Delbert Mann | |
|---|---|
 Mann directingHeidi (1968) | |
| Born | Delbert Martin Mann Jr. (1920-01-30)January 30, 1920 Lawrence, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | November 11, 2007(2007-11-11) (aged 87) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Director |
| Years active | 1949–1994 |
| Spouse | |
Delbert Martin Mann Jr. (January 30, 1920 – November 11, 2007) was an American television and film director. He won theAcademy Award for Best Director for the filmMarty (1955), adapted from a1953 teleplay which he had also directed.[1] From 1967 to 1971, he was president of theDirectors Guild of America.[2][3] In 2002, he received the DGA's honorary life member award.[4] Mann was credited to have "helped bring TV techniques to the film world."[5][6]
Delbert Martin Mann Jr. was born on January 30, 1920, inLawrence, Kansas, to Delbert Mann Sr. and Ora (Patton) Mann (died 1961).[1][2][7][8][9] His father taught sociology at theUniversity of Kansas from 1920 to 1926. In 1926, the Manns left Lawrence and moved toPennsylvania and thenChicago before finally settling inNashville in 1931.[2][8][10] There, his father continued to teach sociology at theScarritt College for Christian Workers.[1] His mother was also a schoolteacher.[11]
Mann was head of his high school drama club when he metFred Coe, the future television producer and director, who was leading a church-sponsored acting society. Coe would later figure prominently in Mann's career as a director.[2] Coe would also serve as Mann's mentor.[12] Mann studied political science inVanderbilt University.[13] He graduated there in 1941 with a bachelor's degree on political science.[1][7][10][14] DuringWorld War II, Mann served with theArmy Air Corps as a B-24 bomber pilot and then as an intelligence officer with the8th Air Force stationed inEngland.[1][2] Mann also attended theYale School of Drama, where he earned a master's fine arts degree in directing.[1][2][7][13]
Mann took a directing job at theTown Theatre, a community playhouse inColumbia, South Carolina. Mann was affiliated with the Town Theatre from 1947 to 1949, before moving to New York to work with Coe in television.[12] In 1949, at Coe's invitation, Mann joined him in New York, where he became a stage manager and assistant director atNBC. Within months, he became an alternating director of the anthology series,The Philco Television Playhouse.[4]
Between 1949 and 1955, Mann directed more than 100 live television dramas. But even after turning to films, he returned to television and directed productions forPlayhouse 90,Ford Star Jubilee and other dramatic television anthology series. He also directed more than two dozen films for television from the late 1960s to the early 1990s, includingHeidi (1968),David Copperfield (1969),Jane Eyre (1970) andAll Quiet on the Western Front (1979).[4]
In addition toMarty (1955), other films directed by Mann includeThe Bachelor Party (1957),Desire Under the Elms (1958),Separate Tables (1958),Middle of the Night (1959),The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960),The Outsider (1961),That Touch of Mink (1962),A Gathering of Eagles (1963),Dear Heart (1964),Fitzwilly (1967),Kidnapped (1971) andNight Crossing (1982).[15]
Mann was married to Ann Caroline Gillespie from 1942 until her death byAlzheimer's disease in 2001.[1][2][7][13] They had four children: Fred, David, Steven and Susan. Susan died in a car accident in 1976.[1][2][7][14]
During the 1980s and 1990s, Mann served on the advisory board of theNational Student Film Institute. He also served as honorary chairman of the institute for a one-year term.[16][17]
On November 11, 2007, Mann died of pneumonia at theCedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, at age 87.[14][18]
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