Trivia

Producers were so terrified that the opening sequence to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) would turn out badly - Mamoulian shot it all from the perspective of the protagonist - that the re-release of the film omitted the first few minutes of the film. It wasn't until the 1970s that this was added on again and Mamoulian's brilliance returned to one of his greatest films.

Innovative director who was both partial to expressionism and realism in his films. He found new and interesting ways of moving the camera, not only with a dolly but also using simple pans that were not "functional" at the time - such as "space pans" - and seldom used, an industry "no, no". In the contemporary film world these kinds of pans are not only accepted but the norm.

In the late 1920s when sound was introduced into motion pictures, beginning with The Jazz Singer (1927), many directors were left stranded, as they could no longer move the camera. The sound of the dolly or the camera itself was recorded on the soundtrack and sounded awful and distracting. Mamoulian was one of the first to introduce the blimp, a box that encased the camera and isolated the sound the camera made. He also refused to let the sound of the dolly or of the camera operators stand in his way and quite often moved the camera regardless. This was rare in the 1930s and made Mamoulian unique. He'd move the camera even if the audience would hear it on the soundtrack, arguing that they would be so engrossed in the scene they were watching that they would not notice. He was right.

Under contract to Paramount Pictures from 1929-33. Noted for his use of the subjective, 360-degree revolving camera for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932). At 20th Century-Fox from 1940-42, he excelled at costume dramas, such as The Mark of Zorro (1940) and Blood and Sand (1941).

Although he was born in Tiflis, Georgia, he was an ethnic Armenian, as was filmmaker Sergei Parajanov, also born in Tiflis.

His creative influence was so great that his films sometimes carried the credit 'A Rouben Mamoulian Production', even though he never produced any films.

His mother, Vergine Kalantarian (1876-1972), was an Armenian theater actress in Tiflis, Georgia.

Made just 16 films in 29 years.

Vice president of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1963

He has directed five films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Applause (1929), Love Me Tonight (1932), Becky Sharp (1935), The Mark of Zorro (1940) and Porgy and Bess (1959) (uncredited).

The experience of being fired from "Laura" in 1944 may have had a lasting effect on Rouben Mamoulian. His next film was not until two years later ("Summer Holiday") and it was shelved by MGM until 1948. After that, he did not make another film until 1957, and "Silk Stockings", which he did not enjoy making (despite admiring his two stars), proved to be his final film, although he lived another thirty years. He did relatively little work in the theater in the late 40s and early 50s, devoting his time chiefly to re-staging his earlier successes, sometimes for foreign productions. He was fired from "Porgy And Bess" (one scene directed by him apparently remains in the film, which appeared in 1959) and then resigned from "Cleopatra" after disagreements. He did no more directing for either stage or cinema.

The opening moments in Love Me Tonight (1932), in which street sounds and the sound of snoring all blend into a jazzy, syncopated rhythm, was his own idea, and was based on a similar idea that he used in the 1927 non-musical version of "Porgy". The same idea was re-used in Samuel Goldwyn's film version of George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" (Porgy and Bess (1959)), as a lead-in into the song "Good Morning, Sistuh".

He was appointed as director of "Laura" in 1944, although he knew that Otto Preminger, his producer, wanted to direct the film himself and had some very strong ideas about it. Mamoulian did work for several days on the film and was well-liked by the actors and crew; but his quarrels with Preminger grew very heated and he was fired by studio chief Darryl Zanuck, who let Preminger take over. The result was a huge success, which established Preminger as a major director; Mamoulian rarely spoke much about the matter in later years, although he sometimes seemed to imply that all the footage he had shot was retained in the final film. This was untrue - Preminger re-shot everything, also firing Mamoulian's cameraman Lucien Ballard and replacing him with Joseph La Shelle. Mamoulian left the Fox studio, where he had been very lucratively employed for several years and went back to Broadway.

His career as a director came to an end when he was fired from his last two films, Porgy and Bess (1959) and Cleopatra (1963) (which was started in 1959).

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 710-714. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.

Attended Nersesian School in Tiflis, Georgia. His school friend was the Armenian poet and actor Pahare. Pahare later studied acting with Vergine Kalantarian, who was Rouben's mother. Joseph Stalin also was a graduate of Nersesian School.

Directed 2 actors to Oscar nominations: Fredric March (Best Actor, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)) and Miriam Hopkins (Best Actress, Becky Sharp (1935)). March won an Oscar for his performance in Mamoulian's film.

Earned a law degree from the University of Moscow and studied acting, as well as writing and directing for the stage at the Moscow Art Theatre.

Noted as a producer of operas and stage musicals in the 1920's. Appointed director of operas and operettas at the George Eastman Theatre in Rochester.

Directed the first three-strip Technicolor film, Becky Sharp (1935). Despite the breakthrough technical innovations, it performed poorly at the box office.

From 1926, taught and directed for the Theater Guild, before making a major impact on Broadway with "Porgy" the following year.

In 1974 he was guest of honor at the 21st Sydney Film Festival, where a retrospective of his films was programmed. He presented the first award for Best Director of an Australian Short Film, named the Rouben Mamoulian Award in his honor, to Phillip Noyce for Castor and Pollux (1973).

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 594-595. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.

His father, Zachary (1866-1966), was a bank president, who died in December 1966, aged 100.

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