Stanley Donen

Donen's second wife was actress Marion Marshall, who had been the girlfriend and protégé of Howard Hawks and later married actor Robert Wagner. Donen and Marshall had two sons together: Peter Donen, born in 1953, and Joshua Donen, born in 1955. These sons comprise the name of Cary Grant's character in the film Charade. Read Less

Donen's next film was at Paramount Pictures for producer Roger Edens. Funny Face contains four of the original George and Ira Gershwin songs from the 1927 Broadway musical of the same name that had starred Fred Astaire, although it is not an adaptation of that show. The film was loosely based on the life of fashion photographer Richard Avedon, who was also the visual consultant and designed the opening title sequence for the film. It was written by Leonard Gershe and included additional music by Gershe and Edens. Donen and Edens began pre-production at MGM, but had difficulty juggling Astaire and Audrey Hepburn's Paramount contracts, the Warner Brothers owned rights to the Gershwin music that they wanted and their own contracts at MGM. Eventually a deal was reached that both released Donen from his MGM contract and allowed him to make his next two films at Paramount and Warner Brothers respectively. In the film Astaire plays an aging fashion photographer who discovers the intellectual bohemian Hepburn at a used bookstore in Greenwich Village and turns her into his new model while falling in love with her in Paris. Donen, Avedon and cinematographer Ray June collaborated very closely to give the film an abstract, smokey look that resembled the fashion photography of the time period despite the protests of Paramount, which had recently spent a fortune developing the crisp VistaVision. Funny Face was screened in competition at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival and received good reviews from critics like Bosley Crowther, however Sight and Sound accused it of being anti-intellectual. Read Less

He again co-directed with Abbott in the same hands-off method of collaboration as their first film. Like The Pajama Game the film includes music by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross and choreography by Bob Fosse. It starred Tab Hunter, Gwen Verdon, and Ray Walston. Damn Yankees! is an adaptation of the Faust legend about a fan of the baseball team the Washington Senators who mentions that he would sell his soul to give the losing team a good hitter. Walston plays the Brooks Brothers suit wearing Devil who grants the fan his wish and transforms him into the muscular young hitter Joe Hardy (Hunter). Donen was able to shoot three real Senator-Yankee games on location with as many as seven hidden cameras at once. The low budget film was a moderate financial success and received good reviews. It was also Donen's last musical film for many years. Read Less