TCM Remembers the Legendary Director Stanley Donen
The life and career of legendary director and choreographer Stanley Donen is celebrated by Turner Classic Movies (TCM) with a five-film tribute on Monday, March 18.
Stanley Donen was the key creative force behind some of the most acclaimed musical productions in Hollywood history. He is credited with having transitioned musical films from realistic backstage dramas to a more integrated art form in which the songs were a natural continuation of the story.
Collaborating with Gene Kelly, Donen co-directed the sprightly On the Town (1949) with Frank Sinatra and the genre’s most enduring classic Singin’ in the Rain (1952) with the iconic scene of Kelly dancing through a studio produced downpour.
Courtesy of TCM
Donen directed the great musical film performer Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding (1951) in which Astaire danced up the walls and across the ceiling in an age before CGI. He helmed Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), Funny Face (1957) with Audrey Hepburn, and Damn Yankees (1958). The director-choreographer was awarded an honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement “in appreciation of a body of work marked by grace, elegance, wit and visual innovation.”
| 8:00 PM (ET) |  |
Private Screenings: Stanley Donen (2006)
Director Stanley Donen discusses his life and career with host Robert Osborne. |
| 9:00 PM (ET) |  |
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
A silent-screen swashbuckler finds love while trying to adjust to the coming of sound. |
| 11:00 PM (ET) |  |
On the Town (1949)
Three sailors wreak havoc as they search for love during a whirlwind 24-hour leave in New York City. |
| 1:00 AM (ET) |  |
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
When their older brother marries, six lumberjacks decide it’s time to go courting for themselves. |
| 3:00 AM (ET) |  |
Royal Wedding (1951)
A brother-and-sister musical team find romance when they tour to London for Elizabeth II’s wedding. |
| 5:00 AM (ET) |
 Courtesy of TCM |
It’s Always Fair Weather (1955)
World War II buddies get mixed up with gangsters and an egotistical TV star when they hold a 10-year reunion |
TCM Remembers Stanley Donen, Monday, March 18, Beginning at 8/7c, TCM
