Saturday, August 11, 2007
Mel Shavelson
Thanks to Laura for her tribute to screenwriter/director/producer Mel Shavelson who has just died at age 90. A detailed obituary is here on the USC site. He taught screenwriting at USC for decades, stopping only just last year. He married his second wife five years ago (at 85!) after his first wife of an amazing 63 years had died in 2000.
Among his many (35!) produced and filmed screenplay are Houseboat, Yours Mine & Ours, The 7 Little Foys, I'll See You in My Dreams and Five Little Pennies (one of my all-time favorites and it turns out he won the Writers' Guild award for the screenplay, how about that?!). He also created and wrote the pilot for Make Room for Daddy and the theme song for Gilligan's Island on tv.
He directed many stars, including (but not only) Lucille Ball, Yul Brynner, James Cagney, Vittorio De Sica, Angie Dickinson, Kirk Douglas, Robert Duvall, Henry Fonda, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Barbara Harris, Charlton Heston, Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Jack Lemmon, Sophia Loren, Paul Newman, Lee Remick, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne, and Joanne Woodward. Quite a list.
He had many stories about the actors and films, and must have been an extraordinarily entertaining and good teacher. I'm looking forward to checking out his autobiography, How to Succeed in Hollywood Without Really Trying: P.S.—You Can’t!, which was published on his 90th birthday. I wish one didn't discover such interesting people only when they leave us, don't you?
Among his many (35!) produced and filmed screenplay are Houseboat, Yours Mine & Ours, The 7 Little Foys, I'll See You in My Dreams and Five Little Pennies (one of my all-time favorites and it turns out he won the Writers' Guild award for the screenplay, how about that?!). He also created and wrote the pilot for Make Room for Daddy and the theme song for Gilligan's Island on tv.
He directed many stars, including (but not only) Lucille Ball, Yul Brynner, James Cagney, Vittorio De Sica, Angie Dickinson, Kirk Douglas, Robert Duvall, Henry Fonda, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Barbara Harris, Charlton Heston, Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Jack Lemmon, Sophia Loren, Paul Newman, Lee Remick, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne, and Joanne Woodward. Quite a list.
He had many stories about the actors and films, and must have been an extraordinarily entertaining and good teacher. I'm looking forward to checking out his autobiography, How to Succeed in Hollywood Without Really Trying: P.S.—You Can’t!, which was published on his 90th birthday. I wish one didn't discover such interesting people only when they leave us, don't you?
Labels: celebrities, getting older, writing
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