Vincente Minnelli

Vincente Minnelli born in Chicago was an American stage director and film director famous for directing such classic movie musicals as Meet Me in St Louis 1944 Gigi 1958 The Band Wagon 1953 and An American in Paris 1951 An American in Paris and Gigi both won the Academy Award for Best Picture with Minnelli winning Best Director for Gigi In addition to having directed some of the most famous and wellremembered musicals of his time Minnelli made many comedies and melodramas He was married to Judy Garland from 1945 until 1951 they were the parents of Liza Minnelli With his background in theater Minnelli was known as an auteur who always brought his stage experience to his films The first film that he directed Cabin in the Sky 1943 was visibly influenced by the theater Shortly after that he directed I Dood It with Red Skelton and Meet Me in St Louis 1944 during which he fell in love with the films star Judy Garland They had first met on the set of Strike Up the Band 1940 a Busby Berkeley film for which Minnelli was asked to design a musical sequence performed by Garland and Mickey Rooney They began a courtship that eventually led to their marriage in June 1945 Their one child together Liza Minnelli grew up to become an Academy Awardwinning singer and actress The Minnelli family is thus unique in that father mother and child all won Oscars Widely known for directing musicals including An American in Paris 1951 Brigadoon 1954 Kismet 1955 and Gigi 1958 he also directed comedies and melodramas including Madame Bovary 1949 Father of the Bride 1950 The Bad and the Beautiful 1952 Lust for Life 1956 Designing Woman 1957 and The Courtship of Eddies Father 1963 His last film was A Matter of Time 1976 During the course of his career he directed seven different actors in Oscarnominated performances Spencer Tracy Gloria Grahame Kirk Douglas Anthony Quinn Arthur Kennedy Shirley MacLaine and Martha Hyer Grahame and Quinn won Minnelli received an Oscar nomination as Best Director for An American in Paris 1951 and later won the Best Director Oscar for Gigi 1958 According to Peter Bart in his book The Gross Minnellis films having 11 firstplace finishes on Varietys opening release box office rankings On February 8 1960 Minnelli received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion pictures industry at 6676 Hollywood Boulevard He died in Beverly Hills California