Vincente Minnelli

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
 This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008)
Vincente Minnelli
Born Lester Anthony Minnelli
February 28, 1903
Chicago, Illinois
Died July 25, 1986 (aged 83)
Beverly Hills, California
Spouse(s) Judy Garland (1945–1951)
Georgette Magnani (1954–1957)
Danica D ("Denise") Radosavljevic (1960–1971)
Lee Anderson (1980–1986)

Vincente Minnelli (February 28, 1903 – July 25, 1986) was a Hollywood director and stage director. His skilled integration of story, music, lighting, and design elements in a film made him the most critically respected crafter of American film musicals. With first wife Judy Garland, he was the father of Liza Minnelli.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Born Lester Anthony Minnelli in Chicago, Illinois, United States,[1] Minnelli was the youngest surviving child of Mina Mary LaLouette Le Beau and Vincent Charles Minnelli. His father was musical conductor of Minnelli Brothers' Tent Theater. Minnelli's Chicago-born mother was of French Canadian descent and his paternal grandfather was from Sicily.

[edit] Career

With his background in theatre, Minnelli was known as an auteur who always brought his stage experience to his films. The first movie that he directed, Cabin in the Sky (1943), was visibly influenced by the theater. Shortly after that, he directed Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), during which he befriended the film's star, Judy Garland, although it is probable the two had met casually earlier. The two began a courtship that eventually led to their marriage in June 1945. Their one child together, Liza Minnelli, grew up to become an Academy Award-winning singer and actress.

Though widely known for directing musicals, including An American in Paris (1951), Brigadoon (1954), Kismet (1955), and Gigi (1958) he also helmed comedies and melodramas, including Madame Bovary (1949), Father of the Bride (1950), Designing Woman (1957) and The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963). His last film was A Matter of Time (1976). During the course of his career he directed seven different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Spencer Tracy, Gloria Grahame, Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Arthur Kennedy, Shirley MacLaine and Martha Hyer. Grahame and Quinn won Oscar for their performances in one of Minnelli's movies. He received an Oscar nomination as Best Director for An American in Paris (1951) and later won the Best Director Oscar for Gigi (1958). He was awarded France's highest civilian honor, the Commander Nationale of the Legion of Honor, only weeks before his death in 1986.

Minnelli's critical reputation has known a certain amount of fluctuation, being admired (or dismissed) in America as a "pure stylist" who, in Andrew Sarris' words, "believes more in beauty than in art."[2] His work reached a height of critical attention during the late 1950s and early 1960s in France with extensive studies in the Cahiers du Cinéma magazine, especially in the articles by Jean Douchet and Jean Domarchi, who saw in him a cinematic visionary obsessed with beauty and harmony, and an artist who could give substance to the world of dreams. Minnelli served as a juror at the 1967 Cannes Film Festival. The MGM compilation film That's Entertainment! showed clips from many of his films.

[edit] Personal life

His marriages ran as follows:

[edit] Death

In July, 1986, Minnelli died at age 83 after struggling with emphysema and bouts with pneumonia that caused him to be repeatedly hospitalized in his final year.[3] He reportedly also suffered from Alzheimer's disease.[4][5] Interment was in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

[edit] Selected theatre credits

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Church records, 1864-1929, Catholic Church. Notre Dame (Chicago, Illinois), Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1990 FHL US/CAN Film 1704688
  2. ^ Sarris, Andrew (1998). You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 55. ISBN 0-19-503883-5. 
  3. ^ Director Vincente Minnelli, 83, dies Chicago Tribune; Jul 26, 1986; pg. 2
  4. ^ daughter Christiane ("Tina Nina") Minnelli quoted - Leigh, Wendy (1993). Liza: Born a Star. New York: Signet. p. 270. ISBN 978-0451404060. 
  5. ^ Luft, Lorna (1998). Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir. New York: Pocket Books. p. 280. ISBN 978-0671018993. 

[edit] References

  • Casper, Joseph Andrew (1977). Vincente Minnelli and the Film Musical. South Brunswick, NJ: A.S. Barnes. ISBN 9780498017841. 
  • Harvey, Stephen; Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) (1989). Directed by Vincente Minnelli. New York: Museum of Modern Art; Harper & Row. ISBN 9780870704741. 
  • Minnelli, Vincente; Hector Arce (1974). I Remember It Well. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. ISBN 9780385095228. 
  • Schickel, Richard (1975). The Men Who Made the Movies. New York: Atheneum. 
  • Wakeman, John (ed.) (1987). World of Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company. 

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Academy Award for Best Director

John Ford (1941) · William Wyler (1942) · Michael Curtiz (1943) · Leo McCarey (1944) · Billy Wilder (1945) · William Wyler (1946) · Elia Kazan (1947) · John Huston (1948) · Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1949) · Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1950) · George Stevens (1951) · John Ford (1952) · Fred Zinnemann (1953) · Elia Kazan (1954) · Delbert Mann (1955) · George Stevens (1956) · David Lean (1957) · Vincente Minnelli (1958) · William Wyler (1959) · Billy Wilder (1960)

Complete List · (1927–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001-present)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincente_Minnelli"
Personal tools