Rouben Zachary Mamoulian ( ; hy, Ռուբէն Մամուլեան; October 8, 1897 – December 4, 1987) was an American film and theatre director.
Early life
Mamoulian was born in
Tiflis,
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...
, to a family of
Armenian descent. His mother, Virginia (née Kalantarian), was a director of the Armenian theatre, and his father, Zachary Mamoulian, was a bank president.
[Luhrssen, David (2013)]
''Mamoulian: Life on Stage and Screen''
University Press of Kentucky. p. 8; Mamoulian moved to England and started directing plays in London in 1922. He was brought to the United States the next year by
Vladimir Rosing
Vladimir Sergeyevich Rosing (russian: Владимир Серге́евич Розинг) (November 24, 1963), also known as Val Rosing, was a Russian-born operatic tenor and stage director who spent most of his professional career in the United ...
to teach at the
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman.
It offers Bachelor of Music ...
and was involved in directing opera and theatre.
In 1925, Mamoulian was head of the School of Drama, where
Martha Graham was working at the time. Among other performances, together they produced a short, two-color film titled ''The Flute of Krishna'', featuring Eastman students. Mamoulian left Eastman shortly after, and Graham chose to leave also, even though she was asked to stay. In 1930, Mamoulian became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Child star
Jackie Cooper stated in his autobiography that Rouben Mamoulian was his uncle, and this fact helped establish Cooper's early movie career.
Stage career
Mamoulian began his Broadway director career with a production of
DuBose Heyward's ''
Porgy'', which opened on October 10, 1927. He directed ''
Wings Over Europe'' from late 1928 to 1929. He directed the revival of ''Porgy'' in 1929 along with
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...
's operatic treatment ''
Porgy and Bess
''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', ...
'', which opened on October 10, 1935. Mamoulian was also the first to stage such notable Broadway works as ''
Oklahoma!'' (1943), ''
Carousel'' (1945), and ''
Lost in the Stars'' (1949).
Film career
He directed his first feature film in 1929, ''
Applause
Applause ( Latin ''applaudere,'' to strike upon, clap) is primarily a form of ovation or praise expressed by the act of clapping, or striking the palms of the hands together, in order to create noise. Audiences usually applaud after a performanc ...
'', which was one of the early sound films. It was a landmark film owing to Mamoulian's innovative use of camera movement and sound, and these qualities were carried to his other films released in the 1930s. ''
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' (1931) is regularly considered the best version of
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as '' Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...
's tale; ''
Queen Christina'' (1933) was the last film
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragic ch ...
made with
John Gilbert; both benefit from being made
before
Before is the opposite of after, and may refer to:
* ''Before'' (Gold Panda EP), 2009
* ''Before'' (James Blake EP), 2020
* "Before" (song), a 1996 song by the Pet Shop Boys
* "Before", a song by the Empire of the Sun from ''Two Vines''
* "Befo ...
the
"Hays Code" came into full force. The musical film ''
Love Me Tonight'' was released in 1932.
He directed the first three-strip
Technicolor film ''
Becky Sharp
Rebecca "Becky" Sharp, later describing herself as Rebecca, Lady Crawley, is the main protagonist of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1847–48 novel '' Vanity Fair''. She is presented as a cynical social climber who uses her charms to fascinate a ...
'' (1935), based on
Thackeray's ''
Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Literature
* Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan
* ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray
* ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...
'', as well as the 1937 musical ''
High, Wide, and Handsome
''High, Wide and Handsome'' is a 1937 American musical Western film starring Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott, Alan Hale, Sr., Charles Bickford and Dorothy Lamour. The film was directed by Rouben Mamoulian and written by Oscar Hammerstein II and G ...
''. His next two films earned him wide admiration, ''
The Mark of Zorro'' (1940) and ''
Blood and Sand'' (1941), both remakes of
silent films
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
. ''Blood and Sand'', about
bullfighting, was filmed in
Technicolor, and used
color schemes
In color theory, a color scheme is the choice of colors used in various artistic and design contexts. For example, the "Achromatic" use of a white background with black text is an example of a basic and commonly default color scheme in web de ...
based on the work of Spanish artists such as
Diego Velázquez and
El Greco. His foray into
screwball comedy in 1942 was a success with ''
Rings on Her Fingers
''Rings on Her Fingers'' is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney. The screenplay concerns a poor man who gets mistaken for a millionaire and is swindled out of his life savings.
Plot
...
'' starring
Henry Fonda and
Gene Tierney.
Mamoulian's last completed musical film was
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
's
1957 film version of the
Cole Porter musical ''
Silk Stockings''. This was one of Porter's less successful stage musicals and was based on the 1939 ''
Ninotchka
''Ninotchka'' is a 1939 American romantic comedy film made for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by producer and director Ernst Lubitsch and starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas. It was written by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, and Walter Reisch, based ...
''. The film ''Silk Stockings'' starred
Fred Astaire and
Cyd Charisse
Cyd Charisse (born Tula Ellice Finklea; March 8, 1922 – June 17, 2008) was an American actress and dancer.
After recovering from polio as a child and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s. Her roles usually featured her abilit ...
, with
Janis Paige and
Peter Lorre in supporting roles.
Mamoulian's film directing career came to an end when he was fired from two consecutive films: ''
Porgy and Bess
''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', ...
'' (1959) and ''
Cleopatra'' (1963). He previously had been fired as director of ''
Laura'' (1944). After directing the highly successful original stage productions of ''
Oklahoma!'' and
''Carousel'', he worked on only a few other theatrical productions, such as ''
St. Louis Woman'', which introduced
Pearl Bailey to Broadway audiences.
He personally was recruited by
Directors Guild of America
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film director, film and television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dire ...
(DGA) co-founder
King Vidor in 1936 to help unionize fellow movie directors. Mamoulian's lifelong allegiance to the DGA, and more so his general unwillingness to compromise, contributed to his being targeted in the Hollywood
blacklisting of the 1950s.
He died on December 4, 1987 at the
Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital of natural causes at the age of 90 in Woodland Hills, California.
The critical appraisal ''Rouben Mamoulian'' by Tom Milne was published as Cinema One Series, no. 13 by
Thames & Hudson, 1969.
The biography ''Mamoulian: Life on Stage and Screen'' by David Luhrssen was published in 2013 (University of Kentucky Press).
Style
In the interview compilation book ''Directing the Film'' (Acrobat Books), Mamoulian declared a strong preference for a stylized look to his scenes, stating that he was more interested in creating a poetic look to his films than in showing ordinary
realism
Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to:
In the arts
*Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts
Arts movements related to realism include:
* Classical Realism
*Literary realism, a mov ...
. Parts of ''Becky Sharp'', and almost the whole of ''Blood and Sand'', with their heightened and artificial use of Technicolor, demonstrate Mamoulian's aesthetics. He also wrote a book titled ''Applause''.
Legacy
Mamoulian is considered one of the greatest filmmakers of his generation, whose films were seminal in their genres.
On February 9, 1960, Mamoulian received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.
It has been established in
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...
that his film ''The Mark of Zorro'' is the film that
Bruce Wayne
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
and his family saw in the theater before his parents were murdered. Mamoulian’s film ''
The Mark of Zorro'' is one of the biggest inspirations of the character
Batman. The biggest similarities include the cowl, the dark personality, and mystery of his identity. In ''
Batman: The Animated Series'', the character
Gray Ghost was inspired by Mamoulian’s version of
Zorro.
The
Sydney Film Festival has an award named after him: the Rouben Mamoulian Award for the Best Director of an Australian Short Film.
Awards and honors
On February 8, 1960, for his contribution to the motion picture industry, he received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1709 Vine Street.
He was inducted into the
American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981.
"26 Elected to the Theater Hall of Fame."
''The New York Times'', March 3, 1981.
In 1982 Mamoulian received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of America.
In 2019, Mamoulian’s film ''Becky Sharp
Rebecca "Becky" Sharp, later describing herself as Rebecca, Lady Crawley, is the main protagonist of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1847–48 novel '' Vanity Fair''. She is presented as a cynical social climber who uses her charms to fascinate a ...
'' was selected by the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
for preservation in the National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Filmography
Other work
Studies and biographies
* ''Rouben Mamoulian'', Tom Milne, Cinema One Series no. 13, Thames & Hudson 1969
*
See also
*
References
External links
*
*
*
Theater Programs, Playbills and Miscellany from the Rouben Mamoulian Collection
at the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
* Obituary �
"Rouben Mamoulian, Broadway Director, Is Dead"
by Peter B. Flint in ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' on December 6, 1987.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mamoulian, Rouben
American theatre directors
American film directors
American people of Armenian descent
Armenian-American male actors
Donaldson Award winners
Eastman School of Music faculty
Soviet emigrants to the United States
Film people from Tbilisi
Georgian people of Armenian descent
1897 births
1987 deaths
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)