Stanley Kramer
Encyclopedia
Stanley Earl Kramer was an American
film director
and producer
. Kramer was responsible for some of Hollywood's most famous "message" movies
. His notable films include The Defiant Ones
(1958), On the Beach
(1959), Inherit the Wind
(1960), Judgment at Nuremberg
(1961), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
(1963), Ship of Fools
(1965) and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
(1967). His work was recognized with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1961, and over the course of his career he received nine Academy Award nominations.
Director Steven Spielberg
once described him as "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." Film critic David Thomson
described Kramer as a "hero of the 1950s" and an "enterprising producer," but also wrote of his later films that "commercialism, of the most crass and confusing kind, has devitalised all [of] his projects".
known as Hell's Kitchen
. From an early age, Kramer had connections with the film industry; his uncle, Earl Kramer, worked in distribution at Universal Pictures
and then as an agent in Hollywood. Kramer's mother also worked in a secretarial position at Paramount Pictures. Kramer attended DeWitt Clinton High School
in The Bronx
and New York University
, where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi
fraternity; in his final year at the university, he was offered a paid internship in the writing department of 20th Century Fox
. Kramer took the job although he had originally planned on attending law school.
In 1941 he worked as a production assistant on the film version of The Moon and Sixpence
and So Ends Our Night
. Two years later, in 1943, Kramer was drafted, but avoided going to war by working for an army film unit in New York. In 1948 Kramer organized an independent production company, Screen Plays Inc. His partners in the company were with the writer Herbie Baker, publicist George Glass
and producer Carl Foreman
, whom he had met previously during his time with the army film unit. It was during Kramer's career as a producer that he began to receive recognition for his talent.
The first movie produced under his production company, So This Is New York
(1948), directed by Richard Fleischer
, was a failure. However, his next film, Champion
, directed by Mark Robson
and starring Kirk Douglas
, was a success. The film received six Academy Award nominations: Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Cinematography, Black and White, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay. The film also won an Oscar for Best Film Editing. In the next three years, Kramer produced Home of the Brave
(1949), which was another success for the budding producer. In 1950, he produced The Men
, which featured Marlon Brando
's screen debut. Also in that year, he produced Cyrano de Bergerac
, the first English language
film version of Edmond Rostand
's 1897 French play. It won star José Ferrer
his only Oscar for Best Actor.
In total, he produced and directed 23 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Kirk Douglas
, Arthur Kennedy
, José Ferrer
, Fredric March
, Kevin McCarthy
, Gary Cooper
, Julie Harris
, Tom Tully
, Humphrey Bogart
, Tony Curtis
, Sidney Poitier
, Theodore Bikel
, Cara Williams
, Spencer Tracy
(3 times), Maximilian Schell
, Montgomery Clift
, Judy Garland
, Oskar Werner
, Michael Dunn, Simone Signoret
, Cecil Kellaway
, Beah Richards
and Katharine Hepburn
. Ferrer, Cooper, Schell and Hepburn won Oscars for their performances in Kramer films.
president Harry Cohn
offered Kramer the opportunity to form a production unit working with his studio. Kramer was given free rein over what films he chose to make, along with a budget that topped at $980,000. Kramer accepted the job, and alongside his Columbia commitment, finished his last independent production, the film High Noon
(1952), a Western drama directed by Fred Zinnemann
. The movie was well received, winning four Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Film Editing, Best Music, Original Song and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic of Comedy Picture, as well as three nominations for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay.
Unfortunately, High Noons production and release intersected with the Red Scare
. Writer, producer and partner Carl Foreman
was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee
while he was writing the film. Foreman had been a member of the Communist Party
ten years earlier, but declined to "name names" and was branded an "un-cooperative witness" by HUAC, and then blacklisted
by the Hollywood companies. Kramer, citing a problem with the film's line of credit (Foreman had not signed certain financial papers), forced Foreman to sell his part of the company, and tried to end his involvement in the project entirely. Fred Zinnemann
, Gary Cooper
, and Bruce Church, the film's director, star, and producer, intervened, and Foreman remained on the production. He left the country before the film was released nationally, in the wake of intense pressure from Harry Cohn, John Wayne
(who said "I'll never regret having helped run Foreman out of this country", and called High Noon "un-American") and Hedda Hopper
of the Los Angeles Times
, among others. Kramer claimed he did not support Foreman partly because Foreman threatened to falsely label him a Communist. Foreman contended that Kramer turned against him because he chose to invoke his Fifth Amendment
rights rather than cooperate with the Committee. Howland Chamberlin was also blacklisted, while Floyd Crosby
and Lloyd Bridges
were 'gray listed'.
Kramer was still producing movies at Columbia, such as Death of a Salesman
(1951), The Sniper
(1952), The Member of the Wedding
(1952), The Juggler
(1953), The Wild One
(1953) and The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
(1953). While the movies suffered heavy losses, some were very highly praised.
Kramer claimed to be hindered by the studio's "meanness", and in 1953 Cohn and Kramer agreed to terminate the five-year, 30-film contract Kramer had signed. However, with his last Columbia film, Kramer was determined to regain all of the losses Columbia had incurred as a result of his unsuccessful projects. The Caine Mutiny
, was an adaptation of the book written by Herman Wouk
and was directed by Edward Dmytryk
. Kramer faced resistance from the U.S. Navy for what they considered an unfair portrayal. Kramer was able to negotiate a deal with the Navy that included the famous opening disclaimer reminding audiences that "...there has never been a mutiny aboard a United States Naval vessel." The film's cast included Humphrey Bogart
, Van Johnson
, Fred MacMurray
and José Ferrer
. Cohn kept Kramer under tight limitations, including a budget under two and half million dollars and a running time of two hours. The result was extremely successful. The $11 million it generated made up for all of Kramer's previous losses.
After The Caine Mutiny, Kramer left Columbia and resumed his independent production, but this time he occupied the role of the director. During this time, Kramer reestablished himself through Not as a Stranger
(1955) and The Pride and the Passion
(1957). He directed The Defiant Ones
(1958), On the Beach
(1959), Inherit the Wind
(1960), and Judgment at Nuremberg
(1961).
In contrast to his previous films, in 1963 Kramer produced and directed the multi-million dollar, all-star comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
. Kramer made Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
(1967) starring Katharine Hepburn
and Spencer Tracy
in their last film together, along with Sidney Poitier
and Katharine Houghton
. It was hugely successful, earning eight Academy Award nominations and winning Best Actress and Best Screenplay.
In the following years, Kramer directed films that sometimes generated interest and other times failed, such as Bless the Beasts and Children
(1971), Oklahoma Crude
(1973), The Domino Principle
(1977) and The Runner Stumbles
(1979).
, and wrote a column on movies for the Seattle Times from 1980-1996.
In 1997 Kramer published his autobiography, A Mad Mad Mad Mad World: A Life in Hollywood.
He died on February 19, 2001, in Los Angeles, aged 87, after contracting pneumonia
. He was married three times and divorced twice. He was survived by his third wife, Karen, and four children, two from a previous marriage.
, published in the 1960s, critic Pauline Kael
observed that "Kramer's reputation as a great director [was] based on a series of errors", and went on to list the films that many people mistakenly thought Kramer had directed.
Kramer's was the first star to be completed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
on March 28, 1960 - not Joanne Woodward
's as generally believed.
(1955) The Pride and the Passion
(1957) The Defiant Ones
(1958) On the Beach
(1959) Inherit the Wind
(1960) Judgment at Nuremberg
(1961) It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
(1963) Ship of Fools
(1965) Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
(1967) The Secret of Santa Vittoria
(1968) R. P. M.
(1970) Bless the Beasts and Children
(1971) Oklahoma Crude
(1973) The Domino Principle
(1977) The Runner Stumbles
(1979)
(1949) The Men (1950) Cyrano de Bergerac
(1950) Death of a Salesman
(1951)High Noon
(1952)
The Sniper
(1952)
The Member of the Wedding (1952)
The Wild One
(1953)
The Juggler
(1953)
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
(1953)
The Caine Mutiny
(1954)
Pressure Point
(1962)
A Child is Waiting
(1963)
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
(1963)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
. Kramer was responsible for some of Hollywood's most famous "message" movies
Social problem film
A social problem film is a narrative film that integrates a larger social conflict into the individual conflict between its characters. Like many film genres, the exact definition is often in the eye of the beholder, but Hollywood did produce and market a number of topical films in the 1930s and by...
. His notable films include The Defiant Ones
The Defiant Ones
The Defiant Ones is a 1958 drama film which tells the story of two escaped prisoners, one white and one black, who are shackled together and who must co-operate in order to survive. It stars Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel, Cara Williams, Charles McGraw, and Lon Chaney, Jr...
(1958), On the Beach
On the Beach (1959 film)
On the Beach is a post-apocalyptic drama film based on Nevil Shute's 1957 novel of the same name. The film features Gregory Peck , Ava Gardner , Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins...
(1959), Inherit the Wind
Inherit the Wind (1960 film)
Inherit the Wind is a 1960 Hollywood film adaptation of the play of the same name, written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, directed by Stanley Kramer....
(1960), Judgment at Nuremberg
Judgment at Nuremberg
Judgment at Nuremberg is a 1961 American drama film dealing with the Holocaust and the Post-World War II Nuremberg Trials. It was written by Abby Mann, directed by Stanley Kramer, and starred Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy...
(1961), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers...
(1963), Ship of Fools
Ship of Fools (film)
Ship of Fools is a 1965 film drama which tells the overlapping stories of several passengers aboard an ocean liner bound to Germany from Mexico in 1933...
(1965) and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is a 1967 American drama film starring Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn, and featuring Hepburn's niece Katharine Houghton...
(1967). His work was recognized with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1961, and over the course of his career he received nine Academy Award nominations.
Director Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
once described him as "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." Film critic David Thomson
David Thomson (film critic)
David Thomson is a film critic and historian based in the United States and the author of more than 20 books, including The New Biographical Dictionary of Film.-Career:...
described Kramer as a "hero of the 1950s" and an "enterprising producer," but also wrote of his later films that "commercialism, of the most crass and confusing kind, has devitalised all [of] his projects".
Early years
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Kramer lived with his grandmother in the neighborhood of ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
known as Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton and Midtown West, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City between 34th Street and 59th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River....
. From an early age, Kramer had connections with the film industry; his uncle, Earl Kramer, worked in distribution at Universal Pictures
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
and then as an agent in Hollywood. Kramer's mother also worked in a secretarial position at Paramount Pictures. Kramer attended DeWitt Clinton High School
DeWitt Clinton High School
DeWitt Clinton High School is an American high school located in the Bronx, New York City, New York.-History:Clinton opened in 1897 at 60 West 13th Street at the northern end of Greenwich Village under the name of Boys High School, although this Boys High School was not related to the one in Brooklyn...
in The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
and New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi
Pi Lambda Phi
Pi Lambda Phi International Fraternity Inc. is a college social fraternity with 35 active chapters and four colonies in the United States and Canada....
fraternity; in his final year at the university, he was offered a paid internship in the writing department of 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
. Kramer took the job although he had originally planned on attending law school.
In 1941 he worked as a production assistant on the film version of The Moon and Sixpence
The Moon and Sixpence
The Moon and Sixpence is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham, told in episodic form by the first-person narrator as a series of glimpses into the mind and soul of the central character, Charles Strickland, a middle-aged English stockbroker who abandons his wife and children abruptly to pursue his desire...
and So Ends Our Night
So Ends Our Night
So Ends Our Night is a 1941 drama war film starring Fredric March and directed by John Cromwell.- Plot :The story takes place in Germany during the Third Reich, when Hitler started to invade countries and persecuting to Jews and opponents of his regime...
. Two years later, in 1943, Kramer was drafted, but avoided going to war by working for an army film unit in New York. In 1948 Kramer organized an independent production company, Screen Plays Inc. His partners in the company were with the writer Herbie Baker, publicist George Glass
George Glass
George Glass was an American film producer and publicist, best known for his work with Stanley Kramer. In Kramer's 1997 autobiography, describing how he formed his first production company in the late 1940s, he called Glass "one of the best publicity men in town", and remarked "I was fortunate to...
and producer Carl Foreman
Carl Foreman
Carl Foreman, CBE was an American screenwriter and film producer who wrote the notable film High Noon. He was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses in the 1950s.-Biography:...
, whom he had met previously during his time with the army film unit. It was during Kramer's career as a producer that he began to receive recognition for his talent.
The first movie produced under his production company, So This Is New York
So This Is New York
So This Is New York is a 1948 movie comedy starring acerbic radio and television comedian Henry Morgan and directed by Richard Fleischer. The cynically sophisticated screenplay was written by Carl Foreman and Herbert Baker from the 1920 novel The Big Town by Ring Lardner.This remains the only...
(1948), directed by Richard Fleischer
Richard Fleischer
-Early life:Fleischer was born in Brooklyn, the son of Essie and animator/producer Max Fleischer. He started in motion pictures as director of animated shorts produced by his father including entries in the Betty Boop, Popeye and Superman series.His live-action film career began in 1942 at the RKO...
, was a failure. However, his next film, Champion
Champion (1949 film)
Champion is an American film noir drama based on a short story by Ring Lardner. Filmed in black-and-white, it recounts the struggles of boxer "Midge" Kelly fighting his own demons while working to achieve success in the boxing ring. The drama was directed by Mark Robson, with cinematography by...
, directed by Mark Robson
Mark Robson
Mark Robson was a Canadian-born film editor, film director and producer in Hollywood.-Career:Born in Montreal, Quebec, he moved to the United States at a young age. He studied at the University of California, Los Angeles then found work in the prop department at 20th Century Fox studios...
and starring Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
, was a success. The film received six Academy Award nominations: Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Cinematography, Black and White, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay. The film also won an Oscar for Best Film Editing. In the next three years, Kramer produced Home of the Brave
Home of the Brave (1949 film)
Home of the Brave is a 1949 film based on a 1946 play by Arthur Laurents. It was directed by Mark Robson and stars Douglas Dick, Jeff Corey, Lloyd Bridges, Frank Lovejoy, James Edwards, and Steve Brodie...
(1949), which was another success for the budding producer. In 1950, he produced The Men
The Men
The Men is a 1950 film directed by Fred Zinnemann. It tells the story of a World War II Lieutenant, who is seriously injured in combat, and the struggles he faces as he attempts to re-enter society. It stars Marlon Brando, Teresa Wright, and Everett Sloane...
, which featured Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
's screen debut. Also in that year, he produced Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano de Bergerac (1950 film)
Cyrano de Bergerac is a 1950 black-and-white feature film based on the 1897 French Alexandrine verse drama Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. It uses poet Brian Hooker's 1923 English blank verse translation as the basis for its screenplay...
, the first English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
film version of Edmond Rostand
Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century...
's 1897 French play. It won star José Ferrer
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...
his only Oscar for Best Actor.
In total, he produced and directed 23 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
, Arthur Kennedy
Arthur Kennedy (actor)
Arthur Kennedy was an American stage and film actor known for his versatility in supporting film roles and his ability to create "an exceptional honesty and naturalness on stage" especially in the original casts of Arthur Miller plays on Broadway.- Early life and education :Kennedy was born John...
, José Ferrer
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...
, Fredric March
Fredric March
Fredric March was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr...
, Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy (actor)
Kevin McCarthy was an American stage, film, and television actor, who appeared in over two hundred television and film roles. For his role in the 1951 film version of Death of a Salesman, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of...
, Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
, Julie Harris
Julie Harris
Julia Ann "Julie" Harris is an American stage, screen, and television actress. She has won five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1994, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame...
, Tom Tully
Tom Tully
Tom Tully was an American actor.-Biography:Born in Durango, Colorado, Thomas Kane Tulley served in the United States Navy, was a private pilot and worked as junior reporter for the Denver Post before going into acting because he felt the pay was better. Tully started out on stage before eventually...
, Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
, Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama...
, Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
, Theodore Bikel
Theodore Bikel
Theodore Meir Bikel is a character actor, folk singer and musician. He made his film debut in The African Queen and was nominated for an Academy award for his supporting role as Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones ....
, Cara Williams
Cara Williams
Cara Williams is an American film and television actress.-Biography:Born as Bernice Kamiat to an Austrian emigrant father and a mother of Romanian descent, she began her screen acting career in 1941, and was initially billed as Bernice Kay...
, Spencer Tracy
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
(3 times), Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell is an Austrian-born Swiss actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Judgment at Nuremberg in 1961...
, Montgomery Clift
Montgomery Clift
Edward Montgomery Clift was an American film and stage actor. The New York Times’ obituary noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men"....
, Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, Oskar Werner
Oskar Werner
-Early life:Born Oskar Josef Bschließmayer in Vienna, Werner spent much of his childhood in the care of his grandmother, who entertained him with stories about the Burgtheater, the Austrian state theatre, where he was accepted at the age of eighteen by Lothar Müthel. He was the youngest person ever...
, Michael Dunn, Simone Signoret
Simone Signoret
Simone Signoret was a French cinema actress often hailed as one of France's greatest movie stars. She became the first French person to win an Academy Award, for her role in Room at the Top...
, Cecil Kellaway
Cecil Kellaway
Cecil Lauriston Kellaway was a South African-born character actor.Cecil Kellaway spent many years as an actor, author, and director in the Australian film industry until he tried his luck in Hollywood in the 1930s. Finding he could get only gangster bit parts, he got discouraged and returned to...
, Beah Richards
Beah Richards
Beah Richards was an American actress of stage, screen and television. She was a poet, playwright and author....
and Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
. Ferrer, Cooper, Schell and Hepburn won Oscars for their performances in Kramer films.
Columbia Pictures
In 1951, Columbia PicturesColumbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
president Harry Cohn
Harry Cohn
Harry Cohn was the American president and production director of Columbia Pictures.-Career:Cohn was born to a working-class German-Jewish family in New York City. In later years, he appears to have disparaged his heritage...
offered Kramer the opportunity to form a production unit working with his studio. Kramer was given free rein over what films he chose to make, along with a budget that topped at $980,000. Kramer accepted the job, and alongside his Columbia commitment, finished his last independent production, the film High Noon
High Noon
High Noon is a 1952 American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself...
(1952), a Western drama directed by Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann was an Austrian-American film director. He won four Academy Awards and directed films like High Noon, From Here to Eternity and A Man for All Seasons.-Life and career:...
. The movie was well received, winning four Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Film Editing, Best Music, Original Song and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic of Comedy Picture, as well as three nominations for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay.
Unfortunately, High Noons production and release intersected with the Red Scare
Red Scare
Durrell Blackwell Durrell Blackwell The term Red Scare denotes two distinct periods of strong Anti-Communism in the United States: the First Red Scare, from 1919 to 1920, and the Second Red Scare, from 1947 to 1957. The First Red Scare was about worker revolution and...
. Writer, producer and partner Carl Foreman
Carl Foreman
Carl Foreman, CBE was an American screenwriter and film producer who wrote the notable film High Noon. He was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses in the 1950s.-Biography:...
was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
while he was writing the film. Foreman had been a member of the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
ten years earlier, but declined to "name names" and was branded an "un-cooperative witness" by HUAC, and then blacklisted
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
by the Hollywood companies. Kramer, citing a problem with the film's line of credit (Foreman had not signed certain financial papers), forced Foreman to sell his part of the company, and tried to end his involvement in the project entirely. Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann was an Austrian-American film director. He won four Academy Awards and directed films like High Noon, From Here to Eternity and A Man for All Seasons.-Life and career:...
, Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
, and Bruce Church, the film's director, star, and producer, intervened, and Foreman remained on the production. He left the country before the film was released nationally, in the wake of intense pressure from Harry Cohn, John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
(who said "I'll never regret having helped run Foreman out of this country", and called High Noon "un-American") and Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper was an American actress and gossip columnist, whose long-running feud with friend turned arch-rival Louella Parsons became at least as notorious as many of Hopper's columns.-Early life:...
of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, among others. Kramer claimed he did not support Foreman partly because Foreman threatened to falsely label him a Communist. Foreman contended that Kramer turned against him because he chose to invoke his Fifth Amendment
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...
rights rather than cooperate with the Committee. Howland Chamberlin was also blacklisted, while Floyd Crosby
Floyd Crosby
Floyd Delafield Crosby, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer.Crosby was born and raised in West Philadelphia, the son of Julia Floyd and Frederick Van Schoonhoven Crosby...
and Lloyd Bridges
Lloyd Bridges
Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Jr. was an American actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. Bridges is best known for his role of Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt, the most-popular syndicated American TV series in 1958...
were 'gray listed'.
Kramer was still producing movies at Columbia, such as Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman (1951 film)
Death of a Salesman is a 1951 film adapted from the play of the same name by Arthur Miller. It was directed by László Benedek and written for the screen by Stanley Roberts. It received numerous nominations for awards, and won several of them, including four Golden Globe Awards and the Volpi Cup...
(1951), The Sniper
The Sniper (1952 film)
The Sniper is a black-and-white film noir, directed by Edward Dmytryk, written by Harry Brown, and based on a story by Edna Anhalt and Edward Anhalt. The film features Adolphe Menjou, Arthur Franz, Gerald Mohr, Marie Windsor, among others....
(1952), The Member of the Wedding
The Member of the Wedding
The Member of the Wedding is a 1946 novel by Southern writer Carson McCullers. It took McCullers five years to complete—though she interrupted the work for a few months to write the short novel The Ballad of the Sad Cafe....
(1952), The Juggler
The Juggler
The Juggler may refer to:* "The Juggler", a song by Weather Report from their 1977 album Heavy Weather* The Juggler , a 1953 film starring Kirk Douglas* The Juggler , an early Amiga computer demo...
(1953), The Wild One
The Wild One
The Wild One is a 1953 outlaw biker film directed by László Benedek and produced by Stanley Kramer. It is famed for Marlon Brando's iconic portrayal of the gang leader Johnny Strabler.-Basis:...
(1953) and The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. is a musical fantasy film, the only feature film ever written by Theodor Seuss Geisel , who was responsible for the story, screenplay and lyrics...
(1953). While the movies suffered heavy losses, some were very highly praised.
Kramer claimed to be hindered by the studio's "meanness", and in 1953 Cohn and Kramer agreed to terminate the five-year, 30-film contract Kramer had signed. However, with his last Columbia film, Kramer was determined to regain all of the losses Columbia had incurred as a result of his unsuccessful projects. The Caine Mutiny
The Caine Mutiny (film)
The Caine Mutiny is a 1954 American drama film set during World War II, directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Stanley Kramer. It stars Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson and Fred MacMurray, and is based on the 1951 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Herman Wouk The Caine Mutiny. The film...
, was an adaptation of the book written by Herman Wouk
Herman Wouk
Herman Wouk is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author of novels including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance.-Biography:...
and was directed by Edward Dmytryk
Edward Dmytryk
Edward Dmytryk was an American film director who was amongst the Hollywood Ten, a group of blacklisted film industry professionals who served time in prison for being in contempt of Congress during the McCarthy-era 'red scare'.-Early life:Dmytryk was born in Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada,...
. Kramer faced resistance from the U.S. Navy for what they considered an unfair portrayal. Kramer was able to negotiate a deal with the Navy that included the famous opening disclaimer reminding audiences that "...there has never been a mutiny aboard a United States Naval vessel." The film's cast included Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
, Van Johnson
Van Johnson
Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during and after World War II....
, Fred MacMurray
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....
and José Ferrer
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...
. Cohn kept Kramer under tight limitations, including a budget under two and half million dollars and a running time of two hours. The result was extremely successful. The $11 million it generated made up for all of Kramer's previous losses.
Directing
Not as a Stranger
Not as a Stranger was a 1954 novel written by Morton Thompson. The romantic melodrama became widely popular, topping that year's list of bestselling novels in the United States. The novel was adapted into a 1955 film of the same name by United Artists Pictures...
(1955) and The Pride and the Passion
The Pride and the Passion
The Pride and the Passion is a historical film drama starring Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren made by Stanley Kramer Productions. Set in the Napoleonic era, it is the story of a British officer who has orders to retrieve a huge cannon from Spain and take it to the British forces by ship...
(1957). He directed The Defiant Ones
The Defiant Ones
The Defiant Ones is a 1958 drama film which tells the story of two escaped prisoners, one white and one black, who are shackled together and who must co-operate in order to survive. It stars Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel, Cara Williams, Charles McGraw, and Lon Chaney, Jr...
(1958), On the Beach
On the Beach (1959 film)
On the Beach is a post-apocalyptic drama film based on Nevil Shute's 1957 novel of the same name. The film features Gregory Peck , Ava Gardner , Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins...
(1959), Inherit the Wind
Inherit the Wind (1960 film)
Inherit the Wind is a 1960 Hollywood film adaptation of the play of the same name, written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, directed by Stanley Kramer....
(1960), and Judgment at Nuremberg
Judgment at Nuremberg
Judgment at Nuremberg is a 1961 American drama film dealing with the Holocaust and the Post-World War II Nuremberg Trials. It was written by Abby Mann, directed by Stanley Kramer, and starred Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy...
(1961).
In contrast to his previous films, in 1963 Kramer produced and directed the multi-million dollar, all-star comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers...
. Kramer made Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is a 1967 American drama film starring Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn, and featuring Hepburn's niece Katharine Houghton...
(1967) starring Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
and Spencer Tracy
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
in their last film together, along with Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
and Katharine Houghton
Katharine Houghton
Katharine Houghton is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Joanna "Joey" Drayton, a Caucasian woman who brings home an African-American fiancé to meet her parents, in the 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner...
. It was hugely successful, earning eight Academy Award nominations and winning Best Actress and Best Screenplay.
In the following years, Kramer directed films that sometimes generated interest and other times failed, such as Bless the Beasts and Children
Bless the Beasts and Children (film)
Bless the Beasts and Children is a 1971 film adaptation of the novel of the same name, by Glendon Swarthout, that was directed by Stanley Kramer, featuring Bill Mumy and Barry Robins.-Plot:...
(1971), Oklahoma Crude
Oklahoma Crude (film)
Oklahoma Crude is a 1973 drama film directed by Stanley Kramer. It stars George C. Scott and Faye Dunaway.-Plot:Set in the 1900s, the film is about a lone woman, Lena Doyle who finds herself threatened by tough businessmen who want to take her land which possesses shares of crude oil...
(1973), The Domino Principle
The Domino Principle
The Domino Principle is a 1977 thriller starring Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, Mickey Rooney and Richard Widmark. The film is based on the novel of the same name and was adapted for the screen by its author, Adam Kennedy...
(1977) and The Runner Stumbles
The Runner Stumbles
The Runner Stumbles is a 1979 film directed and produced by Stanley Kramer, based on the Broadway play by Milan Stitt. The film stars Dick Van Dyke, Kathleen Quinlan, Maureen Stapleton, Tammy Grimes, Beau Bridges and Ray Bolger.-Plot:...
(1979).
Retirement and death
In the 1980s Kramer retired to Bellevue, WashingtonBellevue, Washington
Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...
, and wrote a column on movies for the Seattle Times from 1980-1996.
In 1997 Kramer published his autobiography, A Mad Mad Mad Mad World: A Life in Hollywood.
He died on February 19, 2001, in Los Angeles, aged 87, after contracting pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
. He was married three times and divorced twice. He was survived by his third wife, Karen, and four children, two from a previous marriage.
Legacy
Throughout his later years, it was widely believed that Kramer co-directed many of the films that he only produced, a misconception that was reflected in many of his obituaries. In her book, Kiss Kiss Bang BangKiss Kiss Bang Bang (book)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is Pauline Kael's second collection of reviews from 1965 through 1968, compiled from numerous magazines including The Atlantic, Holiday, The New Yorker, Life, Mademoiselle, The New Republic, McCall's, and Vogue...
, published in the 1960s, critic Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
observed that "Kramer's reputation as a great director [was] based on a series of errors", and went on to list the films that many people mistakenly thought Kramer had directed.
Kramer's was the first star to be completed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
on March 28, 1960 - not Joanne Woodward
Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward is an American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman...
's as generally believed.
As director
Not as a Stranger
Not as a Stranger was a 1954 novel written by Morton Thompson. The romantic melodrama became widely popular, topping that year's list of bestselling novels in the United States. The novel was adapted into a 1955 film of the same name by United Artists Pictures...
(1955) The Pride and the Passion
The Pride and the Passion
The Pride and the Passion is a historical film drama starring Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren made by Stanley Kramer Productions. Set in the Napoleonic era, it is the story of a British officer who has orders to retrieve a huge cannon from Spain and take it to the British forces by ship...
(1957) The Defiant Ones
The Defiant Ones
The Defiant Ones is a 1958 drama film which tells the story of two escaped prisoners, one white and one black, who are shackled together and who must co-operate in order to survive. It stars Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel, Cara Williams, Charles McGraw, and Lon Chaney, Jr...
(1958) On the Beach
On the Beach (1959 film)
On the Beach is a post-apocalyptic drama film based on Nevil Shute's 1957 novel of the same name. The film features Gregory Peck , Ava Gardner , Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins...
(1959) Inherit the Wind
Inherit the Wind (1960 film)
Inherit the Wind is a 1960 Hollywood film adaptation of the play of the same name, written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, directed by Stanley Kramer....
(1960) Judgment at Nuremberg
Judgment at Nuremberg
Judgment at Nuremberg is a 1961 American drama film dealing with the Holocaust and the Post-World War II Nuremberg Trials. It was written by Abby Mann, directed by Stanley Kramer, and starred Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy...
(1961) It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers...
(1963) Ship of Fools
Ship of Fools (film)
Ship of Fools is a 1965 film drama which tells the overlapping stories of several passengers aboard an ocean liner bound to Germany from Mexico in 1933...
(1965) Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is a 1967 American drama film starring Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn, and featuring Hepburn's niece Katharine Houghton...
(1967) The Secret of Santa Vittoria
The Secret of Santa Vittoria
The Secret of Santa Vittoria is a 1969 film made by Stanley Kramer Productions and distributed by United Artists. It was produced and directed by Stanley Kramer and co-produced by George Glass from a screenplay by Ben Maddow and William Rose. It was based on the novel by Robert Crichton...
(1968) R. P. M.
R. P. M.
R. P. M. is a 1971 drama film directed by Stanley Kramer, written by Erich Segal and starring Anthony Quinn and Ann-Margret.-Plot:Set against the political turmoil of the 1960s, a leftist college professor is given the job of university president when the previous president is forced out...
(1970) Bless the Beasts and Children
Bless the Beasts and Children (film)
Bless the Beasts and Children is a 1971 film adaptation of the novel of the same name, by Glendon Swarthout, that was directed by Stanley Kramer, featuring Bill Mumy and Barry Robins.-Plot:...
(1971) Oklahoma Crude
Oklahoma Crude (film)
Oklahoma Crude is a 1973 drama film directed by Stanley Kramer. It stars George C. Scott and Faye Dunaway.-Plot:Set in the 1900s, the film is about a lone woman, Lena Doyle who finds herself threatened by tough businessmen who want to take her land which possesses shares of crude oil...
(1973) The Domino Principle
The Domino Principle
The Domino Principle is a 1977 thriller starring Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, Mickey Rooney and Richard Widmark. The film is based on the novel of the same name and was adapted for the screen by its author, Adam Kennedy...
(1977) The Runner Stumbles
The Runner Stumbles
The Runner Stumbles is a 1979 film directed and produced by Stanley Kramer, based on the Broadway play by Milan Stitt. The film stars Dick Van Dyke, Kathleen Quinlan, Maureen Stapleton, Tammy Grimes, Beau Bridges and Ray Bolger.-Plot:...
(1979)
As producer
Home of the Brave (1949 film)
Home of the Brave is a 1949 film based on a 1946 play by Arthur Laurents. It was directed by Mark Robson and stars Douglas Dick, Jeff Corey, Lloyd Bridges, Frank Lovejoy, James Edwards, and Steve Brodie...
(1949) The Men (1950) Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano de Bergerac (1950 film)
Cyrano de Bergerac is a 1950 black-and-white feature film based on the 1897 French Alexandrine verse drama Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. It uses poet Brian Hooker's 1923 English blank verse translation as the basis for its screenplay...
(1950) Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman (1951 film)
Death of a Salesman is a 1951 film adapted from the play of the same name by Arthur Miller. It was directed by László Benedek and written for the screen by Stanley Roberts. It received numerous nominations for awards, and won several of them, including four Golden Globe Awards and the Volpi Cup...
(1951)
High Noon
High Noon is a 1952 American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself...
(1952)
The Sniper (1952 film)
The Sniper is a black-and-white film noir, directed by Edward Dmytryk, written by Harry Brown, and based on a story by Edna Anhalt and Edward Anhalt. The film features Adolphe Menjou, Arthur Franz, Gerald Mohr, Marie Windsor, among others....
(1952)
The Wild One
The Wild One is a 1953 outlaw biker film directed by László Benedek and produced by Stanley Kramer. It is famed for Marlon Brando's iconic portrayal of the gang leader Johnny Strabler.-Basis:...
(1953)
The Juggler (film)
The Juggler is a drama film about a survivor of the Holocaust, played by Kirk Douglas. The screenplay was adapted by Michael Blankfort from his novel of the same name.-Plot:...
(1953)
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. is a musical fantasy film, the only feature film ever written by Theodor Seuss Geisel , who was responsible for the story, screenplay and lyrics...
(1953)
The Caine Mutiny (film)
The Caine Mutiny is a 1954 American drama film set during World War II, directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Stanley Kramer. It stars Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson and Fred MacMurray, and is based on the 1951 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Herman Wouk The Caine Mutiny. The film...
(1954)
Pressure Point (film)
Pressure Point is a 1962 drama film about a black prison psychiatrist who is called upon to treat a Nazi sympathizer during World War II. It stars Sidney Poitier and Bobby Darin. The film was based on the short story "Destiny's Tot" by Robert Lindner....
(1962)
A Child Is Waiting
A Child Is Waiting is a 1963 American drama film written by Abby Mann and directed by John Cassavetes. Burt Lancaster portrays the director of a state institution for mentally handicapped and emotionally disturbed children, and Judy Garland is a new teacher who challenges his methods.-Plot:Jean...
(1963)
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers...
(1963)
Academy Awards
| Year | Award !! Film !! Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 25th Academy Awards The 25th Academy Awards ceremony was held on March 19, 1953. It took place at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, California and the NBC International Theatre in New York City.... |
Best Motion Picture Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only... |
High Noon High Noon High Noon is a 1952 American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself... |
Cecil B. DeMille Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies... – The Greatest Show on Earth The Greatest Show on Earth The Greatest Show on Earth is a 1952 drama film set in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The film was produced, directed, and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture... |
| 1954 27th Academy Awards The 27th Academy Awards honored the best films produced in 1954. The Best Picture winner, On the Waterfront, was produced by Sam Spiegel and directed by Elia Kazan... |
Best Motion Picture Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only... |
The Caine Mutiny The Caine Mutiny (film) The Caine Mutiny is a 1954 American drama film set during World War II, directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Stanley Kramer. It stars Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson and Fred MacMurray, and is based on the 1951 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Herman Wouk The Caine Mutiny. The film... |
Sam Spiegel Sam Spiegel Sam Spiegel was an Austrian-born American independent film producer.-Life and career:Spiegel was born in Jarosław, Galicia, Austria-Hungary as Samuel P. Spiegel to a German-Jewish father and Polish mother and educated at the University of Vienna. His brother was Shalom Spiegel, a professor of... – On the Waterfront On the Waterfront On the Waterfront is a 1954 American drama film about union violence and corruption among longshoremen. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb and Karl Malden. The soundtrack score was composed by Leonard... |
| 1958 31st Academy Awards The telecast of the 31st Academy Awards is among the most infamous. The show’s producer Jerry Wald started cutting numbers from the show to make sure it ran on time. Unfortunately, he cut too much material and the ceremony ended 20 minutes early, leaving Jerry Lewis to attempt to fill in the time... |
Best Motion Picture Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only... |
The Defiant Ones The Defiant Ones The Defiant Ones is a 1958 drama film which tells the story of two escaped prisoners, one white and one black, who are shackled together and who must co-operate in order to survive. It stars Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel, Cara Williams, Charles McGraw, and Lon Chaney, Jr... |
Arthur Freed Arthur Freed Arthur Freed was born Arthur Grossman in Charleston, South Carolina. He was a Jewish American lyricist and a Hollywood film producer.- Biography :Freed began his career as a song-plugger and pianist in Chicago... – Gigi Gigi (1958 film) Gigi is a 1958 musical film directed by Vincente Minnelli. The screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner is based on the 1944 novella of the same name by Colette... |
| Best Director | Vincente Minnelli Vincente Minnelli Vincente Minnelli was an American stage director and film director, famous for directing such classic movie musicals as Meet Me in St. Louis, The Band Wagon, and An American in Paris. In addition to having directed some of the most famous and well-remembered musicals of his time, Minnelli made... – Gigi Gigi (1958 film) Gigi is a 1958 musical film directed by Vincente Minnelli. The screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner is based on the 1944 novella of the same name by Colette... |
||
| 1961 34th Academy Awards The 34th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1961, were held on April 9, 1962 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. They were hosted by Bob Hope; this was the seventh time Hope hosted the Oscars... |
Best Picture Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only... |
Judgment at Nuremberg Judgment at Nuremberg Judgment at Nuremberg is a 1961 American drama film dealing with the Holocaust and the Post-World War II Nuremberg Trials. It was written by Abby Mann, directed by Stanley Kramer, and starred Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy... |
Robert Wise Robert Wise Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director... – West Side Story West Side Story (film) West Side Story is a 1961 musical film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was adapted from William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno,... |
| Best Director | Jerome Robbins Jerome Robbins Jerome Robbins was an American theater producer, director, and choreographer known primarily for Broadway Theater and Ballet/Dance, but who also occasionally directed films and directed/produced for television. His work has included everything from classical ballet to contemporary musical theater... and Robert Wise Robert Wise Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director... – West Side Story West Side Story (film) West Side Story is a 1961 musical film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was adapted from William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno,... |
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| 1965 38th Academy Awards The 38th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1965, were held on April 18, 1966 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. They were hosted by Bob Hope.... |
Best Picture Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only... |
Ship of Fools Ship of Fools (film) Ship of Fools is a 1965 film drama which tells the overlapping stories of several passengers aboard an ocean liner bound to Germany from Mexico in 1933... |
Robert Wise Robert Wise Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director... – The Sound of Music The Sound of Music (film) Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical... |
| 1967 40th Academy Awards The 40th Academy Awards honored film achievements of 1967. Originally scheduled for 8 April 1968, the awards were postponed to two days later, 10 April 1968, because of the assassination of Dr... |
Best Picture Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only... |
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is a 1967 American drama film starring Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn, and featuring Hepburn's niece Katharine Houghton... |
Walter Mirisch Walter Mirisch Walter Mortimer Mirisch is an American film producer. In his long and successful motion picture career, Walter Mirisch has produced some of the industry’s finest and most memorable films... – In the Heat of the Night |
| Best Director | Mike Nichols Mike Nichols Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate... – The Graduate The Graduate The Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder... |
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Further reading
- Kramer, Stanley ; Coffey, Thomas M. (2007) A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World: A Life in Hollywood (Harcourt, ISBN 0151549583)