Stanley Donen, (born April 13, 1924, Columbia, S.C., U.S.—died Feb. 21, 2019, New York, N.Y.), U.S. film director and choreographer. He began his career in the stage chorus of Pal Joey (1940), where he met Gene Kelly. He and Kelly choreographed Best Foot Forward (1941; film 1943) and other musicals and codirected the films On the Town (1949) and Singin’ in the Rain (1952). Both films showed off Donen’s skill at intensifying a sense of fantasy and served to reenergize the musical film genre. He later directed and produced films such as The Pajama Game (1957), Funny Face (1957), and Damn Yankees (1958). He also branched into nonmusical films such as Charade (1963) and Two for the Road (1967).
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