Mitchell Leisen
Mitchell Leisen | |
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Born | James Mitchell Leisen October 6, 1898 Menominee, Michigan,U.S. |
Died | October 28, 1972 Woodland Hills,California, U.S. | (aged 74)
Occupation(s) | Director, Art Director, Costume Designer, Producer |
Years active | 1920–1967 |
Spouse | Sandra Gahle |
James Mitchell Leisen(October 6, 1898 – October 28, 1972) was an Americandirector,art director,andcostume designer.
Film career
[edit]He entered the film industry in the 1920s, beginning in the art and costume departments. He directed his first film in 1933 withCradle Songand became known for his keen sense of aesthetics in the glossy Hollywoodmelodramasandscrewball comedieshe turned out.[citation needed]
His best known films include Alberto Casella's adaptation ofDeath Takes a HolidayandMurder at the Vanities,a musical mystery story (both 1934), as well asMidnight(1939) andHold Back the Dawn(1941), both scripted byBilly Wilder.Easy Living(1937), written byPreston Sturgesand starringJean Arthur,was another hit for the director, who also directedRemember the Night(1940), the last film written by Sturges before he started directing his scripts as well.[citation needed]
Lady in the Dark(1944),To Each His Own(1946), andNo Man of Her Own(1950) were later successes.Charles Brackett's comedyThe Mating Season(1951) starringGene Tierney,Miriam HopkinsandThelma Ritterwas an updated version of Leisen's earlierscrewball comediesof the 1930s, and was also his last big movie success.[citation needed]
When his film career ended, Leisen directed episodes of such television series asThriller,Shirley Temple's Storybook,The Twilight Zone,andThe Girl from U.N.C.L.E..He later became a nightclub owner.[1]
Personal life
[edit]Though married, Leisen was reported to be gay or bisexual. According to Carolyn Roos, Leisen's longtime business manager's daughter, he had a very long relationship with dancer/actor/choreographer Billy Daniel until the 1950s (Daniel died in 1962).[2][3]Leisen, with Daniel and dancer/actorMary Parker,formed Hollywood Presents Inc. as a means of promoting both Daniel and Parker off-screen.[4]Leisen died of heart disease in 1972, aged 74. His grave is located inChapel of the Pines Crematory.[5]
Awards
[edit]He garnered his sole Academy Award nomination in 1930 forArt DirectionforCecil B. DeMille'sDynamite.[6]He directedHold Back the Dawn(1941), which was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Picture.
Filmography (as director)
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"Mitchell Leisen - Overview".allmovie.com.
- ^Barrios, Richard (2005).Screened Out: Playing Gay in Hollywood From Edison To Stonewall.Routledge. p. 157.ISBN0-415-92328-X.
- ^Mitchell Leisenat theTCM Movie Database
- ^"Leisen's Circus".Look Magazine.August 1941.
- ^Wilson, Scott.Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons,3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Location 27393). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.
- ^"NY Times: Dynamite".Movies & TV Dept.The New York Times.2012. Archived fromthe originalon October 17, 2012.RetrievedDecember 7,2008.
Further reading
[edit]- Chierichetti, David (1995).Mitchell Leisen: Hollywood Director.Photoventures.ISBN978-0-929330-04-4.Revised version of a 1973 biography.
- Kehr, Dave(May 13, 2008)."New DVDs: Mitchell Leisen and 'The Big Trail'".The New York Times.
The very model of the crack studio director, Mitchell Leisen spent much of his career at Paramount, where he tackled projects as radically different as the archly theatrical "Death Takes a Holiday" (1934) and the frothy revue film "The Big Broadcast of 1938" with the same composure and elegance.
Kehr's review of the DVD releases ofEasy Living(1937) andMidnight(1939). - Melville, David (2006)."Mitchell Leisen".Senses of Cinema(37).Melville is one of several critics who have been reassessing Leisen's contributions to cinema; he writes, "Leisen, glimpsed in this new light, is no longer a swishy hack. He's a subtle and stylish auteur who could add heart and humanity to the brittle sophistication of Billy Wilder, lend grace and elegance to the boisterous Americana of Preston Sturges. In hisBiographical Dictionary of Film,David Thomson hails Leisen as "an expert at witty romantic comedies, too reliant on feeling to be screwball, too pleased with glamour to be satires – and thus less likely to attract critical attention." "
- Rappaport, Mark(2008)."Mitchell Leisen".Rouge.This essay was written as an introduction to a retrospective series of showings of Leisen's films in 2008 at theCinémathèque Française,which is in Paris, France. As does Melville, Rappaport speculates on how some ofBilly Wilder's andPreston Sturges' scripts that Leisen directed would have fared if their writers had directed them instead.
- Shadoian, Jack (September 1, 1998)."Exacting standards: Director Mitchell Leisen's film" To Each His Own "epitomizes the director's work".Film Comment.34(5): 40.RetrievedFebruary 3,2011.
Seeing Leisen's films, though, kindles the urge to get up in arms, hoist a banner or two in the hope of securing the director his rightful share of the limelight. Segue toTo Each His Own,a quintessential Leisen weepie – what one could unkindly call glittery trash created by the best minds of the motion picture industry, but that just might be wonder-full enough to do the job.
Shadoian is a film scholar who wrote the monographDreams and Dead Ends: The American Gangster Film(1978, 2003).
External links
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