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Stanley Kramer
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Stanley Kramer (September 29, 1913 – February 19,2001) was an Academy Award-nominated Jewish-American film director and producer responsible for some of Hollywood's most famous "message" movies. His work was recognized with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1961.
Director Steven Spielberg once described him as "one of our great filmmakers, not just for the art and passion he put on screen, but for the impact he has made on the conscience of the world."
er lived with his grandmother in the neighborhood of Manhattan known as Hell's Kitchen.
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Encyclopedia
Stanley Kramer (September 29, 1913 – February 19,2001) was an Academy Award-nominated Jewish-American film director and producer responsible for some of Hollywood's most famous "message" movies. His work was recognized with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1961.
Director Steven Spielberg once described him as "one of our great filmmakers, not just for the art and passion he put on screen, but for the impact he has made on the conscience of the world."
Early years
Kramer lived with his grandmother in the neighborhood of Manhattan known as Hell's Kitchen. From an early age, Kramer had connections with the film industry; his uncle, Earl Kramer, worked in distribution at Universal Pictures and then as an agent in Hollywood. Kramer's mother also worked in a secretarial position at Paramount Pictures. Kramer attended DeWitt Clinton High School in The Bronx and New York University; in his final year at the university, he was offered a paid internship in the writing department of 20th Century Fox. Kramer took the job although he had originally planned on attending law school.
In 1941 he worked as a production assistant on The Moon and Sixpence and So Ends Our Night. Two years later, in 1943, Kramer was drafted, but avoided going to war by working for an army film unit in New York. In 1948 Kramer organized an independent production company, Screen Plays Inc. His partners in the company were with the writer Herbie Baker, publicist George Glass and producer Carl Foreman, whom he had met previously during his time with the army film unit. It was during Kramer's career as a producer that he began to receive recognition for his talent.
While the first movie produced under his production company was a failure, So This Is New York (1948), directed by Richard Fleischer, the following film directed by Mark Robson, Champion, starring Kirk Douglas, was a success. The film received six Academy Awards nominations: Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Cinematography, Black and White, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay. The film also won an Oscar for Best Film Editing. In the next three years, Kramer produced Home of the Brave (1949), which was another success for the budding producer. In 1950, he produced The Men, which featured Marlon Brando's screen debut. Also in that year, he produced Cyrano de Bergerac, the first English language film version of Edmond Rostand's famous 1897 French play. It won star José Ferrer his only Oscar for Best Actor.
Columbia Pictures
A year later, Harry Cohn, the president of Columbia Pictures offered Kramer the chance to make movies under his studio. Kramer was given free rein over what films he chose to make, along with a budget that topped at $980,000. While Kramer accepted the job, he spent the rest of the year finishing his last independent production, the film High Noon, a Western drama directed by Fred Zinnemann. The movie was well received, winning four Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Film Editing, Best Music, Original Song and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic of Comedy Picture, as well as three nominations for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay.
However the film's production and release also intersected with the second Red Scare and the Korean War. Writer, producer and partner Carl Foreman was called before HUAC while he was writing the film. When Kramer found out, he forced Foreman to sell his part of the company, and tried to get him kicked off the making of the picture.. Fred Zinnemann, Gary Cooper, and Bruce Church intervened. There was also a problem with the Bank of American loan, as Foreman hadn't yet signed certain papers. Thus Foreman remained on the production, but left the country before it was released nationally. Foreman had not been in the communist party for almost ten years, but declined to 'name names' and was considered an 'un-cooperative witness' by HUAC, and then blacklisted by the Hollywood companies. There had also been pressure against Foreman by, among others, Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures, John Wayne of the MPA (who said "I'll never regret having helped run Foreman out of this country", and called High Noon "un-American") and Hedda Hopper of the Los Angeles Times. Howland Chamberlin was also blacklisted, while Floyd Crosby and LLoyd Bridges were 'gray listed' . Kramer claimed he had not stood up for Foreman partly because Foreman was threatening to dishonestly name Kramer as a Communist. Foreman said that Kramer was afraid of what would happen to him and his career if Kramer didn't cooperate with the Committee. Kramer wanted Foreman to name names and not plead for his Fifth Amendment rights.
Kramer was still producing movies at Columbia, such as Death of a Salesman (1951), The Sniper (1952), The Member of the Wedding (1952), The Juggler (1953), The Wild One (1953) and The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953). While the movies were not commercially successful, some were very highly praised.
In 1953 the president of Columbia, Harry Cohn and Stanley Kramer agreed to terminate the five year contract Kramer had signed at Columbia. However, for his last Columbia film, Kramer was determined to regain all of the investments Columbia had made in his previously unsuccessful films. The film, The Caine Mutiny, was an adaptation of the book written by Herman Wouk and was directed by Edward Dmytryk. Kramer faced resistance from the U.S. Navy, which the film depicted, for presenting what they considered an unfair portrayal. Kramer was able to negotiate a deal with the Navy, attempting to make the film as accurate and fair as possible. The film's cast included multiple noted actors of the time, including Humphrey Bogart, Van Johnson, Fred MacMurray and José Ferrer. Cohn kept Kramer under tight limitations, such as a budget under two and half million dollars and a running time of two hours. The result was extremely successful. The eleven million dollars it generated made up for any of Kramer's lost profits previously.
Directing
After The Caine Mutiny, Kramer left Columbia and resumed his independent production, but this time he occupied the role of the director. During this time, Kramer reestablished himself through Not As a Stranger (1955) and The Pride and the Passion (1957). Fortunately for Kramer, he was able to avoid the Hollywood blacklist, which had affected so many other members of the film industry. However, Kramer was well known for his liberal views and his desire to produce and direct controversial films. He directed The Defiant Ones (1958), On the Beach (1959), Inherit the Wind (1960) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). All of the films were bold and dealt with controversial subjects.
In contrast to his previous films however, in 1963 Kramer produced and directed the multi-million dollar, all-star comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Four years later, in 1967, Kramer released Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. The film starred Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in their final screen teaming, along with Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton. It was a huge hit, earning eight Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Art Direction, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Music and Best Picture, along with two Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay. In the following years, Kramer directed films such as Bless the Beasts and Children (1971), Oklahoma Crude (1973) and The Runner Stumbles (1979).
In 1997 Kramer published his autobiography, entitled A Mad Mad Mad Mad World: A Life in Hollywood. Stanley Kramer died on February 19, 2001 in Los Angeles after suffering from pneumonia.
Up until shortly after his death, it was widely believed that Stanley Kramer co-directed the films that he only produced. This is borne out by some of the phrasing in his obituaries. In her book, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, published in the 1960's, critic Pauline Kael observed that "Kramer's reputation as a great director [was] based on a series of errors", and went on to list the films that many people mistakenly thought that Kramer had directed.
Filmography
As director
As producer
Further Reading
External links
- at Notable Names Database
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