her late husband stole.  It has long been referred to as the best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made.  Donen considered that high praise indeed.

Arabesque (1966) was an attempt to capture the flavor from Charade and it largely succeeded although it was not as popular.  If one were looking to compete with the success of Grant and Hepburn, Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren were not a bad way to go.  (She was at the height of her fabulous beauty.)  Its exciting chase sequences involve the couple on the run from mysterious people trying to kill them and they're not sure why.

My favorite of all Donen films is Two for the Road (1967) with real-life lovers Hepburn and Albert Finney.  It's been said it was one of the director's favorites as well as his most personal.  As mentioned in an earlier posting, its complicated, non-linear focus is the stuff of editors' dreams.  It tells of the 12-year relationship of a couple over four separate European vacations all woven together. 

In 1977 Donen surprised Hollywood by marrying actress Yvette Mimieux and yet their marriage lasting 13 years was his longest.  His fifth marriage was to a non-professional that lasted four years.  She was 36 years his junior and he proposed four days after meeting her.  His longest relationship, however, was with writer-comedienne-actress Elaine May. They were together for 20 years.

His last seven movies are derivative, lacking the verve and freshness (especially) of his earlier work.  However, in 1998 the Oscar folks presented the King of the Musicals with a lifetime achievement award.  I think it was richly deserved.

In February of this year Stanley Donen died of heart failure at his home in Manhattan.  I think his contribution to the Hollywood musical and to romantic comedy is invaluable.  He was the last surviving, notable director of Hollywood's Golden Age.  


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From the 60's