George Stevens

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George Stevens

Born December 18, 1904(1904-12-18)
Oakland, California, USA
Died March 8, 1975 (aged 70)
Lancaster, California, USA
Years active 1915-1970
Spouse(s) Yvonne Howell (1930-1947)
Joan McTavish (1968-1975)

George Stevens (December 18, 1904 - March 8, 1975) was an Academy Award-winning American motion picture director, producer, writer and cinematographer.

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[edit] Career

Born in Oakland, California, Stevens broke into the movie business as a cameraman, working on many Laurel and Hardy shorts. His first feature film was The Cohens and Kellys in Trouble in 1933.

In 1934 he got his first directing job, the slapstick Kentucky Kernels. His big break came when he directed Katharine Hepburn in Alice Adams in 1935. He went on in the late 1930s to direct several Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire movies, not only with the two actors together, but on their own. In 1940, he directed Carole Lombard in Vigil in the Night, and the film has an alternate ending for European audiences in recognition of World War II, which the US had not yet entered.

During the Second World War, Stevens' crew captured the only Allied European Front color film of the war, in addition to filming the graphic scenes at the Dachau concentration camp. As a result of his experiences, his films became more dramatic following the war. I Remember Mama in 1948 was the last movie with comic scenes that he made. He was responsible for such classic films as A Place in the Sun, Shane, The Diary of Anne Frank, Giant and The Greatest Story Ever Told.

Stevens is the father of TV and film writer-producer-director George Stevens, Jr. (who was named the first CEO and director of the American Film Institute), and is the grandfather of TV and film producer-director Michael Stevens.

George Stevens died following a heart attack on his ranch in Lancaster, California, north of Los Angeles.

Stevens has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1701 Vine Street.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Further reading

  • Cronin, Paul: George Stevens: Interviews. Jackson, MI, University Press of Mississippi, 2004. ISBN 1-57806-639-5
  • Moss, Marilyn Ann: Giant: George Stevens, a Life on Film. Madison, WI, University of Wisconsin Press, 2004. ISBN 0-299-20430-8
  • Richie, Donald: George Stevens: An American Romantic. New York, Taylor & Francis, 1984 (reprint of 1970 original). ISBN 0-82405-773-2
  • Petri, Bruce: A Theory of American Film: The Films and Techniques of George Stevens. New York, Taylor & Francis, 1987. ISBN 0-82400-070-6

[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)
v • d • e
Presidents of the Screen Directors Guild and the Directors Guild of America

King Vidor (1936) · Frank Capra (1939) · George Stevens (1941) · Mark Sandrich (1943) · John Cromwell (1944) · George Marshall (1948) · Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1950) · George Sidney (1951) · Frank Capra (1960) · George Sidney (1961) · Delbert Mann (1967) · Robert Wise (1971) · Robert Aldrich (1975) · George Schaefer (1979) · Jud Taylor (1981) · Gilbert Cates (1983) · Franklin Schaffner (1987) · Gene Reynolds (1993) · Jack Shea (1997) · Martha Coolidge (2002) · Michael Apted (2003)