Director-producer Stanley Donen has enjoyed a truly singular career in Hollywood and abroad. Bedazzled in his youth by Fred Astaire in FLYING DOWN TO RIO (1933), the Columbia, South Carolina, teen headed for Broadway, getting jobs dancing in the chorus and eventually as assistant choreographer to rising star Gene Kelly. Hollywood called in the person of producer Arthur Freed, and Donen and Kelly choreographed dozens of lively dance numbers for other directors at MGM and Columbia before getting their big break as co-directors of ON THE TOWN - nothing short of revolutionary in its use of real locations and its break from stage conventions—and followed it up with the epochal SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. The success of Donen’s solo efforts as SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS led him to work as an independent director/producer, turning out two of the best Broadway-to-screen adaptations, THE PAJAMA GAME and DAMN YANKEES, before leaving his beloved musicals to direct landmark comedies in 1960s London and Paris—CHARADE, TWO FOR THE ROAD and BEDAZZLED. In 1998, the Academy awarded Donen an honorary Oscar for "a body of work marked by grace, elegance, wit and visual innovation."

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ON THE TOWN

"So exuberant that it threatens at moments to bounce right off the screen" - Time. New York, New York sing sailors-on-shore-leave Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin in the film's famous opening montage. The trio cavorts from the Brooklyn Navy Yard up to the Bronx, down to the Battery, and everywhere in between - a location-shot, whirlwind tour of the city that revolutionized the movie musical.

DIR Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly; SCR Betty Comden and Adolph Green; PROD Arthur Freed. US, 1949, color, 98 min. NOT RATED

#3 on AFI’s 100 Years ... 100 Songs
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN

When silent stars Gene Kelly and Jean Hagen's first sound picture threatens to sink their careers, movie magic saves the day. The talkie is recut as a musical, with Debbie Reynolds's lilt dubbed in for Hagen's screech. Both a celebration and spoof of Old Hollywood, the inspired script by Betty Comden and Adolph Green borrowed vintage tunes from the Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown songbook, and added a couple of their own. Vaudevillian Donald O'Connor's bravura performance of Make 'Em Laugh is eclipsed only by Kelly's splashy performance of the title track - "the most celebrated single sequence in the history of the genre," according to film historian John Wakeman.

DIR Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly; SCR Betty Comden and Adolph Green; PROD Arthur Freed. US, 1952, color, 103 min. NOT RATED

SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS

A dazzling example of frame-filling Cinemascope mastery! Frontierswoman Jane Powell falls for backwoodsman Howard Keel, even if he still needs a little civilizing. But his six brothers really need work, having aped their eldest brother's example by kidnapping six prospective brides! Five Oscar nominations, including a win for the Gene de Paul/Johnny Mercer score, but the vigorous dance numbers, choreographed by Michael Kidd, give the picture great vitality. The Barnraising Ballet is one of the greatest dance sequences ever put on screen.

DIR Stanley Donen; SCR Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich and Dorothy Kingsley; PROD Jack Cummings. US, 1954, color, 102 min. RATED G

IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER

Army buddies Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey and Michael Kidd March, March through a dizzy montage of Manhattan's bars, drunkenly culminating in a taxicab tango and trashcan lid tap dance. When the post-war years bring bitter disappointment, the three reunite and rediscover their youthful élan: Dailey sends up the Madison Avenue hucksters he now works for in Situation-Wise; Kelly finds new love with sizzling Cyd Charisse, and declares I Like Myself in the famous roller-skating number; and the three run riot on Delores Gray's crass TV show.

DIR Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly; SCR Betty Comden and Adolph Green; PROD Arthur Freed. US, 1955, color, 102 min. NOT RATED

THE PAJAMA GAME

Donen paired with his stage mentor George Abbott to bring this Broadway smash to the screen. Doris Day shines as the union rep at the Sleeptite Pajama factory who finds love across the picket lines with plant superintendent John Raitt. Featuring the choreographic film debut of Bob Fosse and Tony-winning dancer Carol Haney, who sparks the celebrated picnic number, Once a Year a Day, and sizzles in her and Fosse's signature piece Steam Heat.

DIR/SCR/PROD George Abbott; DIR/PROD Stanley Donen; SCR Richard Bissell. US, 1957, color, 101 min. NOT RATED

INDISCREET

Donen secured his reputation as a comedic director with this tart and tender farce that harkens back to Lubitsch, Leisen and Cukor. Actress Ingrid Bergman leads a lonely life until wealthy diplomat Cary Grant sweeps her off her feet. While he claims to be stuck in a loveless marriage, he may just be scared of commitment. Donen's visual wit allowed him to place the lovers in bed together—side-by-side in splitscreen, separated by a Paris-to-London phone call!

DIR/PROD Stanley Donen; SCR Norman Krasna. UK, 1958, color, 100 min. NOT RATED

DAMN YANKEES

Frustrated Washington Senators fan Robert Shafer makes a pact with Ray Walston's Satan, who transforms the middle-aged man into golden boy slugger Tab Hunter. Soon he's leading his beloved team to the American League pennant, but missing his wife and home. So the devil pinch hits with his best minion - knockout Gwen Verdon, cockily bragging Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets. A sexy and stunning performance by Broadway vet Verdon, whose footwork was choreographed by Bob Fosse.

DIR/PROD Stanley Donen; DIR/SCR/PROD George Abbott; SCR Douglass Wallop, from the novel by Wallop. US, 1958, color, 111 min. NOT RATED

ARABESQUE

Asked to crack a hieroglyphic code, American-at-Oxford professor Gregory Peck becomes embroiled along with mystery woman Sophia Loren and rogue Alan Badel in a plot to assassinate a Middle Eastern politician. Donen’s follow-up to CHARADE is a visual treasure trove of high 1960s style, from Loren's fabulous Dior couture and art director Reece Pemberton's mod décor to Christopher Challis's psychedelic Op-Art photography and Henry Mancini's score.

DIR/PROD Stanley Donen; SCR Julian Mitchell, Stanley Price and Peter Stone, from the novel by Gordon Cotler. US, 1966, color, 105 min. NOT RATED

BEDAZZLED

Hapless burger-flipper Dudley Moore trades his soul for seven wishes from devil Peter Cook, hoping to reincarnate himself and win the heart of waitress Eleanor Bron. Moore discovers he needs to be careful what he wishes for - the devil is in the details - to hilarious effect. A rip snorting, farcical spin on Faust from the Beyond the Fringe play alums that carves up every sacred cow of English society high and low. The Seven Deadly Sins all make appearances, led by Raquel Welch as Lust and a pre–Dame Edna Barry Humphries as a swish Envy.

DIR/PROD Stanley Donen; SCR Peter Cook. UK, 1967, color, 103 min. NOT RATED