Everything about Rouben Mamoulian totally explained
Rouben Mamoulian (
October 8,
1897 –
December 4,
1987) was an
Armenian-
American film and
theatre director.
Born in
Tbilisi,
Georgia (ruled at that time by imperial
Russia) to an
Armenian family, Rouben relocated to
England and started directing plays in
London in
1922. He moved to America the next year to teach in
Eastman School of Music and was involved in directing opera and theatre. In
1930, he became a
naturalized citizen of the United States.
Asked how to say his name, he told
The Literary Digest "The correct pronunciation is
roo-BEN ma-mool-YON." (Charles Earle Funk,
What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.)
Stage directing
Mamoulian began his
Broadway director career with a production of
DuBose Heyward's
Porgy, which opened on
October 10,
1927. He directed the revival of that show in
1929 along with
George Gershwin's operatic treatment,
Porgy and Bess, 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 direction
He directed his first feature in
1929,
Applause, which was one of the early
talkies. It was a landmark film due to Rouben's innovative use of camera movement and sound, and these qualities were carried through to his other films released in the
1930s, such as
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (
1931) and the musical film
Love Me Tonight (
1932). He directed the first three strip
Technicolor film,
Becky Sharp (
1935), based on
Thackeray's
Vanity Fair, as well as the 1937 musical
High, Wide, and Handsome. His next two films earned him wide admiration,
The Mark of Zorro (
1940) and
Blood and Sand (
1941), both remakes of silent films.
Blood and Sand was filmed in
Technicolor, and used color schemes based on the work of Spanish artists such as
Diego Velázquez and
El Greco. His foray into
screwball comedy genre in 1942 was a success with
Rings on Her Fingers starring
Henry Fonda and
Gene Tierney.
His last completed musical film was
MGM's 1957 film version of the
Cole Porter musical
Silk Stockings. This had been one of Porter's less successful stage musicals and was based on the 1939
Greta Garbo classic
Ninotchka. The film
Silk Stockings starred
Fred Astaire and
Cyd Charisse, with
Janis Paige and
Peter Lorre in support (with Lorre singing in the film).
Mamoulian's film directing career came to an end when he was fired from two consecutive films,
Porgy and Bess (
1959) and
Cleopatra (
1963). He had previously 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. In
1982 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the
Directors Guild of America.
He died in
1987 of natural causes at the age of 90 in
Woodland Hills, California.
He has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1709 Vine Street.
Director filmography
Further Information
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