George Stevens

George Stevens was married twice. He first married Yvonne Howell on January 1, 1930. The couple had a son and they divorced on August 1, 1947.

His second marriage was to Joan McTavish on 17 May 1968. The marriage lasted till his death.

His son, George Stevens, Jr., grew up to be a television and film writer-producer-director and the first CEO and director of the American Film Institute. His grandson, Michael Stevens, is also a television and film producer-director.

George Stevens was born on December 18, 1904, in Oakland, California to Landers Stevens and Georgie Cooper. Both his parents were stage actors and had their own theatre company, Ye Liberty Playhouse, in Oakland. His uncle was the drama critic Ashton Stevens.

During his childhood, he travelled far and wide with his parents, picking up knowledge about the stage. He began performing on stage at the age of five. He worked in his father’s theatre group, initially as an actor and eventually, as a stage manager.

He joined Hollywood as a cameraman when he was still a teenager, and by the early 1920s, he became a cinematographer at Hal Roach Studios. His first production was the Laurel and Hardy short film, ‘Roughest Africa’ (1923).

George Stevens shot a number of other films like ‘Sugar Daddies’ (1927), ‘Two Tars’ (1928), and ‘Below Zero’ (1930). In 1933, he directed his first feature, ‘The Cohens and Kellys in Trouble’, a B-film for Universal.

In 1934 at RKO (American motion picture studio), he made the low-budget romantic comedy ‘Bachelor Bait’ with Stuart Erwin and Rochelle Hudson; and ‘Kentucky Kernels’ - a Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey starring farcical comedy.

In 1935, he made the crime comedy ‘The Nitwits’ with Wheeler and Woolsey. In the same year, he made ‘Laddie’ (1935)—a nostalgic drama, with John Beal and Gloria Stuart—and ‘Alice Adams’, an adaptation of Booth Tarkington’s famous novel starring Katharine Hepburn. ‘Alice Adams’ was very successful and received an Academy Award nomination for outstanding production.

In 1936, he made ‘Swing Time’ (1936), a classic musical starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

1937 was a year of disappointments for him. His movie ‘Quality Street’ starring Katherine Hepburn was a sophisticated yet weak adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s play. Furthermore, ‘A Damsel in Distress’ also failed to achieve popularity.

His movie ‘A Place in the Sun’ (1951) was a remake of the 1931 film based on Theodore Dreiser’s ‘An American Tragedy’. The film starred Montgomery Clift as an ambitious man in love with a socialite, played by Elizabeth Taylor. Their relationship is intimidated by the man’s former girlfriend, played by Shelley Winters. The film helped Stevens win his first Academy Award for Best Director.

‘Shane’ (1953) was a classic western, based on a novel by John Schaefer. It starred Alan Ladd as a former gunslinger, who becomes a ranch hand for the Starrett family. The film received six Oscar nominations, including best motion picture and best director.

‘Giant’ (1956) was based on a novel by Edna Ferber. It starred Rock Hudson as an affluent cattle rancher, Elizabeth Taylor as his socialite wife, and James Dean as a rival turned oil millionaire. The film received ten Academy Award nominations, including best motion picture, and Stevens won his second Academy Award for Best Director.